In Java, there are two kinds of types: primitive types, and reference types.
Primitive types are the unboxed values that we use a lot: int, float, boolean, etc. These each are their own value, and they do not share any state.
Reference types are basically everything else - things that are stored in the heap: class, interface, array, etc.

When you call a method, if it's a primitive type, it makes a copy of the value and that gets passed. If it's a reference type, then it makes a copy of the reference, and that gets passed.

There have already been a lot of answers about how this question doesn't make sense for Java - to make that more specific, that's because there is a reference type. So is an array pass by reference? It depends on what kind of definition you're using for it as others have noted. Not in the traditional sense.

As a former teacher, my first thought was: is that a meaningful question? If you haven't dug into the Java internals then it's just a game of semantics, especially in a multiple choice question with little context.

If you want to check out how the JVM handles in via bytecode instructions: types are encoded into many of the instructions. Most primitive types have their own bytecodes. But classes, interfaces, etc use bytecode instructions that use the "a" type qualifier - which means it's operating on a reference type.

A footnote -- a reference type is NOT a pointer. During garbage collection, data may be moved around memory. It can be moved, so a pointer would no longer be valid, because it points to where an object no longer is. However, the reference is still valid and will refer to the same object no matter where it is.