ELPAC Practice

A plant looks dry on Thursday. What should the Plant Helper do?

Read a Short Informational Passage · ELPAC Grades 3–5 reading. The correct answer, and the reasoning behind it.

A brief factual text — a notice, a label, a set of instructions — followed by questions.

Read the instructions. Then answer the question.

Class Job: Plant Helper

Plant Helper is a job for one week. Water the two plants on the window ledge on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Use the small cup, not the big pitcher. Too much water turns the leaves yellow. If a plant looks dry on Tuesday or Thursday, tell Mr. Alvarez instead of watering it yourself.

The question

Choose the best answer.

A plant looks dry on Thursday. What should the Plant Helper do?

  • Tell Mr. Alvarez.Correct answer
  • Water it with the small cup.
  • Water it with the big pitcher.
  • Wait until Friday and then water it.

Why “Tell Mr. Alvarez.” is correct

This tests following a conditional instruction, which is a common demand of classroom texts. The instructions give a watering routine for three named days and then a separate rule for Tuesday and Thursday: report the dry plant rather than water it. Have the child find the sentence that begins with 'If', since that is where conditions live.

Why the other answers are wrong

  • Water it with the small cup. — The small cup is the right tool on a watering day, but Thursday is not one of the three watering days.
  • Water it with the big pitcher. — The instructions rule out the big pitcher completely, because too much water turns the leaves yellow.
  • Wait until Friday and then water it. — Friday is a watering day, so this looks sensible, but it ignores the instruction to report a dry plant on Thursday.

Practice more of this

More reading practice for Grades 3–5, or see the ELPAC practice test for grades 3–5. For other grades, see free ELPAC practice tests by grade.

This is an independent study resource. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the California Department of Education or the official ELPAC program. All questions here are original practice material written to match the published task formats.