The students look for KEY words in the question that will match exactly with information in the passage. They should highlight as few words as possible that give the main point of the question. They look for the conjunction of the key words in a paragraph or sentence. They look, for the first time, at the answer choices. Usually one of the choices contains the same information just read, making it the obvious correct answer.
Students then answer each question in turn.
Using the KEY words highlighted in the question, they locate the same key words in the selection, read in that part of the passage for specific information, look at the answer choices, and select the best match. They use highlighters to mark the location of the answer in the passage and verify the match to the highlighted key words in the question. Students then check their work by reading the entire passage, after the questions have been highlighted and answered with specific information. Finding the Main Idea Have students save main idea questions for last. Read the first sentence of each paragraph and the last sentence of each passage.