1. Read the following extract carefully and then answer all the questions set on it.

Pita panicked. There was nothing he could do. He was trapped. Trapped with hundreds of others. The monster had come
and was slowly, surely dragging them from the deep. He swam through the excited crowd to try the bottom. Then he
tried the top again. The great monster had encircled them completely. There were millions of holes in its great hands, but
none large enough. If only they were a little larger. Pita tried to push himself through one of the holes again. He
squeezed and squeezed. Great tails lashed around him. Not only he but against his eyes. If only his head could get
through. He pushed again, hard, and the pain quivered through his body.
There was nothing he could do. He heard the breakers roaring above now. That meant they were nearing the shore. Pita
whipped his tail in fury. The monster was gradually closing its hands. There were cries now above the surface. Below, the
monster grated on sand. The shore! They had reached the shore! Frantically, Pita flung himself against one of the tiny
holes. He gave a cry as the scales tore from his back - then a cry of joy. He was free! Free!
He lunged forward below the surface. Down he sped, rejoicing in his tinyness. If he was only a little bigger, he would
have been dying on the shore now. The fateful shore! There had been those who had actually come back from that world.
This was one of the great mysteries. But some said they had been there, and had talked of that awesome place.
There was no more blood now. Down he swam. Deep, deep until the sound of the breakers was only a bitter memory,
and the sea was not sandy but blue and clear, and until, far, far away in the distance, green with fern and the tender
moss, he saw the rocks of home.
Question
a) To whom or what does 'he' refer? (1 mark)

Suggested answer
a) 'He' refers to the fish or Pita
Question
b) What effect is the author trying to create by using short sentences in the passage? (2 marks)

Suggested answer
b) The writer is trying to create suspense/tension/fast-moving action.
Question
c) State ONE word which could describe Pita's feelings when he realised, There were millions of holes ... but none large
enough. (2 marks)
c) Alarm/anxiety/frustration/desperation.
Question
d) Why does the author repeat 'squeezed' in line 6? (3 marks)

Suggested answer
d) The word is repeated to show the tremendous effort the fish is making in its bid to escape.
Question
e) Who or what does the 'monster' refer to? (2 marks)

Suggested answer
e) The 'monster' is the net
Question
f) Why does the writer use 'fateful' to describe the shore? (2 marks)

Suggested answer
f) The word is used because that is where the fate of the fish was decided/where death took place.
Question
g) Why does Pita utter a cry of joy? (1 mark)

Suggested answer
g) Pita utters a cry of joy as he was now free.
Question
h) Why was 'the sound of the breakers' a bitter memory? (2 marks)

Suggested answer
h) It was the sound of the place where he would have died.
You can find the original question here.

2. Read the following poem carefully and and answer the questions which follow it.
Growing pains
My child-eyes cried for chocolate treats
And sticky sweets
'Twill rot yu' teet'!
Tinkly silver wrapper hides
5

Germs
Worms
Decay
How can a child-eye see?
This child-heart cried for mid-teen love

10

15

20

25

30

A blow, a shove
Study yuh' book!
Leather jacket
Football boots
Are not the most sought-after truths
How can a child-heart know?
So watch the young-girl-heart take wing!
Watch her groove
And watch her swing
She's old enough
She's strong and tough
She'll see beneath the silver wrapper
Beneath the flashy football boots
She'll find the great sought-after truth
That child-eye tears are not as sad
And child-heart pain is not as bad
As grown-up tears and grown-up pain
Oh Christ, what do we have to gain
From growing up
For throwing up
Our childlike ways
For dim
Disastrous
Grown-up days.
ANITA

Question
(a)(i)Who is likely to have said the following lines:
'Twill rot yu' teet'! (line 3) and Study yu' book! (line 11) (ii)What effect is the writer trying to create by using them? (3
marks)

Suggested answer
(a) The words would have been spoken by an adult, possibly a parent.
Question
(b) In what ways is the content of the first two stanzas (lines 1 - 15) similar?
(3 marks)

Suggested answer
(b) The content of the first two stanzas is similar in that they show the views/concerns of the adult with regard to the
child. Also, both stanzas offer guidance from the adult.
Question
(c) Why does the poet refer to leather jacket (line 12) and ;football boots (line 13)? (2 marks)

Suggested answer

(c) The poet refers to leather jackets and football boots, items which we associate with the male, to indicate that these
attract teenage girls.
Question
(d) Comment on the poet's choice of the following words:
(i)Tinkly (line 4)
(ii)dim (line 31) (2 marks)

Suggested answer
d)(i) Tinkly is an example of the figurative device, ono- matopoeia; hence it appeals to the sense of hearing. Children will
be attracted to the sound of the paper.
(ii) Through the use of dim, the poet maintains the contrast between childhood and adulthood, innocence and experience.
Question
(e) What do the following lines,
She'll see beneath the silver wrapper
Beneath the flashy football boots ... (lines 21 - 22) tell us about the young girl?
(2 marks)

