English · Sample Paper 1

General instructions

Section A · Reading

1. Question 112 marks

   Read the passage and answer the questions.

   1. For years, teenagers have been told they are lazy for sleeping late. Sleep scientists now say the blame is misplaced. During adolescence, the body's internal clock shifts: the hormone that makes us drowsy is released about two hours later than in childhood. A sixteen-year-old who cannot fall asleep before eleven is not being stubborn; their biology is running on a different timetable.

   2. The trouble is that school timetables have not shifted with it. Many schools begin before eight, which means students must wake at six or earlier. Researchers estimate that teenagers need eight to ten hours of sleep, yet a large share get fewer than seven on school nights. The deficit builds up through the week like an unpaid loan, and weekend lie-ins only partly repay it.

   3. The effects reach far beyond yawning in class. Short sleep weakens memory, because the brain files away what it learned during deep sleep. It also shortens tempers and makes it harder to judge risk, which is one reason drowsy young drivers are a concern. Some studies link poor sleep to low mood and to frequent minor illnesses.

   4. When a few school districts moved their start time later by even forty-five minutes, attendance rose and fewer students fell asleep at their desks. Grades in the first period improved most. Critics worried that later starts would only push bedtimes later, but students in these studies actually slept more.

   5. Schools cannot solve the problem alone. Phones kept under the pillow light up with messages until late, and bright screens delay sleep further. Experts suggest a simple rule: screens off an hour before bed, the same wake-up time every day, and a dark, cool room. Sleep, they argue, is not time wasted; it is when the day's learning is locked in.

   (i) What change in the body explains why teenagers fall asleep late? (1 mark)

   (ii) Why does the writer compare lost sleep to ‘an unpaid loan’? (1 mark)

   (iii) How many hours of sleep do teenagers need? (1 mark)

   (iv) State two ways in which short sleep affects learning or behaviour. (1 mark)

   (v) Why are drowsy young drivers a concern? (1 mark)

   (vi) What happened when some schools started later? Give two results. (1 mark)

   (vii) What did critics fear about later start times, and was the fear justified? (1 mark)

   (viii) Which first-period result improved the most? (1 mark)

   (ix) Name two habits experts recommend for better sleep. (1 mark)

   (x) Find a word in paragraph 2 that means ‘shortfall’. (1 mark)

   (xi) Choose the best title: (a) Lazy Teenagers (b) Clocks, Classes and Sleep (c) Phones at Night (d) Weekend Lie-ins (1 mark)

   (xii) Explain the last sentence of the passage in your own words. (1 mark)

2. Question 210 marks

   Read the passage and answer the questions.

   A school's eco-club surveyed 500 students about how they travel to school. 40% came by school bus, 25% by private car, 20% walked, 10% cycled and 5% used public buses. Most car users lived less than 3 km from school. The club found that the road outside the gate was jammed for twenty minutes every morning, mostly by cars dropping off a single student.

   The club started a ‘Walk and Cycle Wednesday’. Parents living close by were asked to walk with their children, and the school opened a guarded cycle stand. After three months the share of car users fell to 15%, while cyclists rose to 18%. The morning jam shrank to under five minutes. Students said they enjoyed chatting on the way and felt more awake in class.

   (i) How many students were surveyed? (1 mark)

   (ii) What was the most common way of travelling to school? (1 mark)

   (iii) How many students walked to school at the start? (1 mark)

   (iv) What did most car users have in common? (1 mark)

   (v) What caused the jam outside the gate? (1 mark)

   (vi) Name two steps the club took. (1 mark)

   (vii) By how many percentage points did the share of car users fall? (1 mark)

   (viii) How many students cycled after three months? (1 mark)

   (ix) Give two benefits students mentioned. (1 mark)

   (x) Suggest one more idea to reduce traffic near the school. (1 mark)

Section B · Writing

1. Question 34 marks

   You are the secretary of the Literary Club of Green Valley School. Write a notice in about 50 words inviting students to take part in an inter-house debate.

2. OR

   Question 34 marks

   Draft a classified advertisement in about 50 words for a newspaper, offering a two-bedroom flat for rent.

3. Question 44 marks

   Design a poster in about 50 words urging people to save water.

4. Question 55 marks

   Write a letter in 120–150 words to the editor of a national daily about the growing problem of stray plastic in your city's parks.

5. OR

   Question 55 marks

   Write a letter in 120–150 words to the principal of a coaching institute enquiring about a short summer course in computer programming.

6. Question 65 marks

   Write a speech in 120–150 words to be delivered in the morning assembly on ‘The value of sleep for students’.

Section C · Literature

1. Question 76 marks

   Read the extract (Walt Whitman, The Voice of the Rain) and answer the questions.

   I am the Poem of Earth, said the voice of the rain, Eternal I rise impalpable out of the land and the bottomless sea, Upward to heaven, whence, vaguely form'd, altogether changed, and yet the same, I descend to lave the drouths, atomies, dust-layers of the globe,

   (i) Who is the speaker in these lines? (1 mark)

   (ii) Why does the rain call itself the ‘Poem of Earth’? (1 mark)

   (iii) What does ‘impalpable’ mean? (1 mark)

   (iv) Which natural process is described here? (1 mark)

   (v) What does the rain do when it descends? (1 mark)

   (vi) Name the poetic device in ‘said the voice of the rain’. (1 mark)

2. OR

   Question 76 marks

   Read the extract (Walt Whitman, The Voice of the Rain) and answer the questions.

   And all that in them without me were seeds only, latent, unborn; And forever, by day and night, I give back life to my own origin, and make pure and beautify it; (For song, issuing from its birth-place, after fulfilment, wandering, Reck'd or unreck'd, duly with love returns.)

   (i) What would the seeds be without the rain? (1 mark)

   (ii) What is the rain's ‘own origin’? (1 mark)

   (iii) How does the rain ‘give back life’ to it? (1 mark)

   (iv) To what is the rain compared in the last two lines? (1 mark)

   (v) What does ‘reck'd or unreck'd’ mean? (1 mark)

   (vi) Why are the last two lines in brackets? (1 mark)

3. Question 82 marks

   Why did the friendship between the author and his grandmother change after they moved to the city?

4. Question 92 marks

   What are the three stages of time described in ‘A Photograph’?

5. Question 102 marks

   Why did the narrator decide to forget the address at the end of ‘The Address’?

6. Question 112 marks

   According to the poet of ‘Childhood’, where has his childhood gone?

7. OR

   Question 112 marks

   Why is the goldfinch compared to an engine in ‘The Laburnum Top’?

8. Question 122 marks

   How did Mrs Fitzgerald help Mrs Pearson?

9. Question 134 marks

   How did the narrator and his crew face the storm in the Indian Ocean? Answer in 80–100 words.

10. Question 144 marks

    How did modern technology help scientists learn about Tutankhamun? Answer in 80–100 words.

11. OR

    Question 144 marks

    How did Rajendra Deshpande explain Professor Gaitonde's experience? Answer in 80–100 words.

12. Question 154 marks

    Why did Andrew feel he had done something real when the baby breathed? Answer in 80–100 words.

13. Question 166 marks

    ‘The Ailing Planet’ argues that we hold the Earth in trust for future generations. Discuss this idea in 120–150 words.

14. Question 176 marks

    How does honesty decide the actions of the boys in ‘The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse’? Answer in 120–150 words.

15. OR

    Question 176 marks

    How does ‘The Tale of Melon City’ make fun of foolish rulers and indifferent subjects? Answer in 120–150 words.