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KS3 · iLowerSecondary English · Practice papers · Paper 3: The Natural World
A complete original achievement test modelled exactly on the format of LEH11/01. Theme: the natural world. All three source texts are original works written by The English Hub - they are not taken from any past paper. Work through the paper first, then open the mark scheme to check your answers.
Total marks
70
Time allowed
1 hour 45 minutes
Section A: Reading
40 marks · 22 questions
Section B: Writing
30 marks · 1 task
Instructions
Read all three texts before you begin Section A. Paragraphs are numbered so you can refer to them in your answers.
Text 1 - non-fiction (magazine article (explanatory))
An explanatory article written for The English Hub · Purpose: inform / explain
From the surface a coral reef looks like a single, brightly coloured ridge of rock. It is nothing of the kind. A reef is a vast, living city, built and maintained by millions of tiny animals working together, and almost everything about how it survives depends on a partnership so small it cannot be seen with the naked eye.
The builders of the reef are coral polyps - soft creatures, each no larger than a grain of rice, related to jellyfish and sea anemones. A polyp draws minerals from the seawater around it and uses them to grow a hard cup of limestone beneath its body. As generation after generation grows on top of the skeletons of the dead, the reef slowly rises. A reef the size of a town can take many thousands of years to form.
A polyp could not build for long on its own, because it cannot make enough food. Its secret partner is a microscopic plant-like organism called zooxanthellae, which lives inside the polyp’s own tissues. The tiny plant captures sunlight and turns it into sugars, sharing most of them with its host; in return the polyp gives the plant a safe home and the chemicals it needs. Neither could thrive without the other. This is why reefs grow only in clear, shallow water where sunlight can reach.
The reef the polyps build is then shared by an astonishing crowd of other animals. Parrotfish scrape algae from the coral with beaks like tools, and in doing so they keep the reef from being smothered. Cleaner shrimp set up stations where larger fish queue to have parasites picked from their skin. Each creature has a job, and the reef works because the jobs fit together.
The whole system, however, balances on a knife-edge of temperature. If the sea grows only a little too warm for too long, the stressed polyps expel the very plant partner that feeds them. Stripped of colour and of food, the coral turns a ghostly white - an event known as bleaching. A bleached reef is not yet dead, but it is starving, and without cooler water it will not recover.
A coral reef, then, is not a rock at all. It is a fragile agreement, signed millions of years ago between an animal and a plant, and renewed every single day that the water stays clear, clean and cool.
Text 2 - non-fiction (campaign opinion piece (persuasive))
An opinion piece for the (fictional) Greenway Community Woodland campaign · Purpose: persuade / argue
There is a strip of old woodland at the end of our street, and next spring the council intends to cut it down to widen a road by a single lane. They will tell you it is only a few hundred trees. I am asking you to look again, because what they call “only a few hundred trees” is the last wild place that any child in this town can walk to alone.
For thirty years the Greenway Community Woodland has cleared litter, planted hedgerows and counted the owls so that nobody could pretend they were not there. We are not against roads. We drive on them too. We are against the strange arithmetic that values four minutes of a car journey above a wood that took two centuries to grow and will not grow back in our lifetimes.
Think, for a moment, about what a wood actually does while we are not watching it. Is it really “doing nothing”? Its roots hold the hillside together so that our cellars stay dry. Its leaves quietly clean the air that our youngest children breathe. Can a wider road do any of that?
You do not need to be an expert to help, and you do not need to give money. You need only to do one thing: write a single sentence to the council before the thirtieth of June and say that this wood matters to you. One letter is easy to ignore. Three thousand letters are not.
The trees cannot write that letter. They cannot speak at the meeting or stand at the back of the hall. They have stood at the end of our street for two hundred years, asking nothing of us. This once, before the spring, let us stand up for them.
Text 3 - fiction (descriptive narrative (third person))
An original short story written for The English Hub · Purpose: entertain / describe
The tide had gone out further than Nadia had ever seen it. Where the sea usually rolled there was now a glistening plain of rock and weed, steaming faintly in the early light, and she went out onto it the way a person walks into a room they are not sure they are allowed to enter.
