SAT Topics: Information and Ideas

Have you noticed those long, frustrating questions in the middle of the test? Those form the Information and Ideas section of the test. This domain includes some of the reading questions — those that involve fact-finding or that have to do with the main idea — plus questions that allegedly test your ability to recognize evidence or to draw logical conclusions. Much of the time, they really just test your ability to decipher unclear writing. For most people, this is the most obnoxious and draining part of the test, especially if you receive the harder second module. If you allow yourself any throw-away questions, or if you run out of time and have to guess on any questions, it should probably be the questions in this category.

Central Ideas and Details— These are the reading questions, the ones not included in Craft and Structure. There are fact-finding questions, in which you have to hunt down some particular detail, and there are questions that ask about the main idea. (Questions that ask about the main purpose instead of the main idea are placed in the Text Structure and Purpose category for some reason. There really doesn't seem to be much difference between the two.) Here are the easy, medium, and hard practice problems from the SAT Practice Problem Databank.

Command of Evidence— These are the worst. These often involve scientific research, and/or charts or tables of data. Questions involving scientific research often sound as if the question writer didn't really understand the science. Or didn't want to explain it clearly. Sometimes, if there is a chart or table, you can eliminate most or all of the wrong answers by checking them against the chart or table for factual accuracy. If there's data involved and the answer choices are all brief and contain numbers, this is the best place to start. In other questions, start by examining the prompt for the idea that you are supposed to support, weaken, or exemplify. It might help to ask yourself before you go any further, "What sort of an answer am I looking for? What would qualify as evidence or as an example of this idea?" You may need to search the given information for clarification of key terms or definitions. Then you just have to decide which answer choice is most closely connected to the idea in question. Here are the easy, medium, and hard practice problems from the SAT Practice Problem Databank.

Inferences— These questions come after the evidence questions but before the grammar and punctuation questions. They always display a paragraph with a blank at the end, and you are supposed to identify the logical conclusion. These questions aren't quite as long or as bad as the Command of Evidence questions, but they are still pretty frustrating in general. It might help to read the paragraph, trying to boil down any jargon into simpler language, and then ask yourself what would make sense here? In the easy category, there's usually a fairly obvious natural conclusion to be drawn. In more messed-up questions, keep your eyes open for new issues or distinctions that weren't present in the paragraph. Any answer choice that brings in a new issue is almost certainly incorrect. Answer choices that make predictions about the future, or that say somebody should do something, are also probably incorrect. Here are the easy, medium, and hard practice problems from the SAT Practice Problem Databank.