Past Papers Y6

PAKISTAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL JEDDAH - ENGLISH SECTION
CAMBRIDGE PRIMARY CHECKPOINT
PAST PAPER BOOKLET
ENGLISH (0844)
Excellence in Education
NAME: ____________________________________________
GRADE LEVEL/ SECTION: ____________________________
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Department of English
CONTENT LIST
1. When the Titanic hit an Iceberg .................................................. 4
2. Stig of the Dump ....................................................................... 13
3. Mountains ................................................................................. 21
4. The Battle of Bubble and Squeak .............................................. 30
5. The Red Fox ............................................................................... 40
6. The Scarecrow and His Servant ................................................ 49
7. Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror ............................................. 58
8. Chocolate ................................................................................. 67
9. The dawn chorus .................................................................... 76
10. Kensuke’s Kingdom ............................................................... 85
11. Lake Baikal ........................................................................... 96
12. Lucy's Nightmare .................................................................. 105
13. The Secret Garden ................................................................ 114
14. The Boy Who Talked With Animal ......................................... 122
15. How Chocolate is made? ....................................................... 131
16. The Magic of Fireflies ............................................................ 140
17. The Wolf Princess ................................................................. 149
18. Lewis Clarke: South Pole trek teenager breaks record 159
19. An Eagle in the Snow 169
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Objectives:
✓ Understand different word classes.
✓ Distinguish between fact and opinion in a range of texts and other media.
✓ Paraphrase explicit meanings based on information from more than one point in
the text.
✓ Consider how the author manipulates the reaction of the reader, e.g. how
characters and settings are presented.
✓ Look for implicit meanings, and make plausible inferences from more than one
point in the text.
✓ Comment on a writer’s use of language, demonstrating awareness of its impact on
the reader.
✓ Explore proverbs sayings and figurative expressions.
✓ Acquire the awareness of the impact of a writer’s choices of sentence length and
structure.
✓ Understand the use of conditionals, e.g. to express possibility.
✓ Understand aspects of narrative structure, e.g. the handling of time.
✓ Explore the use of active and passive voice in a sentence.
✓ Identify uses of the colon, semi-colon, parenthetic commas, dashes and brackets.
✓ Recognize key characteristics of a range of non-fiction text types.
✓ Understand the conventions of Standard English usage in different forms of
writing.
✓ Explore first and third person narration.
✓ Identify features of balanced written arguments.
✓ Establish and maintain a clear viewpoint, with some elaboration of personal voice.
✓ Adapt the conventions of a text type for a particular purpose.
✓ Use different genres as models for writing.
✓ Use paragraphs, sequencing and linking them appropriately to support overall
development of the text.
✓ Use a wide range of connectives to clarify relationships between ideas, e.g.
however, therefore, although etc.
✓ Develop grammatical control of complex sentences, manipulating them for effect.
✓ Develop increasing accuracy in using punctuation effectively to mark out the
meaning in complex sentences.
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Text A
When the Titanic hit an iceberg
One still, starlit night in April 1912, the transatlantic traffic included the grandest
passenger liner ever built on her first voyage. Can anyone not know that the
magnificent, ‘unsinkable’ Titanic hit an iceberg and sank, with the loss of an
extraordinary cross-section of 1,513 lives: the fabulously rich, the poor looking for new
life, men, women, children and babies?
Among the many, many mistakes that were made that night were the decisions to
travel fast in the dark through a region known to have icebergs, not to heed the radio
warning from the nearby Californian (another ship), and not to give the lookouts – who
had been told to watch for icebergs – binoculars, so that not until they were barely a
minute from the towering iceberg did they ring out and call their warning.
When the warning came, the ship was put sharply into reverse and steered ‘hard
starboard’. The Titanic, at the last second, glided past the iceberg on the starboard
side. Above the water, it had partly missed it, partly brushed it. Under the water, of
course, a prong of hard, hard ice jutted out and raked along the side of the ship for
about 300 feet (just over 80 meters), ensuring that enough of the ship’s watertight
compartments were simultaneously flooded to guarantee its rapid sinking.
The Titanic could still have floated with any two of the sixteen watertight compartments
flooded, even with all four of the first five in the low. Not with all the first five,
however.
Glossary
bow – front of the ship
simultaneously – at the same time
starboard- the right side of a ship
transatlantic – across the Atlantic Ocean
Read the text and answer the questions.
1 Why is the word ‘unsinkable’ in inverted commas?
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2 When did the Titanic sink?
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3 Give an example of alliteration from the 2nd paragraph.
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4 How does the writer help the reader to understand the size of the ship?
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5 Under the water, of course, a prong of hard, hard ice jutted out and raked along the
side of the ship.
Explain in your own words what ‘raked along the side of the ship’ means.
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6 On the night that the Titanic sank, several mistakes were made on board the ship
Tick (√) two boxes to identify two of the mistakes.
The captain was asleep.
The crew did not send out a distress call.
The look-outs did not have binoculars.
The ship was going too fast. [1]
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7 What is the effect of using long sentences in the text?
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……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….[1]
8 Read these statements based on the text ‘When the Titanic hit an iceberg’. Some are
facts and some are opinions. Tick (√) the facts. (There may be more than one.)
The Titanic partly missed the iceberg.
The Titanic sank in the Atlantic Ocean.
The Titanic was magnificent.
The Titanic was the greatest passenger liner ever built. [1]
9 (a) Identify any one passive verb from the second paragraph?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
(b) Why has the passive form of the verb been used?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….[2]
6
Text B
Big Blue Whale
How big?
The blue whale is big. Bigger than a giraffe. Bigger than an elephant. Bigger than a
dinosaur. The blue whale is the biggest creature that has ever lived on Earth! Blue
whales can grow to over 30 meters long and weigh 140 tones – that’s heavier than 25
elephants or 115 giraffes. Female blue whales are a little bigger than the males. Blue
whales can live for about 70 t 80 years.
General features
The blue whale’s skin is springy and smooth like a hard-boiled egg and as slippery as
wet soap. Its eye is as big as a tea cup and dark as the deep sea. Just behind the eye
is a hole, as small as the end of a pencil. The hole is one of the blue whale’s ears –
sticking out ears would get in the way when the whale is swimming. In deep water
there isn’t much light and it’s hard to see. Blue whales use their sense of hearing and
their sense of touch to find their way around.
Breathing
The blue whale lives all of its long life in the sea. But it is a mammal like us and it
breathes air, not water. From time to time it has to come to the surface to breathe
through blowholes on top of its head. A blue whale can stay under water for 30
minutes or more. But on long journeys it usually surfaces for air every two to five
minutes.
Read Text B and answer the questions.
1 Where do blue whales live?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………[1]
2 Blue Whales are heavy. How heavy can they be?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………[1]
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3 Look at the phrase ‘as big as a tea cup.’
(a) What technique is ‘as big as a tea cup’ an example of?
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(b) Suggest one reason why the eye has been compared to a tea cup?
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4 If blue whales are so big, how do they avoid bumping into things?
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5 What is the purpose of the sub-headings in Big Blue Whale?
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……………………………………………………………………………………....………………… [1]
6 Tick (√) two boxes to show which statements about blue whales are False.
The ears stick out behind the eye.
The female is smaller than the male.
The skin feels like a hard-boiled egg.
They breathe air. [1]
7 (a) The blue whale is big. Bigger than a giraffe.
Give two ways these sentences are similar.
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(b) What is the effects of using short sentences in the text?
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8 Give one way Text A and Text B are same.
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9 What is the purpose of the dash used in paragraph 2
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Section C: Writing
Spend 25 minutes on this section.
Big Blue Whale is a report. The information is organized in different sections with sub-
headings.
Write a report in a similar way, with the title Human Beings.
Ideas to think about to help you:
What do you know about human beings? (You are a human being!)
How will you organize your information?
What about the layout? You can have as many sections as you like, e.g. feeding,
moving, where humans live.
Remember: You do not need to have any special science information for this task- just
use what do you know already.
PLANNING:
Spend about 5 minutes making notes in this box.
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Content, Text structure Sentence structure Spelling Total

purpose and and and punctuation.
audience. organization.
/8 /7 /7 /3 /25
12
Read this passage from ‘Stig of the Dump by Clive King and then answer the
questions.
Stig of the Dump

Barney had always been told not to go near the old chalk pit because it was too
dangerous. If you went too near the edge, the ground would give way. But ‘today was
one of these grey days when there was nothing to do, nothing to play, nowhere to go.
Except to the chalk pit. The dump.’
He crawled to the edge of the pit and peered over.

Far below was the bottom of the pit. The dump. Barney could see strange bits of
wreckage among the moss and elder bushes and nettles. Was that the steering wheel of
a ship? The tail of an aeroplane? At least there was a real bicycle. Barney felt sure he
could make it go if only he could get at it. They didn’t let him have a bicycle.
Barney wished he was at the bottom of the pit.
And the ground gave way.
Barney felt his head going down and his feet going up. There was a rattle of fallen earth
beneath him. Then he was falling, still clutching the clump of grass that was falling with
him.
‘This is what it’s like when the ground gives way,’ thought Barney. Then he seemed to
turn a complete somersault in the air, bumped into a ledge of chalk half–way down,
crashed through some creepers and ivy and branches, and landed on a bank of moss.
His thoughts did those funny things they do when you bump your head and you
suddenly find yourself thinking about what you had for dinner last Tuesday, all mixed up
with seven times six. Barney lay with his eyes shut, waiting for his thoughts to stop
being mixed up. Then opened them.
He was lying in a kind of shelter. Looking up he could see a roof, or part of a roof, made
of elder branches, a very rotten old carpet, and rusty old sheets of iron. There was a big
hole, through which he must have fallen. He could see the white walls of the cliff, the
trees and creepers at the top, and the sky with clouds passing over it.
Barney decided he wasn’t dead. He didn’t ever seem to be very much hurt. He turned
his head and looked around him. It was dark in this den after looking at the white chalk,
and he couldn’t see what sort of place it was. It seemed to be partly a cave dug into the
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chalk, partly a shelter built over the mouth of the cave. There was a cool, damp smell.
Woodlice and earwigs dropped from the roof where he had broken through it.
But what had happened to his legs? He couldn’t sit up when he tried to. His legs
wouldn’t move. Perhaps l’ve broken them, Barney thought. What shall I do then? He
looked at these legs to see if they were all right and found they were all tangled up with
creeper from the face of the cliff. Who tied me up? thought Barney. He kicked his legs to
try to get them free, but it was no use, there were yards of creeper trailing down from
the cliff. I suppose I got tangled up when I fell, he thought. Except I would have broken
my neck if I hadn’t.
He lay quiet and looked around the cave again. Now that his eyes were used to it, he
could see further into the dark part of the cave.
There was somebody there!
Or something!
Read the text A and answer the questions.
1 List TWO things Barney saw in the dump when he was looking down into it?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………… [2]
2 Give ONE reason that Barney was not badly hurt when he landed.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………… [1]
3 Give an example of alliteration from the text.
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4 Why does it seem so dark in the den?
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5 Barney is the point of view character in this story. Give two reasons to
support this statement?
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………………………………………………………………………………………………………… [2]
6 Read these statements about Barney.

Tick (√) two boxes that we know are True from the passage.
He liked sitting and reading.
He thought he could make the bicycle work.
He wanted a friend to play with.
He wanted to fall into the chalk pit. [1]
7 When Barney opened his eyes, the narrator describes only what Barney could see
above him. Why?
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………………………………………………………………………………………………………… [1]
8 Did Barney fall far when he fell into the chalk pit?
Tick (√) one box
Yes
No
Give a reason from the passage to support your answer.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………… [2]
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9(a) The passage is a short extract from the book Stig of the Dump.
From the evidence of the extract, which genre do you think the story
belongs to?
Tick (√) the correct answer
Mystery/ Thriller
Adventure Story
Legend
(b) Name two general features of the genre you chose for 9(a).
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………… [2]
10 ‘He was lying in a kind of shelter.’
Give a reason from the passage to support how he knew the shelter had been made by a
person.
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………………………………………………………………………………………………………… [1]
11 Give one word from the passage which means the same as ‘holding tightly.’
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12(a) There was Somebody there! Or Something!
Give two ways the writer builds up tension in these lines.
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………………………………………………………………………………………………………... [2]
(b) How did writer build up suspense? Give answer by giving an example from the text.
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13 Write one sentence from the text that shows the narrator’s opinion of the boy.
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………………………………………………………………………………………………………… [1]
14 Explain in your own words Two different things you learn about the Barney’s
character from what he does in the story. Use evidence from the text to support each of
your ideas.
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15 This story is told by a narrator.

