Cambridge &amp; Pearson Edexcel Past Paper Questions

You are Ethan, thinking about asking Zeena to marry you. Write your thoughts.

Read this extract from The Yellow Wall Paper, and then answer the question that follows it: It is very seldom that mere ordinary people like John ...

How do the writers make the endings disturbing for you in two of the following stories? Meteor (by John Wyndham) The Signalman (by Charles Dickens...

You are the narrator at the end of The Taste of Watermelon (by Borden Deal). You are lying in bed thinking of your conversation with Mr Wills earli...

Read this extract, and then answer the question that follows it: Biff: Shouldn't we do anything? Linda: Oh, my dear, you should do a lot of things,...

Explore two moments in the play where you feel Miller strongly criticises some of the values of American society. Support your ideas with details f...

You are Biff. You have discovered your father with the Woman and are now leaving Boston. Write your thoughts.

Read this extract, and then answer the question that follows it: Dogberry: Is our whole dissembly appear'd? Verges: O, a stool and a cushion for th...

In your view, how does Shakespeare make Don John such an intriguing character? Support your answer by close reference to the play.

You are Beatrice. You have just called Benedick in to dinner. Write your thoughts.

Read this extract, and then answer the question that follows it: Brutus: Mark Antony, here, take you Caesar's body. You shall not in your funeral s...

In what ways does Shakespeare make you sympathise with Brutus? Support your answer with details from the play.

You are Caesar on your way to the Senate House on the Ides of March. Write your thoughts.

Read this extract, and then answer the question that follows it: Colonel: And the general wants us to make a raid to find out who's come into the l...

Do you think Sherriff makes it possible for the audience to sympathise in any way with Hibbert? Support your ideas with details from the writing.

You are Osborne, just before you leave the trench to go on the raid. Write your thoughts.

Read this extract from Mariana, and then answer the question that follows it: And ever when the moon was low, And the shrill winds were up and away...

In what ways does Tennyson convey feelings of comfort, despite the death of his friend, in the extracts from In Memoriam?

In what ways does Tennyson strikingly convey his feelings to you in Crossing the Bar?

Read this poem, and then answer the question that follows it: Sonnet 29 Pity me not because the light of day At close of day no longer walks the sk...

Explore the ways in which Full Moon and Little Frieda (by Ted Hughes) and Dover Beach (by Matthew Arnold) memorably convey the mysterious atmospher...

Explore how in either Sonnet 43 (by Elizabeth Barrett Browning) or Marrysong (by Dennis Scott) the poet powerfully conveys what it is like to be in...

Read this extract, and then answer the question that follows it: Having uttered these words, he left the house, slowly sauntered down the garden pa...

Explore how Brontë makes Joseph such an unsympathetic figure throughout the novel. Support your ideas with details from the writing.

You are Heathcliff, on the day your son Linton is due to arrive at Thrushcross Grange. Write your thoughts.

Read this extract, and then answer the question that follows it: Far on a hillside roamed the lady responsible for Sampath's nutrition, a tiny figu...

To what extent does Desai make you sympathise with Sampath before he runs away from home? Support your ideas with details from the writing.

You are the Spy. You have gone to bed after your very unsuccessful speech to the Atheist Society. Write your thoughts.

Read this extract, and then answer the question that follows it: The telephone rang inside, startingly, and as Daisy shook her head decisively at T...

Does Fitzgerald lead you to think that Jay Gatsby deserves his fate? Support your answer by close reference to the novel.

You are Tom Buchanan towards the end of the novel. You and Daisy have just left without leaving an address. Write your thoughts.

Read this extract, and then answer the question that follows it: Mma-Millipede turned her face towards Gilbert and smiled. She adored him, as she i...

How does Head make the society and values of Golema Mmidi come to life for you? Support your ideas with details by close reference to the novel.

You are Gilbert. You have just spent your first evening with Makhaya. Write your thoughts.

Read this extract, and then answer the question that follows it: "Is this where Ned and Ruth kissed each other?" she whispered breathlessly, and fl...

To what extent do you think Wharton suggests that Ethan is himself responsible for being a failure? Support your ideas with details from the writing.

You are Zeena, at the moment when Ethan steps into the kitchen bringing a visitor (the narrator). Write your thoughts.

Read this extract from There Will Come Soft Rains, and then answer the question that follows it: At ten o'clock the house began to die. The wind bl...

Explore in detail the ways in which the writer memorably portrays suffering in either The Yellow Wall Paper (by Charlotte Perkins Gilman) or The Le...

You are Mother in On Her Knees (by Tim Winton). You have just read the note from your employer. Write your thoughts.

Read this extract, and then answer the question that follows it: Willy: Loves me. [Wonderingly] Always loved me. Isn’t that a remarkable thing? Ben...

How do you think Miller makes the audience care about what happens to Willy? Support your ideas with details from the play.

You are Linda. Willy has returned from the restaurant and you are waiting for the return of Biff and Happy. Write your thoughts.

Read this extract, and then answer the question that follows it: Brutus: Remember March, the ides of March remember: Did not great Julius bleed for...

Explore the ways in which Shakespeare vividly presents the Roman crowd in the play.

You are Antony. You have just made your speech to the crowd following Brutus’s oration after Caesar’s murder. Write your thoughts.

Read this extract, and then answer the question that follows it: Master: Boatswain! Boatswain: Here, master; what cheer? Master: Good! Speak to th’...

How far does Shakespeare make it possible for you to have sympathy for Caliban? Support your ideas with details from the play.

You are Ariel at the end of the play. Prospero has just promised you freedom once you have completed your final task. Write your thoughts.