Dealing with Details: Purpose of Details - MCAT

The point of the details isn’t that you retain each and every point made in each detail. You have to do two things very quickly–1) understand what is actually being described, and 2) figure out why the author wasted your time bringing it up. How does the point pertain to his argument? Look for combining phrases used to link a point to the rest–does the author say "additionally" (implying that it is further support of the previour point) or "however" (meaning that the point is a caveat that might be partially contrary to the previous point) or "nevertheless" (meaning that a conclusion holds in the face of the caveats presented)? You don’t need to know the details, but you do need to understand them briefly enough to relate them to a central point. Once you understand a point, and you can meake sense of it in context, you can forget it and move on.

Look for these things also in the transitions between paragraphs. Ultimately, you should be looking for a thesis and for a structured support of that thesis. the author is not trying to make you remember a concatenation of facts–they want to convince you of the existence and dynamics of a process.