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Making inferences
5th grade (Year 6 in England) · 16 questions · Common Core: RL.5.1, RI.5.1 · England: Y5/6 Reading (inference), KS2 SATs Reading, 11+ English
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The Fennec Fox
The fennec fox is the smallest fox in the world. It weighs about as much as a bag of sugar. It lives in the Sahara Desert in North Africa, one of the hottest places on Earth.
The first thing most people notice about the fennec fox is its enormous ears. They can be as long as 15 centimetres, which is huge for such a small animal. The ears do two important jobs. First, they let heat escape from the fox's body, helping it to stay cool. Second, they are so sensitive that the fox can hear insects moving under the sand.
The fennec fox has other ways to survive in the desert, too. Thick fur on the bottoms of its feet protects it from the burning sand. During the hottest part of the day, it rests in a cool burrow underground. It comes out to hunt at night, when the air is cooler.
Water is hard to find in the desert, but the fennec fox can go a long time without drinking. It gets most of the water it needs from the food it eats, such as insects, plants and small animals.
Question 1
Read "The Fennec Fox". Why does the fennec fox hunt at night?
- A. It sleeps in trees during the day.
- B. The air is cooler then.
- C. It cannot see in daylight.
- D. Its prey only comes out in the day.
The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter
The storm had been building all afternoon. By the time the sun set, waves as tall as houses were hurling themselves against the rocks below Gull Point Lighthouse, and the wind screamed around the tower like a wild animal.
Nell pressed her face to the window of the little cottage. Her father had rowed to the mainland that morning to fetch the doctor for Mrs Penrose, and the sea had turned before he could return. Now, for the first time in her twelve years, Nell was alone at the lighthouse.
She knew what that meant. Every night at dusk, the great lamp at the top of the tower had to be lit. Without it, ships would have no warning of the rocks.
Nell grabbed the lantern and her father's oilskin coat, which hung down past her knees, and pushed open the door. The wind nearly knocked her flat. Bent double, she stumbled across the yard and into the tower.
There were one hundred and twelve steps to the top. Nell had climbed them hundreds of times, but never in the dark, never with the whole tower trembling. Halfway up, her lantern flickered and almost went out. She stopped, cupped her hand around the flame and whispered, "Not now. Please, not now."
At the top, her fingers were numb with cold. She trimmed the wick the way her father had shown her, filled the oil and struck a match. Nothing. A second match. Nothing. With the third, a tiny flame caught, grew and then blazed, and the great lens began to turn, sweeping its beam across the furious sea.
Far out in the darkness, a ship's horn sounded twice. Nell did not know whose ship it was. But she knew that, tonight, it would find its way home.
Question 2
Read "The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter". Why did Nell whisper "Not now. Please, not now"?
- A. She was afraid the lantern would go out.
- B. She was talking to her father.
- C. She had forgotten the matches.
- D. She wanted the storm to stop.
The Margin
Zainab had read the library book three times before she noticed the handwriting.
It was in the margin of page 112, so faint she had taken it for a smudge. In tiny, slanted letters, someone had written: "Don't trust the narrator." Underneath, in different ink and a rounder hand, someone else had replied: "Why not?" And beneath that, in the first writer's slant: "Read chapter 9 again."
She read chapter 9 again. Then she read it a fourth time, and a fifth, and on the sixth she saw it – a single sentence where the narrator claimed to have been at home when, three chapters earlier, he had described himself on a train. A lie, hidden in plain sight. The whole story tilted, like a picture knocked crooked on a wall.
Zainab sat back. She checked the date stamps on the card inside the front cover. The book had been borrowed forty-seven times since 1994. Somewhere among those forty-seven readers were two people who had held a conversation across years without ever meeting.
She found a pencil. For a long time she hesitated over the page, feeling as if she were about to speak in a room full of strangers. Then, carefully, beneath the other two, she wrote: "Found it. Thank you."
When she returned the book, the librarian frowned at the pencil marks. Zainab apologised. But as she walked home, she wondered who would be next to find them.
Question 3
Read "The Margin". What did Zainab discover in chapter 9?
