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Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/12

Paper 1 Reading February/March 2024
2 hours 15 minutes

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*1504444332*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 8 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

03_9093_12_2024_1.20
© UCLES 2024 [Turn over
2

Section A: Directed response

Question 1
Read the following text, which is an article promoting ‘forest bathing’ from National Geographic website.

(a) You have recently been on a trip that involved time spent forest bathing. Write a blog post
describing your experience and the benefits of forest bathing. Use 150–200 words. [10]

(b) Compare your blog post with the article, analysing form, structure and language. [15]

The secret to mindful travel? A walk in the woods

Visit these four destinations to practice the Japanese art of forest bathing.

Whether you call it a fitness trend or a mindfulness practice (or a bit of both), what exactly
is forest bathing?

Content removed due to copyright restrictions.

© UCLES 2024 03_9093_12_2024_1.20

Content removed due to copyright restrictions.

Guided forest walks from Kitich Forest Camp are led by local
Samburu trackers with intimate knowledge of the sounds, scents, and sights of the forest.

© UCLES 2024 03_9093_12_2024_1.20 [Turn over

Section B: Text analysis

Question 2

Read the following text, which is a review of a memoir.

Analyse the text, focusing on form, structure and language. [25]

Soundings by Doreen Cunningham review – a whale of a journey

A mother and her young son follow pods of whales from Mexico to Alaska in this brave,
lyrical memoir

Almost a decade ago a group of Canadian and British scientists made a remarkable
observation about the social lives of sperm whales in the Sargasso and Caribbean seas. 5
While mother whales dived deep to hunt for squid, others assumed the role of
‘allomothers’, caring for the calf at the water’s surface (the popular press referred to
these whales as ‘babysitters’). The paper by the scientists was part of a growing body
of eye-opening research into whales’ social behaviour, which centres on those close-knit
groups called pods. 10

Pods, human as well as cetacean, come up repeatedly in Doreen Cunningham’s debut,

Soundings, a striking, brave and often lyrical book that defies easy interpretation. It’s
the story of a single mother and her two-year-old son, Max, and their journey to follow
the whales that migrate from Baja California to the Arctic. But this is not really a work of
natural history. Mother and son are in a state of turmoil and, like the whales they pursue, 15
must navigate an environment that appears callous, if not hostile, and rely on friendship
to get by. The experiences of the alienated pair are inseparable from their literary quarry,
and as they travel up the Pacific coast, whale and human cultures seem to converge,
eroding the gap between ourselves and our distant mammalian cousins.

An engineering graduate, Cunningham had a busy career as a London-based climate 20

journalist, covering stories all around the world, including in Alaska (her time with Iñupiat
whalers provides a key thread in the book as well as a wealth of fascinating ethnographic
material). After a painful custody dispute with her son’s father, she returns with the boy
to Jersey, the island where she grew up. Depleted, insolvent and isolated, she takes
refuge in a hostel for single mothers and it is here that she conceives her plan to follow 25
whales with her young son.

Cunningham adroitly sidesteps much of the male-dominated narratives about whales

and whaling, and clearly takes inspiration more from Inuit mythology than from Herman
1
Melville . She and her son make for an unconventionally heroic pair, travelling by plane,
train, bus and boat, and incurring disapproving looks and small humiliations in their quest 30
to spot grey whales. Initially it seems that nothing fits, including lifejackets, and at times
the landscape seems irredeemably hostile. Whale mothers and their calves, meanwhile,
surface and dive alongside the pair, and Cunningham movingly describes their bonds
of cooperation, which find pointed echoes and contrasts in her travelling companions
and personal relationships. Her sensuous descriptions of grey whales and humpbacks 35
provide some of the book’s richest passages; she looks at the whales and then looks at
her son, looking at whales which look back.

What could she hope to gain by taking her two-year-old on such a long journey, one that
might catapult her further into debt and distance her from family? Early on this question

© UCLES 2024 03_9093_12_2024_1.20

is lodged in the writer’s and reader’s mind alike, and it simmers, tantalisingly, throughout 40
the book. At times the narrator seems fixated on obtaining a transformative encounter
with the whale, almost betraying a desire to jump the species barrier. Yet she is no
2
Ahab ; it is not a single whale to which she is drawn, but the collective, and in the end
the whales act as stepping-stones, bridges to human relationships on her journey, notably
with other women and mothers. What at first seems a reckless, near-mystical pursuit of 45
an imagined being leads her to find a human pod of her own.
1
Herman Melville: author who wrote the novel Moby Dick, about whales
2
Ahab: character in Moby Dick who captained a ship

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Permission to reproduce items where third-party owned material protected by copyright is included has been sought and cleared where possible. Every
reasonable effort has been made by the publisher (UCLES) to trace copyright holders, but if any items requiring clearance have unwittingly been included, the
publisher will be pleased to make amends at the earliest possible opportunity.

To avoid the issue of disclosure of answer-related information to candidates, all copyright acknowledgements are reproduced online in the Cambridge
Assessment International Education Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced for each series of examinations and is freely available to download
at www.cambridgeinternational.org after the live examination series.

Cambridge Assessment International Education is part of Cambridge Assessment. Cambridge Assessment is the brand name of the University of Cambridge
Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES), which is a department of the University of Cambridge.

© UCLES 2024 03_9093_12_2024_1.20

Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/22

Paper 2 Writing February/March 2024
2 hours

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*4159508571*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 4 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

03_9093_22_2024_1.9
© UCLES 2024 [Turn over
2

Section A: Shorter writing and reflective commentary

Question 1
A teenager from your school has recently been given an award for bravery. You decide to write a news
report about this, which will be published in your local newspaper.

(a) Write the text for your news report, using no more than 400 words. In your writing, focus on
the importance of recognising bravery and the impact this award has had on your school.
[15]
(b) Write a reflective commentary on your text, explaining how your linguistic choices contribute
to fulfilling the task set. [10]

Section B: Extended writing

Answer one question.

EITHER

Question 2

You and your family recently went on holiday for a week and stayed in a new hotel. Write a review
of the hotel, which will be published on a travel website. Write between 600 and 900 words. [25]

Question 3

Your class has just had a discussion about whether publishers should stop printing books on paper
because everyone reads on screens these days. Your teacher has asked you to write an essay on
the topic, giving your opinion. Write between 600 and 900 words. [25]

Question 4

Write a story called On my doorstep, about a person who opened their front door and was surprised
to find a very large, heavy bag with their name on it. Write between 600 and 900 words. [25]

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Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/23

Paper 2 Writing May/June 2024
2 hours

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*5421212119*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 4 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

06_9093_23_2024_1.9
© UCLES 2024 [Turn over
2

Section A: Shorter writing and reflective commentary

Question 1
You are going to take part in a debate at school about whether a student going to university should
choose a subject that they enjoy, or a subject that will lead to a good job. Your headteacher has asked
you to open the debate by giving a short speech on the topic.

(a) Write the text for your speech, using no more than 400 words. In your writing, introduce both
points of view and create a sense of interest in the debate. [15]

(b) Write a reflective commentary on your text, explaining how your linguistic choices contribute
to fulfilling the task set by your headteacher. [10]

Section B: Extended writing

Answer one question.

EITHER

Question 2

In class, you have been discussing whether foreign travel will become less popular because people
can find out everything about other countries using the internet. You decide to write an article on
the topic, which will be published in your school magazine. Write between 600 and 900 words.
[25]

Question 3

You recently went to an exercise class that you have not been to before. You decide to write a
review of the class, which you will post on your blog. Write between 600 and 900 words. [25]

Question 4

Write a story which begins with the following sentence: After slowly opening my eyes, I realised
that I didn’t recognise anything around me. In your writing, create a sense of drama and suspense.
Write between 600 and 900 words. [25]

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© UCLES 2024 06_9093_23_2024_1.9

Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/22

Paper 2 Writing May/June 2024
2 hours

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*4702680881*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 4 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

06_9093_22_2024_1.9
© UCLES 2024 [Turn over
2

Section A: Shorter writing and reflective commentary

Question 1
You recently read a newspaper article which said that people are only interested in news stories about
their country. You decide to write an email to the editor, in response to this article, giving your opinion.

(a) Write the text for your email, using no more than 400 words. In your writing, focus on the
importance of reading about what is happening in other countries as well as your own. [15]

(b) Write a reflective commentary on your text, explaining how your linguistic choices contribute
to fulfilling the task set. [10]

Section B: Extended writing

Answer one question.

EITHER

Question 2

You are going to take part in a debate at school about whether it is a good or bad thing that lots of
teenagers want to be famous. Your headteacher has asked you to open the debate by giving a
speech on the topic. Write the text for your speech, discussing both points of view and giving your
opinion. Write between 600 and 900 words. [25]

Question 3

The editor of a food magazine has asked readers to give recommendations for cookery books for
beginners. You decide to write a review of a cookery book you have used, which will be published
in the magazine. Write between 600 and 900 words. [25]

Question 4

Write a descriptive piece about an orchestra. In your writing, focus on sound, colour and movement
to help your reader imagine the scene. Write between 600 and 900 words. [25]

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Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/21

Paper 2 Writing May/June 2024
2 hours

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*0802296447*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 4 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

06_9093_21_2024_1.8
© UCLES 2024 [Turn over
2

Section A: Shorter writing and reflective commentary

Question 1
Your teacher has asked you to write the opening of a story called The Message, about finding a piece
of paper on your doorstep with a handwritten message on it.

