Exercise 1: Short Answers

British & IGCSE › Cambridge IGCSE English as a Second Language (0510)

Exercise 1 is the first thing you meet in Paper 1, and it is the friendliest exercise on the paper: a short text, six questions and answers that are all in the text. It is also where many students lose easy marks by writing too much, copying the wrong detail or misreading the question word. This page shows you exactly how the exercise works, a step-by-step method, the traps to avoid, and a full original practice test with answers and explanations.

What Exercise 1 is

The answers are always in the text. You are never asked for your own opinion or your general knowledge. Questions 1-5 usually follow the order of the text (the answer to Question 1 comes before the answer to Question 2, and so on). Question 6 is different: its three answers can come from different parts of the text.

How to tackle it: step by step

This is the method I teach in class. It saves time because you read the text with a purpose instead of reading it twice.

1. Do not start by reading the whole text slowly. Look at the title and skim the text for 30-60 seconds to get the topic and the order of ideas.
2. Read all six questions first. Now you know what you are looking for.
3. Underline the key words in each question: the question word (where, why, how many, what kind...) and the important nouns and verbs.
4. Paraphrase the question in your head. 'Where do visitors usually buy their tickets?' becomes 'Where can people get tickets?' Think of synonyms the text might use (*buy - purchase, get, pay for*).
5. Locate the answer. Scan for the key word or a synonym. Because Questions 1-5 follow the text order, start looking just after the answer to the previous question.
6. Read the whole sentence carefully - and the sentence before and after. Check small words like *not, only, except, at first, later*.
7. Write a short, exact answer. Only the information the question asks for. Use the words from the text if you can, but copy only what you need, letter by letter.
8. Do Question 6 last. Underline its key words, then search the whole text for three separate details. Write them on the three lines, one detail per line.
9. Check. Does each answer match its question word? Did you answer every question? Are copied words spelt correctly?

Answer-length rules

The most common reason students lose marks in Exercise 1 is not that they cannot find the answer - it is that they write it badly. Follow these rules:

• One word or a short phrase is enough - often 1-4 words. A number is often the whole answer.
• No full sentences needed. Do not repeat the question ('The reason why the writer was annoyed was because...'). Go straight to the answer.
• No extra information. If you add details the question did not ask for and one of them is wrong, the examiner may not give the mark, because your answer no longer shows clearly that you understood.
• Do not give two possible answers hoping one is right ('the beach or the park'). A correct answer and a wrong answer together will not get the mark.
• Name things, do not use 'it' or 'they'. 'It was broken' does not show what was broken.
• Keep the key detail. Too short is also wrong: if the question asks 'What did she lose?' and the text says 'her house keys', the answer 'keys' is fine but 'her house' is wrong.

Know your question words

The question word tells you what type of answer you need. Underline it every time. Many wrong answers are the right part of the text but the wrong type of information.

Why questions deserve special care. The text may give the reason with *because, as, since, so, due to, in order to, as a result*, or with no linking word at all - the reason may simply be in the next sentence. What kind of questions often want the adjective or describing word as well as the noun: 'a *thin* jacket', not just 'a jacket', if the point is that it was not warm enough.

Question 6: the multi-answer question

Question 6 is worth 3 marks - more than a third of the exercise. It usually asks you to give three details of one kind: three reasons, three problems, three things someone did, three advantages and so on.

• The answers can be anywhere. They are not always in order, and they are often spread over two or three paragraphs. Skim the whole text again.
• Underline the category word (problems, advantages, reasons, activities...). Then find everything in the text that belongs to that category - and only that category. A 'good thing' is not an answer to a question about 'problems'.
• Each answer must be a different idea. 'It was cold' and 'the temperature was low' are the same point - one mark only.
• One detail per line. Write each answer on its own line, short, with no 'and' joining two ideas on one line.
• If there are more than three possible answers, choose the three clearest. Do not write four or five on three lines.

The traps examiners set

Timing

Exercise 1 is only 8 marks out of 60. If you are still on it after 15 minutes, write your best guess, mark it with a star and move on. You can come back in the final check.

Full practice test

Now try a complete Exercise 1 under exam conditions. Set a timer for 12 minutes. Read the questions first, then the text. Write your answers on paper before you look at the answers below.

A Week Under the Desert Stars - *a blog post by Karim, 16*

Last spring I spent seven nights at an astronomy camp in the Western Desert, about four hours' drive from Cairo. I had always been interested in space, but at home I could only ever see a handful of stars because of the bright street lights. My uncle, who teaches science, noticed an advertisement for the camp on a noticeboard at his school and suggested that I apply.

The camp is run by a small team of volunteers, most of whom are university students studying physics. There were twenty of us, aged between fourteen and eighteen, and we slept in simple tents arranged in a circle around a large fire. Mobile phones were collected on the first evening and locked in a metal box. At first I was annoyed about this, but by the third day I hardly noticed that mine was gone.

Our days followed an unusual timetable. Because the most important work happened after dark, we slept until late morning and had lunch at two o'clock. In the afternoons we attended short talks in a shelter made from palm leaves. My favourite was about how sailors in the past used the stars to find their way across the sea. I had never realised how much people depended on the night sky before modern technology.

