Exam practice for Edexcel GCSE English Language Paper 1: 'The Brazilian Cat'
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A series of exam-style questions based on an unseen fiction extract from a nineteenth-century extract.
The exam practice resource uses an extract from Arthur Conan Doyle's short story 'The Brazilian Cat' and is designed for Edexcel GCSE English Language. It includes a narrative/creative writing activity on the same theme.
Detailed answers are provided for all the questions on the unseen 19th-century extract for self- or peer-marking, as well as key guidance from a recent examiner's report.
This classroom resource could be used for timed exam practice or a summative assessment.
An example exam-style question from the resource:
4. In this text there is an attempt to convey the narrator’s feelings about a frightening situation. Evaluate how successfully this is achieved. (15 marks)
Peer or self-assessment mark scheme:
It’s important that your response focuses on the question and on how well the writer has achieved a representation of the narrator’s feelings about a frightening situation (not just on how it has been achieved).
In an examiner’s report it says:
The focus of evaluation is upon how well something has been achieved, not merely upon how it has been achieved; it is an assessment of the relative success of the writer rather than simply an explanation of the techniques that have been used. (Examiner’s report 2018)
Make use of words such as: successfully, effectively, certainly, clearly, skillfully, convincingly in their response.
In addition, you could include comments on:
- The opening of the text with the puma’s initial assault on the narrator: ‘One sharp white hook’ to describe the claw and the fact that this is classed as ‘an experiment’ but results in a ‘furrow’ of an injury; the reader realises how serious an attack would be.
- The narrative viewpoint — the first-person narration makes the scene seem more immediate and real.
- Chronological narrative without flashbacks or backstory concentrates the reader on events as they unfold and on the narrator’s increasing fear as the night passes.
- References to the passing of time throughout the text.
