English – Year 8 – Track 3 – 2020 Page 1 of 12

DEPARTMENT FOR CURRICULUM

LIFELONG LEARNING AND EMPLOYABILITY

Directorate for Learning and Assessment Programmes

Educational Assessment Unit

Annual Examinations for Middle Schools 2020

YEAR 8 ENGLISH TIME: 2 hours

Name: ______________________________ Class: __________

Speaking Listening Reading Literature Writing Total

SECTION A – LISTENING 10 marks

1. State whether the following statements are True (T) or False (F) by ticking () the correct box below. (3 marks)

True False

a. For now climate change can only be experienced in the poles and

rainforests.

b. Scientists say that in the future we might only have two seasons.

c. The cold winter weather controls the breeding of pests.

d. One advantage of snow is that it melts and can be a source of

water.

e. Flooding in colder countries is entirely due to melting snow.

f. Due to climate change, everyone will experience extremely dry

summers.

2. Fill in the table with information from the passage. (3 marks)

a. 9 years

b. 4

c. maximum rainfall in colder countries

d. -60 degrees C

e. 31 degrees C

f. average rainfall which indicates a wet season

Track 3

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3. Underline the correct words. (4 marks)

The results of climate change depend on which (part/section/fraction) of the world

one lives in. Apart from being a global issue, climate change will also affect each

of us on a (b) (universal/regional/broad) level. Seasons will (c)

(end/stabilise/change) having a (d) (favourable/damaging/beneficial) effect on the

natural world.

SECTION B – READING COMPREHENSION 25 MARKS

Read the texts printed on a separate sheet, and then answer the following

questions.

TEXT 1

Questions on Text 1 5 marks

1. Are the following TRUE (T) or FALSE (F)? Tick () the correct box below.

2 marks [ ]

T F

1. The activities are aimed at co-operating with fellow students.

2. You can wear whatever you like.

3. An afternoon is dedicated to these activities.

4. Not everyone can help end bullying.

2. Match the part sentence by writing the correct number in the empty column.

2 marks [ ]

Column A Column B

1. The activity‘s motto is you should report any bullying.

2. When you sign the contract make it orange and make it end!

3. The poster urges us to you are making a promise.

4. The poster suggests that be kinder.

3. Fill in with the correct words: 1 mark [ ]

You can reach help by ____________________ or _____________ _______

______________________.

English – Year 8 – Track 3 – 2020 Page 3 of 12

TEXT 2

Questions on Text 2 (20 marks)

1. Underline the correct answer. 1 mark [ ]

This passage is taken from

a. a description of a school on a website.

b. an online article.

c. a horror story.

d. a travel brochure.

2. In your own words explain how bullying can vary from just physical violence.

2 marks [ ]

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

3. List FOUR facts about bullying in the US and in the UK, which show us how common

this problem is. 2 marks [ ]

a. ____________________________________________________________

b. ____________________________________________________________

c. ____________________________________________________________

d. ____________________________________________________________

4. List FOUR consequences of bullying. 2 marks [ ]

a. ____________________________________________________________

b. ____________________________________________________________

c. ____________________________________________________________

d. ____________________________________________________________

5. Put these events in the correct order according to Amy’s experience. The first one

has been done for you.

2 marks [ ]

a. Her nickname was sumo wrestler.

b. She gets upset when someone makes fun of overweight people.

c. She tries her best to overcome the damage that was done.

d. She did not like going to the beach.

e. Bullying started in primary school because Amy was considered fat. 0

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6. Find words which have the same meaning as 2½ marks [ ]

a. worried or nervous about something [lines 1-15]: ____________

b. pinpoint [lines 1-15]: __________________

c. precisely marked [lines 30-45]: __________________

d. setting or circumstance [lines 30-45]: _________________

e. fight towards a goal [lines 30-45]: _____________

7. Explain this sentence in your own words: 2 marks [ ]

“Another interesting fact about bullying is that it ranges from one-on-one, individual bullying to group bullying called mobbing.”

________________________________________________________________

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8. a. List FIVE things that have been done to try and avoid the occurrence of

bullying: 2½ marks [ ]

i. ________________________________________________________

ii. ________________________________________________________

iii. ________________________________________________________

iv. ________________________________________________________

v. ________________________________________________________

vi. ________________________________________________________

b. Quote a sentence from line 38 to line 45 which shows us that these were

not so successful. 1 mark [ ]

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

9. In your own words say how we can fight back bullying, according to the passage. 3 marks [ ]

________________________________________________________________

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English – Year 8 – Track 3 – 2020 Page 5 of 12

SECTION C – LITERATURE 20 MARKS

Part 1: Poetry – Unprepared Text 10 marks Read the poem and answer all the questions that follow.

‘From a Railway Carriage’ Robert Louis Stevenson

Faster than fairies, faster than witches,

Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches;

And charging along like troops in a battle, All through the meadows the horses and cattle:

All of the sights of the hill and the plain

Fly as thick as driving rain; And ever again, in the wink of an eye,

Painted stations whistle by.

Here is a child who clambers and scrambles, All by himself and gathering *brambles;

Here is a tramp who stands and gazes;

And there is the green for stringing the daisies!

Here is a cart run away in the road Lumping along with man and load;

And here is a mill and there is a river;

Each a glimpse and gone for ever!

