Paper 1: Reading (Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE English Language): Exam Questions

Read Text B, Teaching people to hate snakes is a disaster for ecology, (as found in the June 2022 (0500/13) insert (opens in a new tab)).

According to Text B, why do people have negative attitudes to snakes and why are these attitudes unfair and unjustified?

You must use continuous writing (not note form) and use your own words as far as possible. 

Your summary should not be more than 120 words. 

Up to 10 marks are available for the content of your answer and up to 5 marks for the quality of your writing.

Read Text C, Rainforest tales, (as found in the June 2022 (0500/13) insert (opens in a new tab)).

Identify a word or phrase from the text which suggests the same idea as the words underlined. 

(i) As the writer arrived in the forest, there was unexpected, heavy rainfall.

Read Text C, Rainforest tales, (as found in the June 2022 (0500/13) insert (opens in a new tab)).

Identify a word or phrase from the text which suggests the same idea as the words underlined. 

(ii) Access to both online services and mobile signals was sporadic and unreliable.

Read Text C, Rainforest tales, (as found in the June 2022 (0500/13) insert (opens in a new tab)).

Identify a word or phrase from the text which suggests the same idea as the words underlined. 

(iii) There were steps down to the camp site to provide an easier path down for visitors not used to walking in the rainforest.

Read Text C, Rainforest tales, (as found in the June 2022 (0500/13) insert (opens in a new tab)).

Identify a word or phrase from the text which suggests the same idea as the words underlined. 

(iv) The campers enjoyed eating a large, delicious meal on the morning of their first day.

Read Text C, Rainforest tales, (as found in the June 2022 (0500/13) insert (opens in a new tab)).

Using your own words, explain what the writer means by each of the words underlined:

Ah! My brimming heart and soothed soul enjoyed restful sleep in the tent that first night. Bonfires and loud music are prohibited to avoid any disturbance to animals and hygienic common bathrooms (with hot-water facilities) were appreciated.

(i) prohibited

Read Text C, Rainforest tales, (as found in the June 2022 (0500/13) insert (opens in a new tab)).

Using your own words, explain what the writer means by each of the words underlined:

Ah! My brimming heart and soothed soul enjoyed restful sleep in the tent that first night. Bonfires and loud music are prohibited to avoid any disturbance to animals and hygienic common bathrooms (with hot-water facilities) were appreciated.

(ii) disturbance

Read Text C, Rainforest tales, (as found in the June 2022 (0500/13) insert (opens in a new tab)).

Using your own words, explain what the writer means by each of the words underlined:

Ah! My brimming heart and soothed soul enjoyed restful sleep in the tent that first night. Bonfires and loud music are prohibited to avoid any disturbance to animals and hygienic common bathrooms (with hot-water facilities) were appreciated.

(iii) appreciated

Read Text C, Rainforest tales, (as found in the June 2022 (0500/13) insert (opens in a new tab)).

Use one example from the text below to explain how the writer suggests his feelings the first time he saw a snake in the wild.

Use your own words in your explanation. 

At the bottom, we were greeted by a snoozing Common Vine Snake, so inconspicuous that it took me quite some time of bobbing my head to spot it. I still cherish that precise moment when I saw my first snake in the wild, perfectly poised on its luxurious bed of green. I knew I would never behold snakes the same way again.

Read Text C, Rainforest tales, (as found in the June 2022 (0500/13) insert (opens in a new tab)).

Re-read paragraphs 4 and 6.

• Paragraph 4 begins ‘Three hours later ’ and is about the writer’s reactions to the creatures in the rainforest.

• Paragraph 6 begins ‘Next morning ’ and gives a description of the rainforest as the writer wakes up after his first night camping there.

Explain how the writer uses language to convey meaning and to create effect in these paragraphs. Choose three examples of words or phrases from each paragraph to support your answer. Your choices should include the use of imagery. 

Write about 200 to 300 words. 

Up to 15 marks are available for the content of your answer.

Re-read Text C, Rainforest tales, (as found in the June 2022 (0500/13) insert (opens in a new tab)).

You are a guide at Kalinga Centre for Rainforest Ecology KCRE and have been invited to speak to students in a city school to persuade them of the importance of the work KCRE does.

In your talk you should explain:

• what the area has to offer to visitors and why people might enjoy visiting

• what facilities KCRE provides for its visitors and how you ensure that visitors remain safe

• what the aims of KCRE and its founder are, what you hope to achieve by welcoming visitors and why that’s important for the future.

Write the words of the talk.

Base your talk on what you have read in Text C but be careful to use your own words.

Write about 250 to 350 words. 

Up to 15 marks are available for the content of your answer and up to 10 marks for the quality of your writing.