Supporting details. Details are the specific facts, examples, reasons, and numbers that back up the main idea. They answer the reporter’s questions: who, what, when, where, how many. On a detail question, the answer is stated somewhere in the passage — your job is to locate it, not recall it. Pull a keyword from the question and scan the passage for it rather than rereading from the top. And apply the golden rule: a choice has to be stated in this passage. The most tempting wrong answer to a detail question is usually something true in the real world that the passage simply never says.
Detail questions in disguise. Watch for questions containing the words EXCEPT or NOT ("The passage mentions all of the following EXCEPT…"). These flip the task: four choices will be stated in the passage, and you’re hunting for the one that isn’t. It’s easy to fall into autopilot and pick something that is in the text. Slow down and confirm which three (or four) choices actually appear, and the odd one out is your answer.
Sequence of events. Some passages present events, steps, or stages in a particular order, and questions may ask what happened before or after a certain point — or ask you to arrange several items in sequence (an ordered-response item). The key is to notice time-order signal words: first, next, then, before, after, during, finally, meanwhile. When a question asks about order, return to the passage and trace the sequence rather than trusting your memory, which tends to blur the middle steps.
Following directions. A passage may be a set of instructions — a recipe, a lab procedure, an assembly guide — and the questions test whether you can follow them exactly. Directions must be read literally and completely. Note every quantity, every ordering word, and especially any warning phrased as "do not" or "never" or "before." Missing a single qualifier flips the correct answer, and directions questions are designed to punish skimming.
The method: for details, lift a keyword from the question and scan for it; confirm the answer is actually stated. For EXCEPT questions, verify which choices appear and pick the one that doesn’t. For sequence and directions, reread the relevant lines and follow the signal words in order.
Worked example:
To brew pour-over coffee, first heat water to just below boiling. While it heats, place a filter in the cone and rinse it with hot water to remove any paper taste. Add the ground coffee, then pour a small amount of water to wet the grounds and wait thirty seconds before continuing. Finally, pour the rest of the water in slow circles.
A detail: you rinse the filter "to remove any paper taste." A sequence point: you wet the grounds before pouring the rest of the water. A directions trap: skipping the thirty-second wait would be missing a specific instruction the passage gives.
Supporting Details & Directions Review Quiz
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