Give TWO ways the story would be different if it was written from Barney’s point of
view.
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……………………………………………………………………………………………………….... [2]
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Section B: Writing
Read this summary of the story so far.
Barney had fallen into a cave or den at the bottom of a chalk pit. Once his eyes got used
to the dark, he could see further into the dark part of the cave.
There was somebody there!
Or something!
Now continue the story yourself to explain who or what might have been in the cave
with Barney and how the story could develop. (If you have already read the book, write
your own version of what could happen next.)
Ideas to help you.
Character • Barney and someone or something that is in the cave with him
Setting • The setting is in the den and the bottom of the chalk pit.
• Remember that Barney has only been able to see part of the den.
There may be more.
Plot • Is the somebody or something in the den with Barney friendly?
• Will it try to help him or hurt him?
• Is Barney going to stay in the chalk pit? How might he get out?
Remember to include as much detail as you can in your story. It can be of any genre
that you like.
PLANNING:
Spend up to five minutes making notes in the box below to plan your story.
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Write your story here.
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/8 /7 /7 /3 /25
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Text A
Read the text below about Mountains, and then answer the questions.
Mountains
As far as we know, there have always been mountains on Earth. The first
mountains may have been made soon after the Earth was formed, but they were
worn away millions of years ago and are now sand, mud and clay. The mountains
we can see today are much younger.
Q: How are mountains made?
A: Some mountains are volcanoes. Others are dome mountains which were pushed
up by hot melted, or molten, rock rising below the surface. Some mountains were
formed when rocks were squeezed together and folded. Others are blocks of land,
forced up between huge cracks, or faults, in the Earth’s surface.
Q: Do mountains always stay the same?
A: No. Mountains are being worn away by rain, frost and other natural forces.
Some mountain ranges, such as the Alps, Himalayas and Andes are still rising as
the continental plates they rest on are pushed closer together.
Q: What is a volcano?
A: A volcano is a hole in the Earth’s crust. When a volcano erupts, hot molten rocks
from far inside the Earth pour out of the hole onto the surface. Volcanoes that erupt
often are called active, while those that might erupt sometime in the future are said
to be dormant. A volcano that has stopped erupting is said to be extinct.
Q: Where are these volcanoes?
A: There are about 1,300 active volcanoes in the world, although only about 20 or
30 erupt in one year. Most volcanoes are in areas near the edges of the plates that
make up the Earth’s outer layer.
1 What has happened to the first mountains on Earth?
.................................................................................................................[1]
2 Give an example of a sentence from the passage which uses the passive form of the
verb? (Paragraph 2)
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3 ‘The mountains we can see today are much younger.’
What does the term ‘younger’ suggest about the mountains?
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4 Where are most volcanoes found?
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5 (a) Give two connectives from the passage.
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(b) Why are they used?
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6 (a) Give an example of a sentence of a relative clause from the second paragraph.
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(b) Why are relative clauses used?
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7 (a) ‘When a volcano erupts, hot molten rocks from far inside the Earth pour
out of the hole onto the surface.’
What type of a sentence is the above mentioned sentence an example of?
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(b) Explain how you know.
.................................................................................................................[2]
8 Explain why you are unlikely to see an extinct volcano erupt?
.................................................................................................................[1]
9 Tick (√) two boxes to show different types of mountains on Earth today.
continental plates
crust
dome
molten rock
volcano [2]
10 Tick (√) the best description of the text Mountains.
It contains facts only.
It contains mostly facts.
It contains about half facts and half opinions.
It contains only opinions. [1]
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Text B
Read this text about the ‘World of Insects’, and then answer the questions.
The World of Insects
Over a million different kinds of insects have been discovered. They are found in
almost every kind of habitat, from deserts to lakes, and from the soil to the air.
The only place which insects have been unable to colonise successfully is the
oceans. Insects vary enormously in their general shape as well as their size. They
range from the microscopic to beetles the size of large mice.
All insects have certain things in common. They have an external skeleton called
an exoskeleton which provides support and protection. The bodies of adult insects
are divided into three parts: the head, the thorax and the abdomen, and on the
middle part are three pairs of legs.
Perhaps the most striking feature of insects is their ability to fly. Some insects,
such as beetles, are quite cumbersome in flight and can cover only a short
distance. Others, however, such as dragonflies, spend all the hours of daylight on
the wing.
The wings of many butterflies are extremely colorful and are used for a variety of
purposes such as display, defence and camouflage, in addition to their use in flight.
Insects eat many different types of food. Many are carnivores while others eat only
plant material. Some insects even eat plants at one stage of their life and animals
at another.
Glossary
camouflage – natural disguise

carnivores – meat eaters
colonise – live together in a group
cumbersome – clumsy or awkward
habitat –place where an animal or plant lives
11 Do all insects eat plants only?
Tick () one box
yes no
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Support your answer with a quotation from the text.
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12 What is the purpose of both the texts?
Text A: .........................................................................................................
Text B: .....................................................................................................[2]
13 Why has a colon been used in the following sentence.
The bodies of adult insects are divided into three parts: the head, the thorax
and the abdomen, and on the middle part are three pairs of legs.
................................................................................................................[1]
14 Suggest suitable headings for paragraphs 2 and 5.
Paragraph 2: .................................................................................................
Paragraph 5: .............................................................................................[2]
15 How is the last paragraph different from the rest of the paragraphs in Text B?
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16 (a) What is the only place where insects have not been successful?
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(b) What is, perhaps, the most important feature of insects?
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17 Tick (√) two boxes to show which statements are FALSE.
Adult insects have three main body parts.
All insects are smaller than mice.
Dragonflies fly in the daytime.
All insects are vegetarian.
Insects are found in the desert. [2]
18 Suggest a reason why some beetles are quite cumbersome in flight and may only fly
short distances.
.................................................................................................................. [1]
19 Look at the following sentences:
‘Mountains are being worn away by rain, frost and other natural forces.’ (Text A)
‘Over a million different kind of insects have been discovered.’ (Text B)
Give two ways these sentences are similar.
1...................................................................................................................
2.................................................................................................................[2]
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Section B: Writing
20 The reading texts Mountains and The World of Insects are both reports taken
from informative books.
Write your own report for an information book about a place of geographical or
historical interest.
It could be:
of geographical interest
• a mountain / mountain range

• a volcano
• a forest
• a river
of historical interest
• an important building
• a city
• a landmark
• a temple
• a bridge
PLANNING
Spend about five minutes making notes in this box:
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Write your report here.
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Content, purpose and audience / 8
Text structure and organization / 7
Sentence structure and punctuation / 7
Spelling / 3
Total / 25
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Read this extract from ‘The Battle of Bubble and Squeak’ by Philippa Pearce and then answer the
questions.
The Battle of Bubble and Squeak
The Sparrow family own two pet gerbils called Bubble and Squeak. The children, Sid,
Peggy and Amy, love playing with their gerbils.
So suddenly does disaster strike.
That evening Bill Sparrow had gone to get more coal for the fire.
‘Shut the back door – the draught’s killing!’ called Mrs. Sparrow. But, as usual, Bill did not
shut the door – it would be so much easier to find it open when he came back, laden with
coal. He pulled the back door too, but it did not click shut. It opened a little behind him as
he turned away. He went off with the scuttle towards the coal-bunker.
Behind him a ginger ghost slipped up to the back door, and through it, into the house.
Ginger went into the kitchen and across the hall into the living room. Bill Sparrow had left
all those doors ajar for his return.
Once inside the living room, ginger melted into the shadows. The whole family was
watching television. Everyone was silent, staring in one direction. The electric light had
been switched off. The fire had burnt low, but there was a cold glow from the television
screen. In the light, Ginger’s eyes shone large, but no one noticed them.
He had not chosen his time particularly well. The gerbils might so easily have been at
exercise on the living room table; but they were safely in their cage. So, at first Ginger
saw nothing of particular interest. The television screen didn’t interest him, nor the sounds
that proceeded from the set. There were gun shots, screams, alarm-bells and sirens;
Ginger paid no attention.
But then there was another sound: a little scuffling and scratching and a subdued Creak!
Creak! Creak…Nobody, looking at the television screen, even turned a hair: they were used
to the fidgeting of Bubble and Squeak by now.
But the ginger ghost in the shadows began to move. From shadow to shadow he slipped,
round the back of the chairs and the couch, until he was close to the table.
From inside their cage on the table the gerbils saw him. They froze. Ginger saw them and
leapt…
The television viewers were aware of something that hurtled through the air, and an
impact like an explosion. That was Ginger reaching the cage. Suddenly everyone was
shouting or shrieking. The cage skidded off the table and onto the floor with a crash. The
whole of the barred side and the roof flew off in one piece. The two gerbils leapt for their
lives.
30
Peggy saw one gerbil, dived for it and caught it.
Ginger saw the other gerbil – Bubble – and dived for it and caught it.
Peggy was screaming because, holding one gerbil, she could do nothing about the other
one. Sid was screaming because he was trying to frighten Ginger into dropping his prey.
Amy was screaming, anyway. But Mrs. Sparrow was not screaming. She was the only one
within reach of Ginger and Bubble, and she was inspired. She flung herself forward on to
Ginger’s tail, gripped it, held it with both hands, hauled on it.
Ginger turned on Mrs. Sparrow. He scratched her viciously: she still held on. Suddenly
what was happening was too much to be borne – Ginger was no hero. He wanted to yowl
and he opened his mouth and yowled. A sad little bundle of fur, brindled and white, fell
from his jaws. Sid saw it, darted in and picked it up.
Glossary:
brindled – brownish with grey patches
coal-bunker – area for storing coal
scuttle – bucket for coal
Answer these questions.
1 Read these statements about Ginger.
Tick [ ✓ ] TWO boxes that we know are TRUE from the passage.
He chose a time when the gerbils were playing on the table.
He could move quietly through the house.
He made the cage explode.
He took the coal scuttle to get coal.
He wasn’t interested in the television. [2]
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2 Why didn’t the family notice Ginger when he reached the living room?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………….….. [1]
3 Who saw Ginger before he reached the living room?
………………………………………………………………………………………………….….. [1]
4 Give TWO things that could be seen in the dark in the living room.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………..…….…. [1]
5 Tick [ ✓ ] ONE box to finish the sentence
Ginger is
an animal
a human
Give a reason from the text to support your answer.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………...…. [1]
6 Sometimes the author calls Ginger by his name. Apart from ‘he’, how else does she
refer to him?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………...…. [1]
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7 Do you think ginger was scared at the end of this extract? Tick [ ✓ ] ONE box.
Yes
No
Explain your answer using words and phrases from the text.
Explanation
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Words and phrases to support your explanation.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………...…. [2]
8 What was making the scratching sound in the living room?
………………………………………………………………………………………………….….. [1]
9 (a) What happened to the gerbils when Ginger leapt?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………….…..
(b) Give evidence from the text to support your answer.
………………………………………………………………………………………………….….. [2]
10 Who is the point of view character in this story?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………….…..
Explain how you know.
………………………………………………………………………………………………….….. [2]
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11(a)Look at the underlined phrase in the sentence below.
Once inside the living room, Ginger melted into the shadows.
Tick [✓] ONE box to say which technique is being used here.
alliteration
idiom
metaphor
personification
simile [1]
(b) Explain in your own words, what does the underlined phrase mean.
………………………………………………………………………………………………….….. [2]
12 (a) The author uses a variety of techniques to create suspense.
Tick [✓] all those you think she uses.
a wide range of punctuation to control the pace of reading
compound and complex sentences to describe a sequence of actions
long paragraphs to build suspense
short sentences to show sudden actions [1]
34
(b) Do you think the author is successful at creating suspense?
Explain your answer using words and phrases from the text.
Explanation
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Words and phrases to support your explanation
……………………………………………………………………………………………………...[2]
13 Explain in your own words TWO different things you learn about the Mrs Sparrow’s
character from the story.
Use evidence from the text to support each of your ideas.
• ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
…….………………………………………………………………………………………………….
• ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
…….………………………………………………………………………………………….…..[2]
14 What attracted Ginger’s attention?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………….[1]
15 ‘The fire had burnt low but there was a cold glow from the television
screen.’
Explain in your own words what this sentence means.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………….…….….[1]
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16 This story is told by the narrator.
Give TWO ways the story would be different if written from the point of view of Mrs.
Sparrow
• ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
…….…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
• ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………………………………...…[2]
17 (a) What kind of mood is being set in the first paragraph.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………….……
(b) How does it change towards the end?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………….…. [2]
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18 You have read the extract from The Battle of Bubble and Squeak in which the
writer tries to build suspense
Write a suspense story which is set in your own home.
• Begin by thinking about the action that the story is going to

Plot build up to. What will happen to the main character?
• How will you build suspense?
• What will happen at the end of the story?
• How will you create tension and suspense at exciting points?
• You could be the main character or it could be an imaginary

Character person.
• Who else or what else might be in the story too?
• The setting should be in your own home.

