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11+ · CSSE

EP.T3 CSSE-Style English Mock (Essex)

Calculators not allowed · about 60 minutes

Total Marks

Name: _______________________________ Date: ____ / ____ / ______

Time: 60 minutes. This paper has four sections: Section 1 Reading Comprehension (25 minutes), Section 2 Vocabulary (10 minutes), Section 3 Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (10 minutes), and Section 4 Continuous Writing (15 minutes). Write your answers in full sentences unless a question tells you otherwise. Try to keep to the timing given for each section. If you finish a section early you may check your work within that section, but do not turn back to an earlier section once you have moved on. Read every question carefully before you begin to write.

The Mersea Tide

Original fiction extract written for Revision Library.

1 Amara Osei had never quite believed her grandmother's stories about the old rowing boat

2 until the August afternoon she found it herself. It was pushed beneath a grey tarpaulin

3 at the back of the shed, wedged between rusted garden tools and a stack of crab pots

4 that smelled faintly of salt and diesel. Amara knelt down and pulled at the corner

5 of the tarpaulin, coughing as a cloud of dust rose into the thin light. Underneath was

6 a small wooden rowing boat, its blue paint peeling in long curled strips, one oar missing

7 and the other cracked along its handle.

8 "That was your grandad's," said Nan, appearing in the doorway with a mug of tea in each hand.

9 "He built her himself, out the back of the caravan, the summer before you were born.

10 Called her the Curlew, after the birds that used to nest along the saltings."

11 Amara ran her fingers over the faded letters painted along the hull. She had never met

12 her grandfather; he had died two winters before she was born, and most of what she knew

13 of him came from photographs and from the careful, half-finished sentences her grandmother

14 offered whenever his name came up. She had not expected to feel anything, kneeling in a

15 dusty shed on Mersea Island, but something in her chest tightened all the same.

16 Over the following week, while her parents unpacked boxes in the cottage and argued gently

17 about where the bookshelves should go, Amara spent every spare hour in the shed. She sanded

18 the peeling paint, following the grain of the wood the way her grandmother showed her,

19 and mended the cracked oar with wood glue and a strip of old sailcloth. Nan watched from

20 a folding chair by the door, offering advice about tides and currents that Amara only

21 half understood, and occasionally telling another fragment of a story about the man

22 who had built the boat.

23 By the following Saturday, the Curlew looked almost seaworthy again, her hull a patchy

24 but honest blue, her oars bound tight with tape. Amara wanted, more than anything, to take

25 her out onto the water before her parents noticed how much time she had spent in the shed

26 instead of unpacking.

27 "Not on your own, and not near the causeway," Nan warned, tapping the tide table pinned

28 beside the door. "The channel fills fast here. People who don't know it get caught out

29 within the hour."

30 Amara nodded, only half listening, already imagining herself rowing out past the moored

31 yachts towards the open water beyond the point.

32 She waited until the tide was high and her parents were busy with the removal van, then

33 dragged the Curlew down the slipway alone. The boat sat lower in the water than she expected,

34 and the first pull of the oars sent her spinning sideways rather than forward. It took

35 several clumsy strokes before she found any kind of rhythm, her arms already aching,

36 the shore sliding further away behind her.

37 It was only once she was well past the last of the moorings that Amara noticed the water

38 moving strangely around her, tugging the boat sideways towards the mudflats rather than

39 letting her glide across them. The tide, she realised with a lurch of panic, had already

40 begun to turn. She thought of the tide table by the shed door, of her grandmother's

41 warning, and of how confidently she had ignored it.

42 She turned the boat as best she could and rowed hard, her palms stinging, the mudflats

43 rising closer on either side like a trap slowly closing. By the time she reached the

44 slipway her arms were shaking and her grandmother was standing at the water's edge,

45 arms folded, her face pale with worry rather than anger.

46 "I should have listened," Amara said, dragging the boat onto the concrete, unable to look up.

47 Nan didn't scold her. Instead she sat down on the slipway beside the Curlew and told

48 Amara, properly this time, about the day her grandfather had first launched the boat,

49 and the mistake with the tide that had taught him the same lesson thirty years before.

