[Tex/LaTex] figure* environment skips page while using two-column document

floatspage-breakingtwo-column

I was told to use table* rather than the table environment to insert a table in a two-column document which is too small to fit in a single column. When I try to do the same thing with a figure, The figure chooses to move to a page of its own. How do I prevent this? The same thing happens in the article class

\documentclass[twocolumn, 11pt]{apa6}
\begin{document}

Why does the figure skip this page?

\begin{figure*}
    \includegraphics[width=400 pt, height=200 pt]{test.pdf}
           \caption{test.} 
\end{figure*}

\end{document}

Page 1:

Page 1

Page 2:

enter image description here

Best Answer

Double column floats always go on the next page at the earliest (they can't be placed on the current page as the first column may already have been set full height, so in a real document you just need to move the figure* environment earlier in the source, so that it is seen before the text that ends on that page. In the rare cases that you want the float at the top of the first page, you don't want a float at all and you can simply use 

\twocolumn[{\includegraphics{...}}]

and put the image in the two column box at the top.

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