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13+ revision & practice
engl i sh
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Consolidates all the key information required for Common Entrance at 13+
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Provides practical guidance on improving written answers and exam technique
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Includes advice on creative writing and how to write for practical purposes
Engl ish for Common Entrance
13+ Revision Guide
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Clear layout for easy marking
■
Highlights requirements for each level
■
Provides guidance to help your child achieve top marks
■
Identifies areas requiring further attention
Engl ish for Common Entrance
13+ Exam Practice Answers
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Build exam confidence with a wealth of comprehensive exercises for both
reading and writing sections of the exams
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Features rigorous and realistic exam-style questions in the style of the ISEB
Common Entrance exam at Levels 1 and 2
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Use with
English for Common Entrance 13+ Exam Practice Answers
to identify
areas requiring further attention
Engl ish for Common Entrance
13+ Exam Practice Questions
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V i s i t :
g a l o r e p a r k . c o . u k
Te l :
0 2 0 3 1 2 2 6 4 0 5
I
V i s i t :
g a l o r e p a r k . c o . u k
1 9
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English for Common Entrance 13+ Exam Practice Questions –
Chapter 5: ‘The Caged Bird in Springtime’
48
Levels 1 & 2
5 ‘The Caged Bird in Springtime’ by James Kirkup
What can itbe
This curious anxiety?
It is as if Iwanted
Tofly away fromhere.
Buthow absurd!
Ihaveneverflown inmy life,
And Idonotknow
Whatflyingmeans, though Ihaveheard,
Of course, something about it.
Whydo Ipeck thewiresof this little cage?
It is theonlynest Ihave everknown.
But Iwant tobuildmyown,
High in the secretbranchesof the air.
I cannotquite rememberhow
It isdone,but Iknow
Thatwhat Iwant todo
Cannotbedonehere.
Ihave all Ineed–
Seed andwater, air and light.
Why, then,do Iweepwith anguish,
Andbeatmyhead andmywings
Against these sharpwires,while the children
Smile at eachother, saying: ‘Harkhowhe sings’?
5
10
15
20
Paper2Section A:Reading–Poetry
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57
5
‘TheCagedBird in Springtime’
Q Answer
Mark Additionalguidance
b) agree:
●
birds should alwaysbe in theirnaturalhabitatdespite
inherentdangers
●
it isnot forhumans todecidewherebirds live
●
it is cruel to restrict/preventbirds’flight andneed tonest
disagree:
●
theremaybe timeswhen it isadvisable tokeepbirds incaptivity,
e.g.topreventextinction,veterinarycare,research,education,bird
sanctuary
3
up to3marks for a
well-reasoned and
sensible answer
TOTAL
25
5 ‘TheCaged Bird in Springtime’by James Kirkup
Level 2
Q Answer
Mark Additionalguidance
1
●
unable tofly
●
unable tobuild anest
●
instinct is trying toprevail
●
itwants tobehave as itwould if free/in thewild
●
instinct especially strong in springtime
4
1mark for each
up to2marks for
answerswhich
reflectunderstanding
of instinct
2
●
thequestions engage the reader/draw the reader in
●
eachnewquestion allows the reader to think from thebird’s
pointof view
●
thebird’s attempt to answer itsownquestions creates a
pattern
●
thebird isworried/anxious/confused
●
it tries to answer itsownquestionswhich emphasises its
helplessness
2
2
up to2marks for
responsewhich
showsunderstanding
of ‘question and
answer’ structure
up to2marks for
responsewhich
showsunderstanding
of thebird
3
bird
negative,emotive, sadwords:
●
‘weep’– thebird is sorrowfully crying indistress/crying
bitterly
●
‘anguish’–hiscry isoneof suffering/pain/torment
●
‘beat’– frustration/desperation to escape/agonyofbeing
trapped
●
‘sharp’– feelspain
children
positive,happywords/phrases:
●
‘Smile’– cheerful/entertained/oblivious
●
‘Harkhowhe sings’–amused/showingenjoyment/unawareof
the real reason forhis song
●
deliberate vocabulary choices to show contrast inmood
betweenbird and children
●
children’smisunderstandingofbird’s situation shows irony
6
candidates should
commenton the
generalmoodof the
word choices in each
case
comment indetail
on at leastone
word/phrase for
each
understandingof
contrastnecessary
for fullmarks
reward candidates
who identify irony
9781471868993.indd 57
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English for Common Entrance 13+ Exam Practice Answers –
Chapter 5: ‘The Caged Bird in Springtime’
44
5
Creative writing
Paper 2 invites you towrite in an original, fictional, imaginativeway.
