Text Evidence Mastery Quiz
Reading Informational Text • CCSS RI.6.1
Text Evidence Mastery Quiz
Name: ___________________________
Date: ____________
Period: _______
Score: ____/10
Directions: Read the informational passage. Then select the best answer for each question. Every item requires you to identify, evaluate, or cite specific evidence directly from the text.
The Wild Partnership: Humans and the Honeyguide
Informational Nonfiction
[1] In the savannas of Mozambique and northern Kenya, a small bird perches quietly in the branches of a baobab tree, waiting for human voices. This bird is the Greater Honeyguide (Indicator indicator). While domesticated animals like hunting dogs obey commands, the honeyguide is entirely wild—free to leave at any moment, yet choosing to actively recruit human partners to harvest food.
[2] When local Yao and Boran honey-hunters enter the woodland, they emit a signature vocal call—a resonant rolling trill followed by a low grunt ("brrr-hm!"). Upon hearing this signal, the honeyguide responds with an agitated rattle call, flashing white tail feathers as it swoops toward a concealed bee colony. As the hunters follow, the bird shortens its flight distance and lowers its perches until landing silently beside the target hive.
[3] This mutualistic alliance thrives because neither partner can harvest the prize alone. African honeybees build nests deep inside rock crevices or thick baobab trunks, protected by thousands of stinging bees. Humans have smoke to pacify the bees and iron axes to chop through the timber. The honeyguide has rare gut microbes to digest beeswax, but lacks the strength to crack open the wood. Once hunters remove the honeycombs, they leave behind wax chunks and bee larvae as a reward.
[4] Biologist Dr. Claire Spottiswoode confirmed this communication is culturally learned. Honeyguides responded three times more often to their local hunters' traditional "brrr-hm" call than to other sounds.
[5] Today, this ancient pact is threatened. As store-bought sugar becomes common, fewer youths practice wild honey hunting. Scientists warn that if humans stop answering the bird's calls, this unique cross-species language could disappear forever.
- Which sentence from paragraph 3 provides the strongest direct evidence explaining why the honeyguide needs humans to obtain beeswax?
A. "African honeybees build nests deep inside rock crevices or thick baobab trunks..."
B. "The honeyguide has rare gut microbes to digest beeswax, but lacks the strength to crack open the wood."
C. "This mutualistic alliance thrives because neither partner can harvest the prize alone."
D. "Once hunters remove the honeycombs, they leave behind wax chunks and bee larvae as a reward."
- Based on paragraph 1, what can the reader infer about the honeyguide's relationship with humans? Which detail from the text best supports that inference?
A. The bird is trained in captivity; supported by "domesticated animals like hunting dogs."
B. The bird cooperates by its own choice; supported by "entirely wild... yet choosing to actively recruit human partners."
C. The bird fears humans; supported by "waiting for human voices."
D. The bird only lives in Kenya; supported by "savannas of Mozambique and northern Kenya."
- Which text evidence from paragraph 2 shows how hunters know they are nearing the hidden hive?
A. The hunters shout their signature rolling trill louder into the trees.
B. The bird flashes its white tail feathers and flies high into the upper clouds.
C. The bird shortens its flight distance and perches silently beside the hive.
D. The bees fly out in an agitated swarm to greet the oncoming hunters.
- In paragraph 3, the author calls the partnership a "mutualistic alliance." Which piece of text evidence clarifies what both partners gain?
A. Humans collect sweet honeycombs, while leaving wax chunks and bee larvae for the bird.
B. Humans harvest baobab timber, while the bird captures escaping worker bees.
C. Humans learn foreign bird calls, while the bird learns where trees grow.
D. Humans receive feathers for arrows, while the bird avoids smoke inhalation.
Grade 6 Informational Reading Assessment • Text Evidence Focus Page 1 of 2 • Continue to Page 2 →
Text Evidence Mastery Quiz • Questions 5–10
Student Name: ___________________________
Reminder: Base answers strictly on the passage on Page 1. Select the option providing the best textual evidence. Questions 5–10
- Which excerpt from paragraph 4 provides the strongest proof that honeyguides respond to human cultural tradition rather than generic noises?
A. "Biologist Dr. Claire Spottiswoode confirmed this communication is culturally learned."
B. "Honeyguides responded three times more often to their local hunters' traditional 'brrr-hm' call than to other sounds."
