Quiz & test questions Grade 6 Math

Willow Bend Groundwater Quiz: Drawdown, Output, Percent

A 20-point grade 6 quiz on the fictional Willow Bend aquifer, mixing multiple-choice and computation on drawdown, well output, porosity, and percent of an aquifer used.

Grade: Grade 6
Subject: Math
Material: Quiz & test questions
Time: 25 min
Prep: No prep
Materials: Calculator (optional)

Standards

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 5 and 7 have students find porosity as a percent and yearly use as a percent of the aquifer, the percent-of-a-quantity reasoning this standard requires at grade 6.

All materials for 6.RP.A.3 →

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 3 and 4 use the well's per-minute pumping rate of 20 gpm to find totals over 15 and 60 minutes, applying the unit-rate reasoning this standard defines.

All materials for 6.RP.A.2 →

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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 calculate drawdown, well output, and porosity from given values.
Students will find a town's yearly use as a percent of an aquifer's water.

Vocabulary

Groundwater: Groundwater is water that has soaked into the ground and fills the spaces between soil particles and cracks in rock underground. It is a large underground source of fresh water that wells and springs draw from.
Aquifer: An aquifer is an underground layer of rock, sand, or gravel that holds water in the tiny spaces between its grains. Wells reach down into aquifers to bring water up to the surface.
Drawdown: Drawdown is how far the water level in a well drops when a pump pulls water out. The harder and longer you pump, the bigger the drawdown gets.
Porosity: Porosity measures how much empty space a rock or soil has between its grains, which tells you how much water it can hold. A sponge has high porosity, while a piece of glass has almost none.

Teacher overview

This 25-minute quiz is worth 20 points. It checks whether students can work with groundwater numbers using grade 6 math. The items mix two multiple-choice questions, five computation questions, and one short-answer question, all set in the fictional town of Willow Bend. Students find a drawdown, a well's output, a soil sample's porosity, and a percent of an aquifer used in a year.

Willow Bend Groundwater Quiz: Drawdown, Output, Percent — Grade 6 Math

Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Assessment

The fictional town of Willow Bend draws its water from wells that reach an aquifer, which is water stored underground.

(2 points) Groundwater is water stored where?
- A) in clouds
- B) in the spaces between soil, sand, and rock underground
- C) in the open ocean
- D) on rooftops
(2 points) In a Willow Bend well, the still water level is 30 feet down. While the pump runs, the level drops to 42 feet down. What is the drawdown?
(3 points) A Willow Bend well pumps 20 gpm. How many gallons does it pump in 15 minutes?
(3 points) The same well runs for 60 minutes at 20 gpm. How many gallons is that in all?
(3 points) A soil sample has a total volume of 50 cubic cm and 15 cubic cm of empty space. Find its porosity as a percent. Use porosity = empty space ÷ total volume × 100.
(2 points) Which material lets water pass through fastest?
- A) packed clay
- B) sand and gravel
- C) solid rock
- D) dry, packed mud
(3 points) The Willow Bend aquifer holds about 500,000,000 gallons (500 million). The town pumps about 50,000,000 gallons (50 million) in one year. What percent of the aquifer is that?
(2 points) Explain why paving over the land above an aquifer can lower how much water the aquifer holds.

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: B.
Groundwater sits in the spaces between soil, sand, and rock below the surface, which is the aquifer the town pumps.
Answer: 12 feet.
Drawdown is the pumping level minus the still level: 42 - 30 = 12 feet.
Answer: 300 gallons.
20 gpm × 15 minutes = 300 gallons.
Answer: 1,200 gallons.
20 gpm × 60 minutes = 1,200 gallons.
Answer: 30 percent.
15 ÷ 50 = 0.30, and 0.30 × 100 = 30 percent.
Answer: B.
Sand and gravel have large, connected spaces between the grains, so water passes through them faster than through clay, rock, or packed mud.
Answer: 10 percent.
50,000,000 ÷ 500,000,000 = 0.10, which is 10 percent of the aquifer used that year.
Answer: Rain cannot soak in.
Paving seals the surface, so rain runs off instead of soaking down to refill the aquifer, which lowers how much water the aquifer holds over time.

Differentiation

Support

Provide the subtraction set up for item 2 (42 - 30) and the porosity formula already written with the numbers placed in it for item 5. Allow a calculator on every computation item.

Extension

Ask students to imagine a second sample with a total volume of 80 cubic cm and 20 cubic cm of empty space. Have them find its porosity and compare it to the 30 percent sample in item 5.

ELL supports

Provide a simple cross-section drawing that labels the still water level, the pumping level, and the drawdown between them, so item 2's words are tied to a picture. Give a sentence frame for item 8: "Paving lowers the water because ___."

Extensions

Have students turn item 7 into a longer question by finding how many gallons the town would pump in 5 years and what percent of the aquifer that represents, then discuss what would refill it.