(a) Write the text for the opening of your story, using no more than 400 words. In your writing,
create a sense of drama and suspense. [15]

(b) Write a reflective commentary on your text, explaining how your linguistic choices contribute
to fulfilling the task set. [10]

Section B: Extended writing

Answer one question.

EITHER

Question 2

Write a descriptive piece about a rubbish tip. In your writing, focus on colour, sound and movement
to help your reader imagine the scene. Write between 600 and 900 words. [25]

Question 3

You recently attended an introduction day at the school you are going to join next year. You decide
to write a review of the introduction day, which you will post on your blog. Write between 600 and
900 words. [25]

Question 4

You have read a newspaper article which said that people should go to shops instead of buying
online, otherwise more and more shops will close. You decide to write an email to the editor, in
response to this article, giving your opinion. Write between 600 and 900 words. [25]

© UCLES 2024 06_9093_21_2024_1.8

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Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/11

Paper 1 Reading May/June 2024
2 hours 15 minutes

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*9668919476*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 8 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

06_9093_11_2024_1.15
© UCLES 2024 [Turn over
2

Section A: Directed response

Question 1
Read the following text, which is a newspaper article about pollution created by new plastic.

(a) Having read the article, you decide to write an email to a large company, urging them to take
action to reduce their plastic waste. Write the text for your email. Use 150–200 words. [10]

(b) Compare your email with the newspaper article, analysing form, structure and language. [15]

Call for global treaty to end production of ‘virgin’ plastic by 2040

Scientists say agreement must cover extraction of raw materials and pollution that blights
seas and land

A binding global treaty is needed to phase out the production of ‘virgin’ or new plastic
by 2040, scientists have said. 5

The solution to the blight of plastic pollution in the oceans and on land would be a
worldwide agreement on limits and controls, they say in a special report in the journal
Science.

Since the 1950s about 8 billion tonnes of plastic has been produced. The effects are
everywhere. One of the report’s authors, Nils Simon, said: ‘Plastics are ubiquitously 10
found in increasing amounts worldwide, including in terrestrial environments and even
inside the human body.’

The authors say the very properties that have made plastic an apparently essential
modern material also make it a serious environmental threat.

Science senior editor Jesse Smith writes: ‘As for much new technology, their development 15
and proliferation occurred with little consideration for their impacts, but now it’s impossible
to deny their dark side as we confront a rapidly growing plastic pollution problem.’

‘The time for preventing plastic pollution is long past – the time for changing the future
of plastics in our world, however, is now.’

The report calls for a new global treaty ‘to cover the entire lifecycle of plastics, from the 20
extraction of the raw materials needed for its manufacture to its legacy pollution’.

The largest proportion of plastic waste comes from packaging materials (47%), while
textiles are responsible for 14% and transport 6%.

Each year, 3% of worldwide plastic waste ends up in the oceans; in 2010 that amounted
to about 8 million tonnes of plastic. 25

Yet plastic production has continued to increase. In 2019, 368 million tonnes of newly
made, or virgin, plastics were produced. By 2050, the production of new plastic from
fossil fuels could consume 10–13% of the remaining global carbon budget permissible
to ensure temperatures rise to no more than 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels as required
by the Paris climate agreement. 30

© UCLES 2024 06_9093_11_2024_1.15

Simon calls for a binding global treaty to:

• Phase out the production of newly made or virgin plastic by 2040.

• Create a circular economy for plastic, incentivising reuse and refill and the elimination
of substantial volumes of plastic pollution.

• Start a worldwide clean-up of plastic waste. 35

‘Plastic pollution poses a considerable, even though not yet fully understood, threat to
the environment, species, and habitats, as well as to cultural heritage,’ said Simon. ‘Its
social impacts include harm to human health, in particular among vulnerable communities,
and it comes with substantial economic costs affecting especially regions depending on
tourism.’ 40

‘Addressing these challenges requires a transformative approach that facilitates measures

to reduce production of virgin plastic materials and includes equitable steps toward a
safe and circular economy for plastics.’

Cleaning up the vast plastic waste footprint spread across the world requires the targeting
of clogged waterways, drains and sewers in many countries that do not have rubbish 45
collection services and where creating and boosting waste management services would
be necessary. Producers of plastic would also be required to contribute to help fund
clean-ups in some countries.

The impact of plastic pollution on the environment could trigger negative impacts which
are irreversible, the report’s authors warned. They warned that the plastic pollution of 50
the oceans and land is at a rate which cannot be tackled by any clean-up, particularly
when it affects remote areas. What is required is curtailing the emissions of plastic to
the environment as rapidly and comprehensively as possible, they say.

© UCLES 2024 06_9093_11_2024_1.15 [Turn over

Section B: Text analysis

Question 2

Read the following text, which is an article from a travel company’s newsletter, about a hiking tour of
the little-known Marche region of Italy.

Analyse the text, focusing on form, structure and language. [25]

We never regret hiking anywhere.

Content removed due to copyright restrictions.

© UCLES 2024 06_9093_11_2024_1.15

Content removed due to copyright restrictions.

The Italy of yesteryear, but still alive in Marche.

© UCLES 2024 06_9093_11_2024_1.15

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Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/12

Paper 1 Reading May/June 2024
2 hours 15 minutes

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*0497308824*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 8 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

06_9093_12_2024_1.13
© UCLES 2024 [Turn over
2

Section A: Directed response

Question 1
Read the following text, which is an article from an online newspaper about an innovative art exhibition
in Madrid, Spain.

(a) You have been asked to write an advertisement which will be published in a brochure publicising
the exhibition. Write the text for your advertisement. Use 150–200 words. [10]

(b) Compare your advertisement with the article, analysing form, structure and language. [15]

Prado creates palette of odours to make scents of Brueghel painting

Madrid gallery’s new exhibition will allow visitors to inhale fragrances of 10 items seen
in The Sense of Smell

The seventeenth-century Italian cardinal Federico Borromeo was so impressed with Jan
Brueghel the Elder’s work that he once wrote to the artist, declaring he could smell spring 5
itself in the minute petals and leaves that bloomed from the Flemish master’s brush.
1
Four hundred years later, those with less olfactory imaginations can head to the Prado
in Madrid to fill their nostrils with the scents that suffuse Brueghel’s 1617–18 painting
The Sense of Smell.

For its latest show, the museum has enlisted the services of curators and researchers 10
– and the Puig perfume house – to recreate the fragrances of 10 of the many items that
appear in Brueghel’s oil on board.

The work, part of a set of pieces on the five senses, shows a beautiful garden where
plants and flowers abound, peacocks amble and guinea pigs picnic. Brueghel provided
2
the flora and fauna while Peter Paul Rubens contributed the allegorical figures. 15

Inspired by its heady visuals, Alejandro Vergara, the Prado’s head of Flemish painting,
had an idea last summer.

‘I was thinking out loud for a while and having different conversations with friends and
colleagues about a year ago and we came up with the idea of focusing on the sense of
3
smell and having a perfumer work on the painting, identify what’s in it, and create 10 20
scents,’ said Vergara.

Once researchers had identified the 80 different plant and flower species seen in the
picture, Gregorio Sola, Puig’s senior perfumer, set about creating some of their scents.

The fruits of his labour can be sampled from the four diffusers that sit in room 83 of the
Prado, delivering their carefully calibrated perfumes at the touch of a screen. As well as 25
jasmine, rose, spikenard, fig tree, orange blossom, daffodil, a bouquet of rose, jasmine
and carnation, there is iris – and kid gloves scented with amber.

While Sola opted not to conjure up the smell of the guinea pigs, the peacocks or the
4
hound who has muzzled his way into the picture, he did recreate the scent of the civet

© UCLES 2024 06_9093_12_2024_1.13

who lies coiled in its bottom right-hand corner. Puig’s diffusers dispense a hot stinky hit 30
of civet, which, thankfully, soon fades out.

‘Civet is a pretty harsh, dirty smell, but it’s what you find in all the perfume recipes from
1500 and 1600,’ said the perfumer. ‘That’s because it was used as a fixative to make
sure the perfume lasted on the skin.’

The perfume is synthetic – ‘so no animals were hurt’ – while all the others are based on 35
highest-quality natural essences, including iris, which is twice as expensive as gold
because of the long, slow and complicated extraction process.

According to Vergara, the ‘strange, innovative exhibition’ is intended to introduce visitors

to the miniature world of Brueghel and to the scents of past centuries.

‘Brueghel is phenomenal, but many people don’t focus on him and the reason for that 40
is that he paints very small scale, which makes it very hard when you walk through a
museum,’ said the curator.

‘And the Brueghel name is also a mess, people don’t know which Brueghel they’re
looking at because you have Pieter Bruegel the Elder, his son Jan, and there are a bunch
of other Brueghels – and that causes confusion.’ 45

But, added Vergara, The Sense of Smell is an incredibly beautiful painting achieved by
using single-hair brushes and a magnifying glass. He hopes the unusual mix of sight
and smell will pique visitors’ interest in the entire five sensory series.

‘I think it’s a really nice visit to a museum – in 45 minutes you look at five beautiful
paintings and connect with this idea that you’re not expecting: the smell of the past.’ 50

Sola hopes his scents will help fix Brueghel’s picture in people’s minds as keenly as
civet musk fixes a fragrance.