Setting • Which room or rooms will it be in?
PLANNING:
Spend up to 5 minutes making notes to plan your story here:
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39
Text A
Read the information, and then answer the questions.
The Red Fox
The largest of all vulpine foxes, the red fox is the most successful, and certainly the
most recognizable. A doglike animal, its adult mass can vary between three and
fourteen kilograms. The males are, on average, ten to fifteen percent heavier than the
females, although the considerable size differences between individuals in this species
make it difficult to use this as a guideline.
Body length typically varies between 82 and 110 centimeters, of which a prominent
bushy tail accounts for about a third. The tail is useful as a counterbalance while running
and jumping. It also provides insulation and warmth in cold weather, and is used to
communicate with other foxes. Other characteristic features of the red fox are its
elongated muzzle, triangular ears, and luxurious coat of fur.
Foxes, like many other animals, employ digitigrades motion. That is, they walk and run
on their toes, with their heels positioned off the ground, high up on the leg. This method
of locomotion allows silent, swift, and agile movement, and can also be seen in cats,
dogs, and horses.
Several of the fox’s bones are narrower than those of other dogs, and the limb bones
are built much more lightly. The stomach of the fox is proportionately half as large as
those of other canines. This reduction of weight allows it to run extremely quickly
(trotting speed is between six and thirteen kilometers per hour, and speeds up to 72
kilometers per hour have been cited), and with great agility.
The fox pays a penalty for its smaller stomach in that it must eat more frequently. When
eating, it will use its 42 teeth. These include prominent canines which hold prey, incisors
for cutting and shearing meat, and molars for grinding up bones and vegetable matter.
Read Text A ‘The Red Fox’ and answer the questions 1-9.
1 Why it is difficult to use size to tell a male fox from a female fox?
............................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................[1]
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2 Name one thing that effects how quickly the red fox runs.
............................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................[1]
3 ‘The fox pays a penalty for its smaller stomach’. Explain in your own words what ‘pays
a penalty’ means.
............................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................[1]
4 Give one word from the text to describe what the foxes look like.
........................................................................................................................[1]
5 Tick (√) the correct information from the text.
The fox’s body length is 98 centimeters approximately.
The Red fox has a short and dumpy nose.
The Red Fox uses its tail as a source of communication.
The Red fox uses molar teeth to eat. [4]
6 Tick (√) the best description of the text ‘The Red Fox’.
It contains mostly opinions.
It contains about half facts and half opinions. [1]
41
7 Find a word from the text which is an synonym of rapid.
........................................................................................................................[1]
8 (a) Identify a complex sentence from the first paragraph.
............................................................................................................................
(b) Explain why complex sentences are used in writing.
............................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................[2]
9 (a) Identify one relative clause in the text.
........................................................................................................................
(b) What is that clause describing?
............................................................................................................................
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42
Text B
Read this text about Cotgrave Country Park, and then answer the questions.
Where is Cotgrave Country Park?
Cotgrave Country Park is located on the northern edge of the Nottinghamshire town of
Cotgrave, some eight miles (12 kms) by road from Nottingham city centre.
What can I see and do?
The site includes woodland, wetland, lakes and grassland, and part of Grantham Canal
runs through the park.
With around five kilometers of paths and trails, there are plenty of different routes for
gentle or brisk walks, jogging or running. There is also an extensive orienteering course,
for which a free leaflet is available on request. Most paths are stone surfaced and
suitable for walkers, wheelchairs, prams and pushchairs, but please be aware that some
of the lower lying paths may get wet and muddy during spells of bad weather.
There’s a wide variety of natural habitats at Cotgrave Country Park, including the lovely
Heron Lake, conservation areas and a Nature Trail. There is also a horse-riding trail
around the edge of the site.
Parking and facilities
The park is open from dawn until dusk. Parking is free. There is a height barrier (2.15
meters) at the entrance to the car park. There is bench seating at various locations
around the park. At present there are no toilets or bad weather shelters at the park.
Read Text B about ‘Cotgrave Country Park’ and then answer the questions 10-17.
10 (a) Give two places in Cotgrave Country Park where visitors might see fish.
............................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................[2]
43
(b) Which facilities are not yet provided to the visitors in the park?
............................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................[1]
11 What is the purpose of the subheadings in the text ‘Cotgrave Country Park’?
........................................................................................................................[1]
12 a Give an example of where brackets have been used.
........................................................................................................................
(b) Why brackets have been used?
............................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................[2]
13 Look at the sentence ‘There is also an extensive orienteering course, for which
a free leaflet is available on request’.
What does the word extensive suggest about the course?
............................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................[1]
14 Explain why walkers might experience difficulty during bad weather.
............................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................[1]
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15 What is the purpose of both the texts?
............................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................[1]
16 Give one-way Text A and Text B differ.
............................................................................................................................
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Section C: Writing
17 The reading texts 'The Red Fox' and 'Cotgrave Country Park' provide clear
information in a way that is easy to read.
Write an information fact sheet on an area you know well for visitors who have not been
there before. You could include information on places to visit and things to do there.
Remember to:
• Write an area you know well

• Inform, rather than persuade
• Include a range of information
PLANNING:
Spend up to five minutes making notes in the box. You might want to think about some
headings you could use in your information text.
46
Write your information fact sheet here.
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48
Section A: Reading
Read this extract from ‘The Scarecrow and His Servant’ by Philip Pullman and then
answer the questions.
Mr. Pandolfo put together a fine-looking scarecrow, dressed him in an old tweed suit,
and stuffed him with straw. The scarecrow stood in a field, where Mr. Pandolfo could
admire him, and he stayed there.
But one night there was a thunderstorm. It was very violent, and everyone in the
district shivered and trembled as the thunder went off like cannon-fire and the
lightning lashed down like whips. The scarecrow stood there in the wind and rain,
taking no notice.
And so he might have stayed; but there came one of those million-to-one chances that
are like winning the lottery. All his molecules and atoms and elementary particles and
whatnot were lined up in exactly the right way to switch on when the lightning struck
him, which it did at two in the morning, fizzing its way through his turnip and down his
broomstick into the mud.
On the same night, a small boy called Jack happened to be sheltering in a barn close
by. By the morning the storm had cleared away, and Jack woke up colder than ever.
Then he heard a voice calling from across the fields. Jack was curious, so, standing up
he shaded his eyes to look. The shouts came from a scarecrow who was waving his
arms wildly, yelling at the top of his voice and leaning over at a crazy angle.
‘Help!’ he was shouting. ‘Come and help me!’

‘I think I’m going mad,’ said Jack to himself. ‘Still, look at that poor old thing – I’ll go
and help him anyway. He looks madder than I feel.’
To tell the truth, Jack felt a little nervous. It isn’t every day you find a scarecrow
talking to you.
‘Now tell me your name, young man,’ said the scarecrow, when Jack was close enough
to hear.
His voice was rich and sonorous. Mr. Pandolfo would undoubtedly have been
impressed.
49
His head was made of a great knobby turnip, with a broad crack for a mouth, a long thin
sprout for a nose and two bright stones for eyes. He had a tattered straw hat, now badly
singed, a soggy woolen scarf and an old tweed jacket full of holes. His rake-handle arms
had gloves stuffed with straw on the end of them, one glove leather and the other wool.
Jack scratched his head and looked up.
‘Jack.’ he said.
‘Now, Jack, I want to move on,’ said the scarecrow, ‘but I need another leg. If you go and
find me a leg, I shall be very obliged. Just like this one, only the opposite,’ he added, and
lifted his trouser leg daintily to show a stout stick set firmly in the earth.
Read this extract from ‘The Scarecrow and His Servant’ by Philip Pullman and then
answer questions 1–14.
1 Why were the people in the district afraid?
...........................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................[1]
2 What change took place in the scarecrow when lightning struck him?
...........................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................[1]
3 ‘but there came one of those million-to-one chances that are like winning the
lottery’. Why does the writer use the underlined phrase in this sentence?
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.......................................................................................................................[1]
4 Which word from the second paragraph means the same as ‘hit’?
.................................................................................................................... [1]
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5 (a) Did the scarecrow seem calm? Tick (√) one box.
Yes
No [1]
(b) Give a reason from the text to support your answer.
...........................................................................................................................
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.......................................................................................................................[1]
6 The sentence below is part of the description of the weather in the story. Look at the
underlined phrase.
‘…the thunder went off like cannon-fire and the lightning lashed down like whips.’
(a) Tick (√) one box to say which technique is being used here.
Alliteration
Metaphor
Onomatopoeia
Personification
Simile [1]
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b) Explain what you think the underlined phrase means.
...........................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................[1]
7 The text is a short extract from the book ‘The Scarecrow and His Servant’.
From the evidence in this extract, which genre do you think the story is?
Tick (√) the correct answer.
Biography
Mystery
Fantasy
Legend [1]
8 Explain three ways the third and the ninth paragraph differ in explanations of the
scarecrow.
• .........................................................................................................
• ........................................................................................................
• ........................................................................................................ [3]
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9 (a) Who do you think is the point of view character in this story?
...........................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................[1]
(b) Explain how you know.
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(c) How would the story change if it would be written by Jack?
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10 Underline the adverbial and adjective phrases from the lines of the text. [3]
The scarecrow stood there in the wind and rain. ………………………….
Then, he heard a voice calling from across the field. ………………………….
An old tweed jacket full of holes ………………………….
11 ‘Mr. Pandolfo would undoubtedly have been impressed’.
a) What do you think Mr. Pandolfo would be impressed of?
.......................................................................................................................[1]
b Give evidence from the text.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
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12 Why are short sentences used in the story?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………….........................….......………………… [1]
13 Why is Dash used in the following sentence?
‘Still, look at that poor old thing – I’ll go and help him anyway.’
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………........................………………………………………......………….[1]
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Section B: Writing
15. Read this introduction to a story.
The government’s chief scientist looked in at the creature through the bars of
the cage. It sat there, looking back at him. The chief scientist was there
because the president had sent him to investigate. The president was taking a
real interest in the ‘monster case’.
Now continue the story yourself to explain what the chief scientist discovers about the
creature.
Ideas to help you:
There are at least two characters:

Characters
The chief scientist, the president and …
The creature – what is it? A human being, an unknown

species?
The chief scientist’s laboratory?

Setting
Do the events happen anywhere else?
How did the creature get to be in the cage?

Plot
What did the chief scientist do to find out about the
creature?
Why was the president ‘taking a real interest’?
Remember to include as much detail as you can in your story. It can be of any genre
that you like.
Planning:
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57
Section A: Reading
Read this extract from ‘Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror’ by Chris Priestley.
I rapped the great hoop of the door knocker to announce my presence to my uncle.
‘Don’t stand there in the cold, Edgar,’ he said. ‘Come in, lad, come in.’
I entered eagerly enough, but to tell the truth there was a little difference in
temperature between the garden and my uncle’s hallway, and if there was a difference
I would say it was in the garden’s favour, for I have never been so cold inside a
building as I was in my uncle’s house. I swear I once saw frost sparkling on the
banisters of the stairs.
My uncle set off along the stone-flagged hall and I set off in pursuit, following the
flickering candlelight as keenly as a moth. It was part of my uncle’s many
eccentricities that, though he clearly did not want for money, he had no time for
electric light – nor gaslight for that matter – and lit the house by candle wax alone,
and that sparingly. Following behind him, therefore, towards his duty was a
disconcerting business, for in spite of being in the safety of my uncle’s house, I did not
feel comfortable to be left in the dark there and hurried my steps to keep in contact
with both him and the light.
As my uncle walked through the draughty house the candlelight no doubt added to my
jitters: its fluttering passage created all types of grotesque shadows on the wall, which
danced and leaped about, giving an unnerving impression of gaining a life of their
own, scuttling away to hide under pieces of furniture or scurry up walls to skulk in
ceiling corners.
After more walking than seemed possible from the size of the house as it appeared
from outside, we arrived at my uncle’s study: a large room with shelves holding books
and curios from the old man’s travels. The walls were encrusted with prints and
paintings, and heavy curtains smothered the windows. No matter that it was still
afternoon – the study was as sunless as a cave.
The floor was covered in a rich Persian carpet and the base colour of that carpet was a
deep red, as were the paintwork of the walls and the damask fabric of the curtains. A
large fire burned in the grate and made the colour glow, throbbing rhythmically at the
movement of the flames, as if this room were the beating heart of the house.
58
Section A: Reading
Read the extract from ‘Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror’ by Chris Priestley and then
answer these questions.
1 Read these statements about the uncle’s house.
Tick ( ) two boxes that we know are TRUE from the passage.
The writer rings the doorbell.
It is cold inside the house.
The walls in the study are empty.
The uncle has travelled a lot.
The hallway has a wooden floor. [2]
2 Why does the uncle use only candlelight in the house?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………[1]
3 How do you know that the writer has visited the house before?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………[1]
4 Why is there no sunlight in the study?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………[1]
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5 Suggest two reasons why the writer feels nervous in the house.
1………………………………………………………………………………………………………
2……………………...…………………………………………………………………………….[2]
6 The writer describes his uncle’s study as ‘the beating heart of the house’.
What does this tell us about the study in the uncle’s house?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………[1]
7 Do you think the house is welcoming for visitors? Tick ( ) one box.
yes
no
Explain your answer.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
words and phrases from the passage to support your explanation:
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………..[2]
8 What does the writer imagine he sees in the shadows made by the candlelight?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………[1]
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9 How rich do you think the uncle is?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Select evidence from the passage to support your answer.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………[2]
10 Do you think Edgar and his uncle get on with each other?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………………………[2]
11 The sentence given below is used by the writer to describe Edgar’s reaction to the
candlelight. Look at the underlined phrase.
My uncle set off along the stone-flagged hall and I set off in pursuit,
following the flickering candlelight as keenly as a moth.
Tick ( ) one box to say which technique is being used here.
alliteration
metaphor
onomatopoeia
personification
simile [1]
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(b) Explain what you think the underlined phrase means.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………..........………[2]
12 Give two quotations from the passage to show how cold it was inside the house?
1………………………………………………………………………………………………………
2………………………………………………………………………………………………….. [2]
13 Find an example of a metaphor from the passage.
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14a) The text given is a short extract from the book ‘Uncle Montague’s Tales of
Terror’. From the evidence in this extract, which genre do you think the story is?
Tick ( ) the correct answer.
fairytale
legend
real life story
science fiction
spy story [1]
(b) Name two features of the genre you chose for 14(a).
1 …………………………………………………………………………………………………
2 ………………………………………………………………………………………………… [2]
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15 Give one word from the passage which means the same as ‘running’.
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16 What is the effect of long sentences in the passage?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………….[1]
17 What is the narrator’s opinion about the size of the house? Tick ( ) one box.
He thought it was big.
He thought it was small.
Give evidence from the passage to support your answer.
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18 Give the meaning of the underlined words so that they mean the same as in the
passage.
(a) …the study was as sunless as a cave.
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(b) …lit the house with candle wax alone, and that sparingly.
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Section B: Writing
19 Read this introduction to a story.

With one hand I clasped hold of Daniel’s small hand, and with the other, I
used the large, brass knocker to announce our arrival. The sound echoed
through the house and then there was silence again. We waited anxiously,
with nervous anticipation. We had been sent to this large, craggy, old
house, miles away from home, to stay for the weekend with our great-
grandfather. We had never met the old man before but we had heard plenty
of stories about him, and his strange house, from our mother. After what
seemed an extraordinarily long time, the door slowly opened and there
stood an old man.
Continue the story to describe what happens and what is strange about the
house.
Ideas to help you:
Characters There are at least 3 characters:
• Daniel
• The great-grandfather
• The narrator… and maybe others?
Setting The great-grandfather’s old house.

Do the events happen anywhere else?
Plot What adventures do the children have?