- A. The name of the first writer.
- B. Another note in the margin.
- C. The narrator had told a lie that contradicted an earlier chapter.
- D. A missing page.
Should Our School Keep Bees?
Letter A: Yes to bees! Our school should put two beehives on the flat roof above the library. Bees pollinate fruit, vegetables and wildflowers, and in many places their numbers have fallen. A school hive would give local bees a safe home. It would also turn our roof into a living science lesson: we could study how a colony works, measure how much honey it makes, and plant bee-friendly flowers in the playground. Several schools near us already keep bees, and the beekeepers say pupils are never near the hives, because the roof is locked.
Letter B: Not so fast. I agree that bees are important, but I do not think hives are right for our school yet. Some pupils and staff are allergic to bee stings, and even a locked roof is close to open windows. Hives also need an expert to check them every week, and no one at school has that training. Instead, we could help bees in safer ways: plant a wildflower strip by the fence, build a bug hotel, and invite a beekeeper to visit with an observation hive behind glass. If, after a year, we find a trained volunteer, we could think about hives again.
Question 4
Read "Should Our School Keep Bees?". What would most likely change the writer of Letter B's mind?
- A. being given a jar of honey
- B. moving the library
- C. finding a trained volunteer to look after the hives
- D. seeing a picture of a bee
Lady Montagu and the Smallpox Gamble
In the early eighteenth century, smallpox was one of the most feared diseases in Europe. It killed around three in every ten people it infected and left many survivors scarred or blind. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu knew its cruelty personally: the disease had killed her brother and marked her own face.
In 1717, while living in Constantinople (now Istanbul), where her husband was the British ambassador, she observed a remarkable practice. Local women would take a small amount of material from a mild smallpox sore and scratch it into the skin of a healthy person. The person usually developed a mild illness and was then protected for life. This process was called variolation.
Montagu was so impressed that she had her young son variolated. When she returned to England, she campaigned to spread the practice, despite fierce opposition. Some doctors resented being taught by a woman; others distrusted a practice from abroad. To win public confidence, Montagu had her daughter variolated in front of physicians from the royal court.
Variolation was not without risk: a small number of patients developed severe smallpox, and they could infect others. Decades later, in 1796, Edward Jenner developed a safer method using cowpox, a related but much milder disease. His method, called vaccination after the Latin word for cow, gradually replaced variolation.
Smallpox was declared eradicated worldwide in 1980. Jenner is often called the father of vaccination, but the story began with the courage of a woman who noticed what others had overlooked.
Question 5
Read "Lady Montagu and the Smallpox Gamble". Why did Montagu have her daughter variolated in front of royal physicians?
- A. to test Jenner's vaccine
- B. because her daughter was ill
- C. to prove the method was safe and gain trust
- D. because the law required it
The Climbing Wall
The climbing wall at the leisure centre was twelve metres high, and from the bottom it looked like a mountain covered in brightly coloured sweets. Jaya had watched her older cousin, Ravi, scramble to the top of it a dozen times. Today was her first turn.
The instructor clipped the rope to her harness and checked the knot twice. "Remember," she said, "use your legs, not just your arms. And don't look down until you're ready."
The first few holds were easy. Jaya climbed quickly, buoyed by Ravi's cheers. But halfway up, the holds grew smaller and farther apart. Her arms began to burn. She looked down – and immediately wished she hadn't. The floor seemed impossibly far away, and her legs began to tremble.
"I want to come down," she called.
"You can," the instructor answered calmly. "Or you can rest. Lean back into the harness. The rope's got you."
Jaya didn't believe her. But slowly, she let her weight sink back. The rope held. Her breathing steadied. She looked at the wall in front of her, not at the floor, and noticed a small yellow hold to her right that she hadn't seen before.
Ten minutes later, she slapped the top of the wall. The leisure centre erupted in cheers – or at least Ravi did, which felt like the same thing.
Question 6
Read "The Climbing Wall". Why did Jaya's legs begin to tremble?
- A. She was cold.
- B. She was excited to reach the top.
- C. The rope broke.
- D. She looked down and became frightened.