This chapter therefore looks at some of the general skills that are required
forwritingwell and then goes on to focus on the skills you need forwriting
stories and descriptions, including how to create convincing characters and
dialogue.
Paper 2will give you a choice of subjects towrite about. The paper usually
includes options such as:
●
a story
●
an imaginative description
●
a quotation, statement or titlewhich you can respond to in any
imaginativeway youwish.
Examtip
Remember thatwith the thirdoption aboveyou are free towrite in any
wayyouwishbutyouruseof languageneeds tobe appropriate and
accurate.
Youmust choose
one
of these. The same options forwriting are offered at
both levels.
The examinerwants you to be as free as possible to show howwell you can
use language imaginatively towrite descriptively and to tell stories. That iswhy
the suggestions you are given to choose from are quite vague and open ended.
It is important that you:
●
write in an appropriateway for the task you have chosen
●
spell correctly
●
punctuate and use grammar properly
●
use exciting vocabulary accurately.
5.1
Writing well
Here are some practical ideas to help you improve the quality of yourwriting.
Revisiontip
As you revise, trywritingparagraphswith sentencesofdifferent lengths.
Lookout for sentencesofdifferent lengthswhileyou’re reading too.
Sentencelength
Vary the length of your sentences. A piece ofwriting inwhich all the
sentences are roughly the same length is usually dull and flat.
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5 Creativewriting
45
Look at an example of a professionalwriter using sentences of different
lengths:
Herbeautysilencedus.DespiteKenji’senthusiasmearlier, Iwasquiteunprepared for
it. I thought then that IunderstoodLadyMaruyana’ssuffering:at leastpartof ithad to
be jealousy.Howcouldanyman refuse thepossessionofsuchbeauty?
(From
Across theNightingaleFloor
by LianHearn,2002)
In one paragraph LianHearn has a sequence of sentenceswhich have – in
order – 4, 10, 18 and 10words. Read it aloud. Youwill notice that varied
sentence andword length creates rhythm,whichmatters asmuch in prose as
in poetry. The stresses in thewords rise and fall in an irregularway but the
writing sounds complete and elegant because of its prose rhythm.
One technique is to build a paragraph of three sentences, each one shorter
than the one before. It is quite dramatic andmakes your readerwant to hurry
on to the next paragraph.Here is an example of a professionalwriter using
this technique:
Beckyknewher tiradehadgone too far,thatshe’dspoiled theday,that itwouldmake
hermothercry,and thatshe’dhateherself later formakingherunhappyagain.But to
hersurprise,hermotherdidn’tcry this time. Insteadshewentveryquiet.
(From
BestMates
byMichaelMorpurgo,2007)
Sentenceshape
Make sure that you vary the shapes of your sentences too. If you arewriting a
story about Josh don’t start the first five sentenceswith ‘Josh’ or ‘he’ followed
by a verb.
Instead:
●
Start sometimeswith a fronted clause or phrase, for example:
Knowing that hewas already late, Josh…
Desperate and angry, Josh…
●
Write an occasional ‘inside out’ sentence. So, instead of:
Josh ran as fast as he could becauseMiawas in terrible danger.
write:
Because he knewMiawas in terrible danger, Josh ran as fast as he could.
●
If you’rewriting conversation, vary the position of thewordswhich explain
who is speaking (the speech tags). They can go at the beginning, in the
middle or at the end of spokenwords. Change the order of them too.Use
‘Martha said’ aswell as ‘saidMartha’:
Freddy said, ‘I don’t believe aword of it. It just can’t be true.’
‘I don’t believe aword of it. It just can’t be true,’ said Freddy.
‘I don’t believe aword of it,’ said Freddy. ‘It just can’t be true.’
●
Stir some indirect speech into themix of conversation too:
Freddy said he didn’t believe aword of it because it just couldn’t be true.
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English for Common Entrance 13+ Revision Guide –
Chapter 5: Creative writing
Exam tips
Revision tips
Levelled questions
Sample answers
Answer guidance
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13+ English Workbooks
Writing for 13+ Entrance Exams
Workbook
Covers the skills required to generate
written pieces in the specified range
of non-fiction text types and provides
the tools needed to make creative
writing original and interesting.
Vocabulary for 13+ Entrance Exams
Workbook
Vocabulary is the foundation for good
reading comprehension and writing.
This workbook covers ways of using
words appropriately, in a range of text
types, through engaging activities that will
enrich students’ vocabulary.
These skills based write-in
workbooks (with pull-out answers)
develop the writing and vocabulary
skills needed to do well in all 13+
exams including ISEB Common
Entrance at 13+.