The data representation passages mostly consist of using graphs and tables. They make up 25–35% of the passages in the science test. These passages are not necessarily easy, but you can often point to the answers instead of having to interpret them from the passage.

These passages require a good understanding of basic graphs, tables, and charts. The passages will require you to read these visuals, compare one to another, and relate them to the experiments in the text. These topics will be explored more in this textbook under the “Types of questions” section. Here is an example of what they look like:

ACT science data representation example question

There are often multiple graphs or tables and multiple sections of the passage. You will oftentimes be able to point to the answers in these passages, making them less about analyzing the text than the other main types of passages. In fact, sometimes you can correctly answer all questions of a data representation passage without having read a single sentence of the introduction.

Some data representation passages will involve very difficult concepts. In most of these cases, you will not be expected to understand why the experiments are being done. You will often just be responsible for understanding how the experiment data translates to graphs and other visual aids. In this format, it is extremely important for you to take notice of the axes of each graph, the legends of each chart, and the headings of each table.

Key points

Frequency. These passages make up about 25–35% of passages. You can expect to see one to three of them on the exam.

Content. You will almost always use at least one graph, table, or chart. Oftentimes, you will use two of these visual aids.

Visuals. Focus more on the visual figures of these sections than the tricky scientific wording. The majority of questions from these passages will be dealing with the figures rather than the text.