Using Kitchen Logic

When a question asks the test taker to identify a main idea, you should first focus on the opening and ending sentences of the passage and each individual paragraph. If you can’t find the main idea from these key sentences, then ask yourself how you would describe the passage to someone who had never read it. Which words and phrases would you use to explain the principle ideas of the passage?

This is called “Kitchen Logic” - when you explain something the way you would if you were talking to your friends and family, while sitting

at your kitchen table. So, when faced with identifying the main idea of a difficult passage, make it easier on yourself by backing away from the passage and thinking about it in terms of using easy “kitchen logic”.