The aim of this type of question is, to test if you are able to understand the main idea of each paragraph.

Getting familiar with the question.

• This is a main Idea question. Match the heading with the main idea of the paragraph or the appropriate title for the paragraph.
• The heading will appear before the passage. This is the only reading question that comes before the passage. In the other kind, the reading passage appear first and the questions are given afterwards.

2-APPROCHES

1. Read the heading before you skim the passage.
2. Skim first and wait to read the heading until after you skim.

Option 2 are recommended because some of the headings are incorrect. So, it would be a waste of time.

Skim the whole passage first and get as much information you can and then go to make decisions to read the headings.

HOW TO APPROCH THE QUESTIONS

• Scan topic sentences first. (high probability). Topic sentences are usually the first or second sentences in the paragraph. => the main idea for the paragraph. So, it is very common that correct answers can be found in one of the topic

Your aim is to identify the main idea. Focus on the first one or two sentences and the last sentence as these will usually introduce and summarize this main idea. Skim read the rest of the text. You do not need to know the detail for this type of question.

• If you are not able to find the answer, in the topic sentence then scan the paragraph to confirm the main idea of the passage.
• Some times in some paragraphs there are transitional sentences and the main idea can be more difficult to find. But most of the time the answers would be found in the topic sentences.

You have to be careful for incorrect heading choice. Some signs that will tell you about incorrect headings are:

1) Incorrect headings often focus too narrowly on small details. Now these are main idea questions. So, if one of the choices really focus on a small detail, it’s probably wrong. Also, it can be tricky because many times the information in the headings can be found in the paragraph somewhere. So, it’s just not the main idea. So, you have to figure out that is it the main idea? Or It is just a small detail?

2) Have a different meaning than the passage. Often incorrect answer choices can   change the meaning from what is in the passage. They will take something that is close to the meaning but they will just slightly change it. And those are tricky. So, the main idea of the passage should match the heading.