American Diploma · ACT · Reading

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

Paired passages, passages with tables and charts, and evaluating arguments and evidence on ACT Reading, with worked examples, a full paired-passage practice set and a science passage with data.

American Diploma › ACT English and Reading — Complete Course

What this question type tests

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas questions ask you to combine information: two passages with each other, or a passage with a chart, graph or table. They also ask you to judge how well an author supports a claim. This category is 19–26% of the scored ACT Reading questions (about 5 to 7 of the 27). Every ACT form contains either a paired-passage set or a passage with charts or graphs, so you must be ready for both.

Format	What it looks like	Typical stems (in our own words)
Paired passages	Two shorter texts on the same topic, labelled Passage A and Passage B, sharing one set of 9 questions	"Both authors would most likely agree that:" / "How would the author of Passage B most likely respond to … in Passage A?" / "A difference between the passages is that:"
Passage with a graphic	An informational passage plus a table, chart or graph	"According to the table, …" / "The data in the table most directly support which statement in the passage?"
Evaluating arguments	Any passage that makes a claim	"The author's count of … is mainly offered as evidence that:" / "This limitation most directly weakens which claim?"

Method 1: Paired passages

Read the blurb carefully. It tells you who wrote each passage (a planner, a shopkeeper, a scientist). Their roles often explain their views.
Read Passage A, then answer only the Passage A questions. They are usually the first questions in the set.
Read Passage B, then answer the Passage B questions.
Last, answer the questions about both passages. Before you do, write one line: "A thinks … / B thinks … / They agree on …".
Classify the relationship. Does B agree, disagree, or qualify (agree in part and add conditions)? On the ACT, "qualify" is very common: B usually accepts part of A's view.
For "How would author B respond to A?" questions: find the line in A, then find the place in B that discusses the same idea, and answer from B's words only.

Relationship	What it means	Signal words in Passage B
Agrees	Same position, maybe new support	similarly, I share, indeed
Disagrees	Opposite position	but, however, the opposite is true, mistaken
Qualifies	Accepts part, adds limits or conditions	this does not mean …, some … others, it depends on
Questions the evidence	Doubts HOW the claim is supported, not necessarily the claim	a single, not typical, measure before you decide

القطعتين المزدوجتين

اقرا القطعة الأولى وحل أسئلتها، بعدين التانية وحل أسئلتها، وفي الآخر أسئلة الاتنين مع بعض. والنقطة المهمة: الكاتب التاني غالبًا مش بيرفض الأول خالص، هو بيوافق على جزء ويحط شروط (qualifies). ابعد عن الاختيارات اللي فيها always أو completely.

Method 2: Passages with a table, chart or graph

Read the title, the column headings and the units first (°C, %, millions, per year). Most data mistakes are unit or column mistakes.
Find the exact row and column the question names. Put your finger (or cursor) on the number before you calculate.
Do the arithmetic on paper for "how much greater" or "what percentage" questions. Differences and percentages are different things.
For text + data questions, check both halves: the statement must be in the passage AND the numbers must show it.
Do not over-read the data. A table of one week cannot prove a pattern for every season; a correlation is not proof of a cause.

Method 3: Evaluating arguments and evidence

To judge an argument, separate the claim (what the author wants you to believe) from the evidence (what he offers to support it), then ask whether the evidence is strong enough for the claim.

Kind of evidence	Strength	Typical limitation the ACT asks about
Personal observation / one event	Vivid, but limited	May not be typical (one evening, one place)
Anecdote or quotation	Shows an example	Others may disagree; not representative
Measurement over time / survey	Stronger	Depends on sample size, place and period
Experiment with a comparison group	Strongest for cause–effect	Results may not apply to other conditions

The "weakens" question

When a question says a limitation "most directly weakens" a claim, look for the claim that goes BEYOND what was measured (other places, other times, everyone, always). Claims that simply repeat what was measured are not weakened.

Worked examples

Two short texts and a table (shorter than real ACT material, so we can focus on the method).

Text 1 (a museum director): When our museum began opening its doors free of charge on the first Friday of every month, attendance on those evenings tripled. Families pushed prams through galleries that had been almost empty on ordinary weekday evenings. Free entry, I am convinced, is the surest way to bring a museum to people who have never visited one.

Text 2 (a researcher who studies museum visitors): Free-entry days are popular, but popularity is not the same as reaching new audiences. When visitors on free days are asked about their habits, many turn out to be regular museum-goers who have simply chosen the cheapest evening. A museum that wants people who have never visited may need to go further, for example by running events in neighbourhoods far from the city centre.

