ASIA PACIFIC INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

TERM 3 ASSESSMENT
2021 - 2022

NAME

CLASS YEAR 8

ENGLISH LANGUAGE June 2022

1 hour 30 minutes

READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST

• Answer all questions.

• Use a black or dark blue pen.
• Write your name and class in the boxes at the top of the page.
• Write your answer to each question in the space provided.
• Do not use an erasable pen or correction fluid.

INFORMATION

• The total mark for this paper is 40.

• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

40

This document consists of 9 printed pages including the cover.

 English Term 3 Assessment Page 2 of 9

Text for Section A, an extract from The Legendeer: Shadow of the Minotaur by Alan Gibbons

Chapter 1

But still the beast stood in the archway, pawing at the floor. It was bigger than a man. It stood
almost three metres tall and was massively built with slabs of muscle on its chest and
shoulders. Below the waist it was bull-like. It had a swinging tail and mud-splattered hooves. Or
was it mud? Above the waist it was a man except, that is, for the head. And what a head! The
muzzle was huge and when it opened it revealed the sharp, curved teeth, not of a bull but of a 5
big cat. They were the fangs of a lion or tiger, made for ripping flesh. Its eyes were yellow and
blazed unflinchingly through the murk. Then there were the great horns, glinting and sharp,
curving from its monstrous brow. Thick and muscular as the neck was, it seemed barely able to
support such a fearsome head, and strained visibly under the impossible weight.

‘Oh my - ’ 10

The beast stepped out from the tunnel, and the boy actually took a few steps back. It was as if
his soul had crept out of his body and was tugging at him, begging him to get away. In the
sparse light shed from the gratings in the ceiling, the beast looked even more hideous. There
was the sweat for a start, standing out in gleaming beads on that enormous neck and
shoulders. 15

The beast began to stamp forward, its hooves clashing on the stone floor. It raised its head, the
horns scraping on the ceiling, and gave a bellow that seemed to crush the air.

‘I can’t do this …’

He fell back, scrambling over obstacles on the floor, and fled. That’s when he realized he’d
dropped the ball of string. His lifeline had gone. 20

‘Oh no!’

The beast was charging head down.

Got to get out of here!

In his mind’s eye, he could see himself impaled on the points of those evil-looking horns, his
legs pedalling feebly in the air, his head snapped back, his eyes growing pale and lifeless. 25

Suddenly, he was running for his life, skidding on the slimy floor.

‘Help me!’

He saw the startled brown eyes of the girl above the grating.

‘Don’t run!’ she cried, ‘Fight. You must fight.’

He was almost dying of shame. This wasn’t supposed to happen. He wasn't meant to lose and 30
there weren’t meant to be witnesses to his defeat.

‘Fight,’ she repeated. ‘It’s the way of things.’

The way of things. That’s right, he was meant to stand and fight. It was in his nature as a hero.
But he couldn’t. Not against that.

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‘Please,’ he begged, turning his face away from the girl in shame, ‘somebody help me.’ 35

The beast was careering through the tunnels, crashing, bellowing, thundering through the maze. Its
charge was hot, furious, unstoppable. It was almost on him.

Get me out of here!

‘That’s it,’ he cried, throwing down his sword, ‘I’ve had enough. Game over!’

Chapter 2

Ripping off the mask and gloves, Phoenix bent double gulping down air like it had been 40
rationed. The dank half-light of the tunnels was replaced by the welcome glow from an
Anglepoise lamp in his father’s study. He glanced at the score bracelet on his wrist. It registered
total defeat: 000000. For a few moments everything was spinning, the claws of the game
digging into the flesh of the here and now. Then his surroundings became reassuringly familiar.

He was out. 45

It was a game!

‘Well?’ his dad asked, ‘What do you think?’

‘Mind-blowing,’ Phoenix panted. ‘It was so real. It was like another world. I mean, I was
Theseus. I went into the palace of the tyrant-king Minos. I could actually touch the stone
columns, feel the heat of the braziers, smell the incense.’ 50

He knew he was gushing, babbling like a little kid, but he didn’t care.
‘The king’s daughter Ariadne helped me and she wasn’t just an image on a screen. She was a
real girl. Then I actually came face to face with the Minotaur. It was really happening. I believed it.’
He shivered. ‘Still do.’

‘Oh, I could tell how convincing it was’, said Dad, enjoying the mixture of excitement and fear in 55
his son’s voice.

‘You were screaming your silly head off by the end.’

Phoenix blushed then, beginning to control his breathing at last, he picked up the mask and
gloves and traced the attached wires back to the computer where images of the labyrinth were
still flashing away on the screen. 60

‘It really is just a game?’

Dad pushed his seat back and gave a superior smile.

‘That’s all. Just a very sophisticated piece of software, hooked up to an even more sophisticated
piece of hardware.’

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 English Term 3 Assessment Page 4 of 9

Section A: Reading

Spend 30 minutes on this section.

Read the text, in the insert, and answer questions 1-11.

1 Look at lines 1-9.

(a) Give one word that means ‘fearlessly’.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. [1]

2 Look at lines 10-15.

(a) Why does the writer use a dash ( - ) in line 10?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. [1]

(b) Look at lines 11-12.

What literary technique is used in this sentence?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. [1]

(c) What does this sentence tell the reader about how the boy feels?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. [1]

3 Look at lines 16-22.

(a) Give one word that tells the reader the beast’s voice was very loud.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. [1]

4 Look at lines 24-25.

What is the effect of the three clauses at the end of this sentence?

….…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….….…………….. [1]

5 Look at line 26.

What literary technique is this?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…….. [1]

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6 Look at lines 27-39.

In what ways do you think the boy is unheroic? Give two reasons and support each reason
with a quotation from the text.

Reason 1: ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Quotation 1: ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Reason 2: ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Quotation 2: ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
[4]

7 Look at lines 40-41.

What does gulping tell the reader about how the boy feels now?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…………………….. [1]

8 Look at this extract, the claws of the game digging into the flesh of the here and now in
lines 43-44.

What does this tell the reader? Tick (Ö) one box.

The bull has injured him.

Phoenix kept scratching himself.

The score bracelet is too tight.

Phoenix is still thinking about the game.

[1]

9 Look at lines 55-64. Phoenix’s father is pleased with himself.

Explain how the writer shows how the father feels. Give one way and support your answer
using evidence from the text.

…..…………………………….…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...

…..…………………………….…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………... [2]

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Section B: Writing

Spend 30 minutes on this section.

10 Write a story that is set in an imaginary place. Create two characters who meet
each other for the first time.

Consider the following:

• What is the setting? For example, a strange building, a historic period, an unusual town
or landscape.
• Who are your characters? Why are they there?
• What happens?

Space for your plan:

[25]

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Marks
Content, Purpose and Audience (Wa) /8
Text Structure and Organisation (Wt) /7
Sentence structure and punctuation (Wp) /7
Spelling /3
TOTAL /25

END OF QUESTION PAPER

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