Reading & Writing · Information and Ideas · CID
Central Ideas and Details
Central Ideas and Details is the 'what did the passage actually say' skill. Top-band misses pick a true detail that is not the idea, or an idea that is broader than the text.
What Bluebook is testing
CID is main idea, primary purpose at the passage or paragraph level, and details that the text states. Not inference — that is INF.
How it shows up
Information and Ideas is ~26% of Reading & Writing. These stems are short. The wrong answers are true-of-the-world or true-of-a-sentence, not true-of-the-point.
A method that survives Module 2
For main idea, read the first and last sentences of the blurb, then check the middle for a turn (but, however, yet). For a detail, go find the sentence. Do not answer from memory of the topic. Kill any choice the passage never says, even if it sounds reasonable.
Traps that look like knowledge
- A detail that appears in the text but is not what the question asked
- A main idea that is one notch too broad ('science is important')
- A main idea that is one notch too narrow (a single example treated as the thesis)
- A choice that matches the first sentence and ignores the turn
Questions
- What is "Central Ideas and Details" on the Digital SAT?
- It is an official College Board skill in Digital SAT Reading & Writing. The wording on Bluebook matches the domain taxonomy Drilled uses in drills, analytics, and the notebook.
- How does Drilled train Central Ideas and Details?
- Filter the bank to the skill, run a timed drill, autopsy every miss, and let the notebook bring the same pattern back. Domain drills and full section sims include the skill at the official mix.
- What is the most common trap on Central Ideas and Details?
- A detail that appears in the text but is not what the question asked
Related
Hard practice. $19 a month.
7 days free. Adaptive sims, skill drills, error autopsy. Not affiliated with College Board.