Key Steps
- Read the question (do this for every question!)
- Read the passage
- In your own words, make a conclusion for the passage. What is the author’s main idea?
- Find a sentence in the text that matches the conclusion you made, and underline it.
- Keep an eye out for giveaway words and phrases
- Find an answer that matches the underlined sentence.
This is a straightforward passage and we can try to find the conclusion on our own, then in the text. The passage is about the difference between watching TV and video games and how they affect children. It shows the benefit of children playing video games instead of watching TV in a comparative manner. From this, we can conclude from the text that playing video games are better for children’s health than watching TV. Note that the conclusion is based on a comparison, we are not saying that playing video games are good for your health but rather saying they are better for your health than watching TV. Now, let’s find this in the text: “It’s better for your children’s health to give them a video game to play than to let them watch television.” This is a perfect match to what we said earlier. Note the position of this sentence, it’s the first one. This shows us that the conclusion can be anywhere in the text.
A. Playing video games helps to reduce children’s blood pressure.
This is evidence, not a full conclusion. We are using this to prove that video games are better for children’s health than watching TV. Also, note that we are making a comparison, we cannot conclude that video games reduce blood pressure, but we can confirm that the blood pressure will be lower playing video games than it would be watching TV. Therefore A is incorrect.
B. Watching television does not stimulate children’s minds.
This cannot be found in the text, it says that video games engage children’s body and mind more than TV but it does not make a related comment on TV. Therefore B is incorrect.
C. Video gaming engages both the mind and the body.
This is a statement used as additional reasoning as to why video games are better for the mind and body than television is. This is not what the author is trying to prove, and therefore C is incorrect.
D. Video gaming is better for children’s health than watching television.
This is what all the evidence is showing the reader and it is also directly stated in the text, which is what we want to see when solving main conclusion-type problems. The author is comparing the effects of watching television to video games, and all the evidence is showing that video games are better than watching television for children’s health. Therefore D is correct.
E. Children burn more calories when they play video games than when they watch television.
Again, this is another example of evidence as to why video games are better for children’s health than watching tv. It is not a conclusion in itself. Therefore E is incorrect.