A.

Reading

It was like being in the House of Horrors.

Sarah felt like there was no way out. So did the others, of course. The four of them, Sarah,
Goldie, Jerry and Sid were stuck in a party gone bad, literally. Their host, and also class
president, Edmund, had disappeared along with the rest of the senior class. There were no
explanations, no directions, only the desperate need to get out of the house as soon as
possible.

An hour before, the four of them had enjoyed a typical end-of-school party with the rest of
the senior class, mingling, chatting and having fun. That was, until the power got cut off;
lights went out, lines went dead, and utter bedlam had occurred.

Now, the last remaining members of the slowly-disappearing one-by-one senior class were
fighting hysteria and long-delayed panic.

There was no one in the gigantic mansion. There was no screaming, no shuffling, nothing.

They could feel it. Previously one-by-one the senior class had disappeared and they were
fated for the same. The knowledge did not sit well, and panic soon became as strong an enemy
as the danger the four faced in the darkness.

Sarah, who was a confessed coward at heart, hated the darkness that enveloped her as the
group shuffled their way towards the large family office that was located at the end of the
right side of the mansion. Their goal was to reach the satellite phone that was in the office.

It was the only satellite phone in the entire mansion that they could use to call 999 and get
themselves out of the Horror House.

Of course, their course was deterred by a couple of mishaps. For example, the group of
spiders that had crawled onto Goldie’s hair, ultimately causing her to scream her head off
and thrash around, knocking the one torch the group had from Sid’s hand.

It had taken them a half hour to find the torch in the darkness, so scared they all were, that
their fingers fumbled and their minds were going blank with shock and panic.

Now, they were getting close to their destination. At the end of the long narrow hall (which
added to Sarah’s claustrophobic fears) a large door was left ajar. Sid was the first to get in,
and behind him were Sarah, Goldie, and Jerry.
The second one inside, Sarah peeked at the darkness. Silvers of moonlight entered the
medium-sized room, allowing her to make out the blurred dark shapes of the large desk,
chairs, sofa…

She turned to her right.

And stared at the most hideous pair of eyes she had ever seen.
So, Sarah did what any self-respecting person would do.
She screamed her head off.

Everyone pivoted around to see what had happened. Sid’s flashlight was the last to follow.
The light fell on the object of Sarah’s fright, and caused them all to gasp in surprise.

“It’s, it’s, a..” Goldie stammered, “a mask.”

“A very ugly mask,” Sid added.

Jerry hushed Sarah, who was still groaning in shock. “You sound like a cat with laryngitis,” he
told her.

At the moment, his eye caught a little black device under the mask’s high stand. Peering
closer, Jerry stared at it. Was that a camera?

Just then, in the midst of all the commotion, Goldie remembered the phone. Making her way
around the desk, she noticed a red light flashing on the machine.

Picking up the receiver and pressing the loudspeaker button, and feeling utterly ridiculous
since the others all turned to stare at her, Goldie spoke softly into the phone, “Hello?”

“Hey,” came the laughing voice of Edmund.

The four of them froze as the lights went on.

Understanding flitted across Sarah’s face, along with shock. “We were being pranked.”

“Actually,” Edmund’s laughing voice replied, “The entire senior class has been, pranked. And
we’ve got it all taped. The whole thing. Happy Senior Year!” he concluded cheerfully to the
room’s shell- shocked occupants.

“What?” Sid was the first to recover.

Edmund’s following words, said in an on-so-simple tone, shook them all,

“You were being watched. The entire time.”
Section A: Reading

1. (a) What type of fiction is this story? [1]

_____________________________________________________________________

(b) Give an evidence to support your answer. [1]

_____________________________________________________________________

2. What sort of character is Sarah?

Write one phrase in your own words about his character.

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Give a quotation from the passage to support your answer. [2]

_____________________________________________________________________

3. What sort of character is Sid?

Write one phrase in your own words.

_____________________________________________________________________

Give an evidence from the passage to support your answer. [2]

_____________________________________________________________________

4. What is the atmosphere at the end of the text?

Write one phrase in your own words.

_____________________________________________________________________

Give a quotation from the passage to support your answer. [2]

_____________________________________________________________________

5. Give two impressions in your own words of the atmosphere at the house. [2]

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________
6. (a) Give two quotations that describe the atmosphere before and after the power cut. [2]
1) before

_____________________________________________________________________

2) after

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(b) Why do you think the writer used such a contrast? [1]

_____________________________________________________________________

7. Give three words or phrases from the passage that the writer uses to suggest the
terrifying atmosphere of the house.
1. ____________________________________________________________________

2. ____________________________________________________________________

3. ____________________________________________________________________

8. What effect is the writer trying to create by using the words highlighted in bold in these
sentences?

(a) ‘darkness that enveloped her’ [2]

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

(b) ‘the danger the four faced in the darkness’ [2]

_____________________________________________________________________

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Section B: Writing

You have been in the most terrifying situation ever.

Describe the situation giving a lifelike picture as much as possible.