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ACT Reading reporting category

ACT Integration of Knowledge and Ideas Practice

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas questions ask you to connect sources: compare two passages, judge whether evidence supports a claim, or link a passage to a chart or table. According to ACT, this category makes up 19–26% of scored reading questions. The right answer has to hold for every source the question names.

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19–26% of scored Reading questions3 original questionsInstant answer checks

At a glance

Integration of Knowledge & Ideas on the ACT: the key numbers

Section and category facts from ACT.org, checked October 9, 2026. Time per question is ACT's section time divided by its question count.
SectionACT Reading: 36 questions in 40 minutes
Scored questions27 scored, 9 field test
Reporting categoryIntegration of Knowledge & Ideas
Share of scored questions19–26%, according to ACT
Average time per questionAbout 67 seconds
Counts toward the CompositeYes
Practice on this page3 original questions: Easy, Medium, Hard

What this tests

What does ACT Integration of Knowledge & Ideas test?

Practice questions

Practice ACT Integration of Knowledge & Ideas questions

Pick an answer to check it. Each question has one correct choice.

Question 1 of 3Easy

Passage A: The Corley Public Library should scan its century of bound newspapers and put them online. Right now, anyone who wants to read an old issue must visit during weekday hours and turn brittle pages that tear a little more each time. A searchable archive would let a student find every article about the 1937 flood in minutes, and it would protect the originals from further handling.

Passage B: Scanning the Corley newspapers is worth doing, but the library should not treat the scans as a replacement for the bound volumes. Scans flatten what a reader can learn from the page itself: where a story was placed, what ads ran beside it, how much space an editor gave it. Once the scanning is done, the originals should be stored, not discarded, and opened for researchers who need them.

On which point do the authors of both passages agree?
Show answer and explanation
Correct answerD. The library's old newspapers should be scanned.

How to solve it

  1. Passage A opens: "The Corley Public Library should scan its century of bound newspapers. "
  2. Passage B opens: "Scanning the Corley newspapers is worth doing. "
  3. Both authors support scanning, so D is the shared point. They differ on what should happen to the originals afterward.
Why the other choices miss
A contradicts Passage B, which says the originals "should be stored, not discarded. " B states only Passage B's view; Passage A never says this. C describes the current situation that Passage A criticizes; neither author recommends it.
Question 2 of 3Medium

In April 2022, the city of Harlow converted one traffic lane on Elm Avenue into a protected bike lane, separated from cars by a low concrete curb. Before the change, many cyclists rode on the sidewalk, and pedestrians had complained about near misses for years.

A year later, a city report claimed that the lane "did more than add riders; it moved riders off the sidewalk. " The table shows bicycle counts that city staff took on Elm Avenue from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on one weekday in May of each year.

Bicycle counts on Elm Avenue, one weekday each May
YearRiders in the street or bike laneRiders on the sidewalk
202114095
202223040
202331025
Which choice best describes how the data in the table relate to the city report's claim?
Show answer and explanation
Correct answerB. They are consistent with the claim, because street and lane counts rose while sidewalk counts fell after April 2022.

How to solve it

  1. The passage says the lane opened in April 2022, so the May 2021 count comes before the change and the 2022 and 2023 counts come after.
  2. In the table, street or lane riders rose from 140 to 230 to 310, and sidewalk riders fell from 95 to 40 to 25.
  3. That pattern fits the claim, though totals alone cannot show which individual riders switched. Choice B describes the fit without claiming more.
Why the other choices miss
A misreads the table: sidewalk counts fell each year. C overstates the data: totals cannot show that the same people switched. D contradicts the passage, which says staff counted on one weekday each May.
Question 3 of 3Hard

Passage A: Dunmore should turn the abandoned rail line into a paved trail. When nearby Pell City opened a similar trail, cafes and bike shops appeared along its route within two years. A trail through Dunmore would draw the same weekend crowds, and the empty storefronts on Depot Street would fill. The town council should approve the plan this spring.