She found the pool by accident, in the shadow of a boulder the size of a car. It was no wider than a kitchen table, but it was perfectly still, and looking down into it was like looking through a window into another country. Anemones opened their soft red fingers to the water. A green crab considered her from beneath a ledge and decided she was not worth the trouble of moving.
Nadia knelt on the cold rock and held her breath so as not to disturb anything. Nothing in the pool hurried. A tiny fish hung in the water without seeming to move at all, balanced as exactly as a held note. For a long moment she had the dizzying feeling that the pool was not small and she was not large - that she was the visitor here, and a clumsy one, and that everything in the water had been managing perfectly well for a very long time without her.
Then the wind changed, and far out the sea made a low sound like something turning over in its sleep. Nadia looked up. The bright plain of rock had narrowed while she was not watching it. The first thin line of water was already feeling its way back across the sand towards her, unhurried and certain, the way a thing returns to a place it has always owned.
She stood, her knees aching, and walked back the way she had come - quickly now, but not afraid. Behind her the pool waited, exactly as it had been, for the sea to come and close the window again. She did not look back, but for the rest of that summer she carried the strange, settled knowledge that the wild had not needed her there at all, and had let her stay anyway.
All texts above are original works written by The English Hub for this practice paper. Factual content in Text 1 is well-known biology; the Greenway Community Woodland campaign in Text 2 is fictional.
Answer ALL questions. Read the three texts in the Source Booklet first. The texts are linked by the theme of the natural world. Total for this section: 40 marks. Recommended time: 1 hour 10 minutes.
In Text 1, paragraph 1, the writer describes the reef as a “vast” living city. Circle ONE word below that is closest in meaning to “vast” as it is used here.
Indicative answer: enormous
Mark notes: Award 1 mark for “enormous” only. Do not credit more than one circled word.
From Text 1, what does a coral polyp use the minerals it draws from seawater to make?
Indicative answer: A hard cup / skeleton of limestone beneath its body. Accept any clear reference to building its limestone skeleton.
Mark notes: 1 mark for a precise reference to the limestone skeleton/cup. Do not credit a vague answer such as “the reef”.
From Text 1, give TWO jobs that other reef animals do that help keep the reef healthy.
Indicative answer: Any two of: parrotfish scrape algae off the coral, stopping it being smothered; cleaner shrimp pick parasites from larger fish at cleaning stations.
Mark notes: 1 mark for each correct job, up to 2 marks.
In Text 1 the writer says a reef “balances on a knife-edge of temperature”. Put a cross in ONE box to show what this phrase suggests.
Indicative answer: B - the reef is only safe within a very narrow range of temperature
Mark notes: 1 mark for B only.
In Text 1, why does the writer describe the partnership between the polyp and the zooxanthellae as something “neither could thrive without”?
Indicative answer: Because each one depends on the other to live well - the plant feeds the polyp with sugars from sunlight and the polyp gives the plant a safe home and chemicals - so the reef itself depends on both surviving together.
Mark notes: 1 mark for a clear inference about mutual dependence.
In this sentence from Text 1, underline the VERB: “The reef slowly rises.”
Indicative answer: “rises”
Mark notes: 1 mark for clearly identifying “rises”. Any clear positive indication (underline, circle) is accepted. Do not credit “slowly”.
In the final paragraph of Text 1 the writer says a reef is “a fragile agreement … renewed every single day that the water stays clear, clean and cool.” What did the writer mean by this, and what is its effect on the reader?
Indicative answer: Meaning: the reef’s survival is not permanent but a daily, conditional balance between living things that only continues while the water remains undamaged. Effect: the metaphor of an “agreement” makes the reader feel the reef is precious and easily broken, ending the article on a note of concern that encourages care for the reef.
Mark notes: 1 mark for explaining the meaning; 1 mark for the effect on the reader. Do not credit an unexplained lift of the quotation.
