Identify Main Ideas and Details
33.3%of exam
Main ideaSpecific detailsImplied detailsDocument rationaleRelevant evidence
Apply Instructions or Information
50%of exam
Step orderConditionsSame situationNew situationInferred principles
Identify Meanings and Definitions
16.7%of exam
Context cluesWordsPhrasesAcronymsTechnical terms
Quick Facts
- Assessment owner
- ACT
- Total items
- 35
- Test length
- 55 minutes
- Delivery
- Online and paper
- Difficulty levels
- Levels 3–7
- Operational blueprint
- 30 items
- Skill domains
- 3
- Critical workplace skill
- Apply instructions and information
- NCRC role
- One of three core assessments
MAP the Document
Message, Audience, Purpose
MessageAudiencePurpose
Main Idea vs Detail
Main idea
- Covers the entire document
- States the central message
- Avoids narrow examples
Detail
- Supports a narrower point
- Provides specific task information
- May answer who or when
Match answer scope to question
Document Evidence Picker
- Question asks overall point→State the main idea(Cover the whole document)
- Question asks why→Identify the underlying rationale(Look beyond one detail)
- Question asks according to→Locate explicit document evidence(Avoid outside assumptions)
- Needed detail is unstated→Infer from combined evidence(Require textual support)
- Passage contains extra facts→Filter by requested decision(Ignore irrelevant details)
- Sources appear inconsistent→Compare scope and conditions(Track each source)
- Answer paraphrases text→Match meaning, not wording(Preserve every condition)
- Two answers seem supported→Choose the fully supported answer(Reject added claims)
Workplace Document Types
- Informational document
- Conveys workplace facts or updates
- Instructional document
- Directs a process or activity
- Policy document
- States workplace rules and expectations
- Contract
- States binding terms and obligations
- Legal document
- Communicates legal requirements or rights
- Multiple related documents
- Connect common topics across sources
- Message
- Provides concise workplace communication
- Communicates workplace information electronically
- Letter
- Provides formal written communication
- Sign
- Displays immediate workplace direction
- Bulletin
- Announces information to workplace readers
- Website
- Presents workplace information online
Difficulty Rises with CITE
Complexity, Inference, Terminology, Extraneous details
ComplexityInferenceTerminologyExtraneous details
Explicit vs Implied Details
Explicit
- Directly stated in text
- Requires accurate location
- Needs no added inference
Implied
- Not directly stated
- Requires combined evidence
- Must remain text-supported
Infer only when evidence requires it
Ideas, Details, and Rationale
- Main idea
- States the document's central message
- Document rationale
- Explains the document's underlying reason
- Section rationale
- Explains one section's underlying reason
- Specific detail
- Provides explicitly stated task information
- Implied detail
- Requires inference from document evidence
- Supporting detail
- Develops or clarifies the main idea
- Relevant detail
- Directly affects the requested decision
- Extraneous detail
- Does not affect the requested decision
- Condition
- Changes when an instruction applies
- Exception
- Limits an otherwise general rule
- Scope
- Defines who or what applies
- Audience
- Identifies the document's intended readers
Level 6 vs Level 7
Level 6
- Long, complex documents
- Meaning is often implied
- Applies principles to new situations
Level 7
- Very complex documents
- Many distributed details
- Direction may lack clarity
Level 7 increases document complexity
Level 6 Skills
- Document complexity
- Long and structurally complex
- Vocabulary
- Advanced and often unfamiliar
- Term meanings
- Often implied by context
- Details
- Include implied and extraneous information
- Implied detail task
- Infer unstated task information
- Jargon task
- Infer specialized meaning from context
- New application
- Transfer instructions beyond described situations
- Principle transfer
- Apply inferred guidance to new situations
- Rationale task
- Identify underlying document purpose
- Cross-source reading
- Connect multiple related documents
- Direction clarity
- May require resolving ambiguity
- Cumulative skills
- Includes Levels 3 through 5
Workplace Documents vs Graphic Literacy
Workplace Documents
- Uses written workplace passages
- Finds textual evidence
- Applies document instructions
Graphic Literacy