Passage B: A trail on the old rail line would be pleasant, and I would use it. But supporters keep pointing to Pell City as proof that shops will follow. Pell City's trail connects to a state park that draws visitors from across the region. Ours would run between a closed factory and the county landfill. Before the council approves the plan, it should ask who, besides residents, would come.

The author of Passage B would most likely respond to the claim in Passage A that "the empty storefronts on Depot Street would fill" by arguing that:
Show answer and explanation
Correct answerC. Pell City's example may not apply, because Pell City's trail connects to a state park that draws outside visitors.

How to solve it

  1. Passage A's prediction rests on Pell City, where "cafes and bike shops appeared along its route within two years. "
  2. Passage B notes that Pell City's trail "connects to a state park that draws visitors from across the region," while Dunmore's would run past a closed factory and a landfill.
  3. So Passage B questions whether the example applies to Dunmore, which is choice C. It never denies that Pell City's shops appeared.
Why the other choices miss
A contradicts Passage B's first sentence: "I would use it. " B goes further than Passage B, which never disputes that Pell City's shops appeared and questions only whether Dunmore matches. D is too strong: the author asks the council to consider who would visit before approving, not to reject the plan.

Avoid these traps

What mistakes do students make on Integration of Knowledge & Ideas?

Answering from one passage

In a question about both authors, a choice can match one passage perfectly and still be wrong because the other author never says it.

Fix: For "both authors" questions, find a supporting line in each passage. If you can find only one, eliminate the choice.

Overstating what data show

A table can be consistent with a claim without proving it. Choices that say the data prove a cause or explain everything often claim more than the numbers can.

Fix: Ask what the numbers measure and when. Prefer the choice whose wording matches the data: rose, fell, or stayed the same.

Skipping the passage context

A data question can depend on a detail in the text, such as when a change happened, that tells you which rows count as before and after.

Fix: Before reading the table, underline dates, units, and conditions in the passage, then label the matching rows.

Study method

How should you practice ACT Integration of Knowledge & Ideas?

  1. For paired passages, write one line after each passage stating its main claim, then note where the two claims agree and differ.
  2. For tables and charts, read the caption, column labels, and units before looking at any numbers.
  3. When a question names a claim, find the exact sentence that states it, then check whether the evidence matches its strength and scope.
  4. Eliminate choices that rely on one source when the question asks about both, or that say more than the data show.
  5. Practice Integration of Knowledge and Ideas questions in Dolphin, and for each miss, note which source you skipped or misread.
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FAQ

Questions about ACT Integration of Knowledge & Ideas

How much of the ACT reading section is Integration of Knowledge and Ideas?

According to ACT, Integration of Knowledge and Ideas makes up 19–26% of scored reading questions, the lowest of the three published ranges. With 27 scored reading questions, that is about 5 to 7 questions.

How should I approach questions about two passages?

Read each passage for its main claim first. Then, for a question about both, check every choice against both passages. A choice that is true of only one passage is wrong when the question asks what the authors share.

How do I read a table alongside a passage?

Start with the caption, column labels, and units so you know what was measured and when. Then find the sentence in the passage that the question is about and compare it with the trend in the data: which values rose, fell, or stayed the same.

Can I see my Integration of Knowledge and Ideas results?

Yes. According to ACT, the score report lists each reporting category with the number of questions in it, the number you answered correctly, and your percent correct. With only about 5 to 7 scored questions in this category, each question has a large effect on its percent correct.

Related practice

ACT Key Ideas and Details PracticeACT Craft and Structure PracticeACT Interpretation of Data PracticeAll ACT Reading practiceACT English practiceACT Math practiceACT Science practiceDolphin ACT prepSAT vs ACTCollege ACT score ranges

Sources

Where these facts come from

ACT facts checked . Every practice question on this page is original Dolphin practice written to match one ACT reporting category. None is a released ACT item.

ACT® is a trademark registered by ACT, Inc., which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse, Dolphin.