Choose between less than perfect responses. The response choices usually do not provide us with the perfect response. Make carefully-reasoned inferences. Most of the questions on the MCAS are inference questions. The answers are not stated explicitly in the test, but the student can figure out the answer by combining information in the text with prior knowledge gained from experience.
Children make inferences every day.
John is not in school. Children not in school are usually absent because of sickness. Therefore John is probably sick. However, many children do poorly on test inferences because they rush to hasty judgments without considering the facts listed in the text. Homework assignments often require students to make inferences.