---
title: Minibeasts in the house: house spiders, silverfish, woodlice, moths… — how Mova does on the tests · Biology
description: Lesson 370 of the biology course of Mova's primary school: 7 of 12 tests right, exam 1 of 4, every question with the options, the student's choice, the right answer and why it chose.
---

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# Minibeasts in the house: house spiders, silverfish, woodlice, moths and cockroaches

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**Tests:** 7 of 12 right · **Exam:** 1 of 4 right · **Kind:** plain · **Understood:** 9 of 16 · **Run:** 2026-10-18, commit `f3c23ea72`

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Lesson 370 of the biology course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: [the lesson in the corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/370-minibeasts-in-the-house-house-spiders-silverfish-woodlice-moths-and-cockroaches/).

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Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: [the lesson's questions in the corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/370-minibeasts-in-the-house-house-spiders-silverfish-woodlice-moths-and-cockroaches/).

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### Test 1 · right ✓ {#t1}

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«big spider in the bath, it came up the plughole, I'm never showering again» What is true?

- **1.** Spiders live inside the taps — score 1
- **2.** It almost certainly fell in; the water trap stops spiders coming up — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 5
- **3.** It was sent by the neighbours — no support
- **4.** Spiders swim up drains every night looking for warm baths to sleep in — score 1

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**Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 5, against 1 for the next best. Its support: lesson 148, line 13: «Spiders struggle on very smooth, wet surfaces, so a spider in the bath usually fell in or came from outside, not up the drain.», reached through a sentence linked to the one the question matched. What matched: the same action «fall in» (+3); the same doer «spider» (+2). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/370-minibeasts-in-the-house-house-spiders-silverfish-woodlice-moths-and-cockroaches/t1/)

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### Test 2 · wrong ✗ {#t2}

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Count them: a spider in the bath has 8 legs and 8 eyes. How many legs and eyes in all?

- **1.** 24 — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** 16 — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **3.** 14 — no support
- **4.** 8 — no support

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**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/370-minibeasts-in-the-house-house-spiders-silverfish-woodlice-moths-and-cockroaches/t2/)

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### Test 3 · right ✓ {#t3}

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«you swallow 8 spiders a year in your sleep, it's a fact, it's got a number» Why do made-up facts with numbers sound so believable?

- **1.** A number makes a story sound measured and scientific, even when nobody counted — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 1
- **2.** Spiders really count themselves — score -1
- **3.** Every fact with a number is true — no support
- **4.** Numbers are always checked by scientists before anybody is allowed to say them — no support

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**Why:** It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 1 with score 1, against -1 for the next best. Its support: lesson 257, line 2: «Cartoons draw germs as angry green monsters, but most bacteria are harmless or even helpful, and only a small number make people ill.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «make» (+1); a different thing acted on (counts against) (+1). Against it: the same doer «small number» (-1). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/370-minibeasts-in-the-house-house-spiders-silverfish-woodlice-moths-and-cockroaches/t3/)

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### Test 4 · wrong ✗ {#t4}

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Count them: a boy turns over a flowerpot and finds 3 woodlice. How many legs is that?

- **1.** 18 — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** 42 — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **3.** 21 — no support
- **4.** 24 — no support

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**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/370-minibeasts-in-the-house-house-spiders-silverfish-woodlice-moths-and-cockroaches/t4/)

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### Test 5 · right ✓ {#t5}

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In a cartoon, a cockroach dances with six legs and sings into a microphone with its mouth. How does a real cockroach breathe?

- **1.** Through little holes along its body — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 6
- **2.** Through its six legs — no support
- **3.** Through its mouth like a singer — no support
- **4.** It does not need air — score 2

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**Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 6, against 2 for the next best. Its support: lesson 370, line 15: «Cockroaches breathe through little holes along their body, hide in warm cracks near food and water, and one is reported to live about a week without its head,…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same place «little holes» (+4); the same property (+2). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/370-minibeasts-in-the-house-house-spiders-silverfish-woodlice-moths-and-cockroaches/t5/)

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### Test 6 · right ✓ {#t6}

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«only cockroaches would survive a nuclear war, everyone knows» What is right?

- **1.** They take more radiation than people, but other insects take more and many would die — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 5
- **2.** True, cockroaches cannot be hurt by anything, not even fire, poison or being stepped on — no support
- **3.** True, they are made of metal — no support
- **4.** False, cockroaches die from any light — no support

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**Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 5, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 370, line 16: «Cockroaches can survive much more radiation, the invisible harmful rays from nuclear bombs and accidents, than people, but some other insects take even more, a…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «take» (+4); the same thing acted on «more» (+1). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/370-minibeasts-in-the-house-house-spiders-silverfish-woodlice-moths-and-cockroaches/t6/)

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### Test 7 · right ✓ {#t7}

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Why would cleaning crumbs and fixing drips help more against cockroaches than spraying?

- **1.** Cockroaches need food and water, so without them they leave or die — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **2.** Spray makes them stronger and bigger, so it never works at all — no support
- **3.** Drips are where cockroaches lay eggs only — no support
- **4.** Cockroaches are scared of clean floors — no support

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**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/370-minibeasts-in-the-house-house-spiders-silverfish-woodlice-moths-and-cockroaches/t7/)

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### Test 8 · right ✓ {#t8}

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«moths ate my mum's wool jumper, they've got tiny teeth» What is true?

