TELPAS Practice

What does Coach Ramirez tell Priya to push the ball with?

Basic Understanding of Spoken English · TELPAS Grade 3 listening. The correct answer, and the reasoning behind it.

Reporting category 2: understand the main points and important details of spoken stories and informational passages, about everyday life and school subjects.

Listen to the conversation. Then answer the questions.

Dribbling Practice

Listen to Dribbling Practice0:37

Press play to listen. You can pause, rewind, and replay as often as you like.

Show transcript

Priya: Coach Ramirez, every time I dribble the basketball, it bounces away from me.

Coach Ramirez: Let me see. Ah, you are slapping the ball with your whole hand. Try pushing it down with your fingertips instead.

Priya: Like this?

Coach Ramirez: Better! Now keep the ball low, near your knees. And walk slowly at first. When you can walk without losing the ball, then you can try running.

Priya: Can I practice at recess?

Coach Ramirez: Sure. Take a ball from the green bin, and put it back when the bell rings.

The question

Choose the best answer.

What does Coach Ramirez tell Priya to push the ball with?

  • Her whole hand
  • Her fingertipsCorrect answer
  • Both of her feet
  • Her knees

Why “Her fingertips” is correct

This is a detail question about advice. The coach says Priya is slapping with her whole hand and tells her to “try pushing it down with your fingertips instead.” The word instead signals the change from the wrong way to the right way.

Why the other answers are wrong

  • Her whole hand — Using her whole hand is the mistake the coach notices.
  • Both of her feet — This is basketball dribbling; feet are not mentioned.
  • Her knees — Knees come up only to show how low to keep the ball.

Practice more of this

More listening practice for Grade 3, or see the TELPAS practice test for 3rd grade.

This is an independent study resource. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the Texas Education Agency or the official TELPAS program. All questions here are original practice material written to match the published test design.