SECTION 1: READING COMPREHENSION (25 minutes)
Read "The Mersea Tide" printed opposite, then answer Questions 1 to 7. Write your answers in full sentences unless the question tells you otherwise.
According to lines 1 to 3, where was the rowing boat hidden before Amara found it?

(Total for Question 1 is 1 mark)

Give two details from lines 4 to 7 that show the boat had not been used or looked after for a long time.

(Total for Question 2 is 2 marks)

What does the word 'tightened' suggest about how Amara felt in line 15? Explain your answer.

(Total for Question 3 is 2 marks)

Find and copy one phrase from lines 11 to 15 that shows Amara knows very little about her grandfather. Then explain what this phrase suggests about their relationship.

(a)Copy the phrase.(1)

(b)Explain what this phrase suggests about their relationship.(2)

(Total for Question 4 is 3 marks)

Explain how the writer creates a sense of danger in lines 37 to 41. Support your answer with reference to the text.

(Total for Question 5 is 3 marks)

Why do you think Nan does not scold Amara when she returns to the shore (lines 44 to 49)? Use evidence from the whole extract to support your ideas.

(Total for Question 6 is 4 marks)

'Amara's mistake teaches her more about her grandfather than any story could.' To what extent do you agree with this statement? Refer to the whole extract in your answer.

(Total for Question 7 is 5 marks)

SECTION 2: VOCABULARY (10 minutes)
Answer Questions 8 to 10 using "The Mersea Tide". For each word below, write a definition in your own words that matches how it is used in the passage.

(a)'saltings' (line 10)(1)

(b)'seaworthy' (line 23)(1)

(c)'moorings' (line 37)(1)

(d)'slipway' (line 33)(1)

(Total for Question 8 is 4 marks)

For each word below, write one synonym (a different word with a similar meaning) that would fit correctly in place of it in the sentence from the extract.

(a)'tightened' (line 15)(1)

(b)'patchy' (line 23)(1)

(c)'lurch' (line 39)(1)

(Total for Question 9 is 3 marks)

Each word below appears in the extract. For each one, write a different word from the same word family, formed by adding a prefix or suffix, and explain how the meaning changes.

(a)'understood' (line 21)(1)

(b)'confidently' (line 41)(1)

(c)'careful' (line 13)(1)

(Total for Question 10 is 3 marks)

SECTION 3: SPELLING, PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR (10 minutes)
Answer Questions 11 to 14. Rewrite each sentence below, correcting the punctuation error it contains.

(a)Nans boat needed a new coat of paint.(1)

(b)Wasnt the tide coming in fast(1)

(c)The shed contained oars paint tins and old rope.(1)

(Total for Question 11 is 3 marks)

In the sentence below, identify the word class (noun, verb, adjective or adverb) of each word in square brackets: The [nervous] girl [quickly] [rowed] the small [boat] across the bay.

(Total for Question 12 is 4 marks)

Combine each pair of sentences into a single sentence, using the connective or punctuation given in brackets, without changing the meaning.

(a)The tide was turning. Amara did not notice. (although)(1)

(b)Amara rowed hard. Her arms began to ache. (semicolon)(1)

(c)Nan gave a warning. Amara chose to ignore it. (despite)(1)

(Total for Question 13 is 3 marks)

Read the paragraph below. It contains five errors in spelling, punctuation and grammar. Rewrite the paragraph correctly.
"Last Saturday, me and my friend Priya walked along the sea wall at Mersea. We seen a heron standing in the mud, it's long legs hidden by the shallow water, while a fishing boat chugged past to slow to make any noise, the tide was already turning against it."

(Total for Question 14 is 5 marks)

SECTION 4: CONTINUOUS WRITING (15 minutes)
Write a continuous piece of about 300 to 400 words in response to the following:
'Write about a time when someone ignored a warning and learned an important lesson as a result.'
You do not have to write about the sea, and you may write in any form you choose, such as a story, a diary entry or a description. You will be marked on your ideas and organisation, and on your sentence structure, vocabulary and technical accuracy.