C. "Field research conducted by evolutionary biologists confirmed that this communication exists."
D. "Today, this ancient pact is threatened across eastern Africa."
- A student claims: "Honeyguides only know how to communicate with one single group of people." Which detail from paragraph 2 directly refutes (disproves) this claim?
A. The birds build nests inside baobab tree cavities in Mozambique.
B. The passage explicitly identifies two distinct groups: local Yao hunters and Boran hunters.
C. The birds eat beeswax left behind by thousands of stinging bees.
D. The hunters use iron axes to chop through thick hardwood trunks.
- Which piece of text evidence from paragraph 3 best gives the explicit reason why human hunters use smoke during the honey hunt?
A. "...smoke to pacify the bees and iron axes to chop through the timber."
B. "...neither partner can harvest the prize alone."
C. "Humans use smoke signals to call the honeyguide down from the upper canopy."
D. "...wax chunks and bee larvae as a reward."
- Which sentence from paragraph 5 provides direct text evidence explaining why the partnership between humans and honeyguides is declining?
A. "Today, this ancient pact is threatened."
B. "As store-bought sugar becomes common, fewer youths practice wild honey hunting."
C. "Scientists warn that if humans stop answering the bird's calls, this unique cross-species language could disappear forever."
D. "...this bird is entirely wild—free to leave at any moment..."
- If a student is writing a research paper on biological adaptations, which detail from paragraph 3 provides the strongest evidence of an internal physical adaptation?
A. The honeyguide perches quietly in the branches of baobab trees.
B. The honeyguide has "rare gut microbes to digest beeswax."
C. The honeyguide uses iron tools left behind by human hunters.
D. The honeyguide flies in undulating arcs across the savanna.
- Which statement best synthesizes the central idea supported by the evidence throughout the entire passage?
A. Wild honeybees are an invasive danger that threatens African baobab forests.
B. The rare mutual cooperation between honeyguides and African hunters relies on learned communication that is endangered by modern changes.
C. Modern tools and store-bought sugar have proven that humans no longer have any connection to wild animals.
D. Honeyguides are dependent birds that cannot locate food sources without human hunters calling to them.
Grade 6 Informational Reading Assessment • Text Evidence Focus Page 2 of 2 • End of Assessment
Inference Detectives Quiz
Reading Informational Text • CCSS RI.6.1 Inference Focus
Inference Detectives Quiz
Name: ___________________________
Date: ____________
Period: _______
Score: ____/5
Directions: Read the informational passage below. An inference is a logical conclusion you draw by combining clues in the text with your own reasoning. Select the best answer for each question.
The Sunken Forest of Mallows Bay
Informational Nonfiction
[1] Along a tranquil curve of the Potomac River in Maryland lies the largest shipwreck graveyard in the Western Hemisphere. At low tide, the blackened wooden ribs of nearly two hundred century-old steamships rise from the murky water like the spines of slumbering sea monsters. Yet the air carries no stench of industrial pollution; instead, the river echoes with the piercing whistles of nesting ospreys and the splash of river otters diving for perch.
[2] During World War I, the United States rushed to construct a massive fleet of wooden steamships to transport emergency supplies across the Atlantic. However, by the time the ships were completed, the war had already ended. The immense fleet became obsolete overnight. With no commercial buyers willing to purchase slow wooden vessels in an era of steel, the government towed the ghost fleet to Mallows Bay. In the 1920s, salvage crews stripped valuable metal machinery and torched the hulls to the waterline, abandoning the charred wooden skeletons in the shallow river mud.
[3] Over the following century, something remarkable occurred. Soil and sediment accumulated inside the flooded hulls, allowing seeds carried by river currents to take root. Today, willow trees and wild rice sprout directly from the decaying decking, transforming burnt ruins into lush floating islands. Fish shelter within the submerged boilers, while bald eagles build heavy nests high atop former smokestacks. In 2019, the federal government officially designated Mallows Bay as a National Marine Sanctuary, permanently safeguarding an unintentional wilderness born from industrial abandonment.
- Based on paragraph 2, what can the reader infer about the emergency shipbuilding program during World War I?
A. Shipbuilders prioritized rapid construction during the crisis rather than assessing long-term usefulness after the war.
B. Government planners deliberately intended to create an artificial wetland reef for wildlife on the Potomac River.
C. American naval factories ran completely out of wood and had to purchase steel vessels from European allies.
D. Military leaders correctly predicted the exact month when the war across the Atlantic would conclude.
