What is the passage mostly about? (The Armadillo)
Basic Understanding of a Variety of Texts · TELPAS Grade 3 reading. The correct answer, and the reasoning behind it.
Reporting category 2: find the main idea and key details, and follow what happens in stories and informational texts.
Read the passage. Then answer the questions.
The Armadillo
The nine-banded armadillo is the state small mammal of Texas. It is about the size of a house cat. Its back is covered with hard plates made of bone, like a suit of armor. The plates help protect the armadillo from thorny plants and from some animals that want to eat it.
Armadillos are good diggers. They use their strong front claws to dig burrows. A burrow is a hole in the ground where an armadillo sleeps and stays safe. Armadillos also dig in the dirt to find insects and grubs to eat.
An armadillo cannot see very well, but it has an excellent sense of smell. It can smell insects that are hiding under the ground.
A mother armadillo usually has four babies at one time. The four babies are always alike: they are all boys or all girls.
The question
Choose the best answer.
What is the passage mostly about?
- How armadillos dig their burrows
- Where people can see armadillos
- Why the armadillo was chosen as the state animal of Texas
- What armadillos are like and how they liveCorrect answer
Why “What armadillos are like and how they live” is correct
This asks for the main idea of the whole passage. Each paragraph covers a different part of armadillo life: its body, its digging, its senses and its babies. The correct answer has to cover all of those, not just one paragraph.
Why the other answers are wrong
- How armadillos dig their burrows — Digging is only the topic of paragraph 2.
- Where people can see armadillos — The passage never tells where to go to see armadillos.
- Why the armadillo was chosen as the state animal of Texas — The passage says it is the state small mammal but never explains why.
Practice more of this
More reading 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.