United States
Hong KongCompetency 3: Integration of information and ideas
Competency 3 has four skills: evaluating and relating content in diverse formats, evaluating claims on relevancy, sufficiency and validity of reasoning, synthesizing across a range of texts, and analyzing how authors differ in developing similar themes. On our split that is about seven of the 30 questions.
The smallest of the three Reading competencies and the one that asks most of you, because every skill in it involves holding two things at once.
The four skills as the rule states them
1. Evaluate and relate content presented in diverse formats. 2. Evaluate specific claims in text based on relevancy, sufficiency, and validity of reasoning. 3. Synthesize information from a range of texts to develop a coherent explanation of a process, phenomenon, concept, or theme. 4. Analyze multiple texts to differentiate approaches authors take to develop similar themes (e.g., mode, author's craft, genre, point of view).
Section 82, Reading, incorporated into Rule 6A-4.0021, F.A.C.
Three of the four say texts or formats, plural. This is the competency that makes paired passages and embedded graphics part of the stated design rather than a rumor.
Size
| Competency | Skills | Our estimated questions |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Key ideas and details | 8 | 14 |
| 2. Craft and structure | 5 | 9 |
| 3. Integration of information and ideas | 4 | 7 |
FLDOE publishes 30 questions for this subtest and no split beneath it. We apportion the 30 in proportion to the number of skills the rule states under each competency, which gives about seven here. The four is the state's; the seven is ours.
Skill 1: diverse formats
"Diverse formats" is the rule's phrase for material that is not continuous prose: a table, a chart, a timeline, a diagram sitting alongside a passage. The item asks you to relate the two, which usually means checking whether the text's claim matches what the graphic shows. Reading graphics and data in a passage covers the mechanics.
Skill 2: three tests on a claim
The rule names them: relevancy, sufficiency, validity of reasoning. Three separate questions, and an argument can pass two and fail the third.
- Relevancy: does this evidence bear on this claim at all?
- Sufficiency: is there enough of it to carry the weight?
- Validity: does the conclusion actually follow from the premises?
A single anecdote supporting a general claim is relevant and insufficient. A statistic about a different population is insufficient because it is not relevant. Naming which test the argument failed is often the item itself.
Skills 3 and 4: two texts, two jobs
Skill 3 is synthesis: build one coherent account from several texts. Skill 4 is differentiation: describe how the authors' approaches differ, and the rule lists mode, craft, genre and point of view as the axes.
Those pull in opposite directions, which is the point. On a paired-passage set you will usually be asked both: what do they agree about, and how do they differ. Comparing two passages works through the shapes.
Why this competency is worth more than seven questions of your time
Because the pass mark on this subtest is the highest on the test. A scaled 200 is worth at most 70% correct on Reading, about 21 of 30, against 63% on the other two multiple-choice subtests. Nine wrong answers ends it.
On our estimate this competency is about seven questions. Lose most of them and you are relying on near-perfection across the other two, which is not a position anyone should choose to be in. The estimate is ours; the 70% is FLDOE's.
Our honest view
This is the competency where a candidate's general reading habits show up most and preparation helps least. Evaluating an argument is a slow skill to build. If you are short of time, get Competency 1 solid first, because it is twice the size on our split and its skills respond faster to technique.
Common questions
What is Competency 3 on the FTCE Reading subtest?
Knowledge of the integration of information and ideas based on text selections. Four skills: evaluating and relating content in diverse formats, evaluating claims for relevancy, sufficiency and validity, synthesizing across texts, and differentiating authors’ approaches.
Does the Reading subtest include charts or tables?
The rule provides for it. Skill 1 covers evaluating and relating content presented in diverse formats, which is the state’s phrase for material that is not continuous prose, such as a table or chart presented alongside a passage.
What does sufficiency of evidence mean?
Whether there is enough evidence to carry the claim. A single example supporting a general statement is relevant but insufficient. The rule names relevancy, sufficiency and validity as three separate tests, and an argument can pass two and fail one.
How many integration questions are on the subtest?
FLDOE publishes 30 for the subtest and no breakdown. Our estimate is about seven, apportioning the total across the three competencies in proportion to the skills the rule states under each. The figure is ours rather than the state’s.