English Mock Exam (Samples with notes)

Qn 1: Write about an occasion when a stranger asked you for help.
* This is an example of a PERSONAL RECOUNT.

* Be sure to state clearly what was the favour asked of you right from the beginning. Always read your question carefully.

* Describe how the stranger looks.

* Describe your thoughts and reactions when the story asked you for help. You can use direct speech.

*AFTER STATING WHAT WAS EXPECTED OF YOU, MAKE SURE THAT YOUR STORY REVOLVES AROUND HOW YOU GO ABOUT HELPING THE STRANGER. ( Body of essay)

* Explain how the story came to a close but ONLY after showing readers HOW you helped the stranger. How did you feel?

* Use the PAST TENSE.

“One, two three, four……” I counted to myself idly, watching the cars whizzing along the road. I was waiting at the bus stop after soccer practice. The school was unusually quiet, a stark contrast from the hustle and bustle of students and teachers going about their daily activities in the morning. To my immense annoyance, the bus was taking much longer than usual to arrive. Tired and thirsty after the practice, I could feel my shirt sticking uncomfortably to my back.

--> note the descriptions that have been used to convey how busy the roads are, how quiet the school is and how tired I am feeling.

I glanced at my watch for the umpteenth time, wondering what was taking the bus so long to arrive.

“Excuse me, could I have a few minutes of your time?”

I lifted my eyes as I felt a tap on my shoulder, turning around to see a distinguished looking middle-aged woman smiling at me hesitantly. She was dressed smartly in a pantsuit and high heels, with immaculately (= perfectly) styled hair and make-up. “My car has broken down and I need some help to get it started again. I’m on my way to an important conference and there isn’t enough time for me to call a mechanic or a taxi so I would really appreciate it if you could lend me a hand,” she explained, giving me an exasperated (= nearly desperate) smile.

--> note how the importance of describing the stranger so that the readers will be able to picture how he/she actually looks like. The use of direct speech/conversation is very helpful too. It makes the story come alive.

“Er……sure. I’ll try to do whatever I can,” I replied, getting up from my seat. Inwardly, I groaned at the thought of having to push the heavy car with my arms and legs sore from physical training. Nevertheless, I rose from my seat and followed her across the road to her car.

--> describes my thoughts.

The red Mercedes benz gleamed brightly in the afternoon sun. The woman unlocked her car hurriedly and I stepped forward into position, with my hands planted firmly on the car boot.

--> describe how her car looks like. "hurriedly" may be a simple word but it shows the manner in which she is moving. For your composition exam, think about HOW something is done, said , etc.

“Okay, start pushing,” she yelled from the driver’s seat. I started pushing with all my might. I could feel my muscles stretching and straining as beads of perspiration trickled down my forehead. However, the car refused to budge.

--> Instead of saying "said" all the time, you can replace it with other words like "yelled" or "screamed". Describe how I pushed the car, and describe how tired I was doing so.

“Push harder, boy!”

I rolled my eyes in frustration, seeing the woman wave her manicured hand out of the car window. After several minutes of heaving and pushing, the car finally started a slow crawl forward. My efforts finally paid off as the car gradually accelerated, going faster and faster until it was speeding along the road past the traffic lights.

--> again I tried to show readers how irritated I was to be subjected to the orders of the lady. I described how I looked (= "rolled my eyes in frustration"). I also tried to capture the lady's moverments and how the car gradually started moving.

“You’re welcome,” I muttered, pausing to catch my breath. Feeling disgruntled (= dissatisfied) that she had not even bothered to thank me for helping her, I made my way back to the bus stop. Just then, my bus arrived and I boarded it quickly, eager to enjoy the cool air conditioning. As the bus sped along, I kept a lookout for red Mercedes benzs on the road. “Maybe she’ll write a letter of commendation to the principal to praise me for my helpfulness,” I mused to myself, a slow grin spreading along the corners of my mouth.

--> Instead of saying "said", "muttered" was used to show how softly I spoke. This story also a little twist of sorts. Instead of thanking me for my help, the lady in the story simply drove off. I tried to show how discontented I was as well as how I tried to think happy thoughts--" Maybe she'll write a letter of commendation to the principal to praise me for my helpfulness."


Qn 2: Write a story ending with the following words: “……we could only be glad we were cleared of all guilt.”

*A narrative essay.

* Once again, EARLY in your composition, write about an event which makes you appear like a gulty party/makes you seem like you have done something wrong.

* The question says that you were cleared from all guilt. Therefore, you will be out of point if you talk about a story whereby you were indeed guilty. Remember, you were mistaken. You had not done soemthing wrong.

* Describe. Describe how you felt, what were your thoughts, actions, as well as other characters in the story. You may use direct speech/conversations. Of course, don't use them excessively.

I could not believe my eyes. I turned towards my friends and saw them wearing identical expressions of astonishment. The papers on the table remained stubbornly on the table, and we could not tear their eyes off them.

