dolphin
Get Started

SAT Reading and Writing skill page

SAT Central Ideas Practice

Separate the main idea from small details so you can choose the answer that covers the whole passage.

Practice central ideas in DolphinPractice questions
10-16 min practice time3 questions on pageInformation and Ideas
Practice time10-16 min
Question bank3 questions
Best forInformation and Ideas

What this tests

What to know for this SAT skill

Dolphin question bank

Practice your skill

Question 1 of 3Medium

The following text is adapted from Charles W. Chesnutt’s 1901 novel The Marrow of Tradition.

Mrs. Ochiltree was a woman of strong individuality, whose comments upon her acquaintance[s], present or absent, were marked by a frankness at times no less than startling. This characteristic caused her to be more or less avoided. Mrs. Ochiltree was aware of this sentiment on the part of her acquaintance[s], and rather exulted in it.

Based on the text, what is true about Mrs. Ochiltree’s acquaintances?
  1. They try to refrain from discussing topics that would upset Mrs. Ochiltree.
  2. They are unable to spend as much time with Mrs. Ochiltree as she would like.
  3. They are too preoccupied with their own concerns to speak with Mrs. Ochiltree.
  4. They are likely offended by what Mrs. Ochiltree has said about them.
Show answer and solution
Correct answerD. They are likely offended by what Mrs. Ochiltree has said about them.

Solution walkthrough

  1. Choice D is the best answer because it presents a statement about Mrs. Ochiltree’s acquaintances that is supported by the text.
  2. The text indicates that Mrs. Ochiltree makes comments about her acquaintances that are frank, or direct and blunt, and sometimes startling.
  3. It also states that because of this behavior, the acquaintances tend to avoid Mrs. Ochiltree.
  4. Together, these details suggest that the acquaintances choose not to be around Mrs. Ochiltree because they are offended by the things she has said about them.
Why the other choices miss
Choice A is incorrect because the text doesn’t suggest that Mrs. Ochiltree’s acquaintances avoid discussing topics that would upset Mrs. Ochiltree; instead, it states that they avoid being around Mrs. Ochiltree at all. Choice B is incorrect because the text makes it clear that Mrs. Ochiltree knows her acquaintances often avoid her and is pleased about it (she “rather exulted in it”), not that she wants to spend more time with them. Choice C is incorrect because the text doesn’t suggest that Mrs. Ochiltree’s acquaintances don’t speak with Mrs. Ochiltree because they are too focused on their own concerns, but rather because they don’t like the frank comments she makes. 
Question 2 of 3Easy

The following text is from Beatrice Harraden’s 1894 novel Ships that Pass in the Night.

In an old second-hand bookshop in London, an old man sat reading Gibbon’s History of Rome. He did not put down his book when the postman brought him a letter. He just glanced indifferently at the letter, and impatiently at the postman. Zerviah Holme did not like to be interrupted when he was reading Gibbon; and as he was always reading Gibbon, an interruption was always regarded by him as an insult.

Based on the text, how did Zerviah Holme most likely feel when the letter was delivered?
  1. He felt relieved because he had been expecting an important letter.
  2. He felt excited because the letter was from a good friend.
  3. He felt sad because the postman did not stop to talk with him before leaving.
  4. He felt annoyed because he was interrupted while reading his favorite author.
Show answer and solution
Correct answerD. He felt annoyed because he was interrupted while reading his favorite author.

Solution walkthrough

  1. Choice D is the best answer because it presents a description of how Zerviah Holme felt that is directly supported by the text.
  2. The text states that Holme "did not like to be interrupted" while reading Gibbon and that he considered interruptions to be "an insult. "
  3. Furthermore, the text suggests that Gibbon is Holme’s favorite author because, as the text states, "he was always reading Gibbon. "
  4. Thus, Holme would have felt annoyed at having been interrupted when the letter was delivered. Choice A is incorrect because the text doesn’t suggest that Holme is relieved to receive the letter.
  5. Instead, the text states that Holme "just glanced indifferently at the letter," suggesting that the letter wasn’t important to him.
Why the other choices miss
Choice B is incorrect because the text doesn’t suggest that Holme is excited to receive the letter. Instead, the text states that Holme didn’t put down his book to receive the letter and that he looked at the letter "indifferently" and at the postman "impatiently. " This suggests that Holme isn’t excited. Also, there is no mention that Holme knows who sent the letter. Choice C is incorrect because the text doesn’t indicate that Holme is sad or that he wants to speak with the postman. Instead, the text describes Holme as looking "impatiently at the postman," which suggests that he wants the postman to leave.
Question 3 of 3Medium

In her 1998 book Blues Legacies and Black Feminism, Angela Y. Davis bases her analysis in part on recordings of songs sung in the 1920s by Gertrude “Ma” Rainey and Bessie Smith. Davis focuses on how Rainey and Smith improvised the lyrics—replacing the original lines with mischievous jokes and wordplay. Davis’s work was particularly labor intensive because in order to transcribe, or write down, the lyrics as Rainey and Smith sang them, Davis had to listen repeatedly to the vinyl recordings, which weren’t very clear. 

