ACT Science — two data sets, one answer: carrying a value from a table into a figure

Some of the harder questions in the ACT Science section cannot be answered from a single table or graph. The number you need sits in one data set, but the question is asked about another: find a temperature in Figure 1, then look up what that temperature means in Table 1; find which input gives a certain output in one experiment, then use that input in a second. ACT's description of the section's Interpretation of Data category, which makes up 38 to 50 percent of the questions, includes exactly this kind of mathematical reasoning with data presented in tables, graphs and diagrams.

This material gives you three pairs of data sets, each a table written into the question and a drawn figure, with four questions on each pair. A food scientist links sugar concentration to density, then measures four drinks. A weather station records the air temperature through a day, and a table gives the speed of sound at each temperature. A treadmill study relates oxygen consumption to running speed, and a table lists the speeds of four runners.

The twelve questions practice the moves that cross-referencing requires. You carry a value forward from one data set into the other, and you run the chain backward, from a result to the input that produced it. You place a value between two rows of a table instead of expecting an exact match. You avoid the classic trap of doubling the wrong quantity, doubling a density when the question doubles a concentration. You finish a two-step calculation with the right operation, distance divided by speed or rate multiplied by time, and convert milliliters to liters. You turn a rate from a table, such as 6 meters per second for every 10 degrees, into a small change for a five-degree drop. Each explanation lays out the chain step by step and names the shortcut that each wrong option takes.

The flashcards summarize the method: find the variable the two data sets share, use it as the bridge, work backward when the question starts from a result, and keep units consistent through the calculation. No calculator is needed; the numbers are chosen so that the arithmetic is quick, as it has to be in a section of 40 questions in 40 minutes.

This material offers a quiz and flashcards. It is independent practice based on ACT's public description of the ACT Science section; all data sets are original, and nothing here is produced or endorsed by ACT.

• Identify the variable two data sets share and use it to carry a value from one into the other
• Work a cross-reference backward, from a given result to the input that produced it
• Place a measured value between two rows of a table and read the corresponding range
• Complete two-step calculations with data: distance divided by speed, rate multiplied by time, with unit conversion
• Convert a rate read from a table into the change produced by a smaller step

Practice material written by Zestly, based on ACT's published description of the ACT Science section (reporting categories Interpretation of Data, Scientific Investigation, and Evaluating Scientific Arguments and Models with Evidence; act.org, retrieved September 2026). All data sets, figures and questions are original.