From Text 2, what does the writer say the council intends to do to the woodland?
Indicative answer: Cut it down to widen a road by a single lane (next spring).
Mark notes: 1 mark for the precise detail.
In Text 2 the writer says the wood “took two centuries to grow and will not grow back in our lifetimes.” Why has the writer included this idea?
Indicative answer: To stress that the loss would be permanent / irreversible for everyone alive now, making the reader feel the decision is far more serious than the council suggests.
Mark notes: 1 mark for a clear inference about the loss being permanent or the persuasive intention.
In Text 2, paragraph 3, the writer uses question marks: “Is it really ‘doing nothing’? … Can a wider road do any of that?” Explain the effect of these question marks.
Indicative answer: Effect: the rhetorical questions challenge the council’s argument and make the reader supply the answer themselves (that the wood is not doing nothing). Linked explanation: this draws the reader onto the writer’s side and makes refusing to act feel unreasonable.
Mark notes: 1 mark for naming the effect of the question marks (e.g. they challenge the reader / make them think). 1 mark for an explanation linked to the text content.
In Text 2 the writer says: “One letter is easy to ignore. Three thousand letters are not.” What is the writer’s purpose here, and how does this affect the reader?
Indicative answer: Purpose: to convince the reader that their single action matters because it adds to a powerful collective effort, removing the excuse that one person cannot make a difference. Effect: makes the reader feel responsible and capable, and more likely to write the letter.
Mark notes: 1 mark for the writer’s purpose; 1 mark for the effect on the reader.
In this sentence from Text 2, underline the IMPERATIVE verb: “Write a single sentence to the council before the thirtieth of June.”
Indicative answer: “Write”
Mark notes: 1 mark for identifying “Write”. Any clear positive indication is accepted.
Tick ONE box in each row to show which text uses each feature. (Text 1 is the coral-reef article; Text 2 is the woodland campaign piece.)
| Feature | Text 1 | Text 2 | Neither |
|---|---|---|---|
| A scientific explanation of how a living thing works | |||
| A direct call for the reader to take a specific action | |||
| First-person plural pronouns (“we”, “us”, “our”) | |||
| Numbered subheadings or bullet-point lists |
Indicative answer: Row 1 - Text 1; Row 2 - Text 2; Row 3 - Text 2; Row 4 - Neither.
Mark notes: 2 marks for all four rows correct; 1 mark for two or three rows correct; 0 marks for one or none correct.
How does the writer of Text 2 use language to persuade the reader to support the woodland? Make TWO developed points, each supported with evidence from the text.
Indicative answer: Indicative content (any two developed points): (1) the dismissive phrase placed in the council’s mouth - “only a few hundred trees” - is repeated and then attacked, making the council’s view seem careless and the reader sympathetic to the wood; (2) the contrast of “four minutes of a car journey” against “two centuries to grow” uses precise figures to make the trade-off seem absurd and unfair; (3) personification of the trees that “cannot write that letter” or “speak at the meeting” makes them seem helpless and dependent on the reader; (4) the inclusive “we”/“us” positions the writer and reader as one community defending a shared place.
Mark notes: Up to 2 marks per developed point: 1 mark for an appropriate point with evidence, 1 mark for explaining the effect on the reader. Maximum 4 marks.
Compare how the writer of Text 1 uses the quotation “a fragile agreement … renewed every single day” and how the writer of Text 2 uses the quotation “They have stood at the end of our street for two hundred years, asking nothing of us.” to reflect each writer’s purpose. In your answer you should comment on the writers’ use of language and the effect on the reader.
Indicative answer: Indicative comparison: Text 1’s writer uses the noun “agreement” and the verb “renewed” to present the reef as a delicate, ongoing balance that depends on conditions staying right - language that reflects an explanatory purpose and leaves the reader respecting how easily nature can be lost. Text 2’s writer uses the patient, almost human image of trees that have “stood … asking nothing of us” to imply a moral debt the reader now owes; this reflects a persuasive purpose designed to make the reader feel personally obliged to act. Where Text 1 positions the reader as a thoughtful observer of a fragile system, Text 2 positions them as someone whose silence would be an injustice.