(Total for Question 15 is 10 marks)

Mark scheme · EP.T3 CSSE-Style English Mock (Essex)

Question 1

B1 Identifies that the boat was hidden beneath a tarpaulin at the back of the shed (accept: under a tarpaulin / in the shed).
Answer: The boat was hidden beneath a grey tarpaulin at the back of the shed.

Question 2

B1 Valid detail 1, e.g. the paint was peeling in curled strips (line 6).
B1 Valid detail 2, e.g. one oar was missing and the other cracked (lines 6 to 7), or a cloud of dust rose when the tarpaulin was pulled back (line 5).
Answer: Any two of: the blue paint was peeling in long curled strips; one oar was missing and the other was cracked; a cloud of dust rose when the tarpaulin was pulled back.

Question 3

B1 Identifies a feeling such as sadness, being moved, a pang of emotion or a sudden connection.
B1 Explains the effect of 'tightened', e.g. it suggests a physical, involuntary reaction linked to sudden emotion, showing the moment affected her more than she expected.
Answer: 'Tightened' suggests Amara was suddenly and involuntarily moved, even though she had not expected the boat to affect her.

Question 4

(a) B1 Any accurate quotation showing lack of knowledge, e.g. 'she had never met her grandfather' or 'most of what she knew of him came from photographs and... half-finished sentences'.
(a) Answer: 'She had never met her grandfather' (or an equally valid quotation from lines 11 to 13).
(b) B1 Explains that Amara's connection to her grandfather is indirect or secondhand.
(b) B1 Develops this, e.g. it suggests the relationship exists only through objects and stories rather than shared memories, which is why finding the boat feels significant.
(b) Answer: It suggests Amara's relationship with her grandfather exists only through other people's memories and objects, not first-hand experience, which is why finding the boat feels so significant to her.

Question 5

B1 Identifies a relevant word or phrase, e.g. 'tugging', 'lurch of panic' or 'begun to turn'.
B1 Identifies a second relevant word, phrase or technique, e.g. the build-up from strange movement to sudden realisation.
B1 Explains the effect on the reader, e.g. the shift from calm description to urgent, physical language mirrors Amara's own rising alarm.
Answer: The writer builds danger through urgent, physical language such as 'tugging', 'a lurch of panic' and 'begun to turn', which mirror Amara's growing alarm as she realises the tide has turned against her.

Question 6

B1 Point: Nan can see Amara is already shaken and frightened, evidenced by 'her arms were shaking' (line 44).
B1 Point: Nan's own reaction is worry rather than anger, evidenced by 'her face pale with worry rather than anger' (line 45).
B1 Point: Nan recognises the pull of the boat and the grandfather's memory, evidenced by her choosing to tell 'the day her grandfather had first launched the boat' (lines 47 to 48).
B1 Point: the mistake connects Amara to her grandfather rather than being simply reckless, evidenced by 'the mistake with the tide that had taught him the same lesson' (line 49), so Nan may see it as a shared, meaningful experience rather than pure disobedience.
Answer: Nan does not scold Amara because she can see Amara is already frightened and shaken, and because the mistake unexpectedly connects Amara to her grandfather, who made the very same error years before, so Nan responds with understanding rather than anger.

Question 7

Level 1 (1-2): A simple opinion is given with little or no reference to the text.
Level 2 (3-4): A clear opinion is supported with relevant evidence from at least two points in the extract.
Level 3 (5): A well-developed, balanced argument is supported with precise textual evidence from across the extract, showing perceptive understanding of how experience and memory connect Amara to her grandfather.
Indicative content:

Question 8

(a) B1 Definition matching context, e.g. marshy coastal land regularly covered by salt water at high tide.
(a) Answer: Low, marshy coastal land that floods with salt water at high tide.
(b) B1 Definition e.g. in a fit or safe condition to be used on the water.
(b) Answer: In good enough condition to be used safely on the water.
(c) B1 Definition e.g. the ropes, chains or place used to secure a boat near the shore.
(c) Answer: The ropes, chains or place used to secure a boat close to the shore.
(d) B1 Definition e.g. a sloped ramp used for launching or landing boats.
(d) Answer: A sloped ramp leading into the water, used for launching or landing boats.