‘Our olfactory memory is stronger than our visual or auditory memory: the memory of
our mother’s perfume, of our first car, or of the first day at school with the smell of new
pencils and paints,’ he said. 55

‘We all have our own olfactory memory and the idea of this exhibition is that Jan
Brueghel’s painting will leave its own memorable olfactory print on all of us.’
1
olfactory: relating to the sense of smell
2
allegorical: symbolic or representative
3
perfumer: an expert in creating perfume compositions
4
civet: small mammal which marks its territory with an unpleasant smell

© UCLES 2024 06_9093_12_2024_1.13 [Turn over

Section B: Text analysis

Question 2
Read the following text, which is an extract from an article from an online sports magazine, featuring an
interview with South African cricketer Shabnim Ismail.
Analyse the text, focusing on form, structure and language. [25]

Fast times with Shabnim Ismai

1
From playing in the streets with boys to becoming a speed demon feared by batters
2
across the world: here’s the South Africa bowler’s story

You won’t be surprised to hear that Shabnim Ismail’s first paid job had something to do
with speed. But you are unlikely to guess exactly what it was. 5

‘After I finished school, I started working as a speed-point technician,’ she says from the
South Africa Women’s base in Johannesburg, where they are preparing for the World
Cup with a series against West Indies.

A what?

‘You know, the card machines that people use to pay for things? That’s a speed-point 10
machine,’ she says. ‘It was quite fun because I used to drive out and meet different
people and go to different areas within Cape Town. I quite enjoyed it.’

Ismail was in her late teens and an accomplished cricketer, picked for the national side
almost as soon as she finished school, but it was 2007. Women’s cricket was considered
an amateur sport and she needed to find another way to earn money. For seven years 15
she worked and played international cricket on the side, until a sponsorship from financial
services company Momentum allowed Cricket South Africa to contract six female
cricketers in 2014.

‘That’s when everything changed,’ she says. ‘I had to make a decision between working
and playing professional cricket and I chose to play cricket for a living.’ 20

Looking back, it was an easy decision because it seems as though Ismail was born to
bowl.

‘We used to play cricket in the street and she was the only girl,’ says South Africa fast
bowler Beuran Hendricks, who grew up not far from Ismail’s childhood home in the Cape
Town suburb of Cravenby. 25

‘She’s a competitor. Even then, she just wanted to bowl faster and faster because she
didn’t want anyone to have one up on her. We would rag her and say, “You’re not that
good” and that’s when you could see the character in her eyes. She knew she wasn’t
going to be stood up by guys.’

Ismail played sport in the streets with the likes of Hendricks, Vernon Philander, her 30
cousin Yaseen Vallie (a former national Under-19 player, currently playing for Western

© UCLES 2024 06_9093_12_2024_1.13

Province) and many other kids who all grew up in a sporting environment that many in
this country and beyond would be unfamiliar with.

Theirs was not the culture of elite school sport but of a community vibe, fostered by
passion and resourcefulness. ‘Cravenby is a very sporting-mad town. We played cricket, 35
soccer and all kinds of sports,’ Hendricks says.

‘We didn’t have much but we made a plan. For cricket, if we had an indoor cricket ball,
we’d play with that. Or we’d get a tennis ball and tape it. We never played with a hard
ball because with a lot of windows around, it could get dangerous. We would play on
the road with whatever we could find. We’d get crates and use that to get a field going.’ 40

Ismail’s first love was football and she wanted to make a career of it, but her mother and
late grandfather coaxed her towards cricket, coaching her and cultivating her love for
the game. ‘They made me read cricket books and made me make my hands hard to
catch balls,’ Ismail says.

‘My mom is my role model and she was basically just like me. She played all the sports. 45
She was always with the boys out there, trying to be better than them and having fun.
I’ve got all of her genes inside of me.’

Except that Ismail didn’t just want to play for fun. She was there to be the best and it
didn’t sit well with everyone. ‘You’d always get boys who said, “I don’t like her because
she is better than me”, but playing with the boys definitely made me stronger.’ 50

‘I used to get Vernon out a lot and he used to hate that about me but I used to love
bowling against him. He used to hit me now and then, and then I’d get him out. When I
was batting against him, I was a bit scared because I was just a little girl at that stage.’

‘But I miss those days of waking up in the morning and just saying, “Mom, I am going
to play with the boys.” You don’t even pack a bag, you just grab a bat and ball and off 55
you go.’
1
batters: players on a cricket team who try to hit the ball with a bat
2
bowler: the player on a cricket team who propels the ball towards the batter

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Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/13

Paper 1 Reading May/June 2024
2 hours 15 minutes

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*9003746434*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 8 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

06_9093_13_2024_1.13
© UCLES 2024 [Turn over
2

Section A: Directed response

Question 1
Read the following text, which is an article about bird conservation from a newspaper website.

(a) Your teacher has asked you to give a speech to your classmates about the action that your
community can take to help protect the local population of wild bird species. Write the text for
the opening of your speech. Use 150–200 words. [10]

(b) Compare your speech opening with the article, analysing form, structure and language. [15]

Birds are remarkable and beautiful animals – and they’re disappearing from our
world

When the poet Mary Oliver wrote ‘Instructions for living a life,’ she reminded us: ‘Pay
attention. Be astounded. Tell about it.’

This past autumn, wildlife officials announced that a bird, a male bar-tailed godwit, flew 5
nonstop across the Pacific Ocean 8100 miles from Alaska to Australia in just under 10
days. Fitted with a small solar-powered satellite tag, the godwit achieved ‘a land bird
flight record’. But of course godwits have been doing this for centuries. Come next
April-May, all things well, determined godwits will make the trip in reverse, bound for
Alaska to nest and raise their young. 10

They won’t be alone.

Northern wheatears, songbirds less than six inches long, will arrive in Alaska from
sub-Saharan Africa. Arctic terns will return from Antarctica, with each bird flying the
equivalent of three trips to the moon and back in a single lifetime. Bar-headed geese
will fly over the Himalayas at altitudes exceeding 20 000 feet. 15
1
PT Barnum was wrong. The circus is not the greatest show on Earth. Nature is.

I love birds – how they bring me joy and give me wings; how they enlarge my world,
slow me down, make me listen. In every hawk I see a velociraptor. In every thrush I hear
exquisite music. In every swallow I witness an aerial dance as they snap insects in
midair. In every epic migration I find myself redefining what’s possible. And always the 20
same question arises: can we, the human race, in all our commerce and carbon-burning,
somehow save our winged cousins?

In the past half century, North America has lost more than one-fourth of its birds. Nearly
everywhere, they are in decline. Massive die-offs of flycatchers, swallows, bluebirds,
sparrows and warblers – described as thousands of birds ‘falling out of the sky’ – have 25
been recorded in recent years in New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Arizona and Nebraska.
Smoke from intense California fires forced tule geese to reroute their migration and take
twice as long. Elsewhere, as birds lay their eggs earlier, due to a warming climate, more
chicks die from sudden inclement weather events.

This is where we find ourselves, trapped in a diminished world of our own making. Today 30
only 30% of all birds are wild; the other 70% are mostly poultry chickens. In essence,

© UCLES 2024 06_9093_13_2024_1.13

Earth is now a coalmine, and every wild bird is a canary – what ecologists call a
‘bio-indicator’ – in that mine.

Their fate is ours.

Soon after news broke of the flight of the godwit, the US Fish and Wildlife Service 35
announced newly extinct species including the ivory-billed woodpecker and Bachman’s
warbler. ‘When the last individual of a race of living things breathes no more,’ the naturalist
William Beebe once observed, ‘another heaven and another earth must pass before
such a one can be again.’

The author and climate crisis activist Kathleen Dean Moore writes, ‘Unless the world 40
acts to stop extinctions, I will write my last nature essay on a planet that is less than half
as song-graced and life-drenched as the one where I began to write.’

Of all the species that have ever existed, more than 99% are now gone, most having
winked away during five major extinction events, the last caused by an asteroid that
struck Earth some 66 million years ago. Today, given global habitat loss (especially 45
deforestation and prairies turned into cropland) and widespread persistent toxins, we –
modern humans – are the asteroid. The sixth mass extinction is here, with about 600
species of North American birds at risk from human-caused climate change.

We must safeguard one of nature’s greatest creations: wild birds. Build a better world
for them, and we’ll build one for ourselves. We must defend a livable planet by electing 50
politicians who have empathy and an ecological conscience. Act green. Restore native
habitats and environmental health. Keep domestic cats indoors, and affix silhouetted
2
hawk decals to windows. In the USA alone, an estimated three to four billion birds die
each year from cat predation and window strikes.

Put a birdfeeder out the window of a nursing home and watch the patients inside brighten. 55
Birds bring happiness and improved health. A European study suggests that a backyard
full of birds creates greater human satisfaction than a modest pay raise. Our survival
and mental wellbeing are intricately tied to that of healthy lands, waters and biodiversity;
nothing proves it better than wild birds.
1
PT Barnum: an American showman and circus owner
2
decals: stickers used as window decorations

© UCLES 2024 06_9093_13_2024_1.13 [Turn over

Section B: Text analysis

Question 2

Read the following text, which is a piece of travel writing about a journey through the Himalayas.

Analyse the text, focusing on form, structure and language. [25]

Day Sixty: Tingri to Rongbuk, Tibet

Though perfectly comfortable in my congenial little room, sleep was light and fleeting
and broken by twinges of headache and nausea. The zero temperatures with which Mr
Tse Xiu threatened us didn’t materialise and when I should have been sleeping I was
engaged in an energy-consuming nocturnal strip, peeling off the layers of clothing I’d 5
gone to bed in and dropping them out of my sleeping bag one by one.