Are they happy or sad at the end of the weekend when they
have to go home?
Remember to include as much detail as you can in your story. It can be any genre
that you like.
PLANNING:
Spend up to 5 minutes making notes in this box to plan your story
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Text A
Read the information, and then answer the questions.
Chocolate
Ever wondered where chocolate comes from? Well, surprisingly, it grows on trees! It all
started with a small tropical tree, the Theobroma cacao, usually just called ‘cacao’.
(Theobroma is Greek for ‘food’ for gods.) Cacao is native to central and South America,
but it is grown commercially throughout the tropics. About 70% of the world’s cacao is
grown in Africa.
A cacao tree can produce close to two thousand pods per year. The ridged, rugby-ball-
shaped pod, or fruit, of the cacao grows from the branches and, oddly straight out of the
trunk. The pods, which mature throughout the year, encase a sticky, white pulp and
about thirty or forty seeds. The seeds, at this point, are incredibly bitter- not at all like
the chocolate that comes from them. It’s actually the perfect design because the fruit
attracts the forest animals, such as monkeys, which eat the fruit but cast the seeds
aside, dispersing them and allowing new trees to grow.
So, what be done to the seeds to make them taste better? First the pods must be
harvested. Once they are collected, the workers open the pods by hand, taking care not
to damage the beans inside. The beans are removed and next come one of the most
important steps in the process – fermentation. The beans are placed in earthen pits or
wooden bins and covered with banana leaves, then left to ferment. The heat of
fermentation changes the bitter flavours in the bean into something edible, chocolatey.
Once they fermented, the beans are dried in the sun for about a week, during which
time the flavor continues to develop. Finally, the beans are ready to be shipped to a
factory, where they are turned into chocolates.
Read Text A, in the Insert, and answer questions 1–9.
1 Name the tree the chocolates come from.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..[1]
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2 What is unusual about the way the fruit grows on the cacao tree?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
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3 What happens to the flavor of the cacao beans during the process of fermentation?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………..........................……………..[2]
4 ‘The ridged, rugby-ball-shaped pod, or fruit, of the cacao grows from the
branches and, oddly straight out of the trunk.’ (Lines 6-8) What does the word
‘ridged’ suggest about the pod?
…………………………………………………………………….....……………………………….. [1]
5 Number the following processes in the order that they happen.
The pods are opened.
The beans ferment.
The pods are harvested.
The beans are dried. [4]
6 (a) Give two connectives used to show sequence in the text.
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……………………………………………………………………….......................……………….[2]
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(b) Why connectives are used to show sequence in the text?
……………………………………………………………………......………………………………...[1]
8 (a) Mention which of the following sentences are active voice or passive voice.
Write P for Passive voice and A for Active voice.
The pods must be harvested.
The workers open the pods by hand.
The beans are placed in earthen pits.
A cocoa tree can produce close to two thousand pods per year. [4]
(b) Why is the passive form of the verb used in the text.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
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9(a) ‘The beans are removed and next comes one of the most important steps
in the process – fermentation.’
What does the dash in the sentence represent?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
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(b) ‘The seeds, at this point, are incredibly bitter- not at all like the chocolate
that comes from them.’ Why do you think the dash is used here?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………... [1]
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Text B
Read the information text and answer the questions.
Aardvarks
What is an Aardvark?
Aardvarks are mammals that look like they were made from parts of other animals. An
aardvark has a long snout that ends like a pig-like nose, rabbit-like ears and a tail
similar to a kangaroo’s. Aardvarks are found throughout sub-Saharan Africa. The
aardvark’s name comes from the Dutch language and means ‘earth pig’. Though they do
eat ants - so they are technically ant eaters - the aardvark is sometimes colloquially
called antbear.
Habits
Aardvarks are nocturnal, which means they sleep during the day. This helps them
escape the heat of the day in their cool burrows. During the night, they spend their time
working on their burrows or finding food.
Diet
Aardvarks also dig to get their food. They dig into ant and termite mounds and lick up
bugs with their long tongues. They eat almost exclusively ants and termites, though
they sometimes supplement their diets with other insects as well. Aardvarks’ tough skin
protects them from the bites of angry ants and termites, and they close their nostrils to
stop termites going up their snout.
Feeding
While Aardvarks forages for food, it will keep its nose to the ground and its ears pointed
forward, which indicates that both smell and hearing are involved in the search for food.
They use their elongated snout to smell the food.
Read Text B, in the Insert, and answer questions 1–8.
1 What is another name for an aardvark or ‘earth pig’?
………………………………………………………………………………………………..… [1]
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2 Which are the three features of aardvarks are similar to other animals?
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3 List any three features of an information text while skimming text B.
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4 Find another word from the last paragraph which is a synonym of ‘hunt’.
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5 Explain in your words what ‘supplement their diets with other insects’ means.
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6 Give one example of alliteration from the text.
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7 ‘Aardvarks also dig to get their food.’
‘The seeds, at this point are incredibly bitter.’
Give three ways these sentences are similar.
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8 From the passage, give an example of a sentence using a relative clause.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
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9 The aardvark is sometimes colloquially called ‘antbear’. What does the word
‘colloquially’ mean?
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…………………………………………………………………………………......................…..[1]
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Section C: Writing
The information texts chocolate and Aardvarks are both texts from the website for
young people.
Write your own information text for a website about a topic or an activity that you know
a lot about.
It could include:
An activity you enjoy
• at school
• as a hobby
a favorite topic
• an animal
• a film
• a pop group
• the universe
Planning:
Spend up to five minutes making notes in the box below to plan your
information text.
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Text A
Read the text and then answer the questions.
The Dawn Chorus
The Dawn Chorus
In spring, as the days lengthen, birds burst into a song around first light in a
phenomenon that is known as the ‘dawn chorus’. Birds sing throughout the day, but
at dawn they sing together to create an amazing symphony.
Early birds
The dawn chorus begins an hour or so before sunrise and may continue for an hour
afterwards. It can be heard from March through to July and is at its peak in May,
after the main arrivals of birds visiting for the summer.
Worm-eating birds, such as song thrushes, blackbirds and robins start to sing earlier
in the chorus than smaller, insect-eating birds, such as wrens and warblers. The
order they join in is believed to be related to the size of the birds’ eyes. Those with
larger eyes can see better in lower light levels, so are the first to make themselves
heard.
Singing together
Most of the dawn chorus can be attributed to male songbirds. They sing to defend
their territories and attract females. But why first thing in the morning? It is thought
that the low light levels at dawn make it a bad time for a bird to forage for food, but
a good time to make a lot of noise while still avoiding predators. Also, at dawn the
density of the air makes it clear and still which allows sound to carry farther.
The songs
The songs of birds are learned, not inherited. Within a couple of months, young birds
develop a basic song which they then refine over the next year by listening to other
more mature adults of their own species. Some birds, such as the house sparrow,
have just one song. By comparison, other birds, such as song thrushes and
nightingales have several different songs in their repertoire.
1 What is the dawn chorus?
....................................................................................................................[1]
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2 How long in the morning can the dawn chorus go on for?
....................................................................................................................[1]
3 Tick (√) two boxes to show which statements below are true.
Only male birds sing.
The smaller a bird's eyes, the earlier it will start to sing.
Bird song can be heard over a greater distance in the early morning.
The dawn chorus is quieter in May.
Blackbirds start to sing before wrens. [2]
4 (a) Is this passage an example of a formal or an informal text?
.....................................................................................................................
(b) Explain your choice.
....................................................................................................................[2]
5 (a) Identify one adverbial phrase from the last paragraph.
................................................................................................................. [1]
(b) Identify one adjective phrase from the last paragraph.
...................................................................................................................[1]
6 In which order do the birds join in the chorus?
.......................................................................................................................[1]
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7 (a) Identify two hyphenated words in the passage?
…………………………………………………..
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(b) What is the purpose of hyphens?
.......................................................................................................................[1]
8 Look at the sentence, “It is thought that the low light levels at dawn make it a bad
time for a bird to forage for food.” (paragraph 4, line2-3). Why is a passive sentence
being used here?
........................................................................................................................[1]
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Text B
The Nightingale
Where most other species of songbirds sing at dawn, nightingales also sing in the
middle of the night, which is how they got their name. Nightingale, a name which has
been used for well over a thousand years, means night songstress. It is thought they
sing at night because they are relatively plain birds. They do not rely on visual
appearance to attract a mate. They have drab, brown plumage with only a slightly
brighter chestnut-colored tail and a sandy underbelly.
Although rather indistinct in appearance, the nightingale is greatly admired for its
beautiful, melodic songs. In the past, it was thought to be the female that sang, but it
is the male bird which is vocal. Unpaired males sing loudly, through the night, trying
to attract a mate. The nightingales that sing at dawn are not serenading females but
defending their territory. Once its eggs hatch though, a male bird will cease most of
his singing to avoid attracting unnecessary attention to his nest.
The exquisite song of the nightingale is particularly noticeable at night because no

