In SOL reading prep, what is annotation primarily used for?

• A. Marking important ideas, evidence, and questions in the margins to aid recall and analysis.
• B. Highlighting every sentence in the passage.
• C. Writing a full summary before reading.
• D. Skimming the text to finish quickly.

Answer: (B)

Annotation is active reading that helps you remember and analyze the text by marking key ideas, evidence, and questions in the margins. By choosing and labeling the parts that matter—where the author states the main claim, what evidence is used, how examples support a point, and where you have uncertainties—you create a personal map of the passage. This makes it easier to recall details later and to see how the argument is built, which is essential for answering questions accurately.

Highlighting every sentence isn’t effective because it treats the whole text as equally important, which makes it hard to distinguish the truly significant parts. Writing a full summary before reading shifts the activity from engaging with the text to pre-planning, not annotation itself. Skimming to finish quickly is about speed, not comprehension. The goal of annotation is to slow down just enough to engage with the ideas, connect evidence to claims, and note any questions you want to revisit.