Glossary
explicit
Explicit means said outright in the passage — the reader can point at the sentence that says it, even when an option paraphrases it.
Explicit means it is said outright in the passage. An explicit statement is one the reader can point at: the sentence is there, and finding it settles the question, even when the option phrases the point in other words. Items test this from both sides — which statement is directly stated? asks you to find the printed one, and which of these is NOT stated? asks you to find the one that is only implied or absent while the others are printed. The work is the same either way: take each option and look for its sentence. A careful reader checks the small words too, because a near-explicit option that reverses a direction (below the line for above it) is still not printed. When no sentence can be found, the option is implied at best and beyond the text at worst, and either way it is not the answer to a question that asked what the passage says outright.
Taught in
Source: The reading skills ATI names in its own Content Outline (R.1.1-R.1.6, under the Key ideas and details sub-content area); each definition below is written for the Key Ideas and Details guide in this exam, in our own words, and explains the skill the way the guide teaches it. (ATI Content Outline read 2026-10-08; definitions written 2026-10-09)