other birds are singing. This is why the nightingale became an important romantic
symbol for poets, writers and composers throughout the ages, dating as far back as
Homer. They are a symbol of nature’s profound beauty.
9 (a) Why was the nightingale given its name?
....................................................................................................................[1]
(b) Nightingales are three colors. Name two of them.
....................................................................................................................[1]
10 Suggest a reason why the male nightingale wants to avoid attracting unnecessary
attention to its nest.
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...................................................................................................................[1]
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11 Tick (√) two boxes to show which statements are FALSE.
Nightingales only sing at night.
Nightingales sing less when their young emerge from the eggs.
Nightingales are admired because they are such beautiful-looking birds.
It is the male nightingale that sing at night.
It is easy to hear nightingales at night because there is no other bird song. [2]
12 These questions refer to both texts.
(a) What is the purpose of the sub-headings in the text The dawn chorus?
...................................................................................................................[1]
(b) In the text The Nightingale, paragraphs are used.
Draw lines to link paragraph with its main topic described in the boxes. [1]
1st paragraph The nightingale's song.
2nd paragraph The symbolism of the nightingale.
3rd paragraph The nightingale's name.
13 Look at the phrase 'Although rather indistinct in appearance, the nightingale is
greatly admired for its beautiful, melodic songs.' What does the word 'indistinct'
suggest about the nightingale's appearance?
...................................................................................................................[1]
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14 Why is the passive form of the verb often used in Text B?
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15 Tick () two boxes to show phrases which use the passive form of a verb.
‘…the nightingale is greatly admired…’
‘…it was thought to be the female that sang…’
‘…no other birds are singing.’
‘The nightingale became an important symbol…’ [1]
16 Suggest two reasons why the male nightingale is more vocal than the female.
....................................................................................................................[1]
17 Give two ways the last paragraph is different from the rest of the text.
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18 'Although rather indistinct in appearance, the nightingale is greatly admired for its
beautiful, melodic songs.' 'It is thought they sing at night because they are
relatively plain birds.' Give two ways these sentences are similar.
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Section C: Writing
19 The reading texts The Dawn chorus and The Nightingale are both reports taken
from information books.
Write your own report for an information book.
It could be about:
something that changes with the seasons in your country, for example.
• trees
• weather
• animals
something or someone that is inspired by nature, for example.
• a piece of music
• a poem
• a painting / sculpture
• a book
PLANNING
Spend about five minutes making notes in this box.
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84
Read this extract form 'Kensuke’s Kingdom’ by Michael Morpurgo and then answer the
questions.
While sailing with his parents on a boat called The Peggy Sue, Michael is washed
overboard, ending up on a remote Pacific island with his dog, Stella. He makes
friends with the only other inhabitant, an old man named Kensuke, who has lived on
the island for over forty years. Kensuke does not want either of them to leave the
Island. However, Michael wants to send home a message in a bottle….
For some days I kept the Coke bottle buried under the sand whilst I wrestled with my
conscience or, rather, justified what I wanted to do. It wouldn’t really be a betrayal*
not as such. I told myself. Even if the bottle was found, no one would know where it
would come from, they’d just know I was alive. I made up my mind to do it, and do
it as soon as I could.
Kensuke had gone off octopus fishing. I had stayed behind to finish a shell painting
or so I had told him. I found an old bed sheet at the bottom of one of his chests and
tore away a small corner of it. Then I knelt down at the table, stretched it out and
painted my message on it in octopus ink.
To: The Peggy Sue. Fareham. England.
Dear Mum and Dad
I am alive. I am well. I live on an island. I do not know where. Come and find me.
Love
Michael
I ran the entire length of the island, keeping always to the forest, so that there was
no chance Kensuke could see where I was going or what I was up to. The gibbons*
howled their accusations at me all the way, the entire forest cackling and screeching
its condemnation*. I just hoped Stella would not bark back at them, would not
betray where I was. Fortunately, she didn’t.
At last, I reached the rocks under Watch Hill, I leaped from rock to rock until I was
standing right at the very end of the island, the waves washing over my feet. I
looked around me. Stella was the witness. I hurled the bottle as far out to sea as
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I possibly could. Then I stood and watched it as it bobbed away and out to sea. It
was on its way.
I did not touch my fish soup that night. Kensuke thought I was ill. I could hardly talk
to him. I couldn't look him in the eye. I lay all night in deep torment, racked* by
guilt, yet at the same time still hoping against hope that my bottle would be picked
up.
Kensuke and I were at our painting the next afternoon when Stella came padding
into the cave. She had the Coke bottle in her mouth. She dropped it and looked up at
me, panting and pleased with herself.
Kensuke laughed and reached down to pick it up. I think he was about to hand it to
me when he noticed there was something inside it. By the way he looked at me I was
quite sure he knew at once what it was.
There fell between us a long and aching silence. Kensuke never once reproached*
me for what I had done. He was not angry or sullen with me. But I knew I had hurt
him to the soul. It wasn't that we didn't speak - we did - but we no longer talked to
one another as we had before. We lived, each of us, in our separate cocoons, quite
civil, always polite, but not together any more.
Glossary
to betray: to be unfaithful or disloyal
a gibbon: a small ape
condemnation: strong disapproval
racked: distressed, tortured
reproached: found fault with, blamed
86
Read the passage from 'Kensuke's Kingdom' by Michael Morpurgo and then answer
these questions.
1 Read the statements.
Tick (√) two boxes that we know are TRUE from the passage.
Michael misses his family.
Someone finds the message in the bottle.
Michael does not want to upset Kensuke.
Michael tells Stella to go away when he throws the bottle in the water.
Michael writes the message on paper.
[2]
2 How long does Michael take to make up his mind about sending the message?
....................................................................................................................[1]
3 At first Michael hides the Coke bottle. Why?
....................................................................................................................[1]
4 What lies does Michael tell Kensuke?
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5 When Michael is on his way to send the message, does he meet Kensuke?
Tick (√) one box.
Yes
No
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6 Why does Michael hurl the bottle out to sea?
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7 Does Michael have mixed feelings after he has sent the message?
Tick (√) one box.
Yes
No
Explain your answer in your own words.
Explanation: ................................................................................................
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Words and phrases from the passage to support your explanation.
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8 Stella returns with the Coke bottle. Why is she ‘pleased with herself’?
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9 ‘The gibbons howled their accusations at me all the way…’
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10 Does Kensuke know what is in the bottle?
………...............................................................................................................
Select evidence from the passage to support your answer.
...................................................................................................................... [2]
11 Explain in your own words one thing you learn about the narrator's character. Use
evidence to support your idea.
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12 The sentence below describes Michael’s journey through the forest to Watch Hill,
where he then throws the bottle into the sea.
Look at the underlined phrase.
The gibbons howled their accusations at me all the way, the entire forest
cackling and screeching its condemnation.
(a) Tick (√) one box to show what technique is being used here.
alliteration
metaphor
onomatopoeia
rhyme
simile [1]
lingering it
(b) Explain what you think the underlined phrase means.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………….[2]
13 Give two ways the story would be different if it was written from Kensuke's point
of view.
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14 (a) The passage is short extract from the book Kensuke’s Kingdom. From the
evidence in this extract, which genre do you think the story is?
comedy
fairy tale
horror
real life story
science fiction [1]
1 …………………………………………………………………………………………………...
2 …………………………………………………………………………………………..…… [2]
15 Give two quotations to show that Kensuke had been hurt by the narrator's actions.
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16 Why does the narrator 'wrestle with his conscience'?
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17 'There fell in between us a long and aching silence.'
Why does the writer use the word 'aching' in these lines? Tick (√) one box.
to show that the narrator had hurt himself
to show that the narrator is angry
to show that there was an uncomfortable feeling between the
narrator and Kensuke
to show that Kensuke was physically hurt [1]
18 Give one example from the text of a moment where the narrator experienced
contrasting emotions.
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19 Suggest two reasons why Kensuke never reproached the narrator for what
happened.
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20 Give one word from the passage which means the same as jumped.
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21 'I couldn't look him in the eye.' Explain in your own words what this sentence
means.
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Section B: Writing
22 Write a story in which there is a difficult decision involved. This story might include
owning up to something, revealing the truth about a friend, or making the decision to
move to a different place or school. Such decisions will involve mixed feelings.
ideas to help you:
Character How many characters will you have? What will their role be in the
story?
Will you be writing as if you are the main character - that is, in
the first person?
Setting Has the place where the story is set got any significance?
How will you bring it into the story?
Plot Which part of the story will be the most exciting?
How will you end it?
Remember to include as you can in your story. It can be of any genre that you like.
PLANNING
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Section A: Reading
Read the text below about Lake Baikal, and then answer the questions.
Lake Baikal
Amazing facts!
Surrounded almost entirely by mountains, the gigantic Lake Baikal is the world’s
oldest lake, while most freshwater lakes are less than twenty-five million years old.
The lake runs for nearly 640 kilometers through south-eastern Siberia, just north of
the Mongolian border. Although it is not just the largest lake on Earth, with a depth
of more than 1600 meters, it is the deepest. It holds one fifth of the world’s total
fresh water - more than any other fresh water lake on the planet. It contains more
water than all the Great Lakes in North America put together!
Many forms of life
The lake’s deep, cold waters are surprisingly abundant with thousands of different
plant forms and animal species. This is because of the lake’s unusually high oxygen
levels. The oxygen allows a much wider variety of plants and animals to live in
depths that would otherwise be unsuitable for life.
Clear waters
The lake has exceptionally crystal-clear water. You can see as deep as 40 meters
below its surface. This is probably due to the colossal population of crayfish that
live there. They eat the algae and other particles in the water which, if left, would
reduce the visibility.
Weird and wonderful
The lake’s remarkable qualities have made it home to a number of unusual and
unique creatures. These include Nerpa, the world’s only freshwater seals. These
seals have two more litres of blood than other seals, allowing them to store more
oxygen. This means they can dive 300 meters below the surface and can stay
96
under water for
Department of English an amazing 70 minutes!
1 According to the text, how old is the freshwater Lake Baikal thought to be?
.................................................................................................................[1]
2 What is special about Lake Baikal that allows so many plants and animals to survive
in such deep water?
.................................................................................................................[1]
3 Tick (√) two boxes to show which are true statements about Lake Baikal.
It has the largest surface area of all the freshwater lakes in the world.
It is in a very mountainous area.
The lake contains no algae.
It holds more fresh water than any other lake in the world.
There are many different types of freshwater seal in the lake. [2]
4 Tick (√) the best description of the text Lake Baikal.
It contains facts only.
It contains about half facts and half opinions.
It contains only opinions. [1]
5 (a) Write a sentence from the passage with a passive verb.
97
………………………………………………………………………………………………………[1]
(b) Why is the passive form of the verb used in the beginning of the text?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………[1]
6 (a) The lake’s remarkable qualities have made it home to a number of unusual and
unique creatures. What do the words ‘unusual’ and ‘unique’ suggest about the type
of creatures living here?
…………………………………………………………..…………………………………………..
………………………………………………………………………………………………………[2]
(b) Give evidence from the text to show that unique creatures are found in the
lake.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………[1]
7 What reason has been suggested in the passage for the lake’s exceptionally clear
water?
………………………………………………………………………………………….…………[1]
8 (a) ‘It holds one fifth of the world’s total fresh water - more than any other fresh
water lake on the planet.’ Give one reason dash is used in this sentence?
…………………………………………………………………………………..…………………[1]
(b) ‘The lake has exceptionally crystal-clear water.’ Why do you think hyphen is
used in this sentence?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………[1]
98
Text B
Read this text about a type of fish, and then answer the questions.
The golomyanka
The golomyanka is an unusual little fish, unique to Lake Baikal. It is 15-20

centimeters long and has a translucent body with no scales. Nearly 40% of its body
weight is oil, which means it can swim at the bottom of the lake in depths of 1400
meters. The pressure at such a depth is capable of crushing steel, but these oily fish
are unaffected by it.
As so much of the body mass of the golomyanka is oil, it must remain in waters of
five degrees Celsius or lower. If the water is any warmer than this, the fish literally
melts, leaving behind a skeleton and a pool of oil. For this reason, the fish only
comes to the surface at night and remains in deep after during daylight.
The golomyanka is the only fish in the northern hemisphere to give birth to live
young. When the female is approximately two years old, she produces between 2000
and 3000 independent larvae and then dies.
Due to the large number of golomyanka, it is the main food source of nerpa seals.
Although there are thought to be about 150 000 tons of the fish in Lake Baikal,
golomyanka are solitary creatures which do not form groups or shoals. This makes
them difficult to catch, so they are not fished on any major scale, but local people
use their oil for medical remedies.
9 (a) What is special about the body of the golomyanka that allows it to swim in
deep water?
................................................................................................................[1]
(b) Why is it difficult to catch the golomyanka in large numbers?
................................................................................................................[1]
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10 Which words or phrases from the text suggest that golomyanka does not take
care of its young.
....................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................[1]
11 Suggest a reason why the golomyanka stays in deep water during sunlight.
....................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................[1]
12 (a) Look at the phrase ‘…. but these oily fish are unaffected by it.’ (line 4-5)
What does the word unaffected tell about the fish?
................................................................................................................[1]
(b) Why is this so?
................................................................................................................[1]
13 (a) Give two connectives of contrast from the text.
...............................................................................................................[1]
(b) Why are these used?
...............................................................................................................[1]
14 Give one example of a sentence that uses the passive form of the verb.
...............................................................................................................[1]
15 How is the last paragraph different from the rest of the text?
...............................................................................................................[1]
16 (a) Give an example of a complex sentence from the text which contains a relative
100
clause.
...............................................................................................................[1]
(b) Why are relative clauses used?
...............................................................................................................[1]
17 (a) Identify one conditional sentence from the passage.
...............................................................................................................[1]
(b) Why it is used?
...............................................................................................................[1]
18 Give one example of a collective noun from the passage.
............................................................................................................... [1]
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Section B: Writing
20 The reading texts Lake Baikal and The golomyanka are both reports taken from
information books.
Write your own report for an information book about a place of geographical or
historical interest.
It could be:
of geographical interest
• a mountain / mountain range

• a volcano
• a forest
• a river
of historical interest
• an important building
• a city
• a landmark
• a temple
• a bridge
PLANNING
Spend about five minutes making notes in this box:
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104
Read the extract from "The Iron Woman" by Ted Hughes.
Lucy's nightmare
In Lucy's attic bedroom it was still pitch black. But if she had been awake, she
would have heard a strange sound - a skylark singing high in the darkness above
the house. And if she had been standing in the garden, and looking up into the dark
sky through binoculars, she might have seen the glowing, flickering body of the
lark, far up there, catching the first rays of the sun, that peered at the bird from
behind the world.
The lark's song showered down over the dark, dewy fields, over the roofs of the
houses, and over the still, wet gardens. But in Lucy's bedroom it mingled with an
even stranger sound, a strange, gasping whimper.
Lucy was having a nightmare. In her nightmare, somebody was climbing the creaky
attic stairs towards her. Then, a hand tried a latch. It was a stiff latch. To open the
door, you had to pull the door towards you before you pressed the latch. If you
didn't know the trick, it was almost impossible to open the door which clicked and
rattled but stayed shut.
Then the latch gave a loud clack, and the door swung wide. On her pillow, Lucy
became silent. She seemed to have stopped breathing.
For long seconds the bedroom was very dark, and completely silent, except for the
faint singing of the skylark.
Then, her dream, a hand was laid on Lucy's shoulder. She twisted her head and
there, in her dream, saw a dreadful thing bending over her. At first, she thought it
was a seal, staring at her with black, shining eyes. But how could it be a seal? It
looked like a seal covered with black, shiny oil. A seal that had swum through an oil
slick and climbed into her attic bedroom and now held her shoulder with its flipper.
But then she saw, on her shoulder, not a flipper but a human hand. And the hand,
too, was slimed with black oil. Then Lucy suddenly knew this was not a seal but a 105
Department
girl, likeofherself,
English maybe a little bit younger. And the hand began to shake her, and
the girl's face began to cry: 'Wake up! Oh, please wake up!'
Section A: Reading
Spend 30 minutes in this section.
Read the passage from "The Iron Woman" by Ted Hughes in the INSERT and then
answer the questions.
1 Read the statements about Lucy.
Tick (√) two boxes that we know are TRUE from the passage.
She had a bedroom in the attic.
She slept peacefully in her bed.
She thought she saw a seal.
She was lying awake in bed.
She went into the garden. [2]
2 What made the girl in Lucy's nightmare look so dreadful?
.................................................................................................................... [1]
3 How did Lucy know that the 'dreadful thing' was not a seal?
.................................................................................................................... [1]
4 Why was it 'almost impossible' to open Lucy's bedroom door?
....................................................................................................................[1]
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5 Was Lucy frightened when she woke up?
Tick (√) one box.
Yes
No
....................................................................................................................[1]
6 What was it that stopped Lucy whimpering?
.................................................................................................................... [1]
7 Do you feel sorry for the girl in Lucy's dream?
Tick (√) one box.
Yes
No
Explanation:
....................................................................................................................[1]
Words and phrases from the passage to support your explanation:
.......................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................[2]
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8 Why would Lucy have needed binoculars to see the lark?
.......................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................[1]
9 Who is the point of view character in this story?
........................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................[2]
10 The extract below describes part of the setting at the beginning of the story.
Look at the underlined words.
...the lark, far up there, catching the first rays of the sun, that peered at the bird
from behind the world.
(a) Tick (√) two boxes to show what techniques are being used here.
alliteration
imagery
metaphor
simile
personification
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(b) Explain what ideas you think are being described by the underlined words.
........................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................
....................................................................................................................[2]
11 (a) The text Lucy's Nightmare is a short extract from the book The Iron Woman.
biography
adventure
horror
legend
traditional tale
1 ....................................................................................................................
2.................................................................................................................[2]
12 Give two ways the writer has built suspense in the story?
1 ....................................................................................................................
2................................................................................................................ [2]
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13 Whose point of view does the story focus on and how do we know this?
.....................................................................................................................
....................................................................................................................[2]
14 Give one word from the last paragraph which means the same as strange.
..................................................................................................................[1]
15 The lark's song showered down over the dark, dewy fields, over the roofs of the
houses, and over the still, wet gardens. Explain what this sentence means.
........................................................................................................................
....................................................................................................................[1]
16 'She pulled the bedclothes around her, and stared into the darkness towards the
door.' What do these sentences suggest about how Lucy feels at the end of the
story?
...................................................................................................................[1]
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Section B: Writing
18 You have read about Lucy's dream.