Open the curtains to find a yak calf helping itself to a bowl of water which has been put
outside my room.

Wash in what’s left of it and join the others for breakfast. On the way there I notice a big
satellite dish in one corner of the courtyard. There’s no evidence of a television anywhere 10
about the place.

This is my first chance to have some time with Migmar, who has so far been preoccupied
with getting us into China. He’s 27, the son of Tibetan nomads who were enlightened
enough to send him to school, from where he won a place at Lhasa University. He read
Chinese (the Dalai Lama would have approved) and English, which, despite the fact 15
he’s never left Tibet, he speaks pretty well.

I’m impressed by the richness of the decoration on almost every inch of the timber
columns, beams and ceiling boards, and Migmar explains that in the ninth century a
Tibetan warlord tried to eradicate Buddhism and the only way that the culture survived
was through a pictorial code. The Buddhist heroes were depicted as animals: dragons, 20
tigers, even sheep. What began as a cipher developed into a rich tradition of imaginative
painting.

Instead of continuing along the Friendship Highway to Lhasa, we turn south on a dirt
road, towards the heart of the Himalayas. Apart from the occasional four-wheel drives
like our own, traffic consists of horses and carts trotting between isolated settlements, 25
usually of low, whitewashed houses with prayer flags fluttering from poles at each corner
of the roof. The harshness of life up here in this dry and windy rain shadow of the
Himalayas is etched on the faces of the farmers and their families. Skin is weathered
and faces prematurely aged. The children, noses running and cheeks red and rough
from the sun, cluster round as soon as we stop, asking us to give them something. 30

At one stop the villagers are celebrating with music and dancing. Music seems to lighten
the load, and getting out the three-string guitars is a popular move. Soon a circle is
formed and the dancers are moving slowly round with a step that doesn’t seem to vary,
though judging by reactions, the words they sing have been brought up to date. The
women wear big, coral earrings, flower pattern shirts and the traditional Tibetan chuba, 35
a long, sleeveless dress tied with a sash at the waist. Some of the men wear their version

© UCLES 2024 06_9093_13_2024_1.13

of the chuba, big, wide-sleeved coats, and one or two are in sheepskin jackets, leggings
and heavy boots of the kind I haven’t really seen since the pop festivals of the late sixties.

Migmar says that at times like New Year, dances like these can be spun out for several
days. 40

We move on, through desert scenery, with minimal vegetation but every kind of
eye-catching rock formation: deep gullies, bluffs with soaring, scree-covered slopes,
exposed synclines and anticlines, red and angry, as if freshly split from the cliffs around
them. A brisk wind creates the only movement in this dead landscape, sending dust
devils spiralling across the track in front of us. 45

From the entrance to the Qomolangma National Park, a metalled road, recently upgraded,
leads us smoothly up to the next big pass, Pang La. This is the high point of our day’s
journey, in every respect. At the summit, a smooth, wide hill at 17 000 feet (5180 m), one
of the finest views in the world is suddenly, almost abruptly, revealed. The full, majestic
spread of the central Himalayas is laid out before us, like white-topped waves in a frozen 50
ocean.

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Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/23

Paper 2 Writing October/November 2023
2 hours

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*1127320533*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 4 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

11_9093_23_2023_1.10
© UCLES 2023 [Turn over
2

Section A: Shorter writing and reflective commentary

Question 1
You recently read a newspaper article which said that people spend far too much time and money
shopping these days. You decide to write an email to the editor, in response to this article, giving your
opinion.

(a) Write the text for the email, using no more than 400 words. In your writing, give reasons to
support your opinion. [15]

(b) Write a reflective commentary on your text, explaining how your linguistic choices contribute
to fulfilling the task set. [10]

Section B: Extended writing

Answer one question.

EITHER

Question 2

A news website aimed at teenagers has recently been set up, and you have been looking at it. You
decide to write a review of the news website, which you will post on your blog. Write between 600
and 900 words. [25]

Question 3

Write a story called Fake about a person who is not who they claim to be. In your writing, create a
sense of drama and suspense. Write between 600 and 900 words. [25]

Question 4

Your class has just had a debate on whether health or happiness is more important in life. Your
teacher has now asked you to write an essay on the topic. Write between 600 and 900 words.
[25]

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Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/13

Paper 1 Reading October/November 2023
2 hours 15 minutes

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*4216492893*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 8 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

11_9093_13_2023_1.3
© UCLES 2023 [Turn over
2

Section A: Directed response

Question 1
Read the following text, which is an extract from a book about the first successful ascent of Mount
Everest.

(a) Imagine you are Tenzing. Write your diary entry about the ascent to the summit. Use 150–200
words. [10]

(b) Compare your diary entry with the extract, analysing form, structure and language. [15]

Summit of Achievement

Right on the crest itself, defying gravity, a great plaque of wind-packed snow is plastered
vertically against the east face of the bedrock.

Content removed due to copyright restrictions.

© UCLES 2023 11_9093_13_2023_1.3

Content removed due to copyright restrictions.

And of course, even if

they had been there, there would have been no sign, for Everest’s summit is a giant
snow cornice, many meters thick, blown continually up and out to the east, to curl back
on itself in a great wave, so that anything left on top is soon embedded on the eastern
underside of the wave.

© UCLES 2023 11_9093_13_2023_1.3 [Turn over

Section B: Text analysis

Question 2

Read the following text, which is an extract from the introduction to a cookery book.

Analyse the text, focusing on form, structure and language. [25]

from Indian Cookery

I have always loved to eat well. My mother once informed me that my passion dates
back to the hour of my birth when my grandmother wrote the sacred syllable ‘Om’ (‘I
am’) on my tongue with a finger dipped in fresh honey. I was apparently observed
smacking my lips rather loudly. 5

Starting from that time, food – good food – just appeared miraculously from somewhere
at the back of our house in Delhi. It would be preceded by the most tantalizing odours
– steaming basmati rice, roasting cumin seeds, cinnamon sticks in hot oil – and the
sounds of crockery and cutlery on the move. A bearer, turbaned, sashed and barefooted,
would announce the meal and soon we would all be sitting around the dinner table, a 10
family of six, engrossed in eating monsoon mushrooms cooked with coriander and
turmeric, rahu fish that my brothers had just caught in the Jamuna River, and cubes of
lamb smothered in a yoghurt sauce.

It was at this stage of innocence that I left India for London, to become a student at the
1
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. My ‘digs ’ were in Brent and consisted of a pleasant 15
room and, through the kindness of my landlords, use of the kitchen.

‘Use of the kitchen’ was all very well, but exactly how was I going to use it? My visits to
our kitchen in Delhi had been brief and intermittent. I could not cook. What was worse,
I felt clumsy and ignorant.

An SOS to my mother brought in return a series of reassuring letters, all filled with recipes 20
of my favourite foods. There they were, Kheema matar (Minced meat with peas), Rogan
josh (Red lamb stew), Phool gobi aur aloo ki bhaji (Cauliflower with potatoes)

Slowly, aided by the correspondence course with my encouraging mother, I did learn to
cook, eventually getting cocky enough to invite large groups of friends over for meals of
Shahi korma or Shahjahani murghi (Mughlai chicken with almonds and raisins). Once 25
certain basic principles had been mastered, cooking Indian food had become perfectly
accessible.

There is something so very satisfying about Indian cookery, more so when it is fresh
and home-cooked. Perhaps it is that unique blending of herbs, spices, seasonings, as
well as meat, pulses, vegetables, yoghurt dishes and relishes that my ancestors 30
determined centuries ago would titillate our palates. At the same time, it preserves our
health and the proper chemical balance of our bodies. This combination of wholesome
food and endless flavours and dishes makes Indian cookery one of the greatest in the
world.

Indian food is far more varied than the menus of Indian restaurants suggest. One of my 35
fondest memories of school in Delhi is of the lunches that we all brought from our homes,

© UCLES 2023 11_9093_13_2023_1.3

2
ensconced in multi-tiered tiffin -carriers. My stainless steel tiffin-carrier used to dangle
from the handle of my bicycle as I rode at great speed to school every morning, my
ribboned pigtails fluttering behind me. The smells emanating from it sustained me as I
dodged exhaust-spewing buses and later, as I struggled with mind-numbing algebra. 40
When the lunch bell finally set us free, my friends and I would assemble under a shady
neem tree if it was summer or on a sunny verandah if it was winter. My mouth would
begin to water even before we opened up our tiffin-carriers. It so happened that all my
friends were of differing faiths and all came, originally, from different regions of the
country. Even though we were all Indian, we had hardly any culinary traditions in common. 45
Eating always filled us with a sense of adventure and discovery as we could not always
anticipate what the others might bring.
1
digs: a slang term for ‘accommodation’
2
tiffin: an Indian English word for a light meal

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Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/21

Paper 2 Writing October/November 2023
2 hours

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*6393724921*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 4 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

11_9093_21_2023_1.11
© UCLES 2023 [Turn over
2

Section A: Shorter writing and reflective commentary

Question 1
You are going to take part in a debate at school about whether it would be more interesting to be able
to travel back to the past, or forward to the future. Your headteacher has asked you to open the debate
by giving a short speech on the topic.

