PARCC - Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers Reading Main Idea 6 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A student reads a paragraph about sea turtles. The paragraph mentions nesting habits, migration patterns, and threats from pollution. Which of these is most likely the main idea?
- Sea turtles lay their eggs on sandy beaches at night.
- Sea turtles face many challenges throughout their lives. (Correct answer)
- Pollution is the biggest danger sea turtles encounter.
- Sea turtles travel thousands of miles during migration.
Correct answer: Sea turtles face many challenges throughout their lives.
The main idea is the broad point that ties all the details together. Since the paragraph covers multiple aspects of sea turtle life — nesting, migration, and threats — the unifying idea is that sea turtles face many challenges, not any single specific detail.
Question 2: Which of the following is the best way to check whether you have correctly identified the main idea of a passage?
- Count how many times a word appears in the passage.
- See if the supporting details in the passage relate to and support your chosen main idea. (Correct answer)
- Choose the idea that appears in the very last sentence of the passage.
- Pick the most surprising or unusual fact mentioned in the passage.
Correct answer: See if the supporting details in the passage relate to and support your chosen main idea.
If you have correctly identified the main idea, the supporting details should all connect to and support it. Checking whether the details back up your main idea is the most reliable way to verify your choice.
Question 3: A title of a passage reads: 'How Volcanoes Shape the Land Around Them.' Based on the title alone, what is the passage most likely about?
- The history of famous volcanic eruptions throughout the world.
- The ways in which volcanic activity changes and forms the surrounding landscape. (Correct answer)
- Why volcanoes are dangerous and should be studied by scientists.
- The different types of rocks found inside a volcano.
Correct answer: The ways in which volcanic activity changes and forms the surrounding landscape.
Titles often signal the main idea of a passage. The title directly states that the passage is about how volcanoes shape land, making option B the most accurate prediction of the main idea.
Question 4: A student summarizes a passage with this sentence: 'Honeybees are important.' Her teacher says the summary is too vague to capture the main idea. What should the student do to improve it?
- Add more details about the specific types of honeybees discussed in the passage.
- Rewrite the summary to include the central point the passage makes about honeybees. (Correct answer)
- Use a direct quote from the passage instead of writing her own sentence.
- Change the summary to focus only on the first paragraph of the passage.
Correct answer: Rewrite the summary to include the central point the passage makes about honeybees.
A good main idea statement captures the central point of the entire passage, not just a vague topic. The student should revise her summary to reflect the specific argument or point the passage makes about honeybees.
Question 5: Two students read the same passage about rainforests. Student A says the main idea is 'Rainforests are found in South America.' Student B says the main idea is 'Rainforests are vital ecosystems that support thousands of species.' Which student is more likely correct, and why?
- Student A, because the main idea is always a geographic fact about the subject.
- Student B, because a main idea must be broad enough to cover the whole passage. (Correct answer)
- Student A, because shorter sentences make better main idea statements.
- Student B, because main ideas must always include numbers or statistics.
Correct answer: Student B, because a main idea must be broad enough to cover the whole passage.
A main idea must be broad enough to encompass the entire passage. Student A identified a specific detail, while Student B stated a central idea that could logically be supported by many details throughout the passage.
Question 6: A reader notices that every paragraph in an article about solar energy ends by stating that solar power reduces reliance on fossil fuels. What does this pattern most likely indicate?
- The author forgot to add variety to the article.
- Reducing reliance on fossil fuels is a key supporting detail, not the main idea.
- Reducing reliance on fossil fuels is likely the main idea or a central claim of the article. (Correct answer)
- Each paragraph has a different main idea related to solar energy.
Correct answer: Reducing reliance on fossil fuels is likely the main idea or a central claim of the article.
When a specific point is repeated or reinforced across multiple paragraphs, it is a strong signal that it represents the main idea or central claim the author wants the reader to take away from the passage.
PARCC - Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers Reading Main Idea 6
A student reads a paragraph about sea turtles.
The paragraph mentions nesting habits, migration patterns, and threats from pollution.
Which of these is most likely the main idea?