- **1.** The caterpillars did it; adult clothes moths do not eat at all — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 5
- **2.** Adult moths chew holes with sharp teeth hidden under their furry heads — score 3
- **3.** The jumper wore out by itself — no support
- **4.** Moths eat only cotton — score -4

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**Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 5, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 370, line 13: «Holes in wool clothes are made by clothes moth caterpillars, not the adult moths, which do not eat at all; the caterpillars eat wool, fur and feathers, and was…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same place «all» (+4); the same action «eat» (+1). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/370-minibeasts-in-the-house-house-spiders-silverfish-woodlice-moths-and-cockroaches/t8/)

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### Test 9 · right ✓ {#t9}

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Why do clothes moth caterpillars ignore cotton and plastic clothes?

- **1.** Cotton is too soft for them — no support
- **2.** Plastic is poisonous only to moths — no support
- **3.** They are afraid of bright colours — no support
- **4.** They eat animal fibres like wool, fur and feathers — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 1

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**Why:** It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 4 with score 1, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 219, line 11: «Only the caterpillars of a few kinds of moth eat wool clothes; most moths never touch clothes at all.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «eat» (+1); a different thing acted on (counts against) (+1). Against it: the same doer «caterpillars» (-1). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/370-minibeasts-in-the-house-house-spiders-silverfish-woodlice-moths-and-cockroaches/t9/)

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### Test 10 · wrong ✗ {#t10}

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Why do woodlice die quickly on a sunny, dry pavement?

- **1.** They get lost and starve — **← Mova's choice** · score -1
- **2.** Their breathing parts dry out — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **3.** They are too cold — no support
- **4.** The sun burns their wings — no support

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**Why:** It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 1 with score -1, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 220, line 12: «Woodlice need damp places and hide under logs and stones; they are crustaceans, related to crabs and shrimps, not insects.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. Against it: the same doer «woodlice» (-1). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/370-minibeasts-in-the-house-house-spiders-silverfish-woodlice-moths-and-cockroaches/t10/)

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### Test 11 · wrong ✗ {#t11}

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Why does washing bedding hot help people with dust mite allergy?

- **1.** It makes skin flakes bigger — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** Hot water makes mites grow — no support
- **3.** Mites like the smell of soap and leave the bed to find it — no support
- **4.** Hot washing kills mites and removes their droppings — **✓ the right answer** · no support

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**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/370-minibeasts-in-the-house-house-spiders-silverfish-woodlice-moths-and-cockroaches/t11/)

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### Test 12 · wrong ✗ {#t12}

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Count them: under a microscope a girl sees a dust mite and a silverfish. How many legs together, if a silverfish is an insect?

- **1.** 16 — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** 12 — no support
- **3.** 14 — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **4.** 10 — no support

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**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/370-minibeasts-in-the-house-house-spiders-silverfish-woodlice-moths-and-cockroaches/t12/)

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### Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e1}

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Identify the most probable manner in which a large spider came to be present in a bath.

- **1.** It ascended through the drain from the sewers beneath the dwelling — no support
- **2.** It descended from the tap — score 1
- **3.** It was generated spontaneously within the bath — **← Mova's choice** · score 4
- **4.** It fell in whilst hunting and is unable to climb the smooth sides — **✓ the right answer** · score 4

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**Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 4, tied with another option at 4 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 370, line 3: «Find a big spider in the bath and it looks as if it crawled up the plughole, but it almost certainly fell in while hunting and cannot climb the slippery sides;…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same thing acted on «big spider» (+2); the same circumstance (+2). The right option, 4, scored 4. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/370-minibeasts-in-the-house-house-spiders-silverfish-woodlice-moths-and-cockroaches/e1/)

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### Exam question 2 · formal language · right ✓ {#e2}

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Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the woodlouse?

- **1.** It is a worm devoid of legs — no support
- **2.** It is a crustacean, related to crabs, possessing fourteen legs — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 3
- **3.** It is an insect possessing six legs — no support
- **4.** It is a spider possessing eight legs — no support

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**Why:** It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 2 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 40, line 16: «A woodlouse has 14 legs and is a crustacean, related to crabs; a crab has ten legs counting its claws, which is why it is called a decapod.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same thing acted on «crustacean» (+2); it fills the role the question asks for (+1). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/370-minibeasts-in-the-house-house-spiders-silverfish-woodlice-moths-and-cockroaches/e2/)

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### Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e3}

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Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the damage sustained by woollen garments.

- **1.** It is caused by the adult moths by means of teeth concealed beneath the head — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** It is caused by the wearing of cotton — no support
- **3.** It is caused by the larvae of the clothes moth, the adults taking no food — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **4.** It is caused by silverfish exclusively — no support

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**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/370-minibeasts-in-the-house-house-spiders-silverfish-woodlice-moths-and-cockroaches/e3/)

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### Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e4}

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Ascertain the validity of the assertion that persons swallow eight spiders annually during sleep.

- **1.** It is true only during the winter months — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** It has been established by careful measurement — no support
- **3.** It is true only in respect of children — no support
- **4.** It is without foundation in evidence — **✓ the right answer** · no support

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**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/370-minibeasts-in-the-house-house-spiders-silverfish-woodlice-moths-and-cockroaches/e4/)

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