Read the following passage.
A. Honeybees are social insects, and a single bee cannot survive for long without its colony. Inside the colony, work is divided among the members, and each bee labours for the good of the group rather than for itself. Even stinging serves the colony, since a bee that stings usually dies. People keep honeybees for honey and beeswax, and many beekeepers also earn money by placing colonies near crops that need pollinating. In 2025, Canada had a record 854,653 honeybee colonies, and about 63 per cent of them were kept in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
B. A colony holds three kinds of bees. The queen is the only one that lays eggs, and at the peak of spring she may lay as many as 1,500 a day. She can live for four or five years. A worker needs 21 days to grow from an egg into an adult, then spends about a week as a nurse bee feeding the young and another week on hive duties before she begins to forage. In summer most workers die at six to eight weeks of age, while bees raised in the fall survive until spring. Drones are the males. They cannot sting, do no work in the hive and are driven out as winter approaches.
C. Foragers collect nectar, pollen, water and propolis, a resin from tree buds that bees use to seal small gaps in the hive. Nectar is carried home in a honey sac called the crop, where enzymes begin turning it into honey, the colony's main carbohydrate food. Bees can fly as far as 12 kilometres but usually feed within 3 kilometres of the hive. On each trip a bee tends to visit one kind of plant, which moves pollen between flowers of the same species. In 2021, Canada's agriculture department estimated that honeybee pollination added about $3.18 billion a year to Canadian harvests.
D. The varroa mite is a parasite that attacks only honeybees, feeding on both developing and adult bees. It arrived in British Columbia in 1990. Without treatment an infested colony will die, and wiping out the mite is not realistic, so beekeepers try to keep its numbers low. The wounds it makes also let viruses into a bee's body. Since 2007, provincial apiarists have surveyed beekeepers every year about colonies lost over the winter. For the winter of 2024 to 2025, the national loss was 39.3 per cent, well above the average of 27.7 per cent for the years from 2007 to 2024.
E. Not given in any of the above paragraphs.
Decide which paragraph, A to D, has the information given in each statement below. Select E if the information is not given in any of the paragraphs.
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Correct Answer: D
Why this is correct: Look at Paragraph D. It says wiping out the varroa mite is not realistic. So beekeepers try to keep its numbers low. Limiting how many mites there are is the goal.
Passage Reference: Without treatment an infested colony will die, and wiping out the mite is not realistic, so beekeepers try to keep its numbers low.
Tips: Ask what beekeepers do about the pest. Decide whether the aim is to remove it completely or to limit it.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A explains why bees need their colony and how many colonies Canada has. No pest is mentioned there.
- B: Paragraph B describes the queen, the workers and the drones. It does not talk about controlling any pest.
- C: Paragraph C is about what foragers collect and how they pollinate. Nothing in it deals with a parasite.
- E: The mite's numbers are the topic of Paragraph D. It says beekeepers cannot remove the mite, so they keep it low.
Correct Answer: B
Passage Reference: She can live for four or five years.
Why this is correct: The clue is in Paragraph B. The queen is the only bee that lays eggs. She can live for four or five years, and that is several years.
Tips: The female that produces the young is the queen. Look for her lifespan.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A is about why a bee needs its colony. It never mentions a queen or how long she lives.
- C: Paragraph C follows the foragers as they collect food. The queen is not part of it.
- D: Paragraph D gives the percentage of colonies lost in winter. It does not say how long any bee lives.
- E: Paragraph B gives this fact. The queen lays the eggs and can live four or five years.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: It arrived in British Columbia in 1990.
Why this is correct: Look at Paragraph D. The varroa mite arrived in British Columbia in 1990, but that is only a year. It does not say how the mite came or where it came from.
Tips: A date is not the same as a cause. Ask whether the text says how the mite travelled.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A gives colony numbers for Canada and three prairie places. It says nothing about a mite arriving.
- B: Paragraph B describes the three kinds of bees in a colony. Shipping bees from another country is not mentioned.
- C: Paragraph C covers foraging and pollination. It does not tell you where any pest came from.
- D: Paragraph D tells you when the mite reached British Columbia. It does not explain how it got there.
