Evidence & Connections on the ACT® Reading Test

Types of Evidence / Connection Questions

The most frequent types of questions you'll encounter are:

1. Comparing two passages
2. Identifying differences in focus between passages
3. Finding common themes or ideas across passages

Less common, but still important, are questions about:

1. Connections between the passage and a referenced book (not included in the reading)
2. Relationships between the author and the author's subject
3. References to letters or other documents mentioned but not fully presented in the passage

How These Questions Appear

You might see questions phrased like:

• "Which answer choice accurately compares the passages?"
• "What is the difference in focus between the two passages?"
• "Both passages say the same thing... what is it?"

For the less common types, you might encounter questions about connections to works or people referenced in the passage but not directly presented.

Optimal Technique to Solve

These questions often appear in the 28-30 range, especially for dual passages. This positioning can be advantageous, as you'll have context from earlier questions.

However, when dealing with questions about connections to referenced works or people not directly in the passage, you'll need to use a more careful approach:

1. Read the full question carefully.
2. Go back to the passage to find the relevant context.
3. Try to formulate your own answer based on the passage.
4. If you can't come up with a clear answer, examine the answer choices.
5. Scan the text, looking for information related to the answer choices.
6. Use the Process of Elimination to rule out incorrect options and find the right answer.

Practice and familiarity with these question types will help you answer them more efficiently on test day.