Reading comprehension questions on the test focus on your ability to understand the given passage on either a micro/”little picture” level or macro/”big picture” level. Accordingly, all the reading comprehension questions you’ll encounter on the test will fall into one of the following categories.
Main Idea
Main idea questions ask you to summarize the passage as a whole or to identify the author’s overall purpose in writing the passage. You might see questions asking you to pick out the “central” or “main” idea or asking you what the author was “primarily concerned with.”
Supporting Ideas and Details
Conversely, details questions do ask you to identify facts, details, descriptions or sub-topics. The details they ask about will always be explicitly stated, and sometimes the relevant part(s) of the passage will be highlighted to make it easier for you to find it. Thus, they’re often the easiest (or at least the most face-value) questions in a given set. They begin with phrases like “According to the passage” and “the passage states that.”
Inferences
Inference questions, on the other hand, ask you to identify what is implied by the author but not explicitly stated. Rather than “the passage states that,” these kinds of questions will begin with something like “the passage suggests that,” so you immediately know that you’ll need to connect the dots yourself. Nevertheless, the correct answer is always supported by the passage.
Logical Structure and Organization
Logical structure questions center on function. Sometimes you’ll be asked to assess how a passage is constructed (does it define an idea, compare and contrast, refute an idea, etc.); other times you’ll be asked to recognize underlying assumptions, strengths, and weaknesses of the passage’s argument—as well as potential counterarguments.
Style and Tone
Style and tone questions ask you about the author’s expression of ideas through diction, or word choice. You may have to deduce the author’s attitude toward a specific idea he/she brings up or identify the tone of the passage as a whole. Words like “critical” and “enthusiastic” often appear in the answer options for these kinds of questions.