Suggested answer
(e) The lines tell us that the young girl realises later on in life that things are not what they seem to be. She would arrive
at this position because of her maturity and experience.
Question
(f)What is suggested by the poet in the last seven lines (lines 27 - 33) of the poem? (2 marks)

Suggested answer
(f) The poet is saying that it is difficult for anyone to see why adulthood, with all its problems, should be preferred to
childhood.
Total 14 marks

3.
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions below it.
Quiet and the night came early and Leonard sat there feeling a flicker of restlessness. He needed his books, a radio
perhaps, he wasn't sure why he had been delaying going into Kingston to fetch his things. The pattern he had established
of working on the house had completely absorbed him, but, he thought, stretching lazily, it was time to make the trip into
town. He would go there the next day, get it over with. If he went like that, mid-week, there would be nobody there. He
could simply pick up his two boxes and leave the key with the next-door neighbour. He would not have to face his
parents and their angry comments, the small guilt-making jabs, 'after all they had done', giving up his job, 'such good
prospects', to hide himself away 'in the depths of beyond', as they put it. And, of course, he could not explain. He could
not say that the prospect of working to buy things did not interest him, of drifting into a marriage, much like theirs, did
not interest him. It was all sound, solid, and it frightened him, the years stretching ahead, known even before they had
happened. He wanted to make something very simple, very different, for himself. He could not explain because they were
so proud of having lived out Grandma Miriam's dream, to be educated, professionals, a far remove from Grandpa Sam,
travelling in on the country bus with his country talk and his bag of yams.

a) Why was Leonard feeling a flicker of restlessness (line 2)? (2 marks)

b) What does the phrase get it over with (line 12) tell us about Leonard's reaction to the idea of the trip into town? (2
marks)
c) How did Leonard decide to avoid his parents? (2 marks)
d) How did Leonard's parents feel about his chosen lifestyle? (2 marks)
e) What was Grandma Miriam's ambition for her children? (1 mark)
f) What does the last sentence suggest about Grandma Miriam's' reaction to the lifestyle of Grandpa Sam? (2 marks)
Total: 11 marks

You can find the origninal question here

4. Read the following poem carefully and then answer the questions set on it.
The Hawk
The hawk slipped out of the pine, and rose in the sunlit air:
Steady and still he poised: his shadow slept on the grass:
And the bird's song sickened and sank: she cowered with furtive stare,
Dumb, till the quivering dimness should flicker and shift and pass.
Suddenly down he dropped: she heard the hiss of his wing,
Fled with a scream of terror: oh, would she had dared to rest.
For the hawk at eve was full, and there was no bird to sing,
And over the heather drifted the down from a bleeding breast.
A.C. BENSON
(a) Briefly state what happens in the poem. (2 marks)
(b) What does the following tell you about the bird? she cowered with furtive stare... (2 marks)
(c) Explain what is meant by ;the quivering dimness. (2 marks)
(d) Comment on the poet's use of each of the following:
(i) slipped
(ii) drifted (4 marks)
(e) Name one sense to which this poem appeals and quote a word or phrase in support of your choice. (2 marks)
(f) Identify a figure of speech and comment on its effectiveness. (2 marks)

The classroom is where we first realized that we were good at maths or

spelling or terrible at science or geography. From our own memories
and experiences as learners, many of us can recall the obstacles that
prevented us from grasping the proper way to diagram a sentence or
understanding the laws of algebra. Some of us can remember the
teachers who removed those obstacles, enabling us to learn.
Todays classroom might seem very different from the classrooms
we remember, but the challenges of teaching (and learning) remain
essentially the same. Teachers are still expected to convey a certain
amount of information between September and June, and students are
still expected to learn it. Teachers still employ a familiar variety of
classroom assessments quizzes, teacher-made tests and end-of unit
tests supplied by the textbook publishers in their search for evidence
of student progress, and students still ask the critical question: :Is this
going to be on the test?
On almost any school day, in almost every classroom, some form of
student assessment is taking place. Searching for assessment tools to
support the new teaching strategies, teachers and researchers are
exploring assessment alternatives that reveal what students currently
know and understand, in the hope that teachers can then use that
information to suggest appropriate instructional next steps. Ideally, the
next generation of classroom assessment will also enable teachers to
observe student growth and development over time and to identify
individual strengths and weaknesses that are difficult to capture
through traditional testing.
a. According to the writer in paragraph 1, what was the role of some of his teachers

when he was a student?

b. Identify TWO aspects of the classroom which are essentially the same today.
c. What is the purpose of various forms classroom assessments?
d. Why is there the need to find new assessment strategies?
e. What, according to the writer, will future classroom assessment achieve?
f. What title would you give to the passage?