(a) Write the text for your speech, using no more than 400 words. In your writing, introduce both
points of view and create a sense of interest in the debate. [15]

(b) Write a reflective commentary on your text, explaining how your linguistic choices contribute
to fulfilling the task set by your headteacher. [10]

Section B: Extended writing

Answer one question.

EITHER

Question 2

In class, you have been discussing whether all museums should be free. You have decided to write
an article on the topic, which will be published in your school magazine. Write between 600 and
900 words. [25]

Question 3

Last summer, you did a two-week course to learn a range of water sports. You decide to write a
review of the course, which will be published on an activity holiday website. Write between 600 and
900 words. [25]

Question 4

Write a descriptive piece called The Square, about a town square at sunrise. In your writing, focus
on colour, light and movement to help your reader imagine the scene. Write between 600 and 900
words. [25]

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Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/22

Paper 2 Writing October/November 2023
2 hours

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*5038809985*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 4 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

11_9093_22_2023_1.9
© UCLES 2023 [Turn over
2

Section A: Shorter writing and reflective commentary

Question 1
You are taking part in a fitness challenge which involves walking 10 000 steps every day. You have
decided to write a blog about the experience.

(a) Write the text for your first blog entry, using no more than 400 words. In your writing, create a
sense of enthusiasm for the challenge and encourage others to take part too. [15]

(b) Write a reflective commentary on your text, explaining how your linguistic choices contribute
to fulfilling the task set. [10]

Section B: Extended writing

Answer one question.

EITHER

Question 2

Last weekend, you went on a boat trip in your local area, which was organised by a new tourism
company. You decide to write a review of the trip, which will be published on a travel website. Write
between 600 and 900 words. [25]

Question 3

You recently read a newspaper article which said that young people should get jobs after leaving
school, rather than go to university. You decide to write a letter to the editor, in response to this
article, giving your opinion. Write between 600 and 900 words. [25]

Question 4

Write a descriptive piece about a factory in the middle of a working day. In your writing, focus on
the sound, light and movement in the factory to help your reader imagine the scene. Write between
600 and 900 words. [25]

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Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/12

Paper 1 Reading October/November 2023
2 hours 15 minutes

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*6302496846*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 8 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

11_9093_12_2023_1.14
© UCLES 2023 [Turn over
2

Section A: Directed response

Question 1
Read the following text, which is an extract from a book titled Paradise Gardens.

(a) In response to the text, you decide to write a letter to your local authority suggesting the benefits
of creating a public garden in your local area. Use 150–200 words. [10]

(b) Compare your letter with the extract, analysing form, structure and language. [15]

The Arabian desert is remorseless. Fly over it and the barren vastness is daunting, but
to spend your life moving through it on foot, on the edge of survival, is beyond
imagination. The only thing that makes life possible, let alone bearable, is an oasis.
Without occasional patches of green with fresh water, there would be no life at all.
Compared to the intolerable heat, the sandstorms, the interminable salt flats and the 5
razor-sharp rocks, an oasis is heaven on earth.

The nomadic desert Arabs lived in the harshest and least fertile of environments that
could support any kind of human life. By the early seventh century AD, a garden was
something they arrived at as more than just a relief from the rigours of the desert; it was
a symbol of life underlined by the one great essential – water. 10

It is a common cliché to refer to your garden as ‘a little bit of heaven’ or as ‘paradise’.

This is shorthand for saying that it seems just about perfect, combining beauty and
peace and – momentarily at least – it is devoid of all care. But for the desert Arabs of
the sixth and seventh centuries, an oasis really was paradise and paradise was inevitably
going to be just like the perfect oasis, running with water, full of fruits and green with 15
luxuriant shade.

The Qur’an made all this explicit. There are over 120 references to the gardens of
paradise, and the phrase most often mentioned is ‘gardens underneath which rivers
flow’. Water in physical form flowing through and beneath gardens and flowing within
this beautiful, abundant peaceful place is the heart and essence of the paradise garden. 20

The concept of paradise being a garden goes back almost five thousand years to
Babylon, but the first reference to the word comes from the Persian ‘pairidaeza’ which
means an enclosed garden filled with trees – and especially fruit trees. This pre-dates
the Islamic idea of a paradise garden by at least a thousand years. By 530 BC Cyrus
the Great had made a large garden at his palace at Pasargadae complete with 25
sophisticated water channels and pools.

When the Arabs conquered Persia in AD 650 they took on the idea of the four-part
chahar bagh. This became the model for paradise gardens throughout the Islamic world
thereafter, albeit with many variations. The four rivers, of milk, honey, water and wine,
flow from its centre. Four is a magic and holy number and the cube the perfect shape, 30
so four features in every paradise garden and the number eight, derived from it, are
very common. The central fountain with flowing water is also essential. Moving water
is the key for many reasons. The movement symbolises life, but it has great practical
implications too. Water cools and dampens the air, it produces a musical sound that is
conducive to contemplation and peace and it can be used for irrigation. 35

© UCLES 2023 11_9093_12_2023_1.14

All fruits were grown – often in deeply sunken beds so the tops of the trees were at
head height for those standing on the paths dividing the charhar bagh – although rarely
in mixed orchards. Olive and fig, date and pomegranate were ubiquitous and symbolically
important. The orange arrived from India via the Silk Road by the eleventh century, and
was planted throughout gardens primarily for the fragrance and beauty of its flowers 40
and fruit but also as a bitter oil in cooking; the sweet orange came much later. Flowers
would be grown beneath the fruit trees but not in borders as such. In any event, flowering
was largely restricted to a brief spring explosion before the searing heat kicked in.

It is hard for northern Europeans to imagine the extreme summer heat of the desert or
places such as northern India where the temperatures can rise above 50 degrees. 45
Shade, coolness and green repose become the greatest luxuries. Fragrance, gentle
sound, good company, beautiful carpets and silks and delicious fruits are a sensual
refinement. Add to all this the senses of safety and harmony that come within the
protective confines of a domestic garden, and you have a good measure of paradise –
and the knowledge that this is just a cloudy reflection of true paradise, merely an inkling 50
of the heaven that awaits.

© UCLES 2023 11_9093_12_2023_1.14 [Turn over

Section B: Text analysis

Question 2

Read the following text, which is an editorial piece from a lifestyle magazine.

Analyse the text, focusing on form, structure and language. [25]

View from here

As her annual spring clean morphs into the mother of all clear-outs, Suzy Smith unearths
lifelong treasures that cue some exhausting emotional tussles.

Content removed due to copyright restrictions.

© UCLES 2023 11_9093_12_2023_1.14

5
Content removed due to copyright restrictions.

Perhaps that’s a project for the future.

In the meantime, a lot of it has to go. I know I shall feel much better when it does.

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Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/11

Paper 1 Reading October/November 2023
2 hours 15 minutes

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*3696788106*

INSTRUCTIONS
• Answer all questions.
• Follow the instructions on the front cover of the answer booklet. If you need additional answer paper,
ask the invigilator for a continuation booklet.
• Dictionaries are not allowed.
INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 8 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

11_9093_11_2023_1.16
© UCLES 2023 [Turn over
2

Section A: Directed response

Question 1
Read the following text, which is a magazine article about stargazing.

(a) Your teacher has asked you to give a speech to your class about the benefits to well-being of
appreciating the sky at night. Write the opening of your speech. Use 150–200 words. [10]

(b) Compare the opening of your speech with the article, analysing form, structure and
language. [15]

Reach for the Stars

Dark winter nights provide the perfect opportunity for stargazing – a scientifically proven
way to make us calmer, happier and more creative.

Content removed due to copyright restrictions.

© UCLES 2023 11_9093_11_2023_1.16

Content removed due to copyright restrictions.

Try to get out in early January: the Quadrantid meteor shower is one of the most active,
producing between 50 and 100 meteors an hour during its peak at this time.

© UCLES 2023 11_9093_11_2023_1.16 [Turn over

Section B: Text analysis

Question 2

Read the following text, which is an extract from the autobiography of a chef.

Analyse the text, focusing on form, structure and language. [25]

Scrambled Egg

‘Just try it,’ pleaded my father, holding out a plate of particularly yellow scrambled egg.
‘You won’t taste the eggs, I promise.’

He had become cunning of late; a promised pancake had turned out to be an omelette,
some slices of hard-boiled egg had been slipped into a salad sandwich and, in a moment 5
of spectacular deceit, he had attempted to hide the yolk of a fried egg under a mound
of baked beans.

I was having none of it. Every morsel of food was inspected both on the plate and again
1
on the fork for signs of the dreaded oeuf . No lettuce leaf or bridge roll was left
unchecked, no salad dressing went unsniffed, every sandwich was prised apart. The 10
more wily he became, the more untrusting I learned to be. At one point I used to sit on
the kitchen counter talking to him as he made supper, just to check that no new-laid
wonder found its way on to my plate.

I promised I’d give it a go. He didn’t leave the room. I sniffed the golden slop suspiciously.
It did, sure enough, smell of cheese. The colour was deep and rich, like that of a crocus, 15
and it had a clear moat of yellow fat round it, which looked the same as the fat which
came out of one of his less successful attempts at cheese on toast. A timid forkful proved
edible. A second went down easy enough and soon I had finished the lot. I am not sure
who was the happiest.