Write a fantasy story where the main character has a dream.
Ideas to help you:
Character You could be the main character or it could be an imaginary person.
Who else or what else is in the story?
Plot What is the main character doing when the story begins?
Does something exciting or interesting happen?
How are the other characters (if there are any) linked to the
events?
Setting Dreams are often set in strange places.
What's odd or interesting about the setting of your dream?
Remember to include as much detail as you can in your story. Try to make it
exciting so that people will want to read on to find out what happens.
PLANNING
Spend up to five minutes making notes in the box below to plan your story:
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Read this extract adapted from ‘The Secret Garden’ by Frances Hodgson Burnett and
then answer the questions.
Mary is an orphan who has been sent to live with her uncle on his large estate. In
this extract she hears a strange noise while she is playing alone in the garden and
goes to investigate where the sound is coming from.
***
It was a very strange thing indeed. She quite caught her breath as she stopped to
look at it. A boy was sitting under a tree, with his back against it, playing on a
rough wooden pipe. He was a funny-looking boy about twelve. He looked very
clean and his nose turned up and his cheeks were as red as poppies, and never
before had Mistress Mary seen such round blue eyes in any boy’s face. On the
trunk of the tree he leaned against, a brown squirrel was clinging and watching
him, and quite near him were two rabbits sitting up and sniffing with tremendous
noses – and actually it appeared as if they were all drawing near to watch him and
listen to the strange, low, little calls his pipe seemed to make.
When he saw Mary he held up his hand and spoke to her in a voice almost as low
as, and rather like, his piping.
‘Don’t move,’ he said. ‘It’d flight them.’
Mary stood frozen, not daring to move a muscle. He stopped playing his pipe and
began to rise from the ground. He moved so slowly that it scarcely seemed as
though he were moving at all, but at last he stood on his two feet and then the
squirrel scampered back up into the branches of his tree and the rabbits dropped
on all fours and began to hop away, though not at all as if they were frightened. 114
‘I’m Dickon,’ the boy said. ‘I know you’re Miss Mary.’
‘Did you get Martha’s letter?’ she asked.
He nodded his curly, rust-coloured head.
‘That’s why I came.’
He stopped to pick up something which had been lying on the ground beside him when
he said, ‘I’ve got the garden tools you wanted. There’s a little spade and rake and fork.
Eh! They are good ones. And the woman in the shop threw in a packet of white poppy
when I bought the other seeds.’
‘Will you show the seeds to me?’ Mary said.
She wished she could talk as he did. His speech was so quick and easy. It sounded as if
he liked her and was not the least afraid she would not like him, even though he was
only a common country boy, in patched-up clothes and with a funny face and a rough,
rusty-red head. As she came closer to him, she noticed that there was a clean fresh
scent of heather* and grass and leaves about him, almost as if he were made of them.
She liked it very much, and when she looked into his funny face with red cheeks and
round blue eyes she forgot that she had felt shy.
Glossary
heather: a wild plant
1 Read the statements about Dickon. Tick (√) two boxes that we know are TRUE
about him from the passage.
His speech was slow and strange.
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He had untidy hair.
He wore clean, new clothes.
He had a pale face.
He smelt of natural things. [2]
2 What did Mary think was the most unusual thing about Dickon’s appearance?
.............................................................................................................[1]
3 When Mary first saw Dickon under the tree, playing his pipe, what was surprising
about the scene?
.............................................................................................................[1]
4 Why did Dickon speak to Mary in a low voice when he first saw her?
.................................................................................................................[1]
5 Was Dickon expecting to meet Mary?
Tick (√) one box.
Yes
No
Give a reason from the text to support your answer.
….........................................................................................................[1]
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6 The wild animals were not frightened of Dickon. What does this tell you about
Dickon?
............................................................................................................. [1]
7 Do you think Dickon is a confident boy?
Tick (√) one box.
Yes
No
Explanation.................................................................................................
..................................................................................................................
Words and phrases from the text to support your explanation
.................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................. [2]
8 What made Dickon go to the shop to buy the gardening tools for Mary?
............................................................................................................. [1]
9 During this meeting between Mary and Dickon, how do Mary’s feelings towards
Dickon change?
..................................................................................................................
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Give evidence from the text to support your answer.
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10 Who is the point of view character in the story?
..................................................................................................................
..................................................................................................................
.................................................................................................................. [2]
11 The sentence below comes from the text. Look at the underlined phrase.
‘Mary stood frozen, not daring to move a muscle.’
(a) Tick (√) one box to say what technique is being used here.
Alliteration
Metaphor
Personification
Rhyme
Simile [1]
(b) Explain what the underlined phrase means and why it is appropriate.
.............................................................................................................[2]
12 (a) The text is a short extract from the book, The Secret Garden.
Science fiction
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Legend
Horror
Adventure
Ghost story [1]
(b) Name two features of the genre you chose for 12(a).
1...............................................................................................................
2............................................................................................................... [2]
Section B: Writing
13 Read a second extract adapted from The Secret Garden. It is the moment that
Mary shows a disbelieving Dickon a door to a secret garden.
She led him round the laurel path and to the walk where the ivy grew so
thickly. Dickon followed her with an odd, almost pitying look on his face. When
she stepped to the wall and lifted the hanging ivy he gasped in amazement.
There was a door! Mary pushed it slowly open.
‘It’s a secret garden...’
Now continue the story yourself.
There are at least two characters:

● Mary
● Dickon
Characters
Are there any other characters?
● a gardener?
● someone else who knows about the secret garden?
● The secret garden?
Setting
● The house which the garden belongs to?
● What do they find in the secret garden?
Plot ● Why is the garden secret?
● Does something happen to the children in the secret garden?
PLANNING
119
Spend up to five minutes making notes in this box to plan your story.
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Section A: Reading
An extract from 'The Boy Who Talked with Animal' by Roald Dahl.
Standing on the balcony of my hotel room looking out at the dark expanse of sea, I
suddenly became aware of a great commotion on the beach. Glancing over, I saw a
crowd of people clustering around something at the water's edge. There was a canoe-
type fisherman's boat on the sand nearby, and all I could think was that the
fisherman had come in with lots of fish and that the crowd was looking at it.
But it wasn't a haul of fish at all. It was a turtle, an upside-down turtle. But what
a turtle it was! I had not thought it possible for a turtle to be as enormous as
this. If it had been the right way up, 1 think a tall man could have sat on its back
without his feet touching the ground.
The fisherman who had caught it had tipped the turtle onto its back to stop it from
getting away. There was also a thick rope tied around the middle of its shell, and
one proud fisherman stood holding the end of the rope tightly with both hands.
Upside down it lay, this magnificent creature, with its four thick flippers waving
frantically in the air; its long-wrinkled neck stretching far out of its shell.
The crowd was thrilled and delighted. They were discussing the capture and
possible destruction of a creature who seemed, even when upside down, to be
extraordinarily dignified one thing was certain. He was senior to any of them.
For probably one hundred and fifty years he had been swimming in these green
waters. And now here he was; clearly alarmed by the noise and shouting around
him, his old wrinkled neck straining out of its shell; the great head twisting this
way and that.
Suddenly, I heard high-pitched screams. 'No-0-0-0! screamed the scream. No!

No! No!' The crowd froze. Every single person present turned towards where
the screams were coming from. Half walking, half running down the beach were 122
three people, a man, a woman and a small boy who was pulling the man along.
It was the boy who was screaming. 'Don't! he screamed. 'Let him go! Please
let him go! You're horrible and cruel! All of you! He threw the words high and
Read the Text in the Insert, and answer questions 1-17.
1 At the beginning of the story, what does the narrator think the crowd of people on
the beach are looking at?
...........................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................ [1]
2 Why does the crowd create a great commotion on the beach'(lines 2-9)?
...........................................................................................................................
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3 How does the narrator help the reader to understand the size of the turtle?
...........................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................ [1]
4 Which two statements about the turtle up to line 31 are TRUE?
Tick (√) two boxes.
It is older than anyone there.

123
It is the right way up.
It is trying to attack the crowd.
Its head is moving around.
Its neck is very smooth. [2]
5 Suggest two reasons why the fisherman is holding the rope tightly.
• ...................................................................................................................
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• ...................................................................................................................
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6 Give two quotations from lines 1-14 that show the narrator admires the turtle.
• ...................................................................................................................
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• ...................................................................................................................
.............................................................................................................. [2]
7 Give one word from lines 16-22 which means the same as scared.
.......................................................................................................................[1]
8 Look at lines 16-22.
What is the narrator's opinion of what is happening on the beach? [1]

124
Tick (√) one box.
The narrator feels pleased that the turtle has been caught.
The narrator feels upset by all the noise the crowd is making.
The narrator thinks the crowd is fussing too much about the turtle.
The narrator thinks the crowd should show the turtle respect.
9 The crowd froze.' (line 23)
...........................................................................................................................
.................................................................................................................. [1]
10 Look at these lines: 'Suddenly I heard high-pitched screams."No-0-0-ol"screamed
the scream. “No! No! no!” The crowd froze. Every single person turned towards
where the screams were coming from.' (lines 22-24)
Give three ways the writer builds up tension in these lines.
• ......................................................................................................................
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• ......................................................................................................................
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• ......................................................................................................................
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11 'The turtle became absolutely still. Even his giant flippers stopped moving in the
air. (lines 37-38)
What do these sentences suggest about how the turtle feels at the end of the story?
..........................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................[1]
12 '"You're horrible and cruel! All of you!” He threw the words high and shrill at all
those adults standing there on the beach.' (lines 27-28)
Why does the writer use the word 'threw' in these lines?
Tick (√) one box.
to emphasise that the boy is angry and upset
to emphasise that the boy is small and young
to show that the boy is breathless from running
to show that the boy is speaking from a distance [1]
13 'He stood small and erect, facing the crowd his eyes shining like two stars.' (lines
29-30)
(a) What is 'shining like two stars' an example of?
Tick (√) one box.
126
alliteration
metaphor
personification
simile [1]
(b) Explain in your own words what 'shining like stars' means.
...........................................................................................................................
..................................................................................................................... [1]
14 Why is the father embarrassed by his son?
...........................................................................................................................
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15 Explain in your own words two different things you learn about the boy's character
from what he does in the story. Use evidence from the text to support each of your
ideas.
• ...................................................................................................................
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• ...................................................................................................................
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16 Write one sentence from the text that shows the narrator's opinion of the boy.
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17 This story is told by a narrator.
Give two ways the story would be different if it was written from the point of view of
the boy.
• ...................................................................................................................
• .............................................................................................................. [2]
Section B: Writing
18 Read the next part of the story.
All eyes turned to the boy and the turtle. The pair seemed to be caught in silent
conversation. The fisherman was having none of it, however. He began pulling the turtle
towards the hotel.
'Wait!' cried the boy's father.
Now continue the story to explain what happens next to the boy and the turtle.
Characters • The boy

• The father
• The fisherman
• Anyone else?
Setting • Do they stay on the beach?
• Do they go somewhere else?
Plot • What does the father say to the fisherman?
• How does the fisherman respond?
• What happens to the turtle?
Space for your plan:
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Text A
How chocolate is made?
Have you ever wondered where chocolate comes from? Well, chocolate is made from
beans which grow in pods on the Theobroma cacao tree. These trees grow in several
different countries and the flavour of the beans varies depending on where they
come from. The beans also vary in flavour, depending on the age of the tree.
After the beans have been collected and dried, they are transported to chocolate
factories. There, the beans are weighed and separated by type so that the
manufacturer knows exactly what kind of cacao is going into the chocolate. This
ensures the flavour of the chocolate is consistent over time. Some manufacturers use
up to twelve types of cacao, depending on the flavour of chocolate they want to
create.
once weighed, the cacao beans are roasted in large ovens for up to two hours. The
heat not only dries and darkens the beans, but also brings out their flavour. Next,
the cacao beans are cracked, and then winnowed-that is, the broker shells are blown
away, which leaves the crushed pieces of cacao beans, called 'nibs'. These are edible
but do not taste very pleasant. The cacao nibs are then crushed and ground into a
thick paste called chocolate liquor. This is bitter and not very smooth or creamy. To
improve the flavour, the manufacturer mixes in things like sugar, vanilla and milk.
You could eat this mixture, and it would taste pretty good, but it wouldn't quit have
the right texture. So, the manufacturer runs the mixture through steel roller and
then it is 'conched'. This is a process which involves putting the mixture in machine
that mixes and mashes the chocolate. Conching can last a few hours for cheaper 131
chocolate, and
Department of English up to six days for more expensive types.
Finally, we have chocolate!

Read Text A and answer questions 1–8.
1 Name one thing that affects the taste of cacao beans.
………………………………………………………………………………………………...................
......................................................................................................................[1]
2 'This ensures the flavour of the chocolate is consistent over time.' (line 7-8) Explain
in your own words what 'consistent over time' means.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..……
………………………………………………………………………………………….........................
.......................................................................................................................[1]
3 Number these processes from the text to show the correct order.
The first process has been numbered for you.
grinding
roasting
weighing 1
winnowing [2]
4 Give one word from the text to describe how chocolate liquor tastes.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. [1]
5 Name two ingredients that are added to chocolate liquor to make it taste better.
132
• ...............................................................................................................
• ............................................................................................................... [1]
6 Why is 'conching' important?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………................... [1]
7 (a) Tick (√) two boxes to show phrases which use the passive form of a verb.
'After the beans have been collected...'
'...the manufacture knows exactly...'
'These trees grow in several different countries...'
'This is bitter and not very smooth...' [2]
(b) Why is the passive form of the verb often used in Text A?
.................................................................................................................
.................................................................................................................[1]
8 (a)Give three connectives used to show time in the text.
• ……………………………………………………………………………………………………
• …………………………………………………………………………………………………..
• ............................................................................................................. [1]
(b) Explain why connectives are used in text.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………........... [1]
133
Text B
The Chocolate Party Company
Calling all young chocolate lovers. Are you looking for a special theme for party? Then
come to us!
Our chocolate parties combine the very best quality Belgian chocolate with fun-packed
activities. Our experienced chocolatiers love to share their magic chocolate-making
skills and make sure everyone has a great time. Spend two unforgettable hours
creating scrumptious chocolate masterpieces, such as cute chocolate animals, crispy
coconut cups or, best of all, our mouth-watering melt-in the-middle chocolate stars.
All sorts of delicious toppings are available including caramel sprinkles, chocolate-
coated honeycomb crumbs and - our favourite - very berry strawberry curis.
Perfect for any special occasion, our fantastically fun parties will help you to create
chocolate delights that will impress everyone. The time will just fly. But the fun
doesn't stop there because, at the end, you and your friends will take away party
bags crammed with your own, delicious, handmade treats. You will also take with you
a wealth of knowledge about the secret art of the chocolatier, making this a day you'll
never forget.
Parties last for two hours, are suitable for children from 8-14 years old and are
available seven days a week. We run throughout the day, starting at 10 am, with the
last party finishing at 9 pm on weekdays and 10 pm at weekends and during holidays.
See our website for prices, availability, and more details.
Read Text B and answer questions 9–16.

