SAT-Strategies for Main Idea

Everything you read—whether a blog post, a newspaper article, or even an SAT reading passage—has a main idea.
The main idea is the central idea, or focus, of a piece of text. An entire passage, article, or chapter has a main idea, and each paragraph within a text also has a main idea.

A main idea is different than a topic. A topic is a short word or phrase pertaining to what the passage is about. For instance, “I just read an article about Snapchat.” Main idea, however, goes a step further—what point is the author making about the topic? For example, “What point is the author making about Snapchat? Snapchat is the
preferred social media app amongst teens.”

A main idea is supported by details. Most, if not all, of the details in a paragraph or longer passage should serve to
support the main idea in some way. So when trying to determine the main idea, ask yourself, “What common idea do all of these facts and details point toward?”

A main idea can be explicit or implied. An explicit main idea is clearly stated by the author in the passage. You can point to or underline a particular sentence (often the first or last sentence in a paragraph) and say “HERE is the
main idea!” Often times, though, the main idea is implied—the author doesn’t come right out and state the main
idea. Instead, the main idea is hinted at, or suggested, through the details. You can expect to see an average of 1
main idea question per passage on the reading test and about 5 total for the exam.