The Mapmaker's Apprentice
Ines had worked in Master Corvo's shop for three years, and in all that time he had never let her draw a single line on a real map. She ground his inks, stretched his parchment and swept up the shavings from his quills. When she asked why she could not draw, he only said, "A mapmaker must first learn to see."
So Ines watched. She watched sailors come in, sunburnt and impatient, to buy charts of the southern coast. She watched merchants argue over which mountain pass was fastest. Most of all, she watched Master Corvo, who spent far longer listening to travellers than he did holding his pen.
One winter morning, a fisherman stumbled into the shop, soaked and shaking. A storm had pushed his boat far north, past the edge of every chart in the city. He had found a narrow channel between two islands that no map showed, and it had saved his life.
Master Corvo was in bed with a fever. The fisherman was leaving on the evening tide.
Ines hesitated only for a moment. Then she sat the fisherman by the fire and asked him questions — not just where the channel was, but how the water changed colour near the rocks, where the gulls gathered, how long it took to row from one island to the other. She wrote down every answer. Only when she had heard everything did she pick up a pen.
When Master Corvo recovered, she laid the new chart in front of him. He studied it for a long time without speaking. Then he took his own pen, signed his name in the corner, and beneath it, for the first time, he wrote hers.
Question 7
Read "The Mapmaker's Apprentice". Why did Ines have to act quickly?
- A. The shop was about to close forever.
- B. Merchants were waiting for the map.
- C. A storm was coming to the city.
- D. The fisherman was leaving that evening and Master Corvo was ill.
How to Build a Junk Robot
Do you have a pile of empty boxes and bottle tops? Instead of throwing them away, turn them into a robot! This project takes about an hour.
You will need: one cereal box, one smaller box (such as a toothpaste box), four cardboard tubes, bottle tops, glue, scissors and some tape.
Step 1: Ask an adult to help you cut a hole in the top of the cereal box. This will be the robot's body.
Step 2: Glue the smaller box on top of the body to make the head. Hold it in place for a minute while the glue sets.
Step 3: Tape two cardboard tubes to the sides of the body for arms and two to the bottom for legs.
Step 4: Glue bottle tops onto the head for eyes and onto the body for buttons and dials.
Step 5: Leave your robot to dry overnight before you play with it.
Top tip: Give your robot a name and write it on a label. Robots with names are much more fun!
Question 8
Read "How to Build a Junk Robot". Why should you ask an adult to help with Step 1?
- A. The box is too heavy.
- B. Adults choose the robot's name.
- C. Cutting with scissors can be tricky or unsafe.
- D. Adults are better at gluing.
The Phone-Free Lunch Experiment
For one month, students at Brookfield School tried something unusual: no phones at lunch. Phones stayed in lockers from twelve until one, and the dining hall filled with board games, sketchbooks and a lot more noise.
The idea came from the student council. In a survey, 61 per cent of students said they spent most of lunch looking at a screen, and many said they wanted a break but found it hard to stop on their own.
At first, not everyone was happy. "I thought it was a punishment," admitted Jaden, 12. "But after a week I'd learned to play chess, and now I actually look forward to lunch."
Teachers noticed changes too. Ms Ortega, who supervises the hall, said there were fewer arguments and more students sitting in mixed groups. However, some students said they missed messaging family members during the day.
The council will now vote on whether to keep the rule. One suggestion is a compromise: phone-free Mondays to Thursdays, with Fridays left free.
Question 9
Read "The Phone-Free Lunch Experiment". Why might the council consider the 'compromise'?
- A. to keep the benefits while answering students who wanted to contact family
- B. because phones were broken
- C. because teachers asked for longer lunches
- D. because nobody liked the rule
The Kite Festival
Amara had spent three weeks building her kite. She had bent the bamboo sticks, stretched the paper tight and painted a fierce golden dragon across the front. It was going to win the prize for best design at the town's kite festival. She was sure of it.
On the morning of the festival, the field was crowded with families. Kites shaped like fish, birds and boats bobbed in the breeze. Amara's little brother, Kofi, trailed behind her, clutching a small diamond kite he had made from a plastic bag and two straws.