“Do you think those are what I think they are?” Mandy asked, her eyes turning as wide as saucers. “I think so…… they’re the end-of-year science examination papers aren’t they? Look! It’s printed on the cover page,” Sam replied in awe. We were supposed to meet our science teacher, Mr Lim, in the classroom after school for remedial lessons as we had failed their common test recently. However, after lunch, we arrived at the classroom to find it empty and a stack of papers on the teacher’s table.

“What should we do now?” I asked. “I don’t suppose it’s all right if we take just a little peek at the exam questions?” said Mandy, with a hopeful glint in her eyes. “My parents have threatened to ban me from using the computer if I fail my science exam. If we keep this matter to ourselves, no one would ever know that we saw the exam paper before the exam and we’ll be able to do well.”

“No! How could you even suggest that! It would be as good as cheating! We should be responsible for our own grades. Moreover, if we did it, we might get Mr Lim into trouble as well,” Sam refused Mandy’s suggestion vehemently ( = strongly. Normally, we can say that somebody "protests vehemently".) . I nodded in agreement. “We should wait for Mr Lim to come and tell him about this,” Sam added.

Just then, the sound of footsteps echoed along the corridor and the discipline master, Mr Koh, strode past the doorway and entered the classroom. “Why are you still in school? Shouldn’t you be at home studying for your exams?” he favoured us with a stern glance, folding his arms across his chest in his customary no-nonsense manner.

“We’re supposed to be having a remedial lesson with Mr Lim but he hasn’t arrived yet,” Sam answered hurriedly, a slight flush staining his cheeks as he squirmed under the discipline master’s unwavering gaze. Mr Koh studied us intently for a moment before letting his gaze rest on the stack of papers on the table. His eyes narrowed and he strode forward purposefully, sweeping up the papers in one swift fluid motion.

“What’s this?” Mr Koh’s voice had turned dangerously low and Mandy, Sam and I could not resist trading each other a terrified glance. “How did you get hold of these papers before your exam?”

The students felt their blood turn into ice as they realized what the presence of the papers implied. Mandy stammered, “We… we have no idea how they got here. They were already on the table when we entered the classroom.” Sam and I nodded anxiously in agreement.

“Sorry I’m late. I forgot to bring some notes for you so I had to return to the staffroom to get them,” Mr Lim appeared in the doorway. “Hi, Mr Koh. Is something the matter here?” Mr Lim enquired (= asked).

“Mr Lim, we swear we didn’t take steal the exam papers! They were already on the table when we entered the classroom,” Mandy pleaded. “What exam papers?” Mr Lim looked around the room with a puzzled frown. Finally, he caught sight of the papers in Mr Koh’s hands and a glimmer of understanding appeared in his eyes.

“Oh, those are last year’s examination papers that I printed for you to practice. Look here, it says ‘2005 Semester 2 Science Examination’,” Mr Lim clarified. Mr Koh’s wintry expression swiftly changed into one of embarrassment and chagrin (= disappointment). He apologized for not reading the papers carefully, resulting in him mistaking us for stealing the exam papers. Heaving a sigh of relief, we could only be glad we were cleared of all guilt.

Qn 3: Describe an occasion when you did voluntary work.

* A descritpive essay.

* State clearly what you did there. Try to talk about three activtities you did and elaborate on them.

* Be descriptive. Talk about how you feel and what your thoughts were before and after the voluntary work.

* Voluntary work ususally involves work done on your own free will. If you are talking about events such as folding paper cranes or the big walk, tell me who will benefit from your work.

* Descriptive essays are usually hard to handle. Do not touch them if you are not confident.

Prior to last year (= Before last year), I had never engaged in voluntary work. Although I knew it was a meaningful activity, and teachers in school had always encouraged us to help others in need, I had never felt compelled (= the urge) to offer my free time and energy to help others as a volunteer worker. However, last year’s community involvement program (CIP) provided me with the opportunity to fully appreciate the importance of voluntary work.

My co-curricular activity’s (CCA) teacher-in-charge, Miss Lee, had arranged for the choir to go to Green Ridge Old Folks’ Home to provide voluntary help. We were required to come up with a performance to entertain the elderly residents in the old folks’ home and also to assist with renovation works. As one of the sectional leaders, I had to stay back in school with the committee members to decide on the repertoire of songs we were going to perform. We finally decided on a range of traditional folk songs which we had learnt recently.

On the day of the excursion, we boarded the school bus and left for the old folks’ home straight after school. When we arrived at our destination, we were immediately led to the sitting room by the matron, where we started to get ready for our performance. As I got into my usual position in the second row, I realized that the sitting room was already crowded with people. More than thirty elderly men and women were seated in front of us, all wrapped in pink and blue dressing gowns. They were smiling at us and looked eager for us to begin. The student conductor started us on our first piece, and when the song ended, they burst into enthusiastic applause. I had never performed to such an appreciative audience before. Since I was only in secondary two, my choir performances were largely limited to school events or competitions. During school events like the Lunar New Year performance, the audience’s response had always been lukewarm at best. In the old folks’ home however, despite the applause not being extremely loud, I could see many happy and contented faces and the elderly audience looked like they really enjoyed our singing.

