Cambridge Lower Secondary Checkpoint

ENGLISH 1111/02
Paper 2 Fiction April 2020
INSERT 1 hour 10 minutes

INFORMATION
This insert contains the reading passage.
You may annotate this insert and use the blank spaces for planning. Do not write your answers on
the insert.

This document has 4 pages. Blank pages are indicated.

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Text for Section A, an extract from ‘The boy who drew the future’ by Rhian Ivory

Noah is a boy with an unusual ability – he draws pictures of what will happen in the future, and
can’t stop himself from doing it. His family have just moved to a village called Sible Hedingham.

***

Prologue*

A twitching thing, it moves as if it were still alive. But it can’t be. The hand isn’t attached to
anything. Sinews, veins and skin dried up, discoloured, dead on the page. Yet it moves as if no
one has told it.

The boy draws it with his pen, line after line, unravelling the story that pulls him, down into dark
water. 5

A hand forces itself up to the surface in his drawing, beckoning him* or warning him, he can’t
quite tell yet. And no matter how hard he tries not to, he keeps drawing it.

Twitching and twisting, he draws, as the tide waits patiently, ready to turn.

Chapter 1: Noah

The barber* doesn’t try to engage me in awkward conversation as he cuts off my hair. I’m
relieved he’s a whistler not a talker as I try to make a different face look back at me in the 10
mirror. He brushes the hair off the back of my neck and I attempt a scowl, narrowing my brown
eyes, but it looks wonky. As I get up, I look down at the floor covered in light brown and blond
hair. A haircut feels a good place to start.

Being the new boy again means I get to reinvent myself, I decide, as Mum buys me a new
uniform at Fords’ department store. I try on more black trousers as she picks up a three-pack of 15
white shirts, laughing with the saleswoman about my growth spurt. They talk as if I am not
there. Mum keeps touching the back of my now naked neck as if she hasn’t seen it in years.
She hands me a red and grey striped tie and two V-neck jumpers. They are itchy, not that I’ll be
wearing them in this heat. I wonder why she’s buying them – it is so hot.

We moved to Sible Hedingham three days ago. Unpacking all our stuff into the plain, empty, 20
rented house only took a day or two, and now I’ve ticked the last two items off my list I’m out of
things to do. I leave Mum paying for my clothes and go outside. I walk around looking for
something to fill the weekend quiet with. Anything. I mentally list all the things this new place
has as I pass them: a butcher’s, baker’s, a DIY shop, a grocer’s and a library next to a large
primary school. It’s a new place but still has the same ‘Please drive carefully through our village’ 25
signs.

Another wilderness of normality, but this village has a feel about it. A prickling tingles in my
fingers as I enter Broaks Woods. Something wants to be uncovered – I can smell it coming off
the river. There is something lurking here, whistling under the cover of the shady ash trees,
hidden for now. 30

I sigh and shake it off. I don’t want there to be any room or time for these feelings.

When we drive into the grey school car park on Monday morning, I wish I’d insisted on turning
up on my own. I watch all the other students dragging themselves into school and realise that
m

it’s going to take more than a new haircut. They all look like they fit, like they know where they
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are going. I, on the other hand, have no idea, despite the déjà vu* of Mum’s monologue: 35
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‘I’ve explained about Dad’s work and said that’s why we’ve moved again. There’s no need to go
into details about why you left your last school, OK? This is another chance for you, Noah, a
fresh start for all of us. Just try this time, sweetheart, please?’ She switches the engine off,
unclips her seatbelt and reaches across to squeeze my arm. Her bangles clang and clank in the
silence. I have nothing to say so she carries on in a bright singsong voice. ‘We’re staying put 40
this time, aren’t we?’ She tries to make it sound like a statement or order, but it comes out more
like a question. I nod and she sighs.