What does the text most strongly suggest about the songs sung by Rainey and Smith?
  1. The songs have grown in popularity since Rainey and Smith first sang them.
  2. There were more recordings made of Rainey's songs than there were of Smith's.
  3. There were few, if any, reliable transcriptions of Smith's and Rainey's improvised lyrics when Davis began her research.
  4. According to Davis, the songs sung by Rainey were more musically innovative than those sung by Smith typically were.
Show answer and solution
Correct answerC. There were few, if any, reliable transcriptions of Smith's and Rainey's improvised lyrics when Davis began her research.

Solution walkthrough

  1. Choice C is the best answer because it describes the songs sung by Gertrude "Ma" Rainey and Bessie Smith in a way the text implies is accurate. The text describes Angela Y.
  2. Davis’s research on Rainey and Smith for her book Blues Legacies and Black Feminism, focusing on her efforts to transcribe the improvised lyrics in Rainey’s and Smith’s songs. The text calls Davis’s transcription process "labor intensive" since the lack of clarity in the recordings required her to listen to each repeatedly to verify the accuracy of her transcripts.
  3. The fact that Davis undertook a painstaking transcription process using only fairly low-fidelity recordings suggests that reliable transcriptions were otherwise unavailable to her. Choice A is incorrect. The text doesn’t discuss the popularity of Rainey’s and Smith’s songs either in the 1920s or after.
  4. Although it is plausible that the music of Rainey and Smith is more widely enjoyed than it was in the 1920s, this isn’t supported by the text.
Why the other choices miss
Choice B is incorrect. The text doesn’t discuss which of Rainey and Smith was the more prolific recording artist and so provides no support for such a claim. Choice D is incorrect. The text discusses the creativity of both Rainey and Smith, but it does so only to note similarities between them in terms of improvisation and wit, not to emphasize differences between them or Davis’s relative views of the artists’ inventiveness.

Avoid these traps

Common mistakes on this skill

Choosing a detail instead of the main idea

A detail can be true but too narrow to summarize the passage.

Picking an extreme answer

Words like always, never, and only often go beyond what the passage supports.

Ignoring the passage structure

The way ideas develop often reveals whether the purpose is to explain, argue, compare, or question.

Study plan

How to practice this skill in Dolphin

  1. After reading, state the passage in one plain sentence.
  2. Check whether each answer covers the whole passage.
  3. Eliminate answers based on only one sentence or example.
  4. Avoid choices that add claims the passage never makes.
Practice central ideas in Dolphin

Related practice

Build the surrounding skills

SAT Command of Evidence PracticeSAT Words in Context PracticeSAT Rhetorical Synthesis PracticeSAT Reading and Writing skill hub

Skill cluster

Keep practicing SAT Reading and Writing

SAT Reading and Writing skill hubSAT Punctuation PracticeSAT Transitions PracticeSAT Command of Evidence PracticeSAT Words in Context PracticeSAT Subject-Verb Agreement PracticeSAT Sentence Boundaries PracticeSAT Rhetorical Synthesis PracticeSAT Modifiers PracticeSAT Apostrophes and Possessives PracticeSAT Text Structure PracticeSAT Inference Questions PracticeSAT Pronoun Antecedent PracticeSAT Verb Tense PracticeSAT Commas PracticeSAT Semicolons and Colons PracticeSAT Parallel Structure PracticeSAT Logical Transitions PracticeSAT Boundaries Between Clauses PracticeSAT Main Idea PracticeSAT Evidence Support PracticeSAT Vocabulary in Context PracticeSAT Cross-Text Connections PracticeSAT Quantitative Evidence PracticeSAT Math Practice PagesDolphin SAT study guidesSAT score guides by college

FAQ

Questions about SAT Central Ideas Practice

What are central ideas questions on the SAT?

They ask for the main idea, best summary, or purpose of a short passage.

How broad should a central idea answer be?

It should be broad enough to cover the whole passage but specific enough to match what the passage actually says.

Why do I miss main idea questions?

Most misses happen when a student chooses a true detail instead of the answer that captures the full passage.