Quiz & test questions Grade 6 Math

Lowick Water Plant Tour Quiz: Rates and Conversions

A 25-minute grade 6 quiz worth 26 points, mixing multiple choice, short answer, and computation on flow rates and unit conversions at a water plant.

Grade: Grade 6
Subject: Math
Material: Quiz & test questions
Time: 25 min
Prep: No prep
Materials: None

Standards

6.RP.A.2 Common Core Math

Understand the concept of a unit rate a/b associated with a ratio a:b with b not equal to 0, and use rate language in the context of a ratio relationship.

How this material aligns: Items 1, 2, and 9 ask students to identify a unit rate, compute one from a total and a time, and say why a plain total is not a rate.

All materials for 6.RP.A.2 →

6.RP.A.3 Common Core Math

Use ratio and rate reasoning to solve real-world and mathematical problems, e.g., by reasoning about tables of equivalent ratios, tape diagrams, double number line diagrams, or equations, including finding a percent of a quantity and converting measurement units.

How this material aligns: Items 3, 4, 5, and 10 convert between flow units, and items 6 through 8 use percent of a quantity and a rate to work out how full the storage tank is and how long filling it would take.

All materials for 6.RP.A.3 →

Download Word file

This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely, without attribution. Updated 2026-07-23.

Objectives

Students will identify and compute unit rates from plant flow records.
Students will convert between gallons per hour, gallons per minute, and million gallons per day.
Students will calculate the percent of a storage tank that is full.

Vocabulary

Key words: unit rate, flow, conversion, percent, storage tank

Teacher overview

This 25-minute quiz is worth 26 points and closes a unit on unit rates, percent, and measurement conversion. Every item is set at the water plant serving the fictional town of Lowick, so students carry one scenario through three multiple-choice items, one short-answer item, and six computation items. Teachers should watch for the common error of multiplying a per-hour rate by 60 instead of dividing by it, which turns 9,000 gallons per hour into 540,000 gallons per minute instead of 150.

Lowick Water Plant Tour Quiz: Rates and Conversions — Grade 6 Math

Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Assessment

Every item below describes the water plant in the town of Lowick, a fictional town.

(2 points) Which of these is a unit rate?
- A) 54,000 gallons
- B) 6 hours
- C) 9,000 gallons per hour
- D) 54,000 gallons in 6 hours
(3 points) The Lowick plant treated 54,000 gallons in 6 hours. How many gallons per hour is that?
(3 points) Use your answer from item 2. How many gallons per minute did the plant treat?
(3 points) One million gallons per day equals 694 gallons per minute. The plant is rated to run at 2 million gallons per day. How many gallons per minute is that rating?
(2 points) Which is the greater flow?
- A) 150 gallons per minute
- B) 9,600 gallons per hour
- C) They are equal.
- D) There is not enough information.
(3 points) The Lowick storage tank holds 300,000 gallons when full. Right now it holds 240,000 gallons. What percent of the tank is full?
(3 points) How many more gallons would it take to fill the tank in item 6 completely?
(3 points) At 150 gallons per minute, how many minutes would it take to add the gallons you found in item 7?
(2 points) Explain in one or two sentences why "54,000 gallons" by itself is not a rate.
(2 points) One cubic foot of water holds 7.48 gallons. About how many gallons are in 100 cubic feet?
- A) 0.748 gallons
- B) 74.8 gallons
- C) 748 gallons
- D) 7,480 gallons

From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.

Answer Key

Answer: C.
A unit rate compares a quantity to one of the second unit. Choice C gives gallons for one hour. Choice D is a ratio but not yet reduced to a per-one rate.
Answer: 9,000 gallons per hour.
54,000 gallons divided by 6 hours equals 9,000 gallons per hour.
Answer: 150 gallons per minute.
9,000 gallons per hour divided by 60 minutes per hour equals 150 gallons per minute.
Answer: 1,388 gallons per minute.
2 times 694 equals 1,388 gallons per minute.
Answer: B.
9,600 gallons per hour divided by 60 equals 160 gallons per minute, which is greater than 150. Students who chose C may have assumed B matched the 150 gallons per minute from item 3 without converting 9,600 gallons per hour.
Answer: 80 percent.
240,000 divided by 300,000 equals 0.80, which is 80 percent full.
Answer: 60,000 gallons.
300,000 minus 240,000 equals 60,000 gallons.
Answer: 400 minutes.
60,000 gallons divided by 150 gallons per minute equals 400 minutes.
Answer: It gives an amount but no time to go with it.
Accept any answer noting that a rate needs two quantities, such as gallons and hours, and that 54,000 gallons could take one hour or one week.
Answer: C.
7.48 gallons per cubic foot times 100 cubic feet equals 748 gallons. Choice B comes from multiplying by 10, and choice D from multiplying by 1,000.

Differentiation

Support

Provide a conversion reference strip listing minutes per hour, hours per day, and the gallons in one cubic foot, and allow a calculator on every computation item. Read items 1 and 5 aloud, and give partial credit on item 3 for a correct method with an arithmetic slip.

Extension

Ask students to find the number of hours the Lowick plant would need to run at its full rating from item 4 to fill the empty 300,000-gallon tank, and to state whether the full rating is faster or slower than the rate they found in item 3.

ELL supports

Provide a picture of the plant and its storage tank labeled with the words "gallons," "hour," "minute," and "full." Give the sentence frame "A rate needs ___ and ___, so ___ gallons alone is not a rate" for item 9, and allow that item to be answered in a single sentence.

Extensions

Students who finish early can write one additional quiz item of their own about the Lowick plant that requires a conversion between two flow units, then trade with a partner and grade each other's work against a shared answer.