Big picture
An informational text explains a subject, presents findings or argues a position using reasons and evidence. Unlike a narrative, its main purpose is usually to help readers understand an issue rather than follow a sequence of fictional events. School passages may combine descriptions, survey results, expert observations and suggestions, so you need to recognise what each part contributes.
Suppose a school proposes replacing disposable cups with reusable bottles. Before agreeing with a claim about success, ask what was measured, who participated and whether the evidence supports the conclusion. These same questions make you a careful reader of examination passages, newspaper reports and messages shared online.
Learning goals
Identify the central idea, purpose and intended audience of an informational passage.
Distinguish facts, opinions, claims, evidence and recommendations.
Recognise common text structures and relationships between paragraphs.
Read tables and compare quantities with correct units and denominators.
Evaluate inferences, limitations and cause-and-effect claims.
Summarise information and answer vocabulary questions using context.
Core ideas
1. Find the central idea and supporting details
The central idea is the main point developed across the text. A supporting detail explains, illustrates or justifies that point. If a passage discusses how a school reduced food waste through measurement and pupil suggestions, its main idea is the improvement process, not merely the number of bins installed.
Read the opening and conclusion, then check whether the proposed central idea covers the middle paragraphs. A title should match this overall focus. “Measuring Waste, Improving Lunch” suits a passage about monitoring and action; “The Green Bin” may focus too narrowly on an object. Do not assume the first sentence always states the complete main idea: some writers build towards it through examples.
2. Original practice passage: Counting What Comes Back
At a secondary school in Indore, the environment club wanted to reduce food discarded after lunch. Members first suggested putting up colourful posters. Their teacher asked a different question: what food was being thrown away, and why? The club decided to observe before choosing a solution.
For one school week, volunteers collected edible leftovers from lunch trays separately from fruit peels and packaging. They weighed only the edible leftovers. The school served the same number of lunches each day during this observation. The results are shown below. All measurements in this example are invented for practice.
Several pupils said that they took large first servings because they worried that a second serving might not be available. Others explained that a long queue left them little time to finish. These comments did not prove that portion size was the only cause of waste, but they suggested changes worth trying.
In a later trial, staff offered a smaller first serving with a clearly announced opportunity to return for more. They also opened a second serving point. During that trial week, the average daily mass of edible leftovers was 12 kg, compared with 18 kg during the observation week. The number of lunches served remained unchanged.
The club welcomed the reduction but did not describe it as a permanent solution. Menus, attendance and the time available for lunch could affect future results. Because two changes were introduced together, the measurements could not show how much each change contributed. The club recommended repeating the measurements and asking pupils whether they had enough to eat. Its aim was to reduce waste without encouraging anyone to skip a meal.
Observation day | Edible leftovers |
|---|---|
Monday | 16 kg |
Tuesday | 20 kg |
Wednesday | 18 kg |
Thursday | 22 kg |
Friday | 14 kg |
3. Understand purpose, audience and register
Purpose is what the writer wants the text to achieve: explain, inform, persuade, compare or evaluate. This passage explains a school investigation and evaluates its limits. It also recommends careful follow-up. A passage can have more than one purpose, but an answer should identify the dominant one from the whole text.
Audience means the intended readers. References to lunch trays, pupils and school staff make this example suitable for a school community. Its register, or level of formality, is clear and measured. It avoids a slogan such as “Our school has solved waste forever!” because that would make a claim stronger than the evidence. When asked about tone, “cautiously positive” is more accurate than “triumphant” or “hopeless.”
4. Separate facts, opinions and recommendations
A fact is a statement that can be checked against evidence. An opinion expresses a judgement or preference. A recommendation proposes an action. “The trial average was 12 kg” reports the passage's data; “colourful posters are the best solution” would be a judgement; “repeat the measurements” is a recommendation.
Statement from the investigation | Function | Reason |
|---|---|---|
Volunteers weighed edible leftovers | Method | Explains how information was collected |
Some pupils feared missing second servings | Reported response | Records what respondents said |
The trial average was lower | Finding | Compares measured results |
Repeat the measurements | Recommendation | Proposes the next action |
A reported opinion is still an opinion in content: saying “A pupil thought the queue was unfair” records that person's view without proving unfairness. Precise answers distinguish the existence of a comment from the truth of everything asserted in it.
5. Recognise structure and linking words
Common text structures include description, sequence, comparison, cause and effect, and problem and solution. This passage mainly follows problem, investigation, action, results and evaluation. Each paragraph has a role: the opening identifies the problem, the next explains measurement, and the conclusion limits the claim.