134
9 What are the people who teach chocolate-making at the parties called?
……………………………………………………………………………………………….…….[1]
10 (a) Name one of the chocolate sweets you can make during the party.
……………………………………………………………………………………………….……..[1]
(b) Name one of the products you can use to decorate your chocolate sweets.
……………………………………………………………………………………………….………[1]
11 Look at the phrase 'time will just fly' (line 11).
(a) What technique is 'time will just fly' an example of?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………. [1]
(b) Suggest one reason why time will fly.
……………………………………………………………………………………………….............. [1]
12 Look at the phrase '...you and your friends will take away party bags crammed
with your own, delicious, handmade treats' (line 12-13)
What does the word 'crammed' suggest about the bags?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………… [1]
13 Give two examples of alliteration from the text.
• ...................................................................................................................
• ..................................................................................................................[1]
14 Explain three ways the last paragraph is different from the rest of the text.
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• .......................................................................................................................
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• .......................................................................................................................
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Questions 15 and 16 are about Text A and Text B.
15 'Finally, we have chocolate!' (Text A, line 23)
'Then come to us!' (Text B, line 1-2)
Give two ways these short sentences are similar.
• .......................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
• .......................................................................................................................
.................................................................................................................[2]
16 Text A and Text B have different purposes.
(a) What is the purpose of Text A?
.......................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................[1]
(b) What is the purpose of Text B?

136
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Section B: Writing
17 Write a newspaper report for your local newspaper about an incident or event
involving chocolate.
It could be about:
An activity you enjoy
• a stolen delivery of chocolate

• a lorry that spills the chocolate it is transporting
• a serious shortage of chocolate
• something that has made chocolate taste bad
• your own idea
Remember to use the conventions of a newspaper report, such as a headline, an
explanation of what happened, where and when it happened, and comments from
relevant people.
You do not need to use columns or include pictures.
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/8 /7 /7 /3 /25
139
Text A
The Magic of Fireflies
Did you know that the firefly is a beetle and not a fly at all? Fireflies belong to the glow-
worm family of insects, which produce light. Unlike the rest of the glow-worm family,
fireflies have wings. There are many species of fireflies, but all fireflies have flat bodies,
large eyes and short antennae. Both adults and larvae are capable of glowing.
Amazingly, even the eggs can glow!
The glow of an adult firefly is usually green, but can also be orange or yellow. The firefly
can control the flashing of its light by controlling its breathing. Each kind of firefly has a
different flashing pattern. The firefly's flashing pattern helps it to find a mate. Some male
flies just above the grass, flashing until some hidden female flashes back. But this can be
risky. Some female fireflies imitate the blinking pattern of another species in order to
attract a male-and then eat him.
Females lay their eggs under leaves and the larvae hatch out after one month. It is
difficult to believe, but firefly larvae then live underground for almost two years. The
larvae feed on earthworms, slugs and snails. In late spring, the larvae turn into pupae.
After three weeks, the pupae change into adult flying beetles. The adults live just long
enough to mate and lay eggs, usually one or two weeks.
Fireflies prefer the warm, humid areas of the world, and are most common in South and
Central America and southern Asia. They are found in a variety of habitats: forest edges,
wooded backyards and marshland areas near streams or ponds. In the parts of the world
where fireflies are common, children enjoy catching them in glass jars and watching their
glow for a short while, before letting them go.
Read Text A and answer questions 1-11.
1 How is the firefly different from the other members of its family?
.......................................................................................................................[1]
2 How does a firefly control its light?
.......................................................................................................................[1]
140
3 What effect does the writer create by using a short sentence in line 9-10?
.......................................................................................................................[1]
4 Explain in your own words how some female fireflies trick the males of other species.
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................[2]
5 Complete the stages of a firefly's life cycle in order. The first stage has been done for
you. [3]
eggs
...............................................................
...............................................................
...............................................................
6 'They are found in a variety of habitats.'
What verb form is used in this sentence?
.......................................................................................................................[1]
7 Explain why a colon (:)has been used in the fourth paragraph.
.......................................................................................................................[1]
141
8 Complete the fact file below using the information in the text. [3]
Fact file
Three features of a firefly's body
Two weather conditions popular with

fireflies
Three colours of a firefly's glow
9 These subheadings belong to the text Number the subheadings to match the order of
the paragraphs.
The whole life cycle
Patterns of light
Flies, beetles or worms?
Where's home? [2]
142
10 Subheadings are a feature of reports.
Name two other features of reports as shown in Text A.
• ....................................................................................................................
• ..................................................................................................................[2]
11 Find one quotation that shows the writer thinks fireflies are fascinating.
.......................................................................................................................[1]
143
Text B
Catching and keeping fireflies
To catch fireflies without harming them, you should use a net.
Once you catch a firefly in the net, put it into a jar. Hint: Hold the jar upside down and
put the net under it. Fireflies always crawl up, never down, so they should crawl into the
jar.
Once you have the fireflies in a jar, screw on the top. DO NOT punch air holes in the lid.
Air holes dry out the air in the jar, and fireflies need damp air to survive. There is plenty
of air in the jar to keep the insects alive for a day or more. Put a small piece of washed
apple and a small clump of fresh grass in the jar. The apple helps keep the air in the jar
moist, and it gives the fireflies something to grab onto. The grass is for them to climb
on and hide in.
Every day, unscrew the jar lid and blow across the top of the jar. This keeps the air in
the jar fresh. Don't put the jar in direct sunlight.
You don't need to feed the fireflies. Most adults never eat. They did all their eating as
larvae. But don't keep them in a jar for more than two or three days. Fireflies only live a
few days or weeks and don't want to spend their whole lives in a jar.
Read Text B, a blog about catching fireflies and answer the questions 12-19.
12 Why has the writer used the modal verb 'should' in line 1?
.......................................................................................................................[1]
13 In line 5, why do you think 'DO NOT' is written in capital letters?
.......................................................................................................................[1]
14 Write a sentence saying what will happen if holes are punched in the lid of the
jar. Stan your sentence with the word 'lf'.
.......................................................................................................................[1]
144
15 What helps to keep the air in the jar damp?
Tick (√) one box.
holes in the lid
the clump of grass
the piece of apple
no sunlight [1]
16 How can you add new air to the jar?
.......................................................................................................................[1]
17 Why does the writer use short sentences in lines 11 and 12?
.......................................................................................................................[1]
18 Explain in your own words why it is not fair to keep a firefly in a jar for more than
two or three days.
.......................................................................................................................[1]
19 How is the main purpose of Text B different from the main purpose of Text A?
.......................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................[2]
145
Section B: Writing
Spend 30 minutes on this section
20 The second text explains how to care for a firefly.
Write about how to care for a different animal.
Remember to:
• Choose an animal you know lots about, e.g. Your favourite animal, a pet
• think about the important information you need to include
• think about extra information you can include to make your article more
interesting
• include instructions about how to care for the animal
• organise your article in paragraphs.
PLANNING
Spend up to five minutes making notes in the box to plan your writing.
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/8 /7 /7 /3 /25
148
Text for Section A, an extract from 'The Wolf princess' by Cathryn Constable.
'Hold my hand, Sophie. We have to leave!'
It was her father's voice. She couldn't see him, but she knew, somehow, that his hair
was dishevelled1 and that he was wearing his tatty overcoat, the one with the hem
that hung down like a ragged wing. He slipped his hand into hers, clasping it tight,
and together they ran through the frozen silver forest. She knew where they were
going. Always the same place-a place conjured from his stories, dreams and
memories. At the edge of the trees, they stopped. Their breath scrolled out before
them and the snow fell like a heavy lace curtain, Flakes as large as moths fluttered in
front of her eyes.
'Wait, Sophie,' he said. 'She's coming. Can you see her?'
And his words called up a young woman in a long cloak, her face hidden beneath a
hood, Sophie glimpsed a tendril2 of dark-blond hair. It was covered with snowflakes
that changed to diamonds as she watched.
'Who is she?'
She couldn't hear her father's answer, but he gripped her hand a little tighter and he
sang to her that lovely song whose words she had forgotten. Sophie wanted to ask
her father about the woman, but now the song had become a story. He wouldn't stop
telling her the story.
It was winter. It was snowing. There was a girl lost in the woods. And - Sophie felt
her chest tighten with fear - a wolf...
She felt her father's hand slip out of hers.
Don't leave me!'
But he was no longer there. And the sadness and the fear got mixed up with the
snowflakes and covered everything.
'Sophie!'
'No! This voice was from another place, she didn't want to answer.
She pressed her face into the pillow, trying to climb back into the forest. To hold
herself in the strange dreamtime, where she could taste the cold, clear air like a
mixture of peppermints and diamonds ... feel the forest all around her ... hear the
snow creak beneath her feet ...
'Are you awake?'
149
Sophie sighed and moved her hand across the bedspread, as If to brush snow from it.
'I am now, Delphine.'
She tried not to sound grumpy. But the day at the New Bloomsbury College for Young
Ladies had started and it would not be stopped. It was too late for dreams.
She turned on to her back and stared at the ceiling. Why did boarding school seem so
... beige? She looked around at the three narrow wardrobes, three flimsy bedside
cabinets and three scratched desks and chairs, and wished for ... something else.
Something beautiful, however small. Enormous branches of cherry blossom in an
agate urn3 ... panels of lace at the window ... candlelight ... In this cramped, mean
London room, there would never be any beauty or excitement. No secrets or
espionage4. No adventures.
Just school.
Sophie sat up. For a moment she gazed at the photograph of her father on the
windowsill. The picture had caught the dreamy, quizzical5 expression she thought she
remembered, as if he had just seen or heard something that interested him. She
pulled back the curtain.
Glossary
1. dishevelled - untidy, messy

2. tendril - a thin curl
3. agate urn - a stone vase
4. espionage - spying
5. quizzical - questioning
150
Section A: Reading
Read the Text in and answer questions 1-16.
1 Describe in your own words how Sophie's father holds her hand.
.....................................................................................................................[1]
2 Give a quotation from lines 2-9 that shows where Sophie and her father are when they
see the cloaked figure.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................[1]
3 '...the snow fell like a heavy lace curtain.'(line 8)
(a) What is this an example of?
Tick (√) one box.
metaphor
personification
simile
alliteration [1]
151
(b) Explain in your own words two things that 'fell like a heavy lace curtain' tells you
about the snow.
• .................................................................................................................
• ...............................................................................................................[2]
Explain in your own words two ways the writer makes the young woman see
mysterious.
• .................................................................................................................
• ...............................................................................................................[2]
5 Why was Sophie unable to find out anything about the young woman?
Give two reasons.
• .................................................................................................................
• ...............................................................................................................[2]
Give three ways the writer makes the father's story sound scary.
• .................................................................................................................
• ................................................................................................................
• ...............................................................................................................[3]
152
7 'Hold my hand, Sophie.' (line 1)
'She the felt her father's hand slip out of hers.' (line 21)
Why are these two lines important in the story?
.....................................................................................................................[1]
8 'And the sadness and the fear got mixed up with the snowflakes and covered
everything.' (lines 23-24)
Explain in your own words what Sophie is feeling at this point in the story.
.....................................................................................................................[1]
9 'She pressed her face into the pillow, trying to climb back into the forest.' (line 27)
What does this sentence tell you about Sophie?
Tick (√) one box.
She is tired because of her emotional dream.
She is asleep and unable to wake up.
She is awake and wants to return to her dream.
She is asleep and wants to escape from the wolf in her dream. [1]
10 Give one way the writer shows how real the dream seemed to Sophie.
..................................................................................................................... [1]
153
11 Give two things that Sophie doesn't like about how her room looks.
• .................................................................................................................
• ................................................................................................................[2]
12 Look at line 43.
Explain in your own words what 'just school' suggests about Sophie's view of boarding
school?
..................................................................................................................... [1]
13 In lines 36-43, how does the writer make it clear that these are Sophie's thoughts?
Give two ways :
• .................................................................................................................
• ................................................................................................................[2]
14 HOW do you know that Sophie hasn't seen her father for a long time?
.....................................................................................................................[1]
15 Explain in your own words two things you learn about Sophie's character from the
text.
• .................................................................................................................
• ................................................................................................................[2]
154
16 This text starts with a dream and is the opening to a longer story.
Do you think it is a good opening to the story? Explain your answer.
.....................................................................................................................
....................................................................................................................[1]
155
Section B: Writing
17 Write your own opening to a longer story with the title The Forest.
Include descriptions of the characters and the setting to interest the reader.
Ideas to help you:
Characters • a narrator
• a wolf?
• anyone else?
Setting • the woods
• What time of year is it?
• what does the main character see?
• what is special about the woods? ls it a magical place?
Plot • Why is the main character in the woods?
• Does the main character meet anyone?
• Does anything go wrong? Is the main character
frightened by something?
Remember to include as much detail as you can. Try to make it exciting so that
people reading it will want to read on and find out what happens.
Plan your story opening:
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/8 /7 /7 /3 /25
158
TEXT A
Lewis Clarke: South Pole trek teenager breaks record
A 16-year-old boy has become the youngest person to trek to the South Pole. Lewis
Clarke, from Bristol, has spent almost 50 days battling temperatures as low as -40℃
and winds of up to 193 kilometres per hour.
The challenge began on 2 December 2013, two weeks after his 16th birthday and
finished on 16 January 2014. It brought an end to an expedition which saw Lewis ski
for an average of eight hours a day, covering about 29 kilometres, while pulling his
supplies behind him on a sled.
His only help has been from experienced polar guide, and expedition companion Carl
Alvey.
Difficulties encountered by Lewis along the way have included blisters*, coughing
caused by being at high altitudes and a broken ski. But the cold itself has not fazed
him. He admits to being the type of person who wears shorts in winter and much
prefers snow to heat.
'I knew it would be hard but it's harder than I ever thought it would be' he said, still
80 kilometres from the end. 'However, I think sometimes about how few people have
done this. Only 300 in 100 years. And I'm doing it! That's pretty cool.'
Explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes was full of praise, calling it a 'great achievement'. Mr
Fiennes said he had not travelled along the same route, but the conditions would
have been dependent on the weather, avoiding crevasses, and how good Lewis was
at skiing.
Lewis's record-for the same coast-to-pole route ─ was previously held by 18-year-old
Sarah McNair Landry, from Canada. Aside from making history, Lew has raised more
than £3,000 for the Prince's Trust, a charity helping your people, through the
expedition. His father, Steven, said he was 'incredibly proud'.
Glossary
blisters: a minor foot injury
159
Section A: Reading
Read Text A and answer questions 1-11.
1. Read lines 1-3. What is Lewis Clarke's great achievement?
..................................................................................................................[1]
2. Give one word and one phrase from the lines 4-7 that means completed.
Word: .........................................................................................................
Phrase: .....................................................................................................[2]
3. Look at this sentence: 'His only help has been from experienced polar guide, and
expedition companion, Carl Alvey.' (Lines 6-9)
Using the information in the sentence above, explain in your own words, two ways
in which Carl Alvey helped Lewis on the journey.
• ............................................................................................................
• ............................................................................................................[2]
4. What health problem did high ground create for Lewis?
..................................................................................................................[1]
5. Look at this sentence: 'But the cold itself has not fazed him.' (Lines 11-12)
Explain in your own words what has not fazed him means.
..................................................................................................................[1]
6. Give a quotation that shows Lewis's surprise at the effort needed to complete the
expedition.
..................................................................................................................[1]
160
7. Look at this phrase: 'Lewis's record ─ for the same cost-to-pole route ─ was
previously held by ....' (Line 22)
Why are dashes (─) used in the phrase above?
..................................................................................................................[1]
8. What will the money that Lewis has collected be used for?
..................................................................................................................[1]
9. What does the last paragraph in Text A (Lines 22-25) do?

