TELPAS Practice

What is the most likely reason the student council wants a third filling station?

Analyze and Evaluate Information and Ideas · TELPAS Grades 6–7 reading. The correct answer, and the reasoning behind it.

Reporting category 3: make inferences, draw conclusions, and think about why the author wrote a text and how it is built.

Read the paragraph. Then answer the question.

From the Student Council

Last year, students at our school threw away more than 200 plastic water bottles every day at lunch. This spring, the student council installed two water-bottle filling stations in the cafeteria. Each station has a small counter on the front. After the first month, the two counters showed that students had filled more than 4,000 bottles. Next month, we plan to ask the principal for a third station near the gym.

The question

Choose the best answer.

What is the most likely reason the student council wants a third filling station?

  • The first two were used so much that another could cut waste further.Correct answer
  • Students complained that the water from the cafeteria fountains tasted bad.
  • The two stations in the cafeteria stopped working.
  • The principal asked the council to build one more.

Why “The first two were used so much that another could cut waste further.” is correct

This is an inference question. The paragraph gives a problem (200 bottles thrown away a day), an action (two stations), and a result (more than 4,000 fills in a month). The student should conclude that the stations are popular and are reducing plastic waste, which is why the council wants another.

Why the other answers are wrong

  • Students complained that the water from the cafeteria fountains tasted bad. — The paragraph does not mention complaints about the water.
  • The two stations in the cafeteria stopped working. — The counters show more than 4,000 fills, so the stations are working.
  • The principal asked the council to build one more. — The council plans to ask the principal, not the other way around.

Practice more of this

More reading practice for Grades 6–7, or see the TELPAS practice test for 6th and 7th 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.