Mark notes: Mark using the levelled comparison grid (COMPARISON_LEVELS). Top level: a clear explanation of the contrast that infers beyond the literal words, comments on language at word level, and identifies each writer’s purpose and effect on the reader.
Levelled grid
| Level 1 | 1-2 | Response is a simple comment with implicit contrast, referring to either one or two of: deducing, inferring or interpreting information, events or ideas; the use of language at word level; writers’ purpose and viewpoint / overall effect on the reader. |
| Level 2 | 3-4 | Response is an explanation with explicit reference to the contrast, focused on two of: deducing, inferring or interpreting information, events or ideas; the use of language at word level; writers’ purpose and viewpoint / overall effect on the reader. |
| Level 3 | 5-6 | Response is a clear explanation of the contrast, focusing on: deducing, inferring or interpreting information, events or ideas; the use of language at word level; writers’ purpose and viewpoint / overall effect on the reader. |
Which of the two non-fiction texts (Text 1 or Text 2) do you find more appealing to read, and why? Support your answer with evidence from the text you choose.
Indicative answer: Accept either text. Reward a reasonable explanation of preference (e.g. Text 1 is appealing because it reveals a surprising hidden partnership such as the polyp and the microscopic plant; Text 2 is appealing because its passionate, personal voice and rhetorical questions make the reader care about a local place).
Mark notes: 1 mark for a reasonable explanation of preference; 1 mark for appropriate supporting evidence from the chosen text.
In Text 3, paragraph 1, the writer describes a “glistening plain of rock and weed”. Circle ONE word below that is closest in meaning to “glistening” as it is used here.
Indicative answer: shining
Mark notes: 1 mark for “shining” only.
From Text 3, where does Nadia find the tide pool?
Indicative answer: In the shadow of a boulder the size of a car. Accept any clear reference to it being beside / in the shadow of the large boulder.
Mark notes: 1 mark for the precise detail.
In Text 3, why does Nadia feel she is “the visitor here, and a clumsy one”?
Indicative answer: Because the creatures in the pool are calm and at home and have lived there without her for a long time, which makes her feel like an outsider intruding on a world that does not need her.
Mark notes: 1 mark for a clear inference.
In Text 3 the writer describes the returning sea as moving “the way a thing returns to a place it has always owned.” What is the effect of describing the sea in this way?
Indicative answer: It presents the sea as the rightful owner of the shore, calm and unstoppable, with humans only allowed there briefly. Effect: makes the reader feel the power and indifference of nature and Nadia’s smallness within it, deepening the story’s thoughtful, slightly humbling mood.
Mark notes: 1 mark for explaining the meaning of the sea as owner/returning; 1 mark for the effect on the reader.
How does the writer of Text 3 use language and structure to show that nature is calm and self-sufficient while Nadia is only a guest? Make TWO developed points, each supported with evidence.
Indicative answer: Indicative content (any two developed points): (1) the stillness imagery - the fish “hung in the water … balanced as exactly as a held note” - gives the pool a calm, ordered perfection that needs no help; (2) the simile of the sea “like something turning over in its sleep” makes nature seem powerful yet untroubled by her; (3) the structural shift when “the bright plain of rock had narrowed while she was not watching” shows nature continuing on its own regardless of her attention; (4) the closing idea that the wild “had let her stay anyway” places Nadia as a permitted guest, reinforcing nature’s self-sufficiency.
Mark notes: Up to 2 marks per developed point: 1 mark for a point with appropriate evidence, 1 mark for explaining the effect. Maximum 4 marks.
In Text 3, what does the writer suggest about the natural world through Nadia’s “strange, settled knowledge that the wild had not needed her there at all”?
Indicative answer: That the natural world is complete and capable on its own and does not depend on people - humans are visitors to it rather than its centre.
Mark notes: 1 mark for a clear inference about nature being independent of / not needing humans.
