TELPAS Practice

In paragraph 2, the worker bees “guard the door.” What does guard mean?

Understand Words and Language Structures · TELPAS Grade 3 reading. The correct answer, and the reasoning behind it.

Reporting category 1: work out what words and phrases mean from context, and understand how sentences and word forms work.

Read the passage. Then answer the questions.

Honeybees

Honeybees live together in a home called a hive. A hive holds a very big family of bees, and each bee has a job.

The queen bee is the mother of the hive. Her job is to lay eggs. The worker bees are all female, and they do almost everything else. They clean the hive, feed the young bees, and guard the door.

Worker bees also fly from flower to flower to collect nectar, a sweet liquid inside flowers. Back at the hive, they turn the nectar into honey. The honey is food for the bees in winter.

When a worker bee finds a good patch of flowers, she flies home and does a special dance. The way she moves shows the other bees which way to fly to find the flowers.

The question

Choose the best answer.

In paragraph 2, the worker bees “guard the door.” What does guard mean?

  • Watch over to keep safeCorrect answer
  • Open it wide for other bees
  • Clean and wash it well
  • Build a brand new one

Why “Watch over to keep safe” is correct

This tests knowing a common action word. To guard something is to watch over it and keep it safe. The same sentence lists other jobs, such as cleaning the hive, so the student cannot just pick a job that sounds nearby.

Why the other answers are wrong

  • Open it wide for other bees — The bees are not opening the door.
  • Clean and wash it well — Cleaning is a different job named in the same sentence.
  • Build a brand new one — The bees are not building a door.

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.