Visitors to the museum on two Fridays in March Day | Total visitors | First-time visitors Free-entry Friday | 1,800 | 270 Ordinary Friday | 600 | 120

Worked example 1 — how would author B respond?

Question: The researcher in Text 2 would most likely respond to the director's final claim in Text 1 by:

A) agreeing that free entry is the surest way to attract new visitors.
B) denying that attendance rose on free-entry evenings.
C) arguing that museums should charge more on ordinary evenings.
D) questioning whether the extra visitors were mainly people who had never visited before.

Answer: D. Text 2 grants that free days are "popular" but says "popularity is not the same as reaching new audiences" because many free-day visitors are regulars. That is a challenge to the director's conclusion, not to the attendance figures.

A is wrong — Reversed: the researcher argues that a museum "may need to go further."
B is wrong — Too extreme: Text 2 accepts that free days are popular; it questions who came, not how many.
C is wrong — Outside both texts: prices on ordinary evenings are never discussed.

Worked example 2 — what both authors agree on

Question: Both authors would most likely agree that free-entry days:

A) attract large numbers of visitors.
B) are the best way to reach new audiences.
C) should be replaced by events in distant neighbourhoods.
D) are attended mostly by regular museum-goers.

Answer: A. Text 1: attendance "tripled." Text 2: "Free-entry days are popular." The shared ground is popularity.

B is wrong — Only the director believes this.
C is wrong — Too extreme even for the researcher, who suggests going "further," not replacing free days.
D is wrong — Only the researcher says this.

Worked example 3 — integrating a table

Question: Which conclusion about the two Fridays is best supported by the table?

A) More first-time visitors came on the ordinary Friday than on the free-entry Friday.
B) First-time visitors made up a smaller percentage of visitors on the free-entry Friday than on the ordinary Friday.
C) Free entry doubled the total number of visitors.
D) Every visitor on the free-entry Friday was a regular museum-goer.

Answer: B. Free Friday: 270 ÷ 1,800 = 15%. Ordinary Friday: 120 ÷ 600 = 20%. B is supported, and it fits the researcher's point in Text 2: more people came, but a smaller share were new.

A is wrong — Reversed: 270 is more than 120 in raw numbers. This trap confuses numbers with percentages.
C is wrong — Wrong arithmetic: 1,800 is three times 600, not double.
D is wrong — Too extreme and contradicted: 270 visitors were first-timers.

Worked example 4 — evaluating evidence

Question: The evidence the director offers in Text 1 is best described as:

A) a long-term study comparing several museums.
B) an expert's survey of visitors' habits.
C) an observation of attendance at one museum that does not show who the visitors were.
D) a controlled experiment with first-time visitors.

Answer: C. The director reports attendance ("tripled") and what he saw (families with prams). He gives no information about whether the visitors were new, which is exactly the gap Text 2 attacks.

A is wrong — Too broad: only one museum is described, with no long-term study.
B is wrong — Wrong text: the survey of habits is the researcher's evidence in Text 2.
D is wrong — Nothing in Text 1 is an experiment.

Classic traps

Mixing up the authors. A choice that is true for Passage A is offered for a Passage B question. Label each idea A or B in your notes.
Assuming total disagreement. Paired authors usually share some ground; the second often qualifies the first.
Wrong column, wrong row, wrong unit. Read the headings and units before every data question.
Numbers vs percentages. A larger number can be a smaller share (270 of 1,800 vs 120 of 600).
Over-reading data. One week, one place, one group cannot prove "always" or "everywhere".
Attacking the claim instead of the evidence. "The festival is not typical" questions the evidence; it does not say car-free streets are bad.

Fast strategy for test day

Paired passages: A questions → B questions → both-passage questions.
Write a one-line summary of each author's view before the "both" questions.
Graphics: title → headings → units → the exact cell → calculate on paper.
Evidence questions: name the evidence type (one event, survey, experiment) and its limit.
EXCEPT questions: cross out each choice you can find in the text; the one left is the answer.

Practice

Test 1 is a full paired-passage set (two texts of about 350 words) with 9 questions, as on the real test. Test 2 is a short natural-science passage with a data table and 4 questions. Both are untimed; for the paired set, aim for about 10 minutes.

Remember

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas = 19–26% of scored ACT Reading questions; every form has either a paired-passage set or a passage with charts or graphs.
Paired passages: A, then B, then both. The second author often qualifies the first rather than rejecting it.
Data: title, headings, units, exact cell; check both the text and the numbers.
Evaluate evidence by its type and its limits: one event is weaker than measurement over time.
A limitation weakens only the claims that go beyond what was actually measured.

All pages in this course

Start here

English: Conventions of Standard English

English: Production of Writing and Knowledge of Language

Reading

Practice tests