Supporting Ideas questions are the detail questions on ISEE Reading Comprehension. They ask about something the passage states outright, such as a reason, an example, a step or a fact. The official ISEE guide says they "assess the student's ability to identify explicit ideas that support the main idea or another important concept found in the text." To solve one, find the spot the question points to, read the sentences around it, predict the answer in a few words of your own, pick the choice that means the same thing, and prove it with the text.
Written for students applying to grades 5–12 and their parents, this guide covers wording, official counts, traps, pacing, and two practice passages with eight questions.
Supporting Ideas is one of six official Reading categories, which the guides call strands. The full list is Main Idea, Supporting Ideas, Inference, Vocabulary, Organization/Logic, and Tone/Style/Figurative Language. The definitions on this page come from the official "What to Expect on the ISEE" guides. ERB published them before it merged with the Enrollment Management Association (EMA) to form E3n, the ISEE's current publisher. In the guides' answer keys, a Supporting Ideas item is marked SI.
Two parts of the definition matter. The first is explicit: the answer is stated in the text, so you never have to guess what the author meant or connect clues. That's the Inference strand's job. The second is what the stated idea does: it supports "the main idea or another important concept." Detail questions rarely ask about trivia. They ask about the reasons, examples, evidence and steps an author uses to back up a point, so notice those as you read.
The correct choice usually restates the passage in new words. "Absorb rain that would otherwise rush into storm drains" might become "soak up water before it reaches the sewers." Wrong choices, meanwhile, often borrow exact phrases and attach them to the wrong idea. Match meaning, not vocabulary.
You can usually recognize a detail question from its first few words.
| Stem | Example | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| According to the passage… | According to the passage, the first bridge was built from… | Find the topic word, then the sentence that answers the question. |
| The passage states that… | The passage states that the festival moved indoors because… | The answer is written down. If no line says it, the choice is wrong. |
| Which detail… | Which detail shows that the plan worked? | Find the claim, then the evidence the author gives for it. |
| In lines X–Y, the author mentions… | In lines 12–14, the author mentions that the explorers… | Read from a sentence before the lines to the end of the sentence after. |
| …EXCEPT / …NOT | The passage mentions all of the following EXCEPT… | Three choices are stated. The one left over is the answer. |
ISEE passages print line numbers in the margin, and some questions point to a specific line. Don't read only the cited lines. Sentences rarely start and stop where a printed line does, and the reason or example you need often sits in the sentence just before or after.
These reverse the task: three choices are stated, and the answer is the one that isn't, or that the passage contradicts. Spot the capitalized EXCEPT or NOT first. Then test each choice and give it a line number: "A, line 3. B, line 3. C, lines 3–4. D, nowhere." The choice with no line is your answer.
Detail questions are easy to confuse with Inference and Main Idea questions. The difference isn't the topic of the question. It's where the answer lives.
The official guide says Inference items ask students "to draw a conclusion from content not explicitly stated in the text." So if you can put your finger on a sentence that says what the choice says, even in other words, it's a Supporting Ideas question. If you can only point to clues and must connect them yourself, it's an Inference question.
Main Idea items look for "an overall message, theme, or central idea in the passage or section of the passage." A supporting idea is one piece holding that message up. On a detail question, a choice that sums up the whole passage may be true, but it doesn't answer the specific question.
Worked Example: One Paragraph, Three Question Types
| Strand | Question | Correct answer | Proof |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main Idea | The passage is mainly about… | why many cities now choose street trees for the work they do | The whole paragraph |
| Supporting Ideas | According to the passage, how do street trees help when it rains? | Their roots and soil absorb rain that would otherwise rush into storm drains. | Stated in lines 4–5 |
| Inference | It can be inferred that a city planting small trees this year… | will have to wait for the full benefits | Lines 2 and 5–8 tie the benefits to large, mature trees and call waiting "the hard part" but never say it outright |
The official What to Expect guides give an item range for every strand at every level. Here are the Supporting Ideas ranges, next to the current section format from E3n's 2026–2027 ISEE Quick Facts.
| Level (applying to) | Reading Comprehension section | Scored / unscored | Supporting Ideas items |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lower (grades 5–6) | 25 questions in 25 minutes; 5 passages × 5 questions | 20 scored, 5 unscored | 3–6 (2016 guide) |
| Middle (grades 7–8) | 36 questions in 35 minutes; 6 passages × 6 questions | 30 scored, 6 unscored | 5–12 |
| Upper (grades 9–12) | 36 questions in 35 minutes; 6 passages × 6 questions | 30 scored, 6 unscored | 5–11 |
At Middle and Upper Level, only Inference has a larger possible count, so expect roughly one or two detail questions per passage on average. At Lower Level, it's about one per passage.
| Category | Lower (25 total; 2016 guide) | Middle (36 total) | Upper (36 total) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main Idea | 3–4 | 3–7 | 3–7 |
| Supporting Ideas | 3–6 | 5–12 | 5–11 |
| Inference | 4–8 | 6–13 | 6–14 |
| Vocabulary | 4–8 | 5–9 | 5–9 |
| Organization/Logic | 2–4 | 3–5 | 3–5 |
| Tone/Style/Figurative Language | 1–3 | 1–4 | 1–4 |
Passages cover history, science, literature and contemporary life, in narrative, expository, persuasive and descriptive styles. Upper Level passages run 300 to 600 words and Middle Level passages average about 450; the 2016 Lower Level guide lists 300 to 600. The online and paper tests have the same number of questions, the same timing and the same chances to change answers.
The unscored items counted in the table look like every other question, so there is no way to spot them. Treat each question as if it counts.
These five steps work on every Supporting Ideas question, including line-reference and EXCEPT versions.