Question 9

(a) B1 Valid synonym, e.g. tensed / clenched / constricted.
(a) Answer: tensed (or clenched)
(b) B1 Valid synonym, e.g. uneven / blotchy / mottled.
(b) Answer: uneven (or blotchy)
(c) B1 Valid synonym, e.g. jolt / wrench / sudden shock.
(c) Answer: jolt (or wrench)

Question 10

(a) B1 Valid word-family word with correct explanation, e.g. 'misunderstood' - the prefix 'mis-' changes the meaning to understanding something wrongly.
(a) Answer: misunderstood - adding the prefix 'mis-' changes the meaning to understanding something incorrectly.
(b) B1 Valid word-family word with correct explanation, e.g. 'overconfident' - the prefix 'over-' changes the meaning to having too much confidence.
(b) Answer: overconfident - adding the prefix 'over-' changes the meaning to having excessive confidence.
(c) B1 Valid word-family word with correct explanation, e.g. 'careless' - changing the suffix reverses the meaning to a lack of care.
(c) Answer: careless - changing the suffix from '-ful' to '-less' reverses the meaning to a lack of care.

Question 11

(a) B1 Correctly inserts the possessive apostrophe: 'Nan's boat needed a new coat of paint.'
(a) Answer: Nan's boat needed a new coat of paint.
(b) B1 Correctly inserts the contraction apostrophe and the question mark: 'Wasn't the tide coming in fast?'
(b) Answer: Wasn't the tide coming in fast?
(c) B1 Correctly inserts commas to separate the list items: 'The shed contained oars, paint tins and old rope.'
(c) Answer: The shed contained oars, paint tins and old rope.

Question 12

B1 nervous = adjective
B1 quickly = adverb
B1 rowed = verb
B1 boat = noun
Answer: nervous - adjective; quickly - adverb; rowed - verb; boat - noun.

Question 13

(a) B1 Correct subordination, e.g. 'Although the tide was turning, Amara did not notice.'
(a) Answer: Although the tide was turning, Amara did not notice.
(b) B1 Correct use of a semicolon to join two related, complete sentences, e.g. 'Amara rowed hard; her arms began to ache.'
(b) Answer: Amara rowed hard; her arms began to ache.
(c) B1 Correct subordination using 'despite' plus a noun phrase, e.g. 'Despite Nan's warning, Amara chose to ignore it.'
(c) Answer: Despite Nan's warning, Amara chose to ignore it.

Question 14

B1 Corrects 'me and my friend Priya' to a grammatically correct subject form, e.g. 'my friend Priya and I'.
B1 Corrects the verb tense 'We seen' to 'We saw'.
B1 Corrects the apostrophe error 'it's long legs' to the possessive 'its long legs'.
B1 Corrects the homophone error 'to slow' to 'too slow'.
B1 Corrects the comma splice at the end, e.g. by replacing the final comma with a full stop: '...make any noise. The tide was already turning against it.'
Answer: Last Saturday, my friend Priya and I walked along the sea wall at Mersea. We saw a heron standing in the mud, its long legs hidden by the shallow water, while a fishing boat chugged past too slow to make any noise. The tide was already turning against it.

Question 15

Content and Organisation (Ideas, structure and engagement)
- Level 1 (1-2): Simple ideas with little development; limited sense of structure.
- Level 2 (3-4): Relevant ideas with some development; a clear beginning, middle and end.
- Level 3 (5-6): Well-developed, engaging ideas; confidently structured and paced for effect.
Style, Sentence Structure and Accuracy (Vocabulary, sentence variety and technical accuracy)
- Level 1 (1): Basic vocabulary and simple sentences; frequent errors in spelling and punctuation.
- Level 2 (2-3): Some varied vocabulary and sentence structures; mostly accurate spelling and punctuation.
- Level 3 (4): Ambitious vocabulary and a range of sentence structures used for effect; consistently accurate spelling and punctuation.

CSSE-Style English Mock (Essex) - Worksheets, Questions and Revision