Correct Answer: D
Passage Reference: For the winter of 2024 to 2025, the national loss was 39.3 per cent, well above the average of 27.7 per cent for the years from 2007 to 2024.
Why this is correct: The winter loss for 2024 to 2025, given in Paragraph D, was 39.3 per cent. The average for earlier years was only 27.7 per cent, so more colonies died than usual.
Tips: Paragraph A has a record number too. Make sure your number is about colonies that died.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A also gives a number, a record count of colonies in 2025. That is growth, not colonies dying in winter.
- B: Paragraph B mentions bees that survive until spring. It gives no figure for colonies lost across the country.
- C: Paragraph C gives distances and a dollar value for pollination. There is no death rate in it.
- E: The loss figures appear in Paragraph D. It compares the latest winter with the long average.
Correct Answer: C
Passage Reference: Foragers collect nectar, pollen, water and propolis, a resin from tree buds that bees use to seal small gaps in the hive.
Why this is correct: Look at Paragraph C. Foragers collect propolis, a resin from tree buds. Bees use it to seal small gaps in the hive. Sealing gaps means plugging holes.
Tips: Look for the gummy material the bees bring in. Check where it comes from and what job it does.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A lists honey and beeswax as things people get from bees. It does not say bees fill holes with anything.
- B: Paragraph B lists hive duties for young workers. It does not say what they use to close gaps.
- D: Paragraph D talks about wounds made by the mite. Those are openings in a bee's body, not in the hive.
- E: Propolis is described in Paragraph C. The bees use this resin to seal small gaps.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: Even stinging serves the colony, since a bee that stings usually dies.
Why this is correct: The clue is in Paragraph A. It says stinging serves the colony. A bee that stings usually dies, so the sting does not help the bee itself.
Tips: Two paragraphs talk about stinging. Find the one that says what happens to the bee.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: Paragraph B also mentions stinging, but only to say that drones cannot sting. It does not say that stinging kills a bee.
- C: Paragraph C is about collecting food and pollinating. Stinging is not part of it.
- D: In Paragraph D, mites can kill a whole colony. It does not talk about a bee using its sting.
- E: Paragraph A explains this. A bee that stings usually dies, so stinging serves the colony.
Correct Answer: B
Passage Reference: A worker needs 21 days to grow from an egg into an adult, then spends about a week as a nurse bee feeding the young and another week on hive duties before she begins to forage.
Why this is correct: Paragraph B tells you this. A new worker first spends about a week as a nurse bee feeding the young. After more hive duties, she begins to forage. So caring comes before gathering food.
Tips: Put a young worker's jobs in order. Check what she does before she starts gathering food outside.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A says work is divided among colony members. It does not describe what a young worker does first.
- C: Paragraph C talks about foragers and what they bring home. It says nothing about the jobs young workers do before that.
- D: Paragraph D is about mites and winter losses. The order of a worker's jobs is not mentioned.
- E: The nurse week and the later foraging are both in Paragraph B. The order is clear there.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: Drones are the males.
Why this is correct: Paragraph B tells you what the queen, the workers and the drones do. It says the drones cannot sting, but it never compares their size with the queen. So this idea is not in the text.
Tips: Be careful: knowing what each bee does is not the same as knowing its size.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A is about how the colony works as a group. It does not describe the size of any bee.
- B: Paragraph B names the queen and the drones, and it says what each one does. It gives no sizes at all.
- C: Paragraph C is about what foragers collect and how far they fly. The queen and the drones do not appear.
- D: Paragraph D is about the varroa mite and winter losses. It does not compare the bees in a colony.
Correct Answer: B
Passage Reference: In summer most workers die at six to eight weeks of age, while bees raised in the fall survive until spring.
Why this is correct: Look at Paragraph B. In summer most workers die at six to eight weeks old. Bees raised in the fall survive until spring. That is a much longer life.
Tips: Compare workers born in two seasons. Which ones stay alive longer, and by how much?
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A explains that one bee cannot survive long alone. It does not compare bees born at different times of year.
- C: Paragraph C describes what foragers carry and how far they fly. Their age is not given.
- D: Paragraph D is about colonies lost over the winter. It does not compare how long single bees live.
- E: Paragraph B makes this comparison. Summer workers live six to eight weeks, but fall bees survive until spring.
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