Wouldn't it be easier if the essay you were reading had a title? If it did, you would have a good idea from the start what the main point of the essay was. The writers of the GRE purposefully exclude the title so that it is up to you to decipher the essay and its "Big Idea".

Most of the GRE questions, particularly higher skill level questions, aren't about details; they concern the main idea (aka the Big Idea). The tone, scope, and implications of the main idea usually hold the key to answering more than half the questions on a given passage. The main idea is the Rosetta stone of a passage, helping us decipher the passage and discern its structure. Accordingly, we must focus our strategy on finding the author's point of view and main idea.

In nearly all GRE passages, the author will be making an argument of some form. Don't expect the main point of a passage to be "World War I was fought from 1914 to 1918.” Instead, it's more likely to be "World War I was extended by Britain's needless and poorly executed intervention" (that is, a specific, detailed argument instead of a general, unbiased presentation of facts).

An author can't just make a statement like the one above without substantial support. This means that the argument must contain the elements of persuasion:

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3b. Long Essays

5. Diagnose Author's Purpose