Section A Comprehension and Use of Language (25 marks)

Question 1 Comprehension task

Candidates respond to a series of sub-questions based on Text A, a narrative text. These are short answers testing understanding of both explicit and implicit meanings.

Text A is approximately 900 words long and is from either the twentieth or the twenty-first century.

This question tests the following reading assessment objectives (16 marks):

• R1 demonstrate understanding of explicit meanings
• R2 demonstrate understanding of implicit meanings and attitude.

Question 2 Use of Language task

Candidates respond to a series of sub-questions based on Text A. These are short answers worth a total of

nine marks relating to the author’s use of language and the effect this has.

This question tests the following reading assessment objective (9 marks):

• R4 demonstrate understanding of how writers achieve effects and influence readers.

Section B Summary and Short response (25 marks)

Question 3a Summary task

Candidates answer a summary task in response to Text B. Candidates write a summary as continuous writing of no more than 150 words.

Text B is approximately 550–600 words long.

This question tests the following reading assessment objectives (10 marks):

• R1 demonstrate understanding of explicit meanings
• R5 select and use information for specific purposes.

This question also tests the following writing assessment objectives (10 marks):

• W2 organise and structure ideas and opinions for deliberate effect
• W3 use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures appropriate to context.

Question 3b Short response task

Candidates give a short response to show understanding of implicit meanings and attitude in response to Text B.

This question tests the following reading assessment objective (5 marks):

• R2 demonstrate understanding of implicit meanings and attitudes.