Integrate Multiple Sources (including visuals)
Expect paired passages or passage-plus-visual sets, especially in humanities, social science, and natural science. Read each source for its specific contribution, then choose the answer that matches the combined evidence without overstating it.
核心知识
In ACT Reading, multiple-source questions ask what the sources support together, not just what one isolated line says. The test often frames that work through paired passages or through a passage linked to a figure, table, map, or chart.
深入理解
Start with the format before you start with the answer choices. In this reporting category, ACT Reading often prefers paired passages or passages with visuals and quantitative information, especially in informational genres such as humanities, social science, and natural science. Your job is to identify what each source contributes, then decide what the sources together support, complicate, or leave uncertain.
- For paired passages: compare claim, purpose, tone, and evidence before deciding where the authors overlap or divide.
- For passage-plus-visual sets: read the title, labels, units, and trend first, then connect the data to the author's claim.
- Scope check: keep each conclusion tied to what all relevant sources actually support.
Good answers respect the full evidence set. Wrong answers often lean on only one source, overstate a conclusion, flatten a disagreement, or add background knowledge the text never gives.
知识点教程
4Synthesize information from multiple passages or paired passage sets.
Synthesis combines the main point from each source into one supported idea.
Integrate visual/quantitative information (graph, figure, table) with the text.
Read the graphic and the passage together, then use the data to sharpen or limit the claim.
Identify agreement/disagreement between sources and explain implications.
Sources can agree on the main claim while differing on details, emphasis, or implication.
Use combined evidence to draw supported conclusions.
A valid conclusion fits every source without overstating the evidence.