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

Functional Writing (20 marks):

• Write a speech as the environment club chairperson for “Environmental Awareness Day”:

  • Audience: Sub-county director of environment, area chief, students, club patrons, community members

  • Address: Deforestation, pollution, and waste disposal

  • Proper speech format required (Title, Greetings, Introduction, Body, Conclusion, Thank you)

Cloze Test (10 marks):

• Complete a passage on Curriculum Reform in Education in Africa, featuring:

  • Post-independence education systems

  • Knowledge-based vs. competency-based curriculum

  • Education for self-reliance (Kenya and Tanzania)

  • Unemployment, vices, and dropouts

  • Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) as a worldwide trend

  • The question of whether the job market determines curriculum reforms

Oral Skills (30 marks):

• Poetry Analysis – Read “The Song of the Engine” by Worsley Benison

  • How rhythm is achieved (alliteration, rhyme, repetition, consonance, onomatopoeia, short lines)

  • Performance techniques for the last two lines

• Word Stress – Explain meanings based on stressed words (I bought a camera, I bought a camera, I bought a camera)

• Homophones – Write words with similar pronunciation (clime/climb, packed/pact, blew/blue, serial/cereal)

• Giving Directions – How to ensure directions are clear (landmarks, turn words, compass points, distance, time)

• Speech Introduction Strategies – Three strategies for introducing a speech on “Devastating Effects of Covid19”

• Tongue Twister Analysis – “If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers…”

  • Classification (tongue twister)

  • Dominant sound pattern (alliteration)

  • Functions (fluency, speech therapy, creativity, entertainment)

  • What is lost in translation (originality, sound patterns, entertainment value)

• Intonation – Identify falling/rising intonation for sentences

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

Comprehension (20 marks):

• Read and answer questions on a passage about envy and how to disarm the “green-eyed monster”

• Topics covered:

  • How life reminds us what we lack (people more successful, talented, attractive, advanced)

  • Reactions to reminders (bitter taste, green glow)

  • Ways to disarm envy (acknowledge envy, recognize pride as flipside, replace with compassion, fuel self-improvement, count blessings)

  • Tone (educative/informative/advisory)

  • Utilizing envy positively (identify strengths, learn for self-improvement)

  • Irony (envying someone who is suffering; converting envy for self-improvement)

  • Vocabulary: milestones, green-eyed monster, mired

Literary Appreciation – Excerpt (25 marks):

• Analyze an excerpt from Paul B. Vitta’s Fathers of Nations (Dr. Afolabi and Ms. McKenzie interview)

• Key focus areas:

  • Ms. McKenzie’s expectations before the excerpt (academic scarecrow dressed in jeans)

  • Why heads of states are meeting in Banjul (to adopt Way Omega as common development strategy)

  • Current political environment of Africa (military coups, rigged elections, foul play, civil wars)

  • Themes (change, work, role of media, optimism)

  • Stylistic devices (irony, flashback, dialogue)

  • Vocabulary: defenders, challengers

Poetry (20 marks):

• Analyze the poem “Mother” by Irene Cookie (Mother Nature)

• Key focus areas:

  • Things the persona appreciates Mother Nature for (trees, seas, birds, rain, sun, wild animals, domesticated animals)

  • Ways humans disgrace Mother Nature (pollution, destruction, plastic in oceans, littering, building cities of steel)

  • Attitude of persona (regrettable, remorseful)

  • Stylistic devices (repetition, apostrophe)

  • Activities to honor Mother Nature (planting trees, avoiding littering)

  • Vocabulary: in harmony, blocked, conserve, “But the earth remembers it all”

Grammar (15 marks):

• Sentence transformation (Motivated…, Not only…, Not until…, Only if…)

• Pronoun selection (his, me, I)

• Word choice (this/these, besides/beside, adapted/adopted)

• Word forms (respond → responsive, spell → misspellings, utter → utterances)

• Adverb placement (briefly, often)

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

Imaginative Composition (20 marks):

• Option A: Write a story beginning with: “When I saw James rushing towards me, I sensed that something was amiss…”

• Option B: Write a composition to show how the Kenyan youth can contribute towards environmental conservation.

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

• Essay topic: “It is always good to defend what is right even if it means standing alone since it eventually pays.” (Focus on Nicole)

• Key points:

  • S i – Nicole stands firm when Mayor Mossi orders activities related to The Samaritan app to stop; she refuses to compromise; Mossi is eventually arrested

  • S ii – Nicole remains steadfast when Mayor Mossi begs for mercy and attempts bribery; she refuses and Mossi is arrested

  • S iii – Nicole stands firm when Inspector Bembe tries to bully her with trumped-up charges; she is not intimidated; thousands protest in solidarity; Bembe is arrested

  • S iv – Nicole declines the offer of a high office (Director General) from corrupt leaders; she tells them they need a change of spirit, not new laws or positions; leaders are arrested

  • S v – Nicole tells Alvita and Montano to stand firm with the app; they triumph when corrupt leaders are arrested

Optional Set Texts (20 marks) – Choose ONE:

Option A: Ivory Bangles by Erick Ng’maryo (from A Silent Song and Other Stories)

• Essay topic: “People’s cultural practices are hard to alter.”

• Key points:

  • Belief in superstitions – Oldman consults seer despite deep suspicion; seer’s pebbles reveal wife will die

  • Wife battering – Ritual beating required by seer; son beats wife Leveri to near death

  • Polygamy – Oldman criticized for having only one wife despite being chief’s councilor

  • Conflict resolution – Customary way of solving conflicts (clans meet, fines, reconciliatory beer)

  • Wifely duties – Woman performs habitual tasks (bathing husband, cooking, hoeing)

Option B: Parliament of Owls by Adipo Sidang

• Essay topic: “For every decision we make we should always prepare to face the consequences.”

• Key points:

  • Royal Owl’s inaction – Fails to act against injustices; birds overthrow him

  • Money Bags’ decision – Allows Oyundi to join Parliament; leads to his death and end of owl rule

  • Killing Arum Tidi – Infuriates birds; strengthens resolve to oust owls

  • Discriminatory laws – Birds Protection Law, Moonlight Law; birds gang up against owls

Option C: An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro

• Essay topic: “Whenever countries fight a lot of damage happens.”

• Key points:

  • Destruction of property – Ono’s magnificent house bombed; corridor and veranda damaged

  • Closure of business – Mrs. Kawakami’s business suffers; old pleasure district destroyed

  • Loss of lives – Ono’s son Kenji killed in war; wife Michiko dies

  • Trauma – Yukio Naguchi commits suicide due to guilt; others commit suicide as apology

Who Should Use This Bundle?

What Makes This Bundle Special?

✅ Authentic Maseno School Material

These are actual Endterm 2 Examination papers from Maseno School, one of Kenya’s most prestigious national schools, known for producing high-quality KCSE preparation materials.

✅ Up-to-Date Content

All questions, passages, and topics are current and aligned with the latest KCSE syllabus for the July 2026 examination.

✅ Student-Centered Design

Clear instructions, ample writing space, and a self-evaluation section encourage independent learning and self-improvement.

✅ Teacher-Approved

Used and trusted by teachers across Kenya as a reliable benchmark for student performance.

✅ Comprehensive Coverage

All three papers cover the entire KCSE English syllabus with detailed marking schemes.