"Mine's not very good," Kofi mumbled.
Amara ran, and her dragon rose beautifully – until a sudden gust snapped one of the bamboo sticks. The kite twisted, spun and crashed into the grass. The paper ripped right through the dragon's face.
Amara's eyes stung. Three weeks of work, ruined in three seconds.
Kofi tugged her sleeve. "You can fly mine with me," he offered.
At first Amara shook her head. Then she looked at Kofi's hopeful face and took the string. Together they ran, and the little plastic kite shot up higher than any other kite in the sky. People pointed and cheered.
That afternoon, the judges gave Kofi a ribbon for "Highest Flyer". Amara clapped louder than anyone. She realised she was smiling more than she would have if she had won the prize herself.
Question 10
Read "The Kite Festival". Why did Amara's eyes sting?
- A. She had paint in them.
- B. The sun was too bright.
- C. She was close to crying.
- D. The wind was full of dust.
Message in a Bottle (a poem)
I am a bottle, empty and light,
tossed from a boat on a bright summer night.
No note inside me, no secret to tell,
just plastic and air and a sea-salty smell.
The ocean is patient, the ocean is wide;
it rocks me and rolls me from tide to tide.
A turtle swims near me and stares at my shine.
I am not a jellyfish. Please, don't you dine!
I'll drift for a lifetime, I'll drift for a few,
I'll crumble to pieces too tiny for you.
But somebody somewhere could carry me back,
a hand on the beach and a bin in a sack.
So here is my message, though no one wrote it:
the sea keeps whatever we throw. Don't forget it.
Question 11
Read "Message in a Bottle (a poem)". Why does the bottle say, "I am not a jellyfish. Please, don't you dine!"?
- A. Turtles are afraid of bottles.
- B. Turtles can mistake shiny plastic for jellyfish and eat it.
- C. The bottle wants to be eaten.
- D. Jellyfish live inside bottles.
The Long Wall
The Great Wall of China is not one wall at all. It is a network of walls, trenches and watchtowers built and rebuilt over more than two thousand years by different dynasties. If all its sections were laid end to end, they would stretch over 21,000 kilometres – more than half the distance around the Earth.
The earliest walls were built from packed earth around the seventh century BCE, when rival Chinese states defended their borders from one another. In about 220 BCE, the first emperor of a united China, Qin Shi Huang, ordered many of these separate walls to be joined together to protect the north from raiding groups.
The sections that most visitors see today are far younger. They were built during the Ming dynasty, between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries. Ming builders used bricks and stone, which is why these sections have survived so well. Watchtowers were placed close enough together for soldiers to send signals using smoke by day and fire by night.
The wall came at a terrible cost. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers, prisoners and farmers were forced to work on it, often in freezing mountains or burning deserts. Many died, and stories and songs about their suffering are still told.
Did the wall work? Historians disagree. It slowed down small raids and helped control trade and travel, but determined armies could still break through or simply go around it. Today, its greatest power may be as a symbol – of human effort, of history and of a nation's identity.
Question 12
Read "The Long Wall". Why were watchtowers placed close together?
- A. so soldiers could sleep in them
- B. to make the wall look taller
- C. to save bricks
- D. so signals could be seen from one tower to the next
The Attic
The attic door had been painted shut for as long as Daniel could remember. His mother said there was nothing up there but dust and old suitcases. So when the decorators scraped away the paint on the first Saturday of the summer holidays, Daniel was the first one up the narrow stairs.
The air was thick and warm and smelt of mothballs. Thin blades of light slid through gaps in the roof tiles and lay across the floorboards like fallen swords. In the far corner, beneath a sheet greyed with age, something waited.
Daniel crossed the room slowly. Each board groaned beneath him as if complaining about being woken. He reached out, hesitated, then pulled the sheet away in one quick movement.
It was a desk – small, battered, and covered in carvings. Initials. Dates. A crooked drawing of a sailing boat. And there, in the corner, carved more deeply than all the rest, were three letters he knew better than his own name: D.A.M.
Daniel Adebayo Mensah. His grandfather. The grandfather who had died two years before Daniel was born, and whom his mother never spoke about.