As the weeks went by, my scrambled suppers became less manageable. By the fourth 20
week, the egg had become detectable; by the sixth, the cheese was barely noticeable.
But by this time my father had seen enough empty plates to know I could be trusted to
eat up my supper without him peering over my shoulder. Sad, then, that I couldn’t trust
him not to gradually cut down on the cheese. Even sadder, then, that I started feeding
it to the dog. 25

He would come home early all the time now. Only an hour or so after I got in from school,
he would appear and make me something to eat. Then he would leave the house in a
whirlwind of aftershave and freshly ironed shirt, leaving me alone again, eating at the
table. His cheeks had got more colour recently. His hair glistened with Brylcreem scooped
from a red plastic pot and his face and neck scrubbed up pink. 30

***

In the normal course of events, my father and Mrs Potter never would have met. He
2
didn’t inhabit a world where women wore Crimplene . He had never come across a
woman who did her housework with her hair in rollers. Come to think of it, he didn’t even
know any women who did their own housework, let alone other people’s. They got to
know one another through the raffles and whist drives they organised for a local disabled 35

© UCLES 2023 11_9093_11_2023_1.16

group. ‘It nearly did my back in doing the waltz with Mr Guthrie,’ Joan Potter announced
one evening after a wheelchair dance in the function room of the Battle of Britain pub.

She wore her hair in a tight perm. Her eyes were small and twinkling, like espresso
coffee. Her mouth was as tight as a walnut and carried above it the faintest of
moustaches. Yet she was strangely attractive. 40
1
oeuf: French for ‘egg’
2
Crimplene: a man-made fabric often used in clothing in the 1960s

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Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/12

Paper 1 Reading February/March 2023
2 hours 15 minutes

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*7028945718*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 8 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

03_9093_12_2023_1.19
© UCLES 2023 [Turn over
2

Section A: Directed response

Question 1
Read the following text, which is an article about robots in the workplace.

(a) Your teacher has asked you to give a speech to your class, expressing your opinions about
the issues raised in the article. Write the opening of your speech. Use 150–200 words. [10]

(b) Compare the opening of your speech with the article, analysing form, structure and
language. [15]

Robots to be used in UK care homes to help reduce loneliness

Machines can hold simple conversations and have been found to improve
mental health.

Robots that can hold simple conversations and learn people’s interests are to be deployed
in some UK care homes after an international trial found they boosted mental health and 5
reduced loneliness.

The wheeled robots, called ‘Pepper’, move independently and gesture with robotic arms
and hands and are designed to be ‘culturally competent’, which means that after some
initial programming they learn about the interests and backgrounds of care home
residents. This allows them to initiate rudimentary conversations, play residents’ favourite 10
music, teach them languages, and offer practical help including medicine reminders.

The researchers, led by Dr Chris Papadopoulos at the University of Bedfordshire, said

the trial was not intended to explore the replacement of human carers with robots, but
to help fill lonely periods when, because of a stretched social care system, staff do not
have time to keep residents company. 15

The trial, in the UK and Japan, found that older adults in care homes who interacted
with the robots for up to 18 hours across two weeks had a significant improvement in
their mental health. There was a small but positive impact on loneliness severity among
users and the system did not increase feelings of loneliness, academics found.

The robots’ limitations centred on their conversations feeling superficial and lacking 20
‘richness’, users said. They lacked personalisation and sometimes did not show enough
cultural awareness, and their head movements and hand gestures were sometimes
distracting. The analysis was part of a £2.3 million research project funded by the
European commission and Japanese government.

Advinia Healthcare, a trial location and one of the largest providers of dementia care in 25
the UK, said it was ‘working towards implementing this into routine care of vulnerable
people to reduce anxiety and loneliness and provide continuity of care’.

‘This is the only artificial intelligence that can enable an open-ended communication with
a robot and a vulnerable resident,’ said Dr Sanjeev Kanoria, the Advinia chairman. ‘Now
we are working towards bringing the robot into routine care, so it can be of real help to 30
older adults and their families.’

© UCLES 2023 03_9093_12_2023_1.19

He said the robots would not directly lead to job cuts but would be worth using because
happier residents mean less work for staff and improve satisfaction ratings, boosting
occupancy.

***

In 2019, the care industry had at least 120 000 vacancies and the largest operators this 35
week told MPs that staff are suffering ‘burnout’, and the strain is being increased by the
financial difficulties many operators are facing, after costs soared and occupancy levels
fell.

A single robot loaded with software costs about £19 000, about £1000 more than the
average salary of a care worker in south-east England. But cheaper robots could also 40
be used.

Care England, which represents the largest providers, said the robots were not likely to
replace staff but might help create deeper and higher-quality relationships with residents.

‘In the UK alone, 15 000 people are over 100 years of age and this figure will only
increase,’ said Irena Papadopoulos, a professor of transcultural health and nursing at 45
the University of Middlesex. ‘Socially assistive, intelligent robots for older people could
relieve some pressures in hospitals and care homes. No one is talking about replacing
humans – the evaluation demonstrates that we are a long way from doing that – but it
also reveals that robots could support existing care systems. While results demonstrate
that our experimental robot was more culturally competent to users, they also reveal 50
that there is room for improvement.’

Vic Rayner, the executive director of the National Care Forum, which represents charitable
care providers, said: ‘Robots in social care should not be seen as part of a frightening
futuristic vision. They offer key additions to how care is delivered that need to be explored
further and understood.’ 55

© UCLES 2023 03_9093_12_2023_1.19 [Turn over

Section B: Text analysis

Question 2

Read the following text, which is the opening of a short story published in 1952. The text describes the
arrival of a train in an unnamed village in Africa.

Analyse the text, focusing on form, structure and language. [25]

The train came out of the red horizon and bore down towards them over the single
straight track.

Content removed due to copyright restrictions.

© UCLES 2023 03_9093_12_2023_1.19

Content removed due to copyright restrictions.

The two children careered over the sand, clutching the bread, and burst through
the iron gate and up the path through the garden in which nothing grew.

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Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/22

Paper 2 Writing February/March 2023
2 hours

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*5465698724*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 4 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

03_9093_22_2023_1.13
© UCLES 2023 [Turn over
2

Section A: Shorter writing and reflective commentary

Question 1
You recently started doing some voluntary work in your free time. Your headteacher has asked you to
give a short speech to your school to encourage others to do something similar.

(a) Write the text for your speech, using no more than 400 words. In your writing, focus on the
advantages of doing voluntary work, and suggest ways in which students can volunteer. [15]

(b) Write a reflective commentary on your text, explaining how your linguistic choices contribute
to fulfilling the task set by your headteacher. [10]

Section B: Extended writing

Answer one question.

EITHER

Question 2

In class, you have been discussing the idea that many teenagers find museums boring. You decide
to write an article about this, which will be published on a museum website. In your writing, focus
on what would make museums more appealing to teenagers, and how museums can benefit from
more teenage visitors. Write between 600 and 900 words. [25]

Question 3

Write a story which begins with the following sentence: Clara carefully opened the envelope and
saw that it contained one thing only – a single photograph of a group of people. In your writing,
create a sense of drama and mystery. Write between 600 and 900 words. [25]

Question 4

You recently attended an international youth conference on how to make the world a better place.
You decide to write a review of the conference, which you will post on your blog. Write between
600 and 900 words. [25]

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Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/22

Paper 2 Writing May/June 2023
2 hours

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*1665926896*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 4 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

06_9093_22_2023_1.10
© UCLES 2023 [Turn over
2

Section A: Shorter writing and reflective commentary

Question 1
Your teacher has asked you to write the opening of a story called The Voice, about an answerphone
message that someone received from a complete stranger.

(a) Write the text for the opening of your story, using no more than 400 words. In your writing,
create a sense of drama and suspense. [15]

(b) Write a reflective commentary on your text, explaining how your linguistic choices contribute
to fulfilling the task set by your teacher. [10]

Section B: Extended writing

Answer one question.

EITHER

Question 2

You have just returned from a one-week activity holiday for teenagers. Write a review of the holiday,
which will be posted on a travel website. Write between 600 and 900 words. [25]

Question 3

Write a descriptive piece about a busy office. In your writing, focus on the sound, light and movement
inside the office to help your reader imagine the scene. Write between 600 and 900 words. [25]

Question 4

You recently read a newspaper article which said that having a lot of possessions does not always
make people happy. You decide to write an email to the editor, in response to this article, giving
your opinion. Write between 600 and 900 words. [25]

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Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/23

Paper 2 Writing May/June 2023
2 hours

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*3370208398*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 4 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

06_9093_23_2023_1.10
© UCLES 2023 [Turn over
2

Section A: Shorter writing and reflective commentary

Question 1
You belong to an environmental organisation which is concerned about the amount of rubbish that people
throw away. You have offered to produce a leaflet which explains how people can reduce their household
waste.

(a) Write the text for the leaflet, using no more than 400 words. In your writing, give advice on
how to reduce household waste, and create a sense of the importance of doing this. [15]

(b) Write a reflective commentary on your text, explaining how your linguistic choices contribute
to fulfilling the task set. [10]

Section B: Extended writing

Answer one question.

EITHER

Question 2

You have just returned from a camping holiday in another country. You decide to write a review of
the campsite that you stayed on, which you will post on an international travel website. Write between
600 and 900 words. [25]

Question 3

Write a story called Gone! about an important object that mysteriously disappears. In your writing,
create a sense of drama and suspense. Write between 600 and 900 words. [25]

Question 4

You recently read a newspaper article which said that maths should not be a compulsory school
subject. You decide to write a letter to the editor, in response to this article, giving your opinion.
Write between 600 and 900 words. [25]

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Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/21

Paper 2 Writing May/June 2023
2 hours

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*4182828814*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 4 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

06_9093_21_2023_1.14
© UCLES 2023 [Turn over
2

Section A: Shorter writing and reflective commentary

Question 1
You are going to take part in a two-week expedition to a remote location, and you have decided to write
a blog about it.

