Cambridge Past Paper Questions
Browse 23,045questions from 25 years of O-Level & A-Level exams. Click any question to practice.
ANITA DESAI: Games at Twilight and Other Stories
BESSIE HEAD: When Rain Clouds Gather
F. SCOTT FITZGERALD: The Great Gatsby Read this extract, and then answer the question that follows it: There was a small picture of Gatsby, also in...
F. SCOTT FITZGERALD: The Great Gatsby
EDITH WHARTON: Ethan Frome Read this extract, and then answer the question that follows it: As he reached the door he met Zeena coming back into th...
EDITH WHARTON: Ethan Frome
from Stories of Ourselves Read the following extract from The Signalman, and then answer the question that follows it: Next evening was a lovely ev...
from Stories of Ourselves
Read this extract, and then answer the question that follows it: Willy: [without hesitation] Hurry downstairs and – Biff: Somebody in there? Willy...
'Miller makes Linda almost as responsible for Willy’s failure as Willy himself.' Do you agree? Support your ideas with details from the writing.
You are Willy going home after having been sacked by Howard. Write your thoughts.
Read this extract, and then answer the question that follows it: Leonato: Are these things spoken, or do I but dream? Don John: Sir, they are spok...
How far do you think Shakespeare makes Beatrice an admirable heroine? Refer closely to the play in support of your answer.
You are Leonato. You have just been told by the Watch that Borachio has been arrested and you are on your way to talk to Margaret. Write your thou...
Read this extract, and then answer the question that follows it: Caesar: Are we all ready? What is now amiss That Caesar and his Senate must redre...
Which of the two women in the play do you feel more sympathy for: Calphurnia or Portia? Support your ideas with details from the writing.
You are Cassius after Brutus has agreed that Antony will speak at Caesar’s funeral. Write your thoughts.
Read this extract, and then answer the question that follows it: Stanhope: (as he takes off his pack, gas satchel, and belt) Has Hardy gone? Osbor...
Cruel bully Inspiring leader Which do you think is the more accurate description of Sherriff’s portrayal of Stanhope? Support your ideas with deta...
You are Trotter near the end of the play. You have just been made second-in-command of the company. Write your thoughts.
Read this extract from In Memoriam, and then answer the question that follows it: Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, The flying cloud, the fro...
How does Tennyson’s writing make the story so intriguing for you in either The Lady of Shalott or Mariana? Support your ideas with details from you...
What are your feelings about the ways in which Tennyson portrays Ulysses in Ulysses? Refer to details in the poem as you answer.
Read this poem, and then answer the question that follows it: Amends Content removed due to copyright restrictions. (by Adrienne Rich) Explore ...
How do you think the poet’s words create a vivid feeling of sorrow in either Dover Beach (by Matthew Arnold) or The Voice (by Thomas Hardy)?
Explore the openings of any two poems from the selection which you find particularly memorable, bringing out why the poets’ words catch your attent...
Read this extract, and then answer the question that follows it: Heathcliff went to the back of her chair, and leant over, but not so far as to le...
A loyal and loving servant An interfering gossip To what extent do you think both these descriptions apply to Nelly Dean? Support your ideas with ...
You are Hindley Earnshaw on your way home to Wuthering Heights to attend your father’s funeral. Write your thoughts.
Read this extract, and then answer the question that follows it. One day, on a trip to the bazaar, Mr Chawla spotted a large striped garden umbrel...
A fraud A holy man Which of these descriptions is closer to your view of Sampath? Support your ideas with details from Desai’s writing.
You are Hungry Hop towards the end of the novel, helpless in the nets as Pinky looks down on you. Write your thoughts.
Read this extract, and then answer the question that follows it: Gatsby walked over and stood beside her. ‘Daisy, that’s all over now,’ he said ea...
How far do you think Fitzgerald intends us to dislike Jordan Baker? Support your ideas with details from the novel.
You are Gatsby. You are waiting at night outside the house of Tom and Daisy following the death of Myrtle Wilson. Write your thoughts.
Read this extract, and then answer the question that follows it: One day, a strange, massively built, blue-eyed young man walked into the paramoun...
Explore two moments in the no vel where Head makes vivid the hardships that the people of Botswana face. (Do not use the passage in Question 28 in ...
You are Makhaya. You have just learnt that Gilbert has proposed to Maria. Write your thoughts.
Read this extract, and then answer the question that follows it: In the black shade of the Varnum spruces he caught up with her and she turned wit...
How does Wharton make Zeena such an unattr active and dislikeable character? Support your ideas with details from the writing.
You are Mattie. You have just been told that you are to go to live in Starkfield with Zeena and Ethan Frome. Write your thoughts.
Read this extract from The Lemon Orchard (by Alex La Guma), and then answer the question that follows it: The men came down between two long, regu...
How do the writers make the narrators so interesting in two of the following stories? On Her Knees (by Tim Winton) The Signalman (by Charles Dicke...
You are the boy in Secrets. You have just read the first of Aunt Mary’s letters. Write your thoughts.
Read this extract, and then answer the question that follows it: Happy: Oh, gets to be like everything else. Selling is selling, y'know. Girl: I su...
In this play the action often shifts between the present and the past. Explore the dramatic effect of two moments in the play where this happens.
You are Biff, lying in bed on the night before you go to see Bill Oliver. Write your thoughts.
Read this extract, and then answer the question that follows it: Citizens: We will be satisfied! Let us be satisfied! Brutus: Then follow me, and g...
To what extent does Shakespeare make you sympathise with Cassius? Support your ideas with details from the play.
You are Brutus. You are just about to reveal to Portia what has happened in your meeting with Cassius and the other conspirators. Write your thoughts.