English Practice Exercises

Amanda Alexander and Rachel Gee have extensive experience in the teaching and managing of English in prep schools, most recently running the English Department at Danes Hill Preparatory School in Surrey. Their aim is to promote excellent literacy skills to enable confident access of the whole curriculum and in forming Lex Education they continue to support teachers and parents and help children to read and write with understanding and rigour.

About the ISEB English 13+ syllabus and the Common Entrance Examination at 13+PAPER 1: READINGSECTION A: NON-FICTIONDiaryThura's Diary: My Life in Wartime Iraq by Thura al-Windawi SpeechThe Love of a Dog by George Graham Vest from Speeches that Changed the WorldTravelBorn Survivor by Bear GryllsSpeech The Need for Adventure adapted from the Patrick Hardy Lecture given by Anthony Horowitz, November 2005TravelMorocco by Andrew Gilchrist from The Guardian, Saturday10th November 2001Journalistic Queuing by Christopher Middleton from The Daily Telegraph, 26th September 2005Review The first review of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by Leo Lewis from Timesonline, 28th June 2007AutobiographyLong Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela by Nelson MandelaJournalistic A Giant Problem by Martin Hickman from The Independent, 27th February 2006AutobiographyAs I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie LeeSECTION B: POETRYSpace Shot by Gareth OwenBlessing by Imtiaz DharkerTo Sleep by William WordsworthClown by Phoebe HeskethHawk Roosting by Ted HughesToad by Norman MacCaigAn Old Woman by R S ThomasSpace Invaders by Owen SheersThe Hero by Siegfried SassoonThe Lake by Roger McGoughPAPER 2: WRITINGSECTION A: STUDIED LITERATURETheme: RelationshipsTheme: ConflictTheme: Heroes and HeroinesSECTION B: WRITING TASKSAppendix Additional 'Relationship' questions for Studied Literature