The ACT divides their questions into three different types: key ideas and details, craft and structure, and integration of knowledge and ideas. You’ll learn how to recognize these questions and learn some key strategies for how to answer them.

Key idea questions

Key idea and detail questions make up 52-60% of the questions on the ACT Reading section, so, these make up most of the test questions. Key idea questions can more specifically be broken down into two types:

Key idea (passage)
Key idea (paragraph)

Key ideas (passage)

Key idea (passage) questions are those that require you to draw upon the passage as a whole to answer them. These questions test your comprehension of the passage. Below is an example of a more obvious type of key idea (passage) question.

ACT reading key ideas passage theme question

Let’s consider another example. Notice that the below question requires you to draw upon the passage as a whole to answer it. Rather than asking about a specific part of the passage, it is asking about the entire passage.

ACT reading key ideas passage purpose question

If you find yourself a bit lost as you read these passages, know that there are some things you can do to get back on track fairly quickly. The main ideas or themes of a passage are often found reiterated in the intro and concluding paragraphs. So, these would be good places to revisit if you’re having trouble finding the answer to a key idea (passage) question.

Here’s a less obvious example of a key idea (passage) question:

ACT reading key ideas passage general question

The question above requires that you have a good understanding of both passages to answer it. With this type of question, your passage annotations will come in handy to help you keep track of what’s going on and where you might find details like these.

Think about it… what is a strategy you can use to help you answer key idea (passage) questions?

(spoiler)

Revisit the intro and conclusion
Pay attention to your annotations to help you find key ideas

Key ideas (paragraph)

Key idea (paragraph) questions function the same way a key idea (passage) question does. The only difference is that these ask about only a single paragraph. Here’s an example:

ACT reading key ideas passage paragraph question

You may not have time to re-read the whole paragraph when you come upon these questions. When you’re in a pinch, the first and last sentences of the paragraph often give you a good idea of the paragraph’s main idea. The first sentence usually introduces the topic of the paragraph while the last sentence often includes the takeaway from the paragraph. Even if you aren’t short on time, using this strategy can help you refocus on the important aspects of the paragraph rather than getting distracted by other details.

Answer this: what is a strategy you can use to help you answer key idea (paragraph) questions?

(spoiler)

Read the first and last sentence of the paragraph

Now you know all about key idea questions!

Detail questions

Detail questions are those that simply ask “what’s in the passage?” They might ask what the author said or what happened in the story. This means that, for a detail question, the answer will always be in the passage for you to find.

Be sure to keep in mind a few things when answering detail questions:

The answer might not be in the same words as it was in the passage. They often use synonyms to make sure you understand what you’re reading.
Detail questions are almost always found in the body of the passage, not in the intro or conclusion.
Most times, there will also be a clue in the first sentence of a paragraph telling you that the answer will be in that paragraph. It will introduce the topic, letting you know that you are reading in the right spot.

Here’s an example of a detail question:

ACT reading key ideas passage detail question

This is a detail question because it is asking the reader to find something that is literally said in the passage. A clue to help you know that this is the case is the language at the beginning of the question. “According to the passage” implies that the passage says something, and we have to find out what that is.

Here is some other language that detail questions frequently use:

“The passage indicates…”
“The narrator claims…”
“Based on the passage…”
“The passage states…”

Another unique type of detail question is this one:

ACT reading key ideas passage chronological detail question

These come up pretty reliably (about one per reading test), so you’ll likely see one on your actual test. Using other words, this question is asking which event from the passage happened first time-wise. Choice A (for example) might be stated in paragraph one, but that doesn’t mean that choice B didn’t happen before A chronologically. Perhaps they decide to throw in a “Back in 1972…” in the middle of the passage. These are important things to keep track of for a question like this. This is another important reason why (as mentioned in the annotating chapter) we suggest annotating words or phrases that mark time.

Some things to keep in mind about chronology questions:

They are trying to trick you with these questions, so they won’t make the answer obvious.
The event that you find first in the passage is almost never the correct answer.
Pay attention to your annotations about things that mark time when approaching a chronology question.

What are some strategies you can use to help answer detail questions?

(spoiler)

Consider if the answer could be using synonyms rather than direct language from the passage.
Read the first sentences of paragraphs as a clue to finding where the detail is hidden rather than skimming the whole passage to find it.
For questions that ask about chronology, annotate things that mark time and be suspicious of that one answer choice that pops up first in the passage.

Now you know all about key idea and detail questions. Practice these strategies, and you’ll be on your way to mastering the ACT Reading section.

Key points

Most questions on the ACT Reading section are key idea and detail questions.

Key idea questions can be separated into two different categories:

Key ideas (passage)
Key ideas (paragraph)

Here are some strategies for each key idea question category:

Key ideas (passage)
- Revisit the intro and conclusion
- Pay attention to your annotations to help you find key ideas
Key ideas (paragraph)
- Read the first and last sentence of the paragraph

Here are some strategies to help you answer detail questions:

Consider if the answer could be using synonyms rather than direct language from the passage.
Read the first sentences of paragraphs as a clue to finding where the detail is hidden rather than skimming the whole passage to find it.
For questions that ask about chronology, annotate things that mark time and be suspicious of that one answer choice that pops up first in the passage.