Box 2.5_ Extract

A leading environmental scientist, Dr. Merril Eisenbud, says he would
rather live next door to a nuclear power plant than a mile from a
conventional coal- fired one.
This associate director of New York Universitys Institute of
Environmental Medicine noted in an interview that coal contains small
amounts of radioactive elements, and when enormous amounts of it are
burned to produce electricity much more radiation is released into the
atmosphere than escapes from a nuclear plant.
In fact, he said, his research showed that radioactivity readings taken near
coal plants average 400 times higher than those taken near nuclear
reactors.
Other researchers have recorded similar findings, though these vary
tremendously with the type of coal used and the type of anti- pollution
devices in use.
Dr. Eisenbud noted that the nuclear power industry is now 35 years old,
and over 1,000 plants are in operation throughout the world.
Yet only five or six deaths have been reported due to radiation leaks,
and the last one occurred 15 years ago, he said.
Whats more, those half dozen deaths involved workers within the
industry itself, not civilians at large. There have been no civilian deaths at
all due to nuclear power plant radiation.
At the same time, he went on, thousands of civilians have died from
lung and respiratory ailments brought on by fossil-fuel pollution to say
nothing of the hundreds who have died in mining and transporting coal.
Professor Michael Golay of Massachusetts Institute of Technologys
nuclear engineering department said, Depending upon how clearly the
coal is burned, seven to ten people die each year of emphysema and lung
ailments aggravated by the carbon dioxide released into the air by anaverage size 1000 megawatt coal plant.
And statistics show that to get the two and a half million tons needed to
keep a coal plant of that size burning for a year, five men will die in
mining accidents and two in transportation, the scientist said.
Dr. Golay added: By contrast, nuclear plants emit no pollution and an
average of only three persons die per plant-year in mining and
transporting the 200 tons of uranium needed to fuel the plant.
Items
1. Dr. Eisenbud would prefer to live next door to a nuclear power plant rather than a mile away
from a coal-fired one because
A. radiation is released into the atmosphere from a nuclear plant
B. electricity is produced from a coal-fired plant
C. the radiation hazard from a coal-fired plant far exceeds that from a nuclear plant
D. the amount of radioactivity from a coal-fired plant is less than that from a nuclear plant
2. Which of the following words may BEST be used to replace conventional in line-?
A. Convenient

B. Standardised
C. General
D. Traditional
3. Which of the following is not suggested by the writer as a reason why a coal-fired plant is
more dangerous than a nuclear plant?
A. The size of the coal-fired plant
B. The type of coal that is burnt
C. The type of anti-pollution devices used
D. The amount of carbon dioxide released
4. Which of the following statements does NOT show how the danger from the two plants
differs?
A. A nuclear plant uses 200 tons of uranium each year, while a coal plant uses 21/2 million
tons of coal.
B. There are no civilian deaths from nuclear power plant pollution but thousands from coalfired
plants.
C. An average of three workers per plant-rear will die in the nuclear industry, while seven
will die in the coal industry.
D. Less radiation escapes from a nuclear power plant than from a coal-fired one.
5. The passage is primarily concerned with
A. contrasting the danger from coal-fired power plants with that from nuclear power plants
B. showing that coal-fired power plants use more fuel than nuclear power plants
C. comparing statistics about nuclear power plants and coal-fired power plants
D. giving the opinions of two scientists about environmental pollution
6. According to the statistics given in the passage, which one of the following results in the
largest number of deaths?
A. Radiation leaks
B. Mining and transporting coal
C. Fossil-fuel pollution
D. Carbon dioxide released into the air
7. The writers MAIN purpose in stating Yet only five or six deaths have been reported due to
radiation leaks, and the last one occurred 15 years ago (lines ) is to
A. stress that the nuclear reactors are comparatively safe
B. provide figures for death rates
C. give information about accidents involving nuclear reactors
D. suggest that deaths from radiation leaks are not always reported
8. Statistics are used in the passage to
A. confuse the average reader
B. (B)compensate for the weakness of the writers ideas
C. show off the writers knowledge
D. support the writers argument
(Question taken from English A Paper 02-Specimen Paper 2002/Items 53-60)

4.

Write a story that includes these words

Martinez and Sam huddled in the scanty shelter, looked back at what was left of their home and
wondered what to do next.

5.

It seemed that the landscape, the atmosphere, the people everything had changed, but he had
left only five years ago. Describe what he felt and saw.

6.

Speaker A
rewarding.

Home work is a waste of valuable time which could be used to do something more

Speaker B Son dont you think that the reward is the practice that you get which will allow you
to do well? Home work is good practice for success in life.
Write an essay supporting the views of EITHER Speaker A or Speaker B.
7.

It should be mandatory for all secondary school students to participate in extra-curricular activities
as a requirement for graduation.
Write an essay giving your views on this statement.