Overview
Sound analysis can still produce a wrong answer if the instruction asks for the incorrect statement, the main idea, an inference or the function of a detail. Identify the task before you open the evidence file.
The main families
- •Correct statement: an option must be fully supported.
- •Incorrect statement: look for what the passage refutes, not merely what it omits.
- •Inference: accept only a conclusion that is necessary or strongly constrained.
- •Main idea: choose the option that covers the whole passage without becoming vague.
- •Author's purpose: describe what the text does — explain, compare, challenge, recommend.
- •Function of a detail: ask what that detail does within the argument.
The polarity trap
In a question asking for the incorrect option, a statement that is absent is not automatically false. "The text doesn't say so" often means unproven, whereas the instruction requires a contradiction.
Function example
Passage: "Online applications have reduced average processing times. However, users without a digital identity remain dependent on the counter service."
Why does the author mention users without a digital identity?
Answer: to limit the scope of the benefit announced in the first sentence. The detail does not change the subject; it adds a structuring exception.
Instruction card
Before each question, sum up the task with a verb: prove, refute, infer, summarise, explain. That verb then drives your reading.