Connectives help reveal relationships. “Because” supplies a reason; “however” introduces contrast; “therefore” signals a conclusion; “for example” introduces illustration. In “The club welcomed the reduction but did not describe it as permanent,” “but” warns readers that the second part qualifies the first. A question asking the function of the final paragraph therefore needs “to explain limitations and recommend further checking,” not a repeat of the waste figures.
6. Read quantitative information accurately
Identify the unit, category and time period before calculating. The table measures kilograms of edible leftovers each day, not the number of pupils or the mass of all rubbish. Fruit peels and packaging were excluded. Adding them to an answer changes what the investigation measured.
Worked example: average. Total edible leftovers = 16 + 20 + 18 + 22 + 14 = 90 kg. There are five observation days. Daily mean = 90 ÷ 5 = 18 kg per day. The largest value is 22 kg on Thursday; the smallest is 14 kg on Friday. Their difference is 22 − 14 = 8 kg.
Worked example: percentage reduction. Reduction in daily mean = 18 − 12 = 6 kg. Divide by the original daily mean, not the trial mean: 6 ÷ 18 × 100 = 33⅓%, approximately 33.3%. Dividing by 12 gives 50%, which describes the reduction relative to the later quantity and is not the requested percentage decrease from the baseline.
7. Evaluate evidence without overclaiming
A claim is a statement offered for acceptance; evidence supports or challenges it. Lower measured leftovers support the claim that waste was lower during the trial. They do not establish that the same reduction will occur all year. A short observation period may not represent every menu or attendance pattern.
Correlation means quantities or events vary together; causation means one produces a change in another. Two interventions happened together here, so the study cannot isolate their separate effects. It would be unjustified to say that smaller portions alone caused the full reduction. Further trials could change one factor at a time while keeping other conditions similar. Also ask whether reduced waste came at a cost: pupil feedback about adequate food is necessary to judge the intervention fairly.
8. Make inferences, compare statements and handle assertions
An inference must follow from the evidence without adding a hidden assumption. It is reasonable to infer that access to second servings can influence first-serving choices because some pupils explicitly mention that worry. It is not reasonable to conclude that every pupil took too much or disliked the menu.
For assertion-and-reason questions, first judge each statement independently. Then ask whether the reason actually explains the assertion. “The club should repeat measurements” is supported. “Menus and attendance may affect results” is also supported and explains why repetition is useful. In contrast, the fact that volunteers belong to an environment club does not by itself explain the numerical reduction. Two true statements need not form a correct explanation.
9. Explain vocabulary and write a balanced summary
For contextual vocabulary, substitute a meaning that preserves grammar and sense. “Baseline” means the starting measurement used for comparison; it does not mean the best possible result. “Isolate” in evaluating interventions means distinguish one factor's effect from another, not physically lock something away. Surrounding sentences select the relevant sense.
A model summary is: “A school club measured edible lunch leftovers before testing smaller first servings and an additional serving point. The daily average fell, but the club recognised that simultaneous changes and varying school conditions limited the conclusions. It recommended repeated measurement and pupil feedback.” This includes method, finding and limitation. Omitting the caution would distort the writer's argument; reproducing every daily measurement would make the summary unnecessarily detailed.
A reliable approach to questions
Read for topic, purpose and paragraph roles before studying individual details.
Identify whether the question requires retrieval, comparison, inference, calculation or evaluation.
Locate the evidence and check its category, unit, time period and qualifications.
For calculations, show the operation and use the original value as the percentage-change denominator.
Reject options that generalise from some to all or turn a possible cause into a proven one.
Keep short answers focused and summaries balanced between findings and limitations.
Connections that matter
Mathematics supplies averages, differences and percentage calculations used in data-based passages.
Science develops fair testing, measurement and awareness of uncontrolled variables.
Discursive writing uses the same distinction between a claim, evidence and a justified conclusion.
Common mistakes
Counting peels and packaging as edible leftovers; the investigation explicitly excludes them.
Dividing a percentage decrease by the final amount; divide by the original baseline.
Attributing the whole change to smaller servings; two interventions happened together.
Summarising only success; include the limits and the recommendation for further checking.
Revision checklist
I can identify a central idea and explain each paragraph's role.
I can distinguish reported data, opinion and recommendation.
I can calculate a mean and a percentage reduction using correct units.
I can recognise unsupported generalisations and causal claims.
I can summarise both findings and limitations in my own words.