Go to the cited lines. With no line numbers, scan for the most searchable word in the stem: a name, number, date or unusual term. If that word isn't in the passage, look for the passage's version of it ("cost" might appear as "money").
Read from the sentence before that spot through the sentence after. Signal words help: because, so and as a result mark reasons; for example and such as mark examples; but and however mark a turn.
Before reading the choices, answer in a few words: "not enough room," "to cool the comb." A rough prediction keeps attractive wrong answers from steering you.
Pick the choice that means what your prediction means, even if the wording is different. Be wary of a choice that copies a phrase from the passage but attaches it to a different idea.
Point to the words that support every part of your choice. If it says "in winter," the passage must say winter. If it says "most," the passage can't say "a few." A choice that is 90 percent right is wrong.
Worked Example: A Line-Reference Question
Question: According to the passage, the librarian changed the truck's collection each month (lines 5–6) because
Most wrong answers on detail questions fit one of five patterns. Naming the pattern makes elimination faster and tells you what to fix when you review a miss.
The choice sounds right, and may even be true in real life, but the passage never says it. Ask, "Where does it say that?" If there's no line, it isn't the answer.
It's built from real material with one piece bent: a number changed, the wrong person credited, the order flipped, or cause and effect swapped. Compare the choice with the text phrase by phrase.
An accurate detail from another part of the passage that answers a different question. Reread the stem and confirm your detail answers that question.
The passage says "many," "often" or "can"; the choice says "all," "always" or "never." If the choice is stronger than the text, it fails the proof step.
In an EXCEPT question, three choices are true statements about the passage. Students who skim the stem pick the first one they recognize. Notice the reversal word first, and eliminate every choice you can find in the text.
Worked Example: Naming the Traps
Using the street-tree passage above: According to the passage, how do street trees help when it rains? Five possible answers (the test gives four):
| Answer choice | Verdict |
|---|---|
| Their roots and soil soak up rain before it reaches storm drains. | Correct: lines 4–5, reworded |
| Their leaves filter pollution out of rainwater. | True but not stated |
| They soak up rain after it has flowed into storm drains. | Distorted detail: order reversed |
| Their leaves shade pavement from the afternoon sun. | Right detail, wrong place: lines 2–3 are about heat |
| They keep city streets from ever flooding. | Extreme wording |
E3n's Quick Facts give Middle and Upper Level students 36 Reading questions in 35 minutes and Lower Level students 25 in 25 minutes, reading time included.
| Level | Per passage | Per question | Suggested split |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lower | 5 min | 60 sec | About 2 min reading, then about 35 sec per question |
| Middle | About 5 min 50 sec | About 58 sec | About 2 min reading, then 35–40 sec per question |
| Upper | About 5 min 50 sec | About 58 sec | About 2 min reading, then 35–40 sec per question |
After your first read, a line-reference detail question usually takes 30 to 45 seconds. Questions without line numbers take longer, and EXCEPT questions take longest. The quick ones bank time for the slow ones.
After about 20 seconds of scanning, try a synonym. If that fails, eliminate what you can, choose from what's left, note the question number and move on. If you have time left at the end of the section, come back to it.
Two original passages in ISEE style, four questions each. Read the passage once, then use the five steps. An explanation appears after you check each answer.
For each miss, find the line that proves the right answer and name the trap you fell for. Questions 3 and 6 are EXCEPT items; if you missed either, reread the reversal trap above.
Short, regular practice beats cramming. Repeat this cycle until test day.
| Day | Drill | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Find and prove: one passage, with a line number beside every detail answer | 15 min |
| Tuesday | Paraphrase: rewrite five sentences from an article in your own words | 10 min |
| Wednesday | EXCEPT set: four or five EXCEPT/NOT questions, a line number for each stated choice | 10 min |
| Thursday | One timed passage: 5 min 50 sec (Middle/Upper) or 5 min (Lower) | 10 min |
| Friday | Error log: sort the week's misses by trap name | 10 min |
| Weekend | Every other week, a full timed Reading section | 35 min (25 for Lower) |
Use any ISEE-style passage, including our reading comprehension practice questions and ISEE reading practice sets. Before you check the key, write the line number that proves each detail answer. No line number means you guessed.
They are the ISEE's detail questions. The official What to Expect on the ISEE guide says they "assess the student's ability to identify explicit ideas that support the main idea or another important concept found in the text." The answer is stated in the passage, usually reworded in the answer choices.
The official What to Expect guides list 5 to 12 of the 36 Reading questions at Middle Level, 5 to 11 of 36 at Upper Level, and 3 to 6 of 25 at Lower Level (from the 2016 Lower Level guide). These counts include unscored items: 6 of 36 at Middle and Upper Level, and 5 of 25 at Lower Level.
Yes. Supporting Ideas is the official name, abbreviated SI in the official answer keys. Teachers and prep books often call the same items detail questions or supporting details questions.
A Supporting Ideas answer is stated in the passage, even if the choice uses different words. An Inference answer is never stated; you reach it by connecting clues the passage gives. If you can point to the sentence that says it, it's a detail question; if you can only point to the clues behind it, it's an inference.
Three choices are stated in the passage and one is not. Check each choice against the text and note the line where you found it. The choice you can't find, or that the passage contradicts, is the answer. Notice the word EXCEPT or NOT before you read the choices.
No. Line numbers show you where to start, but the answer often sits in the sentence just before or after the cited lines, and not every question gives line numbers. A quick first read that notes what each paragraph covers makes every look-back faster.
No. E3n's 2026–2027 ISEE Quick Facts say scores are based only on the number of questions answered correctly and incorrect answers are not deducted. Answer every question, even if you have to guess.