(a) Write the text for your first blog entry, using no more than 400 words. In your writing, focus on
what you are looking forward to about the expedition, and create a sense of anticipation. [15]

(b) Write a reflective commentary on your text, explaining how your linguistic choices contribute
to fulfilling the task set. [10]

Section B: Extended writing

Answer one question.

EITHER

Question 2

You are going to take part in a debate at school about whether everyone should learn more foreign
languages. Your headteacher has asked you to open the debate by giving a speech on the topic.
Write the text for your speech, giving your opinion. Write between 600 and 900 words. [25]

Question 3

You recently did a one-day cookery course for complete beginners. Write a review of the course,
which will be published on a food website. Write between 600 and 900 words. [25]

Question 4

Write a story which begins with the following sentence: Marc shouted as loudly as he possibly could,
but the man did not hear him. In your writing, create a sense of drama and suspense. Write between
600 and 900 words. [25]

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Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/13

Paper 1 Reading May/June 2023
2 hours 15 minutes

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*6849191652*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 8 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

06_9093_13_2023_1.21
© UCLES 2023 [Turn over
2

Section A: Directed response

Question 1
Read the following text, which is an article from The Indian Express newspaper.

(a) You work for a travel agency. Write the text for an advertisement for a volunteering holiday,
during which tourists will join the conservationists tracking the tigers and learning about them.
Use 150–200 words. [10]

(b) Compare your advertisement with the original text, analysing form, structure and language.
[15]

Explained: Where tigers roam mountains

1
Uttarakhand has flaunted its tiger range up to 3660 m. How commonly are tigers found
at such altitudes?

To celebrate International Tiger Day last week, the Uttarakhand government highlighted
the expanse of the state’s tiger map from Corbett National Park to Kedarnath Wildlife 5
2
Sanctuary. Between the Terai and the mountains, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami
flaunted the tiger range from an elevation of 360 m to 3680 m as a testimony of
Uttarakhand’s success in tiger conservation.

The tiger’s usual range is under 1800 m (think Kasauli). That makes its presence above
3660 m – the elevation of the Kedarnath temple – rare. But tigers have shown up before 10
a strategically placed motion-triggered camera at higher altitudes.

Global spotlight

While there have been ample anecdotal accounts of tigers roaming significantly higher
slopes of their Himalayan habitats, the global fascination with the so-called high-altitude
or snow tigers was triggered by a BBC documentary that claimed to have ‘discovered 15
a lost tiger population in Bhutan mountains’ in 2010.

The documentary, Lost Land of the Tiger, made splashes around the globe, even as
conservationists pointed out that the tigers in question were never lost. In fact, the first
photographic evidence of a tiger in Bhutan was recorded in 2000 in Phrumsengla National
Park at 2965 m, then the highest altitude record of the species. 20

Then, not long before the BBC team landed in Bhutan, another camera-trap study set
a new elevation record for tigers, capturing an adult male in the snow inside Jigme Dorji
National Park at 4200 m in 2008. Since the global hype generated in 2010, high-altitude
tigers have been photographed in Bhutan on multiple occasions, including the first high
3
resolution capture above 3350 m by Emmanuel Rondeau for WWF -UK in 2017. 25

In 2020, Nepal also captured two ridge-scaling tigers – one at 2500 m in Dadeldhura in
April, and another at 3169 m in Kangchenjunga Landscape region in November.

© UCLES 2023 06_9093_13_2023_1.21

Tiger sightings in India

In India, anecdotes of high-altitude tigers survive in community tales, as also in the

accounts of hunters, adventurers and naturalists. 30

***

Since 2016, multiple records of tigers above 3000 m have been recorded in India:

March 2016: A tigress was camera-trapped at 3274 m in Askot Musk Deer wildlife
sanctuary near Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand.

January 2017: Two male tigers were captured at 3630 m and 3246 m in the Mishmi Hills
(Dibang Valley) of Arunachal Pradesh. These two were the first photos of tigers (other 35
than Russia’s Amur tigers) in the snow.

December 2018: A tiger was photographed at 2915 m in Sikkim’s Pangolakha Wildlife

Sanctuary.

May 2019: A tiger was camera-trapped in Rudraprayag’s Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary

at 3400 m. 40

Causes for concern

Records of high-altitude tigers getting somewhat routine have alarmed a section of

conservationists. Warming induced by climate change, they argue, is making the higher
mountains tolerable for tigers.

But the fact that tigers are found roaming the snow indicates that their upward movement 45
is not deterred by the cold. A more likely explanation is that tigers, given an opportunity,
have always ventured far and wide. Thanks to a better monitoring regime and
camera-traps, scientists and managers are now getting to learn more about their actual
ranges.

The fact that there are enough tigers in certain pockets to wander around is certainly 50
good news. But that should not prompt hasty proposals, such as declaring a high-altitude
area as a tiger reserve, or even shifting a conservation area upward, based on a few
tiger photos.

Like Siberian tigers do not actually live in Siberia (but in temperate broadleaf-mixed-pine
and pure deciduous forests), it is unlikely that tigers spotted in the snow have settled 55
down there. Their survival still depends on the forests below. There can be no trade-off
between traditional tiger habitat and these new heights of feline interest.
1
flaunted: showed off something they were proud of in order to get admiration
2
Terai: a lowland region in northern India and southern Nepal
3
WWF: World Wildlife Fund, a conservation organisation

© UCLES 2023 06_9093_13_2023_1.21 [Turn over

Section B: Text analysis

Question 2

Read the following text, which is a transcript of a voiceover for an informational video.

Analyse the text, focusing on form, structure and language. [25]

What yoga does to your body and brain

At some point between the first and fifth century, the Hindu sage Patañjali began to
codify the ancient, meditative traditions practiced throughout India. He recorded
techniques nearly as old as Indian civilization itself in 196 manuals called the Yoga
Sutras. These texts defined yoga as the ‘yoking’ or restraining of the mind from focusing 5
on external objects in efforts to reach a state of pure consciousness. Over time, yoga
came to incorporate physical elements from gymnastics and wrestling. Today, there are
a multitude of approaches to modern yoga – though most still maintain the three core
elements of Patañjali’s practice: physical postures, breathing exercises, and spiritual
contemplation. 10

This blend of physical and mental exercise is widely believed to have a unique set of
health advantages. Such as improving strength and flexibility, boosting heart and lung
function, and enhancing psychological well-being. But what have contemporary studies
shown regarding the benefits of this ancient tradition?

Despite attempts by many researchers, it’s tough to make specific claims about yoga’s 15
advantages. Its unique combination of activities makes it difficult to determine which
component is producing a specific health benefit. Additionally, yoga studies are often
made up of small sample sizes that lack diversity, and the heavy reliance on self-reporting
makes results subjective. However, there are some health benefits that have more robust
scientific support than others. 20

Let’s start with flexibility and strength. Twisting your body into yoga’s physical postures
stretches multiple muscle groups. In the short term, stretching can change the water
content of these muscles, ligaments, and tendons to make them more elastic. Over time,
regular stretching stimulates stem cells which then differentiate into new muscle tissue
and other cells that generate elastic collagen. Frequent stretching also reduces the 25
body’s natural reflex to constrict muscles, improving your pain tolerance for feats of
flexibility.

Researchers haven’t found that any one form of yoga improves flexibility more than
another, so the impact of specific postures is unclear. But like other low-impact exercises,
yoga reliably improves fitness and flexibility in healthy populations. 30

The practice has also been shown to be a potentially powerful therapeutic tool. In studies
involving patients with a variety of musculo-skeletal disorders, yoga was more helpful
at reducing pain and improving mobility than other forms of low-impact exercise. Adding
yoga to an existing exercise routine can improve strength and flexibility for hard-to-treat
conditions like chronic lower back pain, rheumatoid arthritis, and osteoporosis. 35

Yoga’s mix of physical exercise and regimented breathing has proven similarly therapeutic
for lung health. Lung diseases like chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and asthma shrink

© UCLES 2023 06_9093_13_2023_1.21

the passageways that carry oxygen, while weakening the membrane that brings oxygen
into the blood. But breathing exercises like those found in yoga relax the muscles
constricting those passageways and improve oxygen diffusion. Increasing the blood’s 40
oxygen content is especially helpful for those with weak heart muscles who have difficulty
pumping enough oxygen throughout the body. And for those with healthy hearts, this
practice can lower blood pressure and reduce risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

Yoga’s most widely celebrated benefit may be the most difficult to prove: its psychological
effects. Despite the longstanding association between yoga and psychological well-being, 45
there’s little conclusive evidence on how the practice affects mental health. One of the
biggest claims is that yoga improves symptoms of depression and anxiety disorders.
Since diagnosis of these conditions varies widely, as do their origin and severity, it’s
difficult to quantify yoga’s impact. However, there is evidence to suggest that yoga can
help reduce the symptoms of stress, as well as meditation or relaxation. 50

Research on the effects of yoga is still evolving. In the future, we’ll need larger studies,
incorporating diverse participants, which can measure yoga’s impact on heart attacks,
cancer rates, cognitive function and more. But for now, yoga can continue its ancient
tradition as a way to exercise, reflect, and relax.

