Benchmarks
Literature
Facts
More facts
Strategies
100
Mostly what the story is about, like a summary.
What is the Main Idea?
100
The term for the important events that happen in the beginning, middle, and end of a story.
What is the plot?
100

Instead of relying on your memory, you should do this when answering the questions.


go back in the story/passage


100
What they mean when you are asked to give the passage a new title.
What is another way of asking for the Main Idea?
100
The first thing you should do when you are given the passage to read.
What is look at the title?
200
Something that can be proved or disproved.
What is a fact?
200
The order that things happen in a story.
What is the sequence of events or chronological order?
200
A quick way to search for an answer in the text.
What is to skim or scan?
200
Why something happens.
What is a cause?
200
After looking at the title, the next step you should take.
What is looking at the way the passage is organized - bold faced type, headings, etc.?
300
What a person thinks or feels about a subject.
What is an opinion?
300
The time and place in which a story happens.
What is the setting?
300
The reason the author wrote the article.
What is the author's purpose?
300
What happens as a result of an action.
What is an effect?
300
After looking at the way the passage is organized, the next step you should take.
What is previewing the questions?
400
Finding how two things are similiar.
What is comparing them?
400
What you think might happen next in the story based on what you have just read.
What is a prediction?
400
The best way to answer a multiple choice question.
What is answer the question in your head first, then look at the choices given and see if one of the choices is the same as your answer?
400
A short statement that tells about the Main Idea in a story or article.
What is a summary?
400
Something important you do as you preview the questions.
What is underline key words/phrases and write down the type of question it is?
500
Finding how two things are different.
What is contrasting them?
500
The important message of a story.
What is the theme?
500
An educated guess based on the information in the text and your background knowledge.
What is an inference?
500
What is used to figure out a meaning of an unfamiliar word.
What is a context clue?
500
While reading the passage, what you should be doing to the text.
What is underlining the Main Idea of each paragraph, or writing a short summary of each section in the margin?
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