Once the sun went down, the real adventure began. The organisers had brought three powerful telescopes, and we took turns to use them in groups of four. The first object I saw clearly was Saturn. I knew its rings would be there, but seeing them with my own eyes made me gasp so loudly that everyone laughed. Later in the week we watched a meteor shower, and I counted forty-two shooting stars in a single hour.

Not everything was easy. The temperature dropped sharply after midnight, and although the packing list had told us to bring warm clothes, I had only packed a thin jacket. Luckily, one of the volunteers lent me a thick wool jumper. Sand also got into everything - our food, our sleeping bags and even the telescope cases, which had to be cleaned every morning.

On the final night, each of us presented one thing we had learned. I explained how to find the North Star using a group of stars called the Plough. My hands were shaking, but afterwards one of the organisers said I would make a good teacher.

I came home with sunburnt arms, a notebook full of sketches and a new ambition: I want to study astrophysics at university. I have already put my name down for next year's camp - and this time I will pack properly.

When you have finished, check your answers. Each answer below shows where the answer is, why it is right and why the tempting wrong answers lose the mark.

1. Question 1: Where did the writer's uncle find out about the camp?

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   Answer: (on) a noticeboard (at his school). Paragraph 1: 'noticed an advertisement for the camp on a noticeboard at his school'. 'Find out about' = 'noticed an advertisement'. Wrong answers: 'at his school' alone is risky - it is less exact than 'noticeboard'. 'In Cairo' is not given in the text as the place of the advert.

2. Question 2: Why was the writer unable to see many stars at home?

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   Answer: (because of the bright) street lights. Paragraph 1: 'I could only ever see a handful of stars because of the bright street lights.' Paraphrase: 'unable to see many' = 'could only ever see a handful'. Wrong answers: 'he lives in a city' is general knowledge, not the reason the text gives. 'He was not interested' contradicts the text ('I had always been interested in space').

3. Question 3: What kind of students were most of the volunteers?

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   Answer: university students (studying physics) / physics students. Paragraph 2: 'most of whom are university students studying physics'. Wrong answers: 'aged between fourteen and eighteen' describes the campers, not the volunteers - this is a near-miss detail in the very next sentence. 'Science students' is too general if you lose the key idea of physics/university. Write what the text says.

4. Question 4: Why did the campers stay in bed until late morning?

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   Answer: (because) the most important work happened after dark / at night. Paragraph 3: 'Because the most important work happened after dark, we slept until late morning'. 'Stay in bed' = 'slept'. Notice that the reason comes before the result in this sentence. Wrong answers: 'they had lunch at two o'clock' is a result, not the reason. 'They were tired' is not stated.

5. Question 5: How many campers used each telescope at one time?

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   Answer: four. Paragraph 4: 'we took turns to use them in groups of four'. 'Them' refers to the telescopes. Wrong answers: this is the number trap. 'Three' is the number of telescopes, 'twenty' is the total number of campers (paragraph 2) and 'forty-two' is the number of shooting stars.

6. Question 6: Give three difficulties the writer experienced during the week.

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   Any three of these different ideas (1 mark each, maximum 3): (a) it was very cold after midnight · (b) he had only packed a thin jacket / did not bring warm clothes · (c) sand got into his food / sleeping bag / everything · (d) the telescope cases had to be cleaned every morning (because of sand) · (e) he was nervous when presenting / his hands were shaking · (f) he was annoyed when his phone was taken (at first). Where: the answers are spread over paragraphs 2, 5 and 6 - not in one place. Careful: (c) and (d) both come from the sand - write them as clearly different details if you use both, or choose another idea to be safe. Wrong answers: 'he got sunburnt' is mentioned only as something he came home with, not presented as a difficulty during the week, so it is a weak choice. 'He gasped loudly' is not a difficulty - it shows excitement. 'He borrowed a jumper' is the solution, not the problem.

Extra practice: find the paraphrase

Each pair below shows a question and a sentence from a text. Find the words in the text that match the underlined idea in the question, then give the short answer.

1. Question: Why did the shop close down? Text: 'After the rent doubled, the owner had no choice but to shut the business for good.'

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   'close down' = 'shut the business for good'. Answer: the rent doubled / the rent went up.

2. Question: What did Yara find difficult at her new school? Text: 'The lessons were fine, but getting used to the long journey every morning was a real challenge.'

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   'find difficult' = 'a real challenge'. Answer: the long journey (every morning). Not the lessons - 'were fine'.

3. Question: How long did the repairs take? Text: 'Workers began in early May and the bridge reopened six weeks later, in mid-June.'

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   Answer: six weeks. Do not write 'May' or 'June' - those are dates, not a length of time.

4. Question: What was unusual about the restaurant? Text: 'Most restaurants in the area serve fish, but this one is unique because every dish is cooked by students from the catering college.'

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   'unusual' = 'unique'. Answer: every dish is cooked by (catering) students.

Final checklist for Exercise 1

• I read the questions before reading the text in detail.
• I underlined the question word and key words in every question.
• I looked for synonyms and paraphrases, not just the same words.
• My answers to Questions 1-5 are short (a word, a phrase or a number).
• Every answer matches its question word (where = place, why = reason...).
• I added no extra details and gave only one answer per question.
• I wrote three different ideas for Question 6, one per line.
• I copied words from the text correctly.
• I finished in about 12 minutes.