Tick (√) one box.
It looks forward to what Lewis will do in the future.
It summarises the information in the text.
It refers back to the information in the headline.
It describes what Lewis's next challenge will be. [1]
10. Text A is a news report.
a) Name one technique the writer has used in the headline. Tick (√) one box.
alliteration
personification
simile
onomatopoeia [1]
b) Give one reason why it is important to have an effective headline.
.............................................................................................................[1]
161
11. Complete the table below so that the features of a journalistic text are matched
with an example from Text A. The first one has been done for you.
Features Example from Text A
• Powerful verbs • battling (temperatures)
• Third person • ...........................................
• Mr Fiennes said he had not

travelled along the same route, but
the conditions would have been
• ..............................................
dependent on the weather,
avoiding crevasses, and how good
Lewis was at skiing.
162
Text B
Roald Amundsen
Roald Amundsen was born on July 16,1872 in Borge, Norway. He grew up

longing to be an explorer and to follow in the footsteps of his hero, the British
Arctic explorer John Franklin. Amundsen became the leader of the expedition
which, in 1911, became the first to reach the geographic South Pole. Amundsen
also reached the North Pole in 1926, making him the first man to stand at both
ends of the Earth.
The Northwest Passage
Amundsen's first great achievement was in 1903, when he captained a ship that
found a route from the Atlantic Ocean, through the ice at the North Pole, to the
Pacific ocean. This passage through the ice had been searched for by many
others over the centuries. Amundsen's ability to navigate and survive this trip
was a great accomplishment.
The South Pole
Amundsen set out on his most famous adventure in 1910: his race to the
geographic South Pole against a British team led by Robert Falcon Scott. They
reached their base camp on Antarctica in January 1911, but it was another ten
months before they were able to set out to reach the pole from their camp.
Amundsen's team reached the South Pole on December 14, 1911, a few weeks
ahead of Scott's expedition. It took them 99 days and they travelled for 2,993
kilometres. The Norwegian flag was triumphantly planted at the South Pole to
mark this great achievement. Sadly, Scott's expedition team did not make it
back.
Read Text B and answer questions 12-18.
12. What was Amundsen's role in the 1911 trek?
..................................................................................................................[1]
163
13. What other 'first' did Amundsen achieve after he became the first person to reach
the south pole?
..................................................................................................................[1]
14. Look at this sentence: 'Amundsen's ability to navigate and survive this trip was a
great accomplishment.' (Lines 10-11)
What does the word survive suggest about this voyage?
.................................................................................................................[1]
15. 'Amundsen set out on his most famous adventure in 1910: his race to the
geographic South Pole against a British team led by Robert Falcon Scott.'
(Lines 12-13)
Why is colon (:) used in the sentence above?
.................................................................................................................[1]
16. What evidence in the text suggests that the team faced unexpected difficulties
after they have arrived at base camp?
.................................................................................................................[1]
17. Text B is from a biography.
a) What is the purpose of a biography?
.............................................................................................................[1]
164
b) In Text B, the past tense is used. This is one feature of a biography.
Give two more features of a biography that are used in text B.
• ..........................................................................................................
• ..........................................................................................................[2]
18. Look at the phrases below from Text B.
Tick (√) two boxes to show which phrases use a passive verb form.
'He grew up longing to be an explorer...'
'... he captained a ship that found a route...'
This passage through the ice had been searched for...'
'... to reach the pole from their camp.'
'The Norwegian flag was triumphantly planted...' [2]
165
Section B: Writing
19. Write a report for your school newsletter about a journey that a group of students
from your made recently.
The journey could have lasted one day or many days.
It could be about:
• A day trip or residential trip that the school organised
• a camping adventure that the students organised for themselves
• a challenging journey in which the students worked together.
166
Write your story here:
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/8 /7 /7 /3 /25
168
Text for Section A, an extract from ‘An Eagle in the Snow' by Michael Morpurgo.
The train was still in the station, and I was wondering if we’d ever get going. I was
with my ma*. I was tired. My arm was hurting and itching at the same time, inside
the plaster. I remember she was already at her knitting", her knitting needles tick-
tacking away, automatically, effortlessly. Socks for Dad, this time. 'This train's late
leaving,' Ma said. 'That clock on the platform says it's well past twelve already. Still,
not surprising, I suppose, under the circumstances.' Then she said something that
surprised me. 'If I drop off to sleep, Barney,' she told me, 'just you keep your eye on
that suitcase, d'you hear? All we got in this world is up there in that luggage rack, and
I don't want no one pinching it.'
I was just thinking, that was quite a strange thing to say because there was no one
else in the carriage except the two of us, when the door opened and a man got in,
slamming the door behind him. He never said a word to us, but took off his hat, put it
up on the rack beside our suitcase, and then settled himself into the seat opposite. He
looked at his watch and opened up his paper, his face disappearing behind it for a
while. He had to put ii down to blow his nose, which was when he caught me staring
at him, and nodded.
Everything about him was neat. I noticed that at once, from his highly polished shoes,
to his trim moustache and his collar and tie. I decided right away that he didn't look
like the sort of man who would pinch Ma's suitcase. There was also something about
him that I thought I recognised; I had the feeling I might have seen him before.
Maybe I hadn't. Maybe it was just because he seemed about the same age as
Grandpa, with the same searching look in his eye.
But this stranger was neat, and there was nothing neat about my grandpa. My
grandpa was a scarecrow, with his hair always tousled − what there was of it − his
hands and face grimy from delivering his coal, and that was after he had washed. This
stranger had clean hands, and clean nails too, as well looked after as the rest of him.
'Hope I pass inspection, son,' he said, eyeing me meaningfully.
Ma nudged me, and apologised for my rudeness, before she turned on me. 'How
many times have I told you not to stare at people, Barney? Say sorry to the
gentleman, now.'
'Don't you worry, missus, 'he said. 'Boys will be boys. I was one once myself, a while
ago now, but I was.'
169
The Station Master came past our window then, waving his green flag, blowing
his whistle, his cheeks puffed out so that his face looked entirely round, like a
pink balloon, I thought.
Then we were off, the train chuffing itself wearily, reluctantly, into slow motion.
"Bout time,' said Ma.
Glossary
ma: mother
knitting: making clothes from wool
170
Section A: Reading
Read the Text and answer questions 1-19.
1) Where are Barney and his mother at the beginning of the text?
.....................................................................................................................[1]
2) Give a quote from the first paragraph (lines 1-4) which tells us that Barney was
impatient.
.....................................................................................................................[1]
3) Explain what the words automatically, effortlessly (line 4) tell the reader about Ma's
ability to knit.
Give two ideas.
• ..................................................................................................................
• ..............................................................................................................[2]
4) Give a quote from the first paragraph that shows Ma knits regularly for the family.
..................................................................................................................[1]
5) Look at the first paragraph. What does MA mean when '... not surprising ... under
the circumstances'? (Line 6)
Tick (√) one box.
She thinks the clock is wrong.
She understands the problem.
She finds the late start annoying.
She knows the train is usually late.
171
6) Look at these sentences: 'Then she said something that surprised me. "If I drop off
to sleep, Barney," she told me, "just you keep your eye on that suitcase, d'you
hear?" (Lines 6-8)
Give the phrase from the sentences above that means watch.
..................................................................................................................[1]
7) Look at the phrase: 'All we got in this world is up there in that luggage rack...'
(Lines 8-9)
What does this tell us about Barney's family?
..................................................................................................................[1]
8) Look at the phrase: '.... I don't want no one pinching it.' (Line 9)
What is the best word to replace pinching?
..................................................................................................................[1]
9) Give one word from the second paragraph (lines 10-16) that tells us the man closed
the carriage door loudly.
..................................................................................................................[1]
10) What did the man do immediately after he sat down?
..................................................................................................................[1]
11) In the third paragraph (lines 17-22), Barney describes the man as neat. Give one
example of the man's neatness.
..................................................................................................................[1]
172
12) Give one word from the fifth paragraph (lines 23-27) that means
a) untidy.
.............................................................................................................[1]
b) dirty.
.............................................................................................................[1]
13) What does the phrase ... what there was of it ... (line 24) suggest about Barney's
grandpa?
..................................................................................................................[1]
14) Give the phrase from the text that shows the man knows Barney is looking at him
closely.
..................................................................................................................[1]
15) Give a quote from lines 29-33 that shows Ma is tired of Barney's behavour.
..................................................................................................................[1]
16) The story is told from Barney's point of view. How do we know?
..................................................................................................................[1]
173
17) Complete the table below. [4]
Figurative Language Lines Example
Onomatopoeia 1-4
23-27 'My grandpa was a scarecrow ...'
'... his face looked entirely round, like a pink

34-36
balloon....'
Personification 37-38
18) Which text features are used in the text?
Tick (√) two boxes.
direct speech
facts and dates
personal pronouns
reported speech
rhyming language [2]
19) What genre is 'An Eagle in the snow'?
Tick (√) one boxes.
horror
legend
real life story
science fiction [1]
174
Section B: Writing
20) Now continue the story.
You should consider:
• who the man is
• why the man is on the train
• what happens on the journey
• how the story ends.
175
Write your story here:
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/8 /7 /7 /3 /25
177

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PAKISTAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL JEDDAH - ENGLISH SECTION

CAMBRIDGE PRIMARY CHECKPOINT

PAST PAPER BOOKLET

GRADE LEVEL/ SECTION: ____________________________

1. When the Titanic hit an Iceberg .................................................. 4

2. Stig of the Dump ....................................................................... 13

4. The Battle of Bubble and Squeak .............................................. 30

5. The Red Fox ............................................................................... 40

6. The Scarecrow and His Servant ................................................ 49

7. Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror ............................................. 58

9. The dawn chorus .................................................................... 76

10. Kensuke’s Kingdom ............................................................... 85

11. Lake Baikal ........................................................................... 96

12. Lucy's Nightmare .................................................................. 105

13. The Secret Garden ................................................................ 114

14. The Boy Who Talked With Animal ......................................... 122

15. How Chocolate is made? ....................................................... 131

16. The Magic of Fireflies ............................................................ 140

17. The Wolf Princess ................................................................. 149

19. An Eagle in the Snow 169

When the Titanic hit an iceberg

Read the text and answer the questions.

1 Why is the word ‘unsinkable’ in inverted commas?

3 Give an example of alliteration from the 2nd paragraph.

Tick (√) two boxes to identify two of the mistakes.

The captain was asleep.

The crew did not send out a distress call.

The look-outs did not have binoculars.

The ship was going too fast. [1]

The Titanic partly missed the iceberg.

The Titanic sank in the Atlantic Ocean.

The Titanic was magnificent.

Big Blue Whale

Read Text B and answer the questions.

1 Where do blue whales live?

2 Blue Whales are heavy. How heavy can they be?

5 What is the purpose of the sub-headings in Big Blue Whale?

The ears stick out behind the eye.

The female is smaller than the male.

The skin feels like a hard-boiled egg.

They breathe air. [1]

7 (a) The blue whale is big. Bigger than a giraffe.

Give two ways these sentences are similar.

8 Give one way Text A and Text B are same.

9 What is the purpose of the dash used in paragraph 2

Spend 25 minutes on this section.

Write a report in a similar way, with the title Human Beings.

Ideas to think about to help you:

How will you organize your information?

Spend about 5 minutes making notes in this box.

Content, Text structure Sentence structure Spelling Total

Stig of the Dump

He crawled to the edge of the pit and peered over.

Barney wished he was at the bottom of the pit.

And the ground gave way.

There was somebody there!

Read the text A and answer the questions.

3 Give an example of alliteration from the text.

4 Why does it seem so dark in the den?