QCE Essential English free practice questions with answers

Section 1 This section has one question. Stimulus 1 (seen — online article) ‘Why Our Screens Are Stealing Our Sleep’ by Priya Nash, posted on her blog Not Another Listicle Confession: I used to fall asleep with my phone lighting up my face like a tiny blue campfire. Then I tried something almost embarrassingly simple — I put the phone in the kitchen at 9 pm. The first night felt like withdrawal. By night four, I was waking up before my alarm, actually rested. Here’s what nobody tells you: it isn’t really about the phone. It’s about the promise every notification makes — that something more interesting than your own thoughts is happening somewhere else. Chasing that promise until midnight doesn’t make you more connected. It makes you exhausted at first period and useless in every conversation that matters. I’m not saying throw your phone in the bin. I’m saying give your brain a proper closing time. A kitchen charger, a lock-box, an old-fashioned alarm clock — whatever it takes. Your sleep isn’t negotiable. Everything else can wait until morning. QUESTION 1 Explain how the author of the online article in Stimulus 1 creates two representations of screen time and sleep. Explain how a belief, a language feature and a text structure contribute to creating each representation.

A MODEL RESPONSE AND GUIDANCE FOR THAT TASK Worked Responses (modelled on an A-standard response) The real CIA is graded on-balance A–E against a QCAA marking guide (CIAMG), not numeric marks. The model responses below are written to A-standard (‘detailed explanation’) so you can see the full target, then scaled down to show what a B/C-standard response typically drops. Question 1 — Section 1 (Stimulus 1) Assessment objectives: 3, 4, 5, 6, 9 (objectives 1, 2, 7, 8 are not assessed by the CIA) Representation: Screens as an understandable, forgivable habit — not a personal failing

• Belief: The author draws on the belief that habits change more effectively through empathy and self-recognition than through shame or willpower alone. This underpins her decision to admit her own habit before criticising anyone else's.

• Language feature: The metaphor ‘like a tiny blue campfire’ reframes the phone screen as something primal and comforting rather than shameful, softening the reader's defensiveness before any advice is given.