Common Entrance Examinations taken by independent school pupils in the UK as part of the admissions process for academically selective secondary schools at age 13 or 11. They are set by the Independent Schools Examinations Board. Most of the secondary schools that use Common Entrance for admission are public schools

Question Paper English

Section A
Read the passage and answer the questions which follow.
You have 30 minutes and there are 30 marks.
1) What has Wick “reckoned” ? Lines 1-4 (2 marks)
2) Explain in your own words the joke in the comment: “Wick, being the featherweight,
was given the privilege of putting his head in jeopardy.” Lines 8-9 (4 marks)
3) What does Wick discover as soon as he is lowered over the edge? (2 marks)
4) A) Why do you think that Wick does not say anything when he finds the first coin?
(1 mark)
B) What does he do with the coin?
(1 mark)
5) What is meant by the phrase “in the money” ? Line 19 (2 marks)
6) Using lines 19-28, what words, phrase and details show you that it was difficult for
Wick to get at the treasure? Explain your choices. ( 6 marks)
7) Using lines 29-35, what does Wick discover and what details show the reader that it is
an important discovery? (6 marks)
8) What are Wick’s reactions as he looks at his discovery and why do you think that he
might feel this way? (2 marks)
9) Explain the meaning of the following phrases as used in the passage:
A) “tangle of vegetation” line 4
B) “prolonged almost indefinitely” line 10
C) “his groping fingers encountered something” line24
D) “final confirmation” line 39 (4 marks )
Section B

Choose ONE of the following topics.
You have 30 minutes and there are 30 marks for this section
EITHER
A) Continue the story from the point at which the passage leaves off.
OR
B) Imagine you were one of the people who originally hid the treasure. Write about
the hiding of the treasure.
OR
C) Wick finds a magnificent treasure in this story. Write a description of an object or a
place which you could describe as “magnificent”.


Past Paper of the English of the Common Entrance Exam UK