He ran his fingers over the letters. Downstairs, someone switched on a radio, and a burst of music floated up through the floor. Daniel did not move. For the first time, the silence in the attic did not feel empty. It felt like someone waiting to tell him a story.
Question 13
Read "The Attic". What can we infer about Daniel's mother's feelings towards his grandfather?
- A. She never met him.
- B. She hid the desk because it was valuable.
- C. The subject is painful or difficult for her.
- D. She is excited to talk about him.
The Vault at the Top of the World
On a frozen island in the Arctic Ocean, between Norway and the North Pole, a narrow concrete doorway sticks out of the side of a mountain. Behind it, a tunnel leads deep into the rock. This is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, and it holds more than a million packets of seeds from almost every country on Earth.
Why keep seeds in a mountain? Farmers all over the world depend on many different varieties of crops, such as types of rice that survive floods or kinds of wheat that resist disease. If a variety disappears because of war, natural disaster or simple accident, it may be lost for ever. The vault is a back-up copy, like saving a precious file in two places.
The location was chosen with care. The vault is high enough above sea level to stay dry even if ice caps melt. Inside, the seeds are kept at about minus 18 degrees Celsius, cold enough to keep many of them alive for decades or even centuries. The surrounding rock is permanently frozen, so even if the power failed, the seeds would stay cold.
The vault opened in 2008. In 2015, it was used for the first time: scientists who had lost access to their own seed bank during a war in Syria withdrew samples, grew new plants and later sent fresh seeds back to the vault. The back-up had worked.
No one hopes the vault will be needed often. But like a fire extinguisher in a school corridor, it is reassuring to know it is there.
Question 14
Read "The Vault at the Top of the World". Why does the writer compare the vault to a fire extinguisher?
- A. Both are used every day.
- B. Both are found in schools.
- C. Both are kept ready for an emergency, and we hope not to need them often.
- D. Both are red and heavy.
A Day at the Fire Station
Firefighters do much more than put out fires. At Station 9, the day begins at eight o'clock sharp with a check of every piece of equipment. The crew test the hoses, check the air tanks and make sure the ladders slide smoothly. "If something is broken, we need to know now, not when there's an emergency," says Captain Rivera.
After the checks, the firefighters exercise for an hour. Their job is very physical. They must carry heavy hoses, climb ladders in thick protective suits and sometimes carry people to safety.
In the afternoon, the crew often visit schools to teach children about fire safety. They show how to check smoke alarms and explain why you should never hide during a fire. "Get out, stay out, and call for help," Captain Rivera tells every class.
When the alarm rings, everything changes. The crew pull on their gear, jump into the fire engine and are on their way in less than a minute. Calls might be for a house fire, a car accident or even a cat stuck up a tree. Whatever the emergency, the firefighters of Station 9 are ready.
Question 15
Read "A Day at the Fire Station". Why do the firefighters need to exercise?
- A. Their job needs strength and fitness.
- B. It is the rule at every job.
- C. They have nothing else to do.
- D. They are training for a race.
The Lemonade Stand
Marcus wanted a new bike helmet, but it cost twenty dollars. He had only five.
"Why not set up a lemonade stand?" suggested his grandmother. She helped him squeeze a big bowl of lemons and stir in sugar and cold water. Marcus painted a sign that said LEMONADE – 50 CENTS.
On Saturday morning, Marcus put his table at the end of the driveway. For the first hour, nobody came. Cars zoomed past. Marcus began to think it was a silly idea.
Then he noticed that people were walking to the park across the road for a football match. He picked up his sign and moved the table right next to the park gate. Within ten minutes, a line had formed. By lunchtime, the jug was empty.
Marcus counted his coins. He had earned exactly fifteen dollars. With the five he already had, it was enough.
"You did it!" said Grandma.
"We did it," said Marcus. "And next time, I'll think about where the customers are before I start."
Question 16
Read "The Lemonade Stand". Why did moving the table work?
- A. Many people were walking past the park gate.
- B. He lowered the price.
- C. The park had shade.
- D. His grandmother bought it all.
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