After our performance ended, the matron brought us to the visiting room which we were supposed to help to repaint. The room had been painted in a musty pale green colour, and paint was peeling off in several places on the ceiling. We were handed brushes and cans of bright yellow paint and we proceeded to give the room a makeover. When we were done with our work, the room looked brand new. As I inspected (= studied) our handiwork, I felt sure that the lovely yellow shade would liven up the atmosphere in the old folks’ home and help to lift the residents’ spirits.

Before we left, we were offered some refreshments in the dining area. I was taking a drink from the table when an old lady beckoned (= singalled) me over with a wave of her hand. She started speaking to me in Hokkien and kept smiling and patting my arm companionably (= in a friendly way). Although I could not understand most of what she had been saying, I could make out a few words which most probably referred to our performance. I gathered that she was praising us for our singing and I felt happy yet a little embarrassed at the same time.

When it was time to leave, the old lady waved cheerily to me and said to me in halting English (= bits of English, imperfect), “Bye…bye. See you again.” The rest of the old folk also waved at us warmly. While we queued up to get on the bus, the matron thanked us for our help and explained that the old folks were really glad for our company. Many of them were childless and often had no visitors. As a result, they often felt lonely and sad. Our visit and performance had brightened up their day considerably.

Having had the experience of engaging in voluntary work, I have begun to understand why volunteers enjoy their work so much. The joy of helping others makes voluntary work fulfilling. I was glad that I was able to make a difference in someone else’s life.

Qn 4: The Gift

* This is a narrative essay. You can interpret it as a present or a talent. Both are fine. What is important though is that you start talking about it from the beginning/or second paragraph onwards. Quite a number of students made the mistake of talking about you having a birthday party, then the celebrations, an outing, leaving the last paragraph to talk about the gift. Please take note that you must ensure that your story revolves around the gift.

* What is the gift you have decided to talk about? How is special and different from other gifts? Describe it.

* Construct an interesting story that resulted from you having/receiving this gift.

Jane stirred her porridge listlessly (= lethargically) as she watched her friends, Alison and Kate, attacked their fried chicken with relish (=with great pleasure and delight). “How’s your practice coming along, Jane? Have you succeeded in hitting that high note?” asked Alison through a mouth full of chicken. “No, I’m still having problems with it. My instructor thinks I’ve been indulging myself in junk food again so my voice has been affected as a result. But I swear I haven’t. Maybe I’ve got a mental block or something,” Jane sighed, lifting her spoon and letting clumps of porridge slide back into the bowl with soft plops.

“But it would be so cool to miss school again right? You’ll be traveling to Italy for that competition. We’ll be stuck here studying for the exams,” All but ignoring what Jane had just said, Kate sniffed at her coleslaw disdainfully and started on her French fries. There was nothing much that Jane could do except to smile and carry on with her porridge.

Nobody really understood. Everybody thought she was the subject of envy and praise, as her gift for singing earned her numerous awards and thrust her under the spotlight constantly. She had been labeled as a singing prodigy (= genius) since age five, when her talent at singing had been unwittingly (= accidentally) discovered by her aunt when she had been able to perform a pitch perfect “Silent Night” during a Christmas gathering at her grandparents’ house. Since then, life had become an endless cycle of practices, performances and competitions. To ensure that her gift was utilized (= used) to its fullest, her parents kept her on a strict diet and planned her daily activities to ensure that she had a full eight hours of sleep everyday in addition to five hours of training. She also had to attend private tuition sessions to make up for the lessons she missed in school. Consequently, she had hardly any free time left to herself.

Lately, she had been having problems with one of her competition pieces. Try as she might (=no matter how hard she tried), she just could not reach one of the high notes in the chorus. Previously, she had always been able to hit the notes with ease but somehow, recently, she felt herself getting stuck whenever she attempted to do so. Her parents and her instructor knew her weaknesses for fried food and ice cream and had accused her of eating those foods when she was not supposed to. However, she had not eaten any of those for more than two months since training for the competition in Italy began.

Sometimes, she wondered if her gift was really a curse instead. Sitting beside her friends, watching them complain about having to stay at home in Singapore while enjoying her favourite food, Jane had a sudden urge to pour her porridge down the trashcan and sink her teeth into (= take a bite) one of the chicken wings on the table.

To hell with singing, she thought. “What do you say to me skipping singing practice today and watching a movie with you guys?” Jane asked hopefully.

“What? You must be joking, right? Your competition’s in two weeks, you know. Besides, Kate and I are going to the library after lunch to do research for our project,” Alison laughed, shaking her head in disbelief.

Hearing her words, Jane abruptly (= suddenly) stood up and picked up her bag from the floor. “I’ve got to be going, practice is in fifteen minutes. See you guys around.” She did not bother waiting for their reply as she turned on her heel and left. Making her way to the school gate, she tried her best to keep herself looking calm and composed. It was time for her singing lessons again and she resigned herself to another round of lectures from her instructor on self-discipline.

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