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Sample Practice

The English Language paper has various components which help you to hone your language skills.

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Try some of the exercises below.

Color Pencils

Paper 2:
Narrative
Comprehension

Sample Questions​

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(Text 3)

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Paragraph 1:

Punctually at midday he opened his bag and spread out his professional equipment: a dozen cowrie shells, a square piece of cloth with obscure mystic charts on it, a notebook and a bundle of Palmyra writing. His forehead was resplendent with sacred ash and vermilion, and his eyes sparkled with a sharp abnormal gleam which was really an outcome of a continual searching look for customers, but which his simple clients took to be a prophetic light and felt comforted.

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Q. Paragraph 1 describes the astrologer as he prepared to start work.

'‘His forehead was resplendent with sacred ash and vermilion, and his eyes sparkled with a sharp abnormal gleam which was really an outcome of a continual searching look for customers, but which his simple clients took to be a prophetic light and felt comforted.’ [lines 3-6]

 

Identify the words or phrases in the given sentence, which suggest

 

(i)    an air of holiness [1]                                              

(ii)   predictive competence [1]

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Adapted from An Astrologer’s Day, by R.K. Narayan 

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Paper 2:
Non-Narrative Comprehension

(Text 4)

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Paragraph 2:

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The summer of 1871 was very hot, and the city of Chicago suffered under a brutal drought. From early July to the outbreak of the fire in October less than three inches of rain fell on the city, and most of that was in brief showers. The heat and lack of sustained rainfall put the city in a precarious position as Chicago consisted almost entirely of wooden structures. Lumber was plentiful in the American Midwest in the mid-1800s, and Chicago was essentially built of timber.

                                                                                                                                                               

2. Here is part of a conversation between two students, Ginny and Harold, who have read the passage. 

 

       

 

 

 

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Identify two reasons from paragraph 3 that Ginny can use to support her view.

 [2]

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Adapted from The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 Essentially Destroyed the Entire City, by Robert McNamara

http://history1800s.about.com/od/urbanconditions/a/chicagofire.htm 

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The leading cause of the devastating Chicago fire was environmental in nature.

I agree.  Still, there were other, no less important contributing factors!

Paper 1:

Essay

Question - Do you think sports is taken too seriously today?


Keywords

‘sports’ – could be divided into competitive and non-competitive sports

‘taken too seriously’ – too much emphasis is placed on sports (particularly in terms of winning and losing), to the extent that it could be a matter of life and death -can be from the point of view of the competitors, the spectators, the corporations or the state.

‘today’ – discussion has to take place in today’s context


Possible stands

  • Yes, sports is taken too seriously today.

  • No, sports is not taken too seriously today.

  • It depends, competitive sports is usually taken too seriously while non-competitive sports are not.

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