She tries to smile as she applies more lipstick, checking her reflection again in the mirror. I wish
it were a real smile. I want to do more than just nod. She needs me to make her a promise, but I
can’t tell her a lie. I’ve tried before but I’ve never been very good at it. 45

Glossary
prologue: an introduction to a story
beckoning him: waving at him to come closer
The barber: the hairdresser
déjà vu: a feeling of familiarity / having heard something before

DO NOT WRITE IN THIS SPACE

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BLANK PAGE

Permission to reproduce items where third-party owned material protected by copyright is included has been sought and cleared where possible. Every
reasonable effort has been made by the publisher (UCLES) to trace copyright holders, but if any items requiring clearance have unwittingly been included, the
publisher will be pleased to make amends at the earliest possible opportunity.
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Assessment International Education Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced for each series of examinations and is freely available to download
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Cambridge Lower Secondary Checkpoint

ENGLISH 1111/02
Paper 2 Fiction April 2020
1 hour 10 minutes

You must answer on the question paper.

You will need: Insert (enclosed)

INSTRUCTIONS
Answer all questions.
Use a black or dark blue pen.
Write your name, centre number and candidate number in the boxes at the top of the page.
Write your answer to each question in the space provided.
Do not use an erasable pen or correction fluid.
Do not write on any bar codes.

INFORMATION
The total mark for this paper is 50.
The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].
The insert contains the reading passages.

This document has 8 pages. Blank pages are indicated.

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Section A: Reading

Spend 30 minutes on this section.

Read the Text in the insert and answer questions 1–14.

1 What does thing (line 1) refer to?

[1]

2 Look at the first paragraph of the prologue (lines 1–3).

Give three literary features the writer uses to create atmosphere.

[3]

3 The word surface (line 6) refers to the surface of two different things.
What are the two things?

[2]

4 The prologue (lines 1–8) warns the reader that something bad will happen.
Give two pieces of evidence from the prologue that suggest this.

[2]

5 Look at lines 9–13.

Why is the boy glad that the barber is whistling?

[1]

6 Look at this sentence: ‘I wonder why she’s buying them – it is so hot.’ (Line 19)
Give two ways that the writer uses structure and punctuation to emphasise how hot it is.

[2]
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7 Look at this phrase: ‘… I’ve ticked the last two items off my list …’ (Line 21)
Which two items does the boy mean? Tick ( ) two boxes.

having a new hair style

arranging his things

growing taller

getting a school uniform

arriving at his new home

[2]

8 What does the one-word sentence Anything. tell the reader about the boy’s attitude to Sible
Hedingham?

[1]

9 Give two short phrases from lines 27–31 that express the same idea as something ‘hidden
for now’.

[2]

10 Give two quotations from lines 32–45 that tell the reader that the mother is trying to appear
happy.

[2]

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11 Look at this sentence: ‘Her bangles clang and clank in the silence.’ (Lines 39–40)
Which two language features are used here? Tick ( ) two boxes.

an oxymoron

personification

a simile

onomatopoeia

alliteration

[2]

12 What promise does the mother want the boy to make?

[1]

13 Give two quotations from the text that tell us that the mother shows the boy affection.
Explain each quote in your own words.

Quotation Explanation

[2]

14 The prologue and chapter 1 are written from different viewpoints.

Give the viewpoint in each.

Viewpoint in prologue:

Viewpoint in chapter 1: [2]

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Section B: Writing

Spend 30 minutes on this section.

15 Carlos is walking home along a tree-lined road. Darkness is already falling. Soon, the only
light will come from street lamps. Apart from Carlos, the road is empty … or so he thinks.
Suddenly, he hears a strange, shrill voice coming from the darkness behind the trees.

Continue the story. Do not copy out the paragraph above.

You should consider:

what the voice says
how Carlos reacts
what happens to Carlos next.

Space for your plan:

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Write your story on the next page. [25 marks]

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Permission to reproduce items where third-party owned material protected by copyright is included has been sought and cleared where possible. Every
reasonable effort has been made by the publisher (UCLES) to trace copyright holders, but if any items requiring clearance have unwittingly been included, the
publisher will be pleased to make amends at the earliest possible opportunity.
m

To avoid the issue of disclosure of answer-related information to candidates, all copyright acknowledgements are reproduced online in the Cambridge
co

Assessment International Education Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced for each series of examinations and is freely available to download
e.

at www.cambridgeinternational.org after the live examination series.

at
-m

Cambridge Assessment International Education is part of the Cambridge Assessment Group. Cambridge Assessment is the brand name of the University of
Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES), which itself is a department of the University of Cambridge.
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© UCLES 2020 1111/02/A/M/20

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