Answer the ONE question in this section. You should spend about 35 minutes on it. Total for this section: 30 marks.
The texts in Section A all explore the natural world - how a reef survives, a campaign to save a wood, and one person’s quiet encounter with a tide pool.
Write a description of a place in the natural world that made a strong impression on you (real or imagined), and the moment you noticed it most clearly.
WAO1 indicative content (18 marks): Reward (against the WAO1 grid, 18 marks): a strong descriptive form with an engaging opening; a vivid, controlled sense of a natural place built through sensory detail; a clearly sustained mood or atmosphere that engages the reader; deliberate structural choices (e.g. a movement from wide view to close focus, a turning point of noticing, a controlled ending); writing fully appropriate to the audience and purpose (entertain / describe). Higher marks for sophisticated audience awareness and stylistic features that fully support purpose.
WAO2 indicative content (12 marks): Reward (against the WAO2 grid, 12 marks): a range of sentence structures and openings used for effect; accurate and increasingly sophisticated punctuation (including commas, dashes and any speech marks); largely accurate spelling with ambitious vocabulary choices used appropriately and confidently. Penalise frequent errors that impede meaning.
WAO1 - Form, communication and purpose (18 marks)
| S1 | 1-4 |
|
| S2 | 5-9 |
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| S3 | 10-14 |
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| S4 | 15-18 |
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WAO2 - Grammar, punctuation and spelling (12 marks)
| S1 | 1-3 |
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| S2 | 4-6 |
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| S3 | 7-9 |
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| S4 | 10-12 |
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This paper mirrors the real spread of question types. Use this table to see what each one demands.
| Question type | AO | How to answer |
|---|---|---|
| Circle / select the synonym | RAO4 | Read the word in context. Choose the option that could replace it without changing the meaning. Only one answer; do not circle more than one. |
| Short retrieval / "Why…?" | RAO1 | Locate the exact place in the text. Answer in your own words or with a precise short quotation. Mark schemes reward a clear, specific reference, not a vague gist. |
| Multiple choice (A/B/C/D) | RAO2/RAO4 | Re-read the quoted phrase, then test each option against the meaning in context. If you change your mind, put a line through the box and mark the new answer with a cross. |
| Effect of a punctuation mark | RAO3 | One mark for naming the effect of the mark (e.g. an exclamation mark adds emphasis / surprise / excitement). One mark for an explanation linked to the text content. |
| "What did the writer mean…?" / explain the impact | RAO5 | Explain the deeper meaning and the effect on the reader. Avoid lifting the words directly from the text without explanation - the mark scheme does not credit unexplained lifts. |
| Underline the word / verb class | RAO3/RAO4 | Apply grammatical terminology precisely (e.g. imperative, modal, auxiliary, irregular). Any clear positive indication is accepted. |
| Tick which text uses a feature | RAO3 | Scan each text for the named features (e.g. question marks, apostrophes for possession, dashes, brackets). Partial credit is usually available for most rows correct. |
| Compare how two quotations reflect each writer’s purpose | RAO2 + RAO4 + RAO5 | Make an explicit, developed comparison. Move beyond an implicit comment: explain the contrast, comment on language at word level, and state each writer’s purpose and the effect on the reader. |
| Which text is more appealing - with evidence | RAO4 + RAO5 | One mark for a reasonable explanation of preference and one mark for appropriate textual evidence that supports it. |
| Inference ("Why…?") | RAO2 | Read beyond the literal. State the implied reason clearly; a single accurate inference earns the mark. |
| How does the writer show…? (language / structure) | RAO4 + RAO5 | Make two developed points, each with appropriate evidence from the text and an explanation of the effect. Two marks per developed point with evidence. |
| Section B extended writing task | WAO1 + WAO2 | Plan briefly. Match form, audience and purpose. Organise with controlled paragraphs and linked sections. Vary sentences and openings; use accurate grammar, punctuation and spelling. Marked on WAO1 (18) + WAO2 (12). |