HIGHER
Close reading TEST
Friday 8/10
Understanding
1)COPY AND COMPLETE
Understanding questions test how well you ______.
The main point to remember when answering questions marked __ in the Code column is to ______, even if you feel this seems a bit clumsy. The point is to show that you ______what the writer has written.
2)MARK
In 2003, the Close Reading passage 2 described a writer’s ‘fascination with boats’ and it began by describing a journey he had made down the Mississippi River.
The first question reads:
Marks Code
Explain clearly why the writer ‘wandered 2 U
Down the Mississippi’ in his boat.
In the text, the answer was contained in this line:
‘It was the only possible way of encountering a great river at close quarters.’
The following answers to this question would gain 2, 1 or 0 marks. Assign the appropriate marks.
a) He could get to know the river well by seeing it from up close.
b) He wanted to see the river at close quarters.
c) The writer wandered down the Mississippi in his boat as it was the only possible way to go.
3)Read the following extracts and attempt to put them into your words.
- The most expensive state school in the UK will not have an outdoor space for students when it opens in September.
- A massive star about 150 times the size of the Sun exploded in what could be a long-sought new type of supernova, NASA scientists have said.
- People on the island of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea have found their own solution to high energy prices - the humble coconut.
- Parents are being advised by experts not to give their children food containing certain additives until the results of a new study are published.
4) Read the following extract then answer the question.
These stark conditions found a bleak parallel in the political climate which then prevailed between the two countries. Scotland as a nation groaned under the humiliation of a recent defeat at English hands at the battle of Solway Moss. As a result of the battle, the Scottish nobility which had barely recovered from the defeat of Flodden, a generation before were stricken yet again by the deaths of many of their leaders in their prime. Of those who survived, many prominent members were prisoners in English hands, while the rest met the experience of defeat by quarrelling amongst themselves, showing their strongest loyalty to the principle of self-aggrandisement, rather than to the troubled monarchy. The Scottish national Church, though still officially Catholic fro the next 17 years, was already torn between those who wished to reform its manifold abuses from within and those who wished to follow England’s example, by breaking away root and branch from the tree of Rome. The King of this divided country, James V lay dying with his face to the wall.
Question:
MarksCode
In your own words, identify 5
political problems facing Scotland.10U
Context
4)COPY AND COMPLETE
‘Context’ simply means the _____in the passage where a word or expression is used. A context question is a special type of word choice question. You must do _____ things in a context question:
- ______the meaning of the word.
- Provide______from the passage.
- Explain ______in the text surrounding the word that helps you understand the meaning.
6) Write down the formula for answering a context questions using appropriate vocabulary
7)Read over the extract and attempt to answer the question below.
Oliver’s first play at the Edinburgh festival was only a qualified success. True, the critics, including some who were frequently disdainful of new writers were lavish in their praise and the houses were pleasingly full in the first week. But by the second week the numbers attending had inexplicably fallen away and the show was lucky to break even.
Marks Code
What does the writer mean by QUALIFIED 2 A
and how does the rest of the paragraph
help you to understand what it means?
Linking
8) A very common type of structure question is the so-called _____question. It will ask you how one ______provides a link between two _____ which follow one another. The link sentence provides a ______between the topics.
9) Write down the formula for answering LINK questions.
10) WITHOUT LOOKING AT THE REST OF THE PASSAGE, SHOW HOW EACH SENTENCE BELOW ACTS AS A SUCCESSFUL LINK.
Marks Code
Show how the sentence ‘that’s not what I’m 2 A
Worried about.’ is a successful link between
Paragraphs 3 and 4.
Show how the sentence ‘So let us imagine2A
That a bear does go for us out in the wilds.
What are we to do?
11)How does the following sentence act as a link?
At school, Alastair had shown exceptional promise. He had excelled as a scholar, as a musician and on the games field: his popularity and talent had made him an obvious choice for head boy in his last year. His university career made a sad contrast to the years as a golden boy. A baffling lack of commitment saw him fail his first year exams and after a nervous breakdown early in his second year, he dropped out altogether.