*brambles: a wild bush with thorns, that produces blackberries

1. Underline the correct answer: 1 mark [ ]

The poem is about:

a. magic including fairies and witches

b. a child’s experience of a railway journey

c. a child who is gathering something from the fields

d. different means of transport

2. a. Write down the rhyme scheme of the first stanza.

_____________________________________ ½ mark [ ]

b. This poem is written in ________________________________ ½ mark [ ]

c. Quote two examples of these: ____________ - ____________ 1 mark [ ]

3. Quote TWO lines from the first stanza which describe the open countryside.

1 mark [ ]

________________________________________________________________

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4. From the first stanza

a. Quote one line where repetition is used to emphasise speed. 1 mark [ ]

_______________________________________________________________

b. Quote TWO similes which depict speed. 1 mark [ ]

i. ________________________________________________________

ii. ________________________________________________________

5. Explain the effect of rhythm as used in this poem. 1 mark [ ]

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

6. In the second stanza the persona observes what is going on outside.

List TWO of these happenings. 2 marks [ ]

i. ____________________________________________________________

ii. ____________________________________________________________

7. What does the last line of the poem suggest? 1 mark [ ]

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Part II: Prose – Unprepared Text 10 marks

Read the text carefully and then answer the questions below.

Margot stood apart from them, from these children who could never remember a time

when there wasn't rain and rain and rain. They were all nine years old, and if there had been a day, seven years ago, when the sun came out for an hour and showed its face

to the stunned world, they could not recall. Sometimes, at night, she heard them stir,

in remembrance, and she knew they were dreaming and remembering gold or a yellow 5 crayon or a coin large enough to buy the world with. She knew they thought they

remembered a warmness, like a blushing in the face, in the body, in the arms and legs

and trembling hands. But then they always awoke to the tatting drum, the endless shaking down of clear bead necklaces upon the roof, the walk, the gardens, the forests,

and their dreams were gone. 10

All day yesterday they had read in class about the sun. About how like a lemon it was,

and how hot. And they had written small stories or essays or poems about it:

“I think the sun is a flower that blooms for just one hour.”

English – Year 8 – Track 3 – 2020 Page 7 of 12

That was Margot's poem, read in a quiet voice in the still classroom while the rain was

falling outside. 15

"Aw, you didn't write that!" protested one of the boys.

"I did," said Margot. "I did."

"William!" said the teacher.

But that was yesterday. Now the rain was slackening, and the children were crushed in

the great thick windows. 20

“Where's teacher?"

"She'll be back."

"She'd better hurry, we'll miss it!"

They turned on themselves, like a feverish wheel, all tumbling spokes. Margot stood alone. She was a very frail girl who looked as if she had been lost in the rain for years 25 and the rain had washed out the blue from her eyes and the red from her mouth and the yellow from her hair. She was an old photograph dusted from an album, whitened

away, and if she spoke at all her voice would be a ghost. Now she stood, separate,

staring at the rain and the loud wet world beyond the huge glass.

30

Adapted from: All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury

Underline the most appropriate answer.

1. The passage is taken from ½ mark

a. a true story

b. a futuristic science-fiction book

c. a detective story

d. a romance

2. The story is about ½ mark

a. a group of school-children who do not want a lesson.

b. a group of children playing in the countryside.

c. a group of children who do not remember ever seeing the sun.

d. a group of children waiting for the rain after a dry summer season.

3. The extract makes the reader feel ½ mark

a. horrified by what might happen next.

b. sympathetic and sorry for Margot.

c. angry at the teacher.

d. concerned about the stormy weather.

4. From lines 1-10, quote

a. one phrase that shows that Margot was different from the other students ½ mark

____________________________________________________________

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From lines 1-20, quote

b. One phrase that shows that the other students did not like Margot and maybe

even envied her. ½ mark

____________________________________________________________

5. What figures of speech are used in:

a. i. “like a blushing in the face, in the body” (line 7)? ½ mark

________________________

ii. Explain this figure of speech. 1 mark

________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________

b. i. “the tatting drum” (line 8)?

________________________ ½ mark

ii. Explain this figure of speech. 1 mark

________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________

6. Why where the children “crushed in the great thick windows” (lines 19-20)?

2 marks

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

7. Quote ONE example of alliteration. (lines 24-29)

______________________________ ½ mark

8. What is your personal response to the text? 2 marks

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

English – Year 8 – Track 3 – 2020 Page 9 of 12

SECTION D – WRITING 30 MARKS

In this section you have to answer ALL of Part 1 and ONE question from Part 2.

Part 1 - Guided Writing Task 10 marks

On your way home you see the poster below fixed onto a pole. You think you saw this

cat the day before. Write an e-mail of about 60-70 words to the cat’s owner to share

information which may help find the missing cat.

LOST CAT

Name: Bond; Age: 3 years old; Colour: black and white

Help us find our cat please! It was lost last Thursday evening in the vicinity of the

Mosta Dome. 100 euro reward for its safe return

Call or message on: 76344567

Or email on: mborg02@cmail.com

New Message - / X

To Cc Bcc

Subject

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

Send A :

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Part 2 - Free Writing Task 20 marks

Write between 180 and 200 words on one of the following.

a. Write a story for an online magazine, ending: That day, I did not do well at all,

but I had certainly learnt my lesson!

b. Write an article for your school magazine called: The world in fifty years’ time.

c. Write a letter to your friend who lives in England about your favourite childhood

memory.

Composition number: _____

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