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What’s Inside Each Paper?

📘 Paper 1 – Functional Writing, Cloze Test & Oral Skills (60 Marks)

Functional Writing (20 marks):

• Write a letter of inquiry to the editor of a local publishing firm:

  • Requesting assistance in publishing the winning entry in a creative writing competition

  • Include title of the book and name of author

  • Brief description of what the book is about

  • Why it is important for the book to be published

  • Write through the Chief Principal

  • Proper formal letter format required (Sender’s address, Date, Captain’s address, Through, Salutation, Subject, Signing off)

Cloze Test (10 marks):

• Complete a passage on Skin Care and Beauty Products, featuring:

  • Skins as complainants in a court of law

  • Assault with bleaching creams

  • Ugly scars left by hazardous substances

  • Irritating anti-aging creams

  • Choking substances for non-existent pimples

  • Gross skin abuse

Oral Skills (30 marks):

• Poetry Analysis – Read “For All Those Who Stood By Me”

  • How to involve the audience (call and response, open mind, high morale, sense of belonging)

  • Rhyme scheme (regular)

  • Performance techniques for the last line (stress, tone, pitch)

• Tongue Twister Analysis – “I slit the sheet, the sheet I slit, and on the slitted sheet I sit”

  • Sounds aided (/s/ and /ʃ/)

  • Sound features (assonance, rhyme)

  • Audience recognition (repetition of sounds)

  • Voice effectiveness (articulation, pace, clarity)

  • Audience reactions (laughter, applause, trying themselves)

• Sound Grouping – Identify odd one out based on vowel sounds

• Word Stress – Underline stressed part (mis.use, pro.se.cute, dis.like)

• Listening Skills – Identify shortcomings in father’s listening skills

📗 Paper 2 – Comprehension, Literary Appreciation & Grammar (80 Marks)

Comprehension (20 marks):

• Read and answer questions on a passage about Discrimination Against Short Men

• Topics covered:

  • Why short guys are disadvantaged (discrimination, taunting)

  • Irony of some women discriminating (they are short themselves)

  • What determines height (genetic accidents/chance)

  • Writer’s experience with disciplined forces (rejected for height)

  • Reasons short men struggle to get mates (competition from tall men, short ladies preferring tall men)

  • Solution (forming an association for affirmative action)

  • Writer’s attitude (critical/condescending/sarcastic)

  • Vocabulary: legion, aggregation, chest thumping, inexplicable penchant

Literary Appreciation – Excerpt (25 marks):

• Analyze an excerpt from Paul B. Vitta’s Fathers of Nations (Engineer Tahir and Ms. Mahmoud)

• Key focus areas:

  • Events before the excerpt (Engineer Tahir invited Ms. Mahmoud for soup; she declined)

  • Themes (tradition/culture, revenge, violence, gender discrimination)

  • Events resulting from her action (letter opener injury, court case)

  • Stylistic devices (rhetorical questions, irony, dialogue, flashback)

  • Character traits of Engineer Tahir (violent, vengeful, hypocritical, chauvinistic)

  • Ms. Mahmoud’s innocence (not innocent; hit back by reflex)

  • Events after excerpt (eye removed by surgery)

  • Vocabulary: reflex, an eye for an eye, restrained

Poetry (20 marks):

• Analyze the poem “He is a Jolly Good Boss” by Kitche Magat

• Key focus areas:

  • General message (satirizes corrupt/incompetent bosses, hypocrisy, abuse of power)

  • Image of “overfed python” (contented, lazy, greedy)

  • Irony (claims to be industrious but leaves at 11:30; claims to be generous but exploits juniors)

  • Juniors suffering silently (laugh subserviently to conceal indignation)

  • Tone (satirical/critical/ironic)

  • Vocabulary: oblivion, guileless, God-sanctioned mission, indignation

Grammar (15 marks):

• Sentence transformation (Unless…, Hardly…, Never…, Besides…)

• Phrasal verbs (produced → turned out, accidentally met → ran into)

• Participle phrases

• Pronouns (she, she)

• Prepositions (at/with, about, for)

• Ambiguity (Mary even… vs Even Mary…)

📙 Paper 3 – Imaginative Composition & Set Text Essays (60 Marks)

Imaginative Composition (20 marks):

• Option A: Write a composition beginning with: “He came running towards me. I sensed something was not right…”

• Option B: Write an essay on how to reduce indiscipline cases among students.

Compulsory Set Text – The Samaritan by John Lara (20 marks):

• Essay topic: “When people in authority pursue self-interests, the citizens suffer.”

• Key characters to discuss:

  • Mayor Mossi – Refuses to launch Samaritan App; sabotages anti-corruption efforts; orders Nicole to write letters; calls press conferences; threatens principals; attempts bribery; municipal capture; arrested

  • Ramdaye – Deputy Mayor; corrupt road contracts; sells fake title deeds; Rodengate Scandal; impeaches Mossi

  • Seymour – Secretary for Planning; bribes for approvals; drug trafficking; Black Swan Gang; ruins lives

  • Ted King – Secretary for Health; “eats” a whole hospital; corrupt tenders; illiterate and perpetually drunk

  • Bembe – Inspector General of Police; extortion; Madingo Golf Club on grabbed land; violence; arrests Nicole on trumped-up charges

  • Ian Jaden – Principal Judge; Rodengate Scandal; selective justice; conflict of interest; proposes friendly prosecution

  • Basdeo – Opposition leader; bribes journalists; incites tribalism; master of deceit

  • Narine – Principal; abandons Nicole; prioritizes school reputation over justice

Optional Set Text – The Sins of the Fathers by Charles Mungoshi (20 marks):

• Essay topic: “Rondo does not realize his full potential in life because of his over-controlling father.”

• Key points:

  • Guitar incident – Rwafa breaks Rondo’s guitar; instills fear; Rondo pees in his shorts; kills musical potential

  • Job arrangement – Rwafa arranges job; calls Rondo “slob”; destroys self-esteem; workmates laugh at him

  • Marriage disapproval – Rwafa disapproves Selina; walks out; public humiliation

  • Birthday party raving – Rwafa raves about enemies; public embarrassment