There are two categories of comprehension questions on the Regents' Reading Test. They are literal comprehension questions and inferential comprehension questions.
All comprehension questions (whether literal comprehension questions or inferential comprehension questions) are asking you about the CONTENT of a passage--what it's about, what it says, what it means.
Read pages 1-10 in your white book. (Stop reading when you get to the "Analysis" section.) Underline the sentences in this lesson that actually make sense to you and that you find helpful. You will be reporting on these to me soon. Do the exercises on pages 20-22.
Some questions on the Regents' Test require you to identify the topic of a passage or select a good title for the passage. For items like this ask yourself, "Whom or what is this passage about?"
To answer a question about the main idea or the central point of a passage, you must first determine what the topic is. Then ask yourself, "What is the writer trying to say about this topic?"
One common mistake students make with topic or main idea questions is that they select an answer choice that is either too broad or too narrow. If it is too broad (too general, not specific enough), it covers more than what the passage does. If it is too narrow (not general enough, too specific), it doesn't cover enough of what the whole passage is about. You may need to practice determining whether one statement is more general or more specific than another.
Do some of the MAIN IDEA exercises below from Townsend Press. (Find the starting level at which you feel comfortable and then try to work your way up to higher levels.