Sequence and cause and effect: following the order of events even when a passage uses flashback or non-chronological order, and identifying which event or factor causes another, distinguishing a true causal link from mere sequence or correlation.

What this skill is asking

ACT passages ask you to follow two kinds of links: sequence (the order in which events happen) and cause and effect (which event or factor brings about another). Sequence questions are tricky when a passage is not told in time order, for example when a story opens late and uses a flashback, so the order on the page differs from the order in time. Cause-and-effect questions are tricky because a passage may place two things next to each other or note that they rise together without claiming one causes the other; the skill is telling a stated causal link from mere sequence or correlation. On both, the rule is the same: answer from what the passage actually says about order and cause, not from a plausible story you supply.

Following order through a flashback

The order on the page is not always the order in time.

Cause, sequence, and correlation

Three relationships are easy to confuse, and the ACT exploits the confusion.

Sequence is simply one thing happening after another; "after" does not mean "because." Correlation is two things changing together (both rise in summer); changing together does not mean one drives the other, and often a third factor (the season) drives both. Cause is a real link the passage states ("sales fell because prices rose") or strongly implies (the recovery when prices dropped supports the link). A valid ACT causal answer rests on the passage's own claim of cause, not on the mere fact that two things appear together or in order.

A worked cause question

Why this skill matters across passages

Sequence and cause and effect appear in every passage type: a literary passage may scramble time with flashback, a natural science passage turns on causal chains (this process causes that result), and a social science passage argues that one factor caused an outcome. The discipline here, reading the text's own account of order and cause rather than a plausible substitute, supports inference (many inferences are causal), text structure (cause-effect is a common organization), and the evaluation of reasoning in arguments.

Try this

Q1. What is the difference between correlation and cause, and why does it matter on the ACT? [Recall]

• Cue. Correlation is two things changing together; cause is one thing actually bringing about another. It matters because the ACT offers choices that assert causation from mere correlation, and only a stated or strongly implied causal link is correct.

Q2. A passage opens with a character in prison, then flashes back to the crime. How do you answer a question about what happened first? [Short explanation]

• Cue. Build the timeline from the text's account, not the page order. The crime happened first in time even though the prison scene is told first, so use the passage's time markers to reorder the events.