What is a common strategy to handle long passages under time pressure?

• A. Focus on topic sentences and concluding sentences to capture main ideas.
• B. Read only the introduction.
• C. Skip all questions until the end.
• D. Memorize every paragraph.

Answer: (A)

When you're pressed for time, the aim is to grasp the overall message of a long passage without getting lost in every detail. Focusing on topic sentences and the concluding sentences is the most efficient way to do this because the topic sentence typically states the main point of each paragraph, while the concluding sentence often signals how that point fits into the larger argument or narrative. Reading these parts across the passage helps you map the structure, infer the author’s purpose, and identify the main ideas quickly, which is exactly what you need under time pressure.

Reading only the introduction misses how the ideas develop in the body, so you won’t get the full picture. Skipping questions until the end can backfire when time runs short, since you already know you’ll need to work under a schedule and may lose momentum. Memorizing every paragraph is unnecessary and impractical; you don’t need exact wording to understand and answer questions about the passage’s main ideas and purpose.