ANNEX 6

BRITISH INFORMATION SERVICES

AN AGENCY OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT

REFERENCE AND LIBRARY DIVISION

July 1961. ID 1312

SELECTION FOR SECONDARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND AND WALES
Sample of Questions Typical of a Selection Examination (11 plus)
ENGLISH

A. Typical subjects for an essay:

1. The radio program you like best.
2. The Bible story you like best.
3. You are away on a holiday.
4. An adventure.

5. Climbing mountains.

Write a letter home.

B. Here are some questions from a general paper:

1. Underline the correct answer in each set of brackets in:

(i) He arrived (to / two / too) late as the children had already (gone /went) to school.

(ii) Perhaps this will (learn / teach / taught) both of (they/them) not to throw stones.

2. Give the correct spelling of the underlined word with missing letters: She heard the sound of merry 1

(i)

(ii)

(iii)

(iv)

ter

He bought presents for his nieces and ne W8
Water is li id

The boy had stolen apples and was in d sgr

(v) In church 8 ms are sung

3. Underline the word nearest in meaning to the word printed in capitals:
(i) Unfortunately she could not RECALL all the president's words.
(understand remember/pronounce/hear/read/reveal)

(ii) Soon afterwards their TRUSTWORTHY servant died.

(only/old/ailing/reliable/treacherous/last)

(iii) She is AWKWARD in her movements.

(iv)

(quick/impulsive/beautiful clumsy/charming/slow)
We left London RELUCTANTLY.

(gladly/obediently/unwillingly/readily/unluckily for good)

(v) The boat sailed on over the PLACID sea.

(sparkling/calm/stormy/blue/choppy/wide)

4. Forming adjectives from nouns:

(i) MOUNTAIN...... The waves were.....

(ii) PLEASURE..

(iii) SPAIN.....

(i) THOUGH.

(ii) YOLK..

Our holiday was a most.

Drake defeated the.

5. Underline the words which rhyme with the given word:

(iii) YACHT.

one.

fleet.

(cough/thou/woe/tough/laugh/through)
(look/smoke/yokel/bulk/walk/Yule)
(raft/cracked/flashed/tact/got/match)

6. Underline the word in brackets which has the same meaning as the given

(dog-fish/pekinese/half-caste/mixture/mongrel/foxhound)

(ii) The life-story of a man written by someone else.

(novel/livery/serial/autobiography/history/biography)

87639 0-62- 22

7. Forming the plural from a given noun:

(i) GOOSE... ...The...

(ii)

MAN-SERVANT.

.waddle down to the river. .The Duke had.

.....only.

8. Passage to test the comprehension of what is read:

A GRACE FOR A CHILD

Here a little child I stand
Heaving up my either hand;
Cold as paddocks though they be,
Here I lift them up to Thee
For a benison to fall

On our meat and on us all.

Amen.

Underline the correct answer to the following:

(i)

(ii)

(iii)

HERRICK

The child is speaking to (Herrick/his father/his mother/all/
God)

The child holds up (his left hand/his right hand/neither
hand/both hands/two little toads)

What is the meaning of "benison"?

(sauce/a kind of meat/blessing/rain/curse)

(1) SERVANT, VALET BT

kiteben/wER/

(ii) HIVE, LAIR, BURROW 'be/ts/**//***/g, 4. After reading:

Five men, whom we shall al A B C D and E start one foor d a five-storied bouse.

B lives two floors above A and soe Soor Rice D

E lives one floor below A.

Answer:

(i) Who lives on the bottoms Boor? (ii) Who lives on the top for? (iii) Who lives one foor up?

5. Order-underline the first and last:

(i) First/sixth/fourth/teath/third (ii) Walk/stroll/r/tr/mand

6. Code the numbers correspond to alphabetical order:

(i) (2, 9, 4) means.

(ii) (19, 15, 21, 18; means.

big/bit/aid/bid/bin/die)

tour/soul/soir/rout/sown/smut)

7. Forming the plural from a given noun: (i) GOOSE......The...

(ii)

MAN-SERVANT.

waddle down to the river. The Duke had...

.....only.

8. Passage to test the comprehension of what is read:

A GRACE FOR A CHILD

Here a little child I stand
Heaving up my either hand;
Cold as paddocks though they be,
Here I lift them up to Thee
For a benison to fall

On our meat and on us all.

Amen.

Underline the correct answer to the following:

HERRICK

(i) The child is speaking to (Herrick/his father/his mother/all/ God)

(ii)

The child holds up (his left hand/his right hand/neither
hand/both hands/two little toads)

(iii) What is the meaning of "benison"?

(sauce a kind of meat/blessing/rain/curse)

B. Problems:

(1) A tap leaks at the rate of 1 pint per hour. How many gallons are lost
in one day?

(2) A brick is 9 inches long. How long are 7 bricks laid end to end?
the answer in feet and inches
ft.

.S.

gallons

Give

.in.

d.

If 10

(3) What is the cost of 3 ounces of tobacco at 3s.81⁄2d. an ounce?
(4) There are 37 boys in one class at school, and 34 in another class.
of these boys were absent one day, how many would there be left in
the two classes.

.boys

(5) If the length of my stride is 36 inches, how many strides do I take in half a mile? .strides

(6) A book has 150 pages, with 40 lines to a page and 10 words to a line. How many words are there in the book?

words

(7) A necklace of beads is 21⁄2 feet long. If each bead is 4 inch long, how many beads are there in the necklace?

beads

TEST OF INTELLIGENCE

1. (i)

Which letter occurs least often in the word PERPETRATE?

(ii)

Vinegar is to Sour as Honey is to (sugar/comb/bee/sticky/
sweet/yellow)

(iii)

(iv)

Which of the following words has no two letters the same?
(instruct/revision/orchestra/precious/ascertain/surmount)

House is to Roof as Room is to (window/floor/ceiling/fireplace/
chimney/wall)

(v) If the letters in the word SPECIAL were rearranged so as to be in alphabetical order, which letter would then be in the middle?

(........)

(now/often/never/sometimes/ever/soon)
(disguise/visible/shine/see/appear/hide)

(i) SERVANT, VALET, BUTLER (invalid/master/nobleman /

kitchen/waiter/service)

(ii) HIVE, LÁIR, BURROW (bee/thicket/nest/hide/tunnel/jungle) 4. After reading:

Five men, whom we shall call A, B, C, D and E, each inhabit one floor of a five-storied house.

B lives two floors above A and one floor below D.

E lives one floor below A.

First/sixth/fourth/tenth/third
Walk/stroll/run/trot/stand

6. Code the numbers correspond to alphabetical order:

(i) (2, 9, 4) means.

(ii)

(19, 15, 21, 18) means.

(big/bit/aid/bid/bin/die)

(tour/soul/sour/rout/sown/smut)