The main idea of a passage is the most important idea conveyed by the author. Choice (B) pinpoints the author’s main point. Choice (C) distorts a detail from the passage. Choice (A) is not mentioned in the passage. The author states that science was extremely popular in the nineteenth century, which implies that science fiction was as well, but no direct information is given about the popularity of science fiction. Choice (D) is incorrect because there is no mention of Poe and Doyle being scientists.
The answer to a detail question such as this will be a paraphrase of what you find in the passage. You are told that reading shows students how words are used in sentences, so (C) is correct. (A) is incorrect because adults are never mentioned. (B) also was not stated in the passage. (D) does not answer the question and is not necessarily true based on the information given.
Wrong answer choices on global questions (that is, questions that ask about the passage’s topic or main idea) are often too broad or too specific. (B) is too broad because the passage is not about all American art movements, only the Hudson River School movement. (C) is too specific because the influence of European painters is just one detail mentioned, while (A), the history of the Hudson River School painters, is being described. (D) is incorrect because nationalism is not the focus of the passage.
This is the central idea of the passage. (If a passage begins or ends with a recommendation, that recommendation will often be the main idea.) The author does imply that people should not base their decisions on advertisements (B) but that is a detail rather than the main idea. Choice (A) is the opposite of the detail stated in the passage. Choice (C) is too broad. The passage is primarily concerned with computer purchase decisions, not life in general.
It is important on Vocabulary-in-Context questions not to rely on your vocabulary knowledge alone for the word in question, but instead to choose an answer that best represents how the word is being used in the paragraph. Bleak can be used to mean cold, choice (C), or depressing, which might make choice (B) seem appealing. But only choice (A) does not alter the meaning of the sentence when plugged in: “the empty landscape and broad skies.”
Since the answer to a detail question can be found in the text, the clause “nearly all her works are portrayals of nature” would direct you to choice (D). Choices (A), (B), and (C) all state things that were never mentioned in the passage, a characteristic typical of wrong answer choices to detail questions.
The text states that the Copernican model of the solar system describes that planets are revolving around the Sun, choice (C). This is contradicted by choice (B). (A) and (D) are not mentioned.
Toby is smiling while he waits for his father, already holding his baseball glove and ball. He is eager, choice (D), to get to the game. Choice (A) is distracting since it is sad that it might be the last game that Toby’s father will be able to attend, but the descriptive language of the passage supports eagerness and not sadness: the sun rushes into the room, now the birds are appearing. Toby is smiling, so there is no evidence of him being uneasy, choice (C). He is anxiously waiting for his father, which contradicts his being careless, choice (B).
Since the body can survive without food longer than it can survive without drinking (B) or breathing (C), eating is the least essential to survival. Choice (A) is correct. (D) is incorrect because excretion is not mentioned in the passage.
For Inference questions you should read the entire passage, and it is often best to attack each answer choice and eliminate those that do not follow from the passage. (B) clearly contradicts the author’s words. You have no information about how the author feels about television anchors, so (D) is unsupported. (A) goes beyond the scope of the passage, and may or may not be true based on what you have read. The correct answer will be something that must be true based on what’s given, like choice (C).
This is a Detail question, which means that you can look up the answer in the text. The poems “were intended to be sung or recited, not written down,” so they were mainly an oral form, choice (A). (B), which states that Greek poetry was unlike those of other societies, contradicts the passage. (C) and (D) are not mentioned.
The correct choice for a main idea question will express what the author believes. The passage states that remarkable progress has been made in artificial intelligence, so choice (C) is correct. While the author discusses the difference of opinion between those who believe that there will eventually be a computer capable of intelligent thought and those who do not, she does not assert the truth of either statement, so choice (A) is incorrect. Be wary of answer choices such as (D) that use extreme language. Chess is not the main focus of the passage, so choice (B) is incorrect.
This is a main idea question, so either the correct answer will make so much sense you will want to pick it, or you can eliminate wrong answer choices because they are too broad, too specific, or otherwise don’t properly describe the passage. Here the correct answer choice does make a lot of sense. The passage describes how coral reefs are created, so choice (B), the formation of coral reefs, describes the passage well. Choice (A) is out because “varieties” of animal life are nowhere described. (C) is wrong because “death cycles” of coral reefs are never touched upon. And (D) is far too narrow; there’s only the barest reference in the passage to “the physical beauty” of coral reefs.
For this detail question, you just want to pick the answer choice that best paraphrases the relationship between the coral and algae as described in the passage. The passage states that the “two organisms form a mutually beneficial relationship”; in other words, the relationship is cooperative, choice (D).
For correct sequence questions, look up the answer in the text. According to the passage, when the engine is fully drained, you should wipe off the drain plug and replace it, choice (C).