- Uses workplace graphics
- Interprets visual information
- Separate WorkKeys assessment
Choose evidence from the tested medium
Level 7 Skills
- Document complexity
- Very complex and detail-heavy
- Concepts
- Can be complicated or uncommon
- Vocabulary
- Advanced, uncommon, and specialized
- Jargon
- Often unusual and undefined
- Direction clarity
- May be unclear or indirect
- Information placement
- Spreads evidence throughout documents
- Implied detail task
- Synthesizes distributed document evidence
- Context task
- Infers uncommon technical meanings
- New application
- Transfers guidance to novel situations
- Principle task
- Applies inferred principles beyond text
- Rationale task
- Identifies whole-document rationale
- Cumulative skills
- Includes Levels 3 through 6
CASE for Instructions
Conditions, Actions, Sequence, Exceptions
ConditionsActionsSequenceExceptions
Same vs New Situation
Same situation
- Matches described conditions
- Uses stated instructions directly
- Appears at lower levels
New situation
- Changes the described context
- Requires transfer or inference
- Appears at higher levels
Check whether conditions actually match
Instruction Action Picker
- Question asks first→Find the initiating condition(Start the correct branch)
- Question asks next→Confirm completed prior steps(Follow document order)
- Question asks last→Identify the closing action(Check required verification)
- Situation matches exactly→Apply the stated instruction(Do not generalize unnecessarily)
- One condition changes→Select the matching conditional branch(Recheck exceptions)
- Situation is similar→Transfer relevant stated guidance(Preserve material conditions)
- Situation is completely new→Apply the inferred principle(Use document rationale)
- Instruction conflicts with preference→Follow the applicable document(Ignore personal practice)
Instruction Application
- Step sequence
- Orders actions required for completion
- First step
- Starts the required procedure
- Next step
- Follows the completed current action
- Last step
- Finishes the required procedure
- Same situation
- Matches the described workplace conditions
- Similar situation
- Changes details but preserves structure
- New situation
- Requires transferring document guidance
- Conditional instruction
- Applies only when conditions hold
- Changing condition
- Requires selecting a different action
- Inferred principle
- Generalizes the document's underlying guidance
- Task goal
- Defines the required workplace outcome
- Applicable instruction
- Matches all stated task conditions
TRACE Related Documents
Topic, Roles, Authors, Conditions, Evidence
TopicRolesAuthorsConditionsEvidence
Level 4 vs Level 5
Level 4
- Straightforward workplace documents
- Occasional changing conditions
- Mostly familiar vocabulary
Level 5
- Longer, more detailed documents
- Adds contracts and legal materials
- Uses jargon and acronyms
Level 5 adds transfer and terminology
Level 3 Skills
- Document complexity
- Short, simple, and direct
- Extra information
- Absent at this level
- Vocabulary
- Common everyday workplace words
- Details
- Few and clearly stated
- Document types
- Informational, instructional, and policy
- Main idea task
- Identify the directly stated point
- Detail task
- Locate directly stated information
- Sequence task
- Place short steps correctly
- Application task
- Use guidance in matching situations
- Question wording
- Often closely matches document wording
Workplace Documents vs Applied Math
Workplace Documents
- Reads written workplace texts
- Applies text-based instructions
- Interprets workplace language
Applied Math
- Uses workplace mathematical reasoning
- Solves quantitative problems
- Separate WorkKeys assessment
Do not import math skills
Level 4 Skills
- Document complexity
- Straightforward with longer sentences
- Vocabulary
- Familiar with some advanced words
- Details
- More numerous but mostly explicit
- Conditionals
- Occasionally change required actions
- Document types
- Informational, instructional, and policy
- Paraphrase task
- Match reworded ideas and details
- Context task
- Infer undefined common word meanings
- Sequence task
- Choose steps across longer procedures
- Changing conditions
- Select a different appropriate action
- Cumulative skills
- Includes all Level 3 skills
Multiple Related Documents
- Minimum document count
- Two or more related documents
- Shared topic
- Connects sources around common content
- Authorship
- Includes two or more authors
- Email string
