Practice questions using an extract from 'Great Expectations'
A set of practice exam questions suitable for students sitting AQA Paper 1: Explorations in creative reading and writing. Please note that 'Great Expectations' was published in 1861, while the paper itself will include an extract from the 20th or 21st century.
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Review this resource22/11/2020
06/09/2019
Hiya Bie,
Possible answers are:
QT1:
• Pip’s family name is Pirrip
• Pip’s Christian name is Philip
• He calls himself Pip, and came to be called Pip.
• He never saw his father or his mother
• His mother and father are dead.
QT2:
Firstly, when Pip describes the place where his parents are buried he observes how it was a “bleak place overgrown with nettles”. Dickens employs the adjective “bleak” to suggest that there is little to appreciate about the environment because it appears that the churchyard is uncared for and an unwelcoming place as the nettles are “overgrown” implying that it has been neglected. Furthermore, the fact that Pip no longer has any parents as they are both “dead and buried” along with his siblings “Alexander, Bartholomew, Abraham, Tobias, and Roger” highlights how life is very cruel, and that infant mortality is a common occurrence. The long list of children who have died before him reinforces the idea that where he lives the quality of life is poor as the children seem to have died prematurely, leaving Pip to feel very isolated and alone.
QT3:
Motif of death established at the start that is reoccurring throughout and ends the extract. Creates a sense that the environment is a dangerous one because it makes the reader fear for the narrator/ protagonist.
The man is a convict – “leg iron” – escaped prisoner. Intrigued by who this stranger is and why he is here; what will he do?
Pace of the story – unexpected change in the direction of the text – because the focus moves from Pip’s family and background to a potential incident of death. Shocks the reader because we are unprepared for the shift in focus.
QT4:
Line 20 – “marsh country”
Line 24 – “bleak place overgrown with nettles”
Line 26 – “dead and buried” – parents and siblings.
Line 28 – “distant savage lair”
Line 29 – “small bundle of shivers growing afraid”
Line 35/36 - “a man…no hat, broken shoes, old rag tied round his head”
Possible answers are:
QT1:
• Pip’s family name is Pirrip
• Pip’s Christian name is Philip
• He calls himself Pip, and came to be called Pip.
• He never saw his father or his mother
• His mother and father are dead.
QT2:
Firstly, when Pip describes the place where his parents are buried he observes how it was a “bleak place overgrown with nettles”. Dickens employs the adjective “bleak” to suggest that there is little to appreciate about the environment because it appears that the churchyard is uncared for and an unwelcoming place as the nettles are “overgrown” implying that it has been neglected. Furthermore, the fact that Pip no longer has any parents as they are both “dead and buried” along with his siblings “Alexander, Bartholomew, Abraham, Tobias, and Roger” highlights how life is very cruel, and that infant mortality is a common occurrence. The long list of children who have died before him reinforces the idea that where he lives the quality of life is poor as the children seem to have died prematurely, leaving Pip to feel very isolated and alone.
QT3:
Motif of death established at the start that is reoccurring throughout and ends the extract. Creates a sense that the environment is a dangerous one because it makes the reader fear for the narrator/ protagonist.
The man is a convict – “leg iron” – escaped prisoner. Intrigued by who this stranger is and why he is here; what will he do?
Pace of the story – unexpected change in the direction of the text – because the focus moves from Pip’s family and background to a potential incident of death. Shocks the reader because we are unprepared for the shift in focus.
QT4:
Line 20 – “marsh country”
Line 24 – “bleak place overgrown with nettles”
Line 26 – “dead and buried” – parents and siblings.
Line 28 – “distant savage lair”
Line 29 – “small bundle of shivers growing afraid”
Line 35/36 - “a man…no hat, broken shoes, old rag tied round his head”
25/11/2017
Hi,
I was just wondering if there are answers to this exercise and where to find them?
Thanks you
I was just wondering if there are answers to this exercise and where to find them?
Thanks you
16/09/2017