English Entrance Exam
Background Information:
Sydenham High School’s English exam lasts one hour and is comprised of two sections:
reading and writing. The two sections of the paper are linked by a similar theme or subject.
The text for the reading section may be presented as a passage from a novel, as in the
example below, or as a newspaper article or website extract. Candidates are advised to
spend between 5 and 10 minutes reading the passage before answering the questions.
Similar to tasks that your daughter will be tackling as part of Key Stage Two in junior school,
she will be asked to write analytical answers, commenting on a writer’s use of language and
choosing short quotes to explain her thoughts. She will also be asked to write a descriptive
response to showcase her own imagination, her grammatical skills and her ability to
recognise and use figurative language, for example metaphors and similes.
The passage below outlines the sorts of things we will be exploring by asking candidates
certain questions, such as their ability to understand and communicate the meaning of what
they read.
The marks available are given after each question.
Example – literary prose [extract]
Games at Twilight by Anita Desai
5
10
They faced the afternoon. It was too hot. Too bright. The white walls of the veranda glared
stridently in the sun. The bougainvillea hung about it, purple and magenta, in livid balloons.
The garden outside was like a tray made of beaten brass, flattened out on the red gravel and
the stony soil in all shades of metal. No life stirred at this arid time of day – the birds still
drooped, like dead fruit, in the papery tents of the trees; some squirrels lay limp of the wet
earth under the garden tap.
The outdoor dog lay stretched as if dead on the veranda mat, his paws and ears and tail all
reaching out like dying travellers in search of water. He rolled his eyes at the children – two
white marbles rolling in purple sockets, begging for sympathy – and attempted to lift his tail
in a wag but could not. It only twitched and lay still.
Then, perhaps roused by the shrieks of the children, a band of parrots suddenly fell out of
the eucalyptus tree, tumbled frantically in the still, sizzling air, then sorted themselves out
into battle formation and streaked away across the white sky.
15
The children, too, felt released. They began tumbling, shoving and pushing against each
other, frantic to start. Start what? Start their business. The business of the children’s day
which is – play.
Example question 1 – retrieving information
Explain in your own words what happens to the parrots and why? [2]
Example question 2 – inferring meaning
What do you think the writer means by describing the children playing as ‘the business of
the children’s day’? [2]
Example question 3 – explaining the effects of language
What is the effect of the writer’s description of the garden as ‘like a tray made of beaten
brass’? [2]
Example question 4 – selecting quotes to analyse in detail
Reread the description of the dog in paragraph 2. Choose two short quotes and explain
how they emphasise the effect of the weather on the animal. [6]
Example question 5 – descriptive writing response
Imagine you are one of the children. Write a paragraph describing the other children as
they enter the garden. [6]