- Tracks connected workplace messages
- Related webpages
- Combine information on similar topics
- Policy plus inquiry
- Applies rules to stakeholder questions
- Formal plus informal
- Connects policy with practical explanation
- Differing perspectives
- Require understanding source viewpoints
- Cross-document detail
- Requires evidence from multiple sources
- Source attribution
- Tracks which document states information
- Conflict resolution
- Reconciles apparently different instructions
- Task synthesis
- Combines sources for workplace action
CLUE for Meaning
Context, Logic, Usage, Evidence
ContextLogicUsageEvidence
Defined vs Inferred Meaning
Defined
- Meaning appears directly
- Use document-specific wording
- Avoid outside definitions
Inferred
- Meaning comes from context
- Uses surrounding actions and outcomes
- Needs a coherent substitution
Search for a definition first
Meaning and Term Picker
- Term is directly defined→Use the stated definition(Keep document-specific meaning)
- Common word seems unusual→Test meaning in context(Check nearby clues)
- Acronym is expanded→Use the document expansion(Avoid familiar alternatives)
- Jargon is undefined→Infer from described actions(Preserve occupational context)
- Meaning is implied→Combine surrounding evidence(Reject unsupported precision)
- Two meanings seem plausible→Substitute each into context(Choose coherent logic)
- Term appears across sources→Compare each source's usage(Watch changed definitions)
- Outside meaning conflicts→Prefer document-specific evidence(Answer the workplace context)
Words, Phrases, and Terms
- Context clue
- Reveals meaning through nearby information
- Word meaning
- Depends on specific workplace usage
- Phrase meaning
- Combines words into contextual meaning
- Acronym
- Shortens a workplace name or phrase
- Jargon
- Uses specialized workplace vocabulary
- Technical term
- Carries specialized occupational meaning
- Defined term
- Receives meaning directly from text
- Implied meaning
- Requires inference from contextual evidence
- Job-specific meaning
- Applies within a particular occupation
- Nearby evidence
- Supports the selected contextual meaning
- Usage fit
- Tests meaning within the sentence
- Substitution check
- Confirms meaning preserves document logic
Level 5 Skills
- Document complexity
- Longer passages with complex sentences
- Extra information
- Can conceal relevant details
- Vocabulary
- Includes unfamiliar professional language
- Document types
- Adds contracts and legal materials
- Related documents
- Connect information across multiple sources
- Context task
- Infer words and phrases
- Terminology task
- Apply defined jargon and technical terms
- Similar transfer
- Apply guidance to similar situations
- Conditional application
- Apply stated conditions accurately
- Goal inference
- Infer information needed for completion
- Detail search
- Ignore competing extraneous information
- Cumulative skills
- Includes Levels 3 and 4
Common Traps
Answering From Experience
Personal practice may differ ≠ Use the provided document
Detail as Main Idea
One fact is too narrow ≠ Central message covers everything
Ignoring Exceptions
General rule seems tempting ≠ Exception controls matching conditions
Skipping Sequence Conditions
Steps depend on prior actions ≠ Confirm first, next, and last
Choosing Familiar Definitions
Outside meaning may conflict ≠ Use workplace context
Overusing Extra Details
Not every fact matters ≠ Filter by the task
Missing Source Differences
Related documents can differ ≠ Track author and scope
Unsupported Inference
Plausible is not enough ≠ Require document evidence
Reading Graphics Instead
Graphic Literacy is separate ≠ Workplace Documents tests written text
Solving Unasked Math
Applied Math is separate ≠ Follow written information only
Last Minute
- 1.Expect 35 items in 55 minutes
- 2.Know the three reading domains
- 3.Application carries half the blueprint
- 4.Levels 3–7 are cumulative
- 5.Identify answer scope before searching
- 6.Separate main ideas from details
- 7.Distinguish explicit and implied evidence
- 8.Track every stated condition
- 9.Follow first, next, and last
- 10.Apply exceptions when conditions match
- 11.Infer meanings from document context
- 12.Ignore irrelevant extra information
- 13.Track authors across related documents
- 14.Transfer principles only with evidence
- 15.Avoid Applied Math reasoning
- 16.Avoid Graphic Literacy reasoning
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