Almost every Reading passage in the TOEFL test will have a multiple choice question about the main

idea of a passage. Such a

question may be worded in a variety of ways; you may, for example be asked to identify the topic, subject, title, primary idea or
main idea. These questions are all really asking what primary point the author is trying to get across in the passage. Since
TOEFL passages are generally written in a traditionally organized manner, it is relatively easy to find the main ideas by studying
the topic sentences, which are most probably found at the beginning of each paragraph.

Let’s look at this example from the TOEFL test

(1) Early maps of the North American continent showed a massive river that
began in the Rocky Mountains, flowed into the Great Salt Lake, and from there
A. Which of the following would be the best title for this passage?
continued westward into the Pacific Ocean. This river, named the Buenaventura
o Early Maps of North America
River, on some maps rivaled the Great Mississippi River. As late as the middle
o A Non-Existent River on Maps
of the XIX century, this river was still on maps and explorers were still searching
o A Comparison of Two Rivers
for it.
o Rivers in Mythology
(2) This mythical river of course does not exist, though there are several
possible theories about how it came to be in maps. Perhaps an early mapmaker B. Which of the paragraphs explains how the error may have happened?
hypothesized that such a river probably existed; then this hypothesized river
was copied form map to map. Perhaps, instead, a smaller river was actually o Paragraph (1)
seen, and its path from the Rockies to the Pacific was assumed. o Paragraph (2)

The first question asks you for the best title for the passage. In any passage, you should be sure to read the first sentence of
each paragraph in order to determine the subject, title, topic or main idea. In this example the first sentence of the first
paragraph states that “early maps of the North American continent showed a massive river that began in the Rocky Mountains”.
The first sentence of the second paragraph states that “This mythical river of course does not exist”. If you read only at the first
paragraph you might choose the first answer, but this answer does NOT mention that the river does not exist. The third answer is
incorrect because the comparison between the Buenaventura River and the Mississippi River is only a small detail in the first
paragraph. The fourth answer is not correct because the text does not mention anything about mythology; it just considers the
river mythical. If you carefully analyze the first sentences of both paragraphs, you can deduce that the correct answer to question
A is the second option.

The second question asks you to choose the paragraph that explains how the error may have happened. To answer this
question you must also identify the topic of each paragraph. In TOEFL test, as it was previously mentioned, you can do this by
reading carefully the first question of each paragraph. However, in other type of tests this might not be the only way to catch the
topic of a paragraph. In that respect, you must skim the text and identify the topic sentence of each paragraph, which definitely
should in the first part of each one of them.

Continuing with question B, the first sentence of paragraph (2) states that “This mythical river of course does not exist” and that
“there are several possible theories about how it came to be in maps”. From this, it can be determined that the second paragraph
tries to explain how the errors on maps may have occurred.
The following chart outlines the key information that you should remember about main idea question in Reading exercises:
How to identify the question
Where to find the answer
How to answer the question
MAIN IDEA QUESTIONS
- What is the topic of the passage?
- What is the subject of the passage?
- What is the main idea of the passage?
- What is the author’s main point in the passage?
- With what is the author primarily concerned?
- Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
- Paragraph (#) is mainly about? // The main topic of paragraph (#) is?
- The answer to this type of question can generally be determined by looking at the first
sentence of each paragraph.
- If the first sentence of a paragraph doesn’t provide you a clear idea, look up the topic
sentence of that paragraph. Remember that topic sentences tend to be in the first
part of the paragraphs.
1. Read the first sentence and/or identify the topic sentence of each paragraph.
2. Look for a common theme, a common idea in the first lines and/or topic sentences of
each paragraph.
3. Scan the text quickly over the rest of the passage that you have really identified the
topic sentence(s).
4. Identify recurrent vocabulary and word families while you scan and skim the text.