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Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/11

Paper 1 Reading May/June 2023
2 hours 15 minutes

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*3428603898*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 8 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

06_9093_11_2023_1.12
© UCLES 2023 [Turn over
2

Section A: Directed response

Question 1
Read the following text, which is an extract from a book called Japanese Gardens by the gardener and
writer, Monty Don.

(a) You work for a travel agency in Japan. Your boss has asked you to write the text for a section
of a leaflet offering advice to travellers from the West who are going on a garden tour of Japan.
Use 150–200 words. [10]

(b) Compare the text for your leaflet with the extract, analysing form, structure and language. [15]

Before we left, I had bought and read everything I could find. I had talked to people and,
after all, I had been to Japan before. But knowledge only gets you to a certain point in
any garden. The head will only lead you to the place where the heart has to begin, and
in Japan your Western head will inevitably lead you away from where your Japanese
head needs to be. 5

When I visit any garden, I always try to empty myself of the information that I already
know about it. I let the garden come to me on its own terms. In fact, I always describe
this as ‘trying to find the garden’ although in reality it amounts to finding the place, plant,
view or even sound that somehow holds the essence of the place. I always know it
when I find it. Sometimes it remains elusive and, however celebrated the garden, it 10
remains inaccessible to me. Sometimes the chemistry is just not there.

In Western gardens this almost always involves walking around the garden, looking,
taking the odd note or picture, trying to tune in as receptively as I can to the spirit of the
place. It is usually quick and easy and constitutes a delightful ten to twenty minutes.
But many Japanese gardens are not intended for casual mooching. There are the stroll 15
gardens such as Rikugi-en, but they have a route based upon a series of carefully
arranged viewpoints along a prescribed – and at times policed – path. Zen dry gardens
are designed to be viewed from a static position and are strictly not for walking in or on.
Tea gardens have one narrow path that is carefully designed to lead you ever slower
and more deliberately to the tea house. Going off piste is not an option. 20

That rather characterises Japan – going off piste in any way is frightfully bad form. Here
is one example. We were due to film a garden made by Mr Ishihara right inside the
departure lounge at Haneda airport. Our filming slot was 7.00–10.00 a.m. We elected
to have a quick bite of breakfast when the hotel restaurant opened at 6.30 a.m. (a film
crew marches on its stomach), then drive to the airport, aiming to be there about 7.15 a.m. 25
and still be finished by 10.00 a.m. We passed that message on to our hosts and duly
arrived at 7.15 a.m. to be met by a stony-faced reception committee, clearly appalled
at our lateness but too well-mannered to be anything but politely and formally welcoming.

Filming went well until 9.50 a.m. when, just as we were finishing, our airport guide tried
to physically wrest the camera and halt proceedings because, it turned out, he thought 30
it would take us more than ten minutes to pack up and leave. The horror of us being
late at both ends of the time slot was too much for him to bear. As it happened, it took
us eight minutes to gather our things and walk through the airport to the door where
our van was waiting, so at 9.58 a.m. we said our, by now, extremely curt farewells. See,
we said, all that argy-bargy was completely unnecessary. Not only were we not 35

© UCLES 2023 06_9093_11_2023_1.12

over-running, but we had finished two minutes early. They almost exploded with
exasperation, the last vestiges of politeness vanished, shouting that if we had not been
late, none of that would have happened!

It was a cultural chasm.

***

This all directly relates to gardens. Everything in a garden – absolutely everything – is 40

part of a code and pattern that has evolved as much through social and cultural growth
as creativity. In fact, creativity and society cannot be separated in Japan. But that is
only possible because in many ways the Japanese are much more accepting and
broader minded than we are in the West. Native Shintoism with its visceral earthiness
and the much more Confucian-based and cerebral Buddhism have never been in conflict. 45
Both are central to the Japanese psyche and both can sit side by side with seemingly
utterly conflicting ways of thinking and living. As long as the laws of the family and
society are not broken, almost anything is tolerated.

© UCLES 2023 06_9093_11_2023_1.12 [Turn over

Section B: Text analysis

Question 2

Read the following text, which is an extract from a novel.

Analyse the text, focusing on form, structure and language. [25]

The Woman in Black

Today, all was bright and clear, and there was a thin sun overall, though the light was
pale now, the sky having lost the bright blue of the morning, to become almost silver.
As we drove briskly across the absolutely flat countryside, I saw scarcely a tree, but the
hedgerows were dark and twiggy and low, and the earth that had been ploughed was 5
at first a rich mole-brown, in straight furrows. But, gradually, soil gave way to rough
1
grass and I began to see dykes and ditches filled with water, and then we were
approaching the marshes themselves. They lay silent, still and shining under the
November sky, and they seemed to stretch in every direction, as far as I could see, and
to merge without a break into the waters of the estuary, and the line of the horizon. 10

My head reeled at the sheer and startling beauty, the wide, bare openness of it. The
sense of space, the vastness of the sky above and on either side made my heart race.
I would have travelled a thousand miles to see this. I had never imagined such a place.

The only sounds I could hear above the trotting of the pony’s hooves, the rumble of the
wheels and the creak of the cart, were sudden, harsh, weird cries from birds near and 15
far. We had travelled perhaps three miles, and passed no farm or cottage, no kind of
dwelling house at all, all was emptiness. Then, the hedgerows petered out, and we
seemed to be driving towards the very edge of the world. Ahead, the water gleamed
like metal and I began to make out a track, rather like the line left by the wake of a boat,
that ran across it. As we drew nearer, I saw that the water was lying only shallowly over 20
the rippling sand on either side of us, and that the line was in fact a narrow track leading
directly ahead, as if into the estuary itself. As we slipped into it, I realised that this must
2
be the Nine Lives Causeway – this and nothing more – and saw how, when the tide
came in, it would quickly be quite submerged and untraceable.

At first the pony and then the trap met the sandy path, the smart noise we had been 25
making ceased, and we went on almost in silence save for a hissing, silky sort of sound.
Here and there were clumps of reeds, bleached bone-pale, and now and again the
faintest of winds caused them to rattle dryly. The sun at our backs reflected in the water
all around so that everything shone and glistened like the surface of a mirror, and the
sky had taken on a faint pinkish tinge at the edges, and this in turn became reflected 30
in the marsh and the water. Then, as it was so bright that it hurt my eyes to go on staring
at it, I looked up ahead and saw, as if rising out of the water itself, a tall, gaunt house
of grey stone with a slate roof, that now gleamed steelily in the light. It stood like some
3
lighthouse or beacon or martello tower , facing the whole, wide expanse of marsh and
estuary, the most astonishingly situated house I had ever seen or could ever conceivably 35
have imagined, isolated, uncompromising but also, I thought, handsome. As we neared
it, I saw the land on which it stood was raised up a little, surrounding it on every side
for perhaps three or four hundred yards, of plain, salt-bleached grass, and then gravel.
This little island extended in a southerly direction across an area of scrub and field
towards what looked like the fragmentary ruins of some old church or chapel. 40

© UCLES 2023 06_9093_11_2023_1.12

There was a rough scraping, as the cart came onto the stones, and then pulled up. We
had arrived at Eel Marsh House.
1
dykes: thick walls of earth next to a ditch made to prevent flooding
2
causeway: a raised road or track that traverses wet ground
3
martello tower: a small circular fort that was built for defence purposes on the coasts of Britain

© UCLES 2023 06_9093_11_2023_1.12

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© UCLES 2023 06_9093_11_2023_1.12

Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/12

Paper 1 Reading May/June 2023
2 hours 15 minutes

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*4273184367*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 8 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

06_9093_12_2023_1.21
© UCLES 2023 [Turn over
2

Section A: Directed response

Question 1
Read the following text, which is an article about happy and healthy ageing, published in a British
newspaper.

(a) You disagree with some points in the article. Write a response to the editor, in the form of an
email, expressing your opinions. Use 150–200 words. [10]

(b) Compare your email with the article, analysing form, structure and language. [15]

Do we really have to wait until we are 82 to find peak happiness?

As you grow older, it is tempting to think that you have left your happiest days behind.

The carefree days of your youth, when anything seemed possible, are worlds away,
never to be relived.

Back then you had none of the restrictive trappings of later life – a mortgage, a job, 5
others to provide for. And, most probably, you were fit and well. You had the rest of your
life ahead.

I look back on my late teens and early twenties as the happiest years of my life so far,
when I was a student, surrounded by friends and every day was fun and full of laughs.

But my happiest days could be yet to come – and a long way off. Experts say that our 10
feelings of joy and contentment don’t peak until the age of 82.

Leading neuroscientist Daniel Levitin says that older generations are much more cheerful
than younger ones. The expert states that World Health Organisation data from 60
countries show that happiness grows with age.

He could be right. We tend to look at the past through rose coloured glasses. Come to 15
think of it, the glory days of my late teens / early twenties were also full of insecurities.

Relationship woes were never far from the surface: will he / won’t he call me? Does he
/ doesn’t he like me? Will it / won’t it last? At the time, it generated all sorts of worries.

Then there were all those exams, year after year. And body image.

I probably felt happier back then because those things were all I had to worry about. But 20
I wasn’t in any way in control of my life.

Later, as we begin to take some sort of path, come the real worries – how to make a
living. Jobs, mortgages, car loans, bills, bills, bills And then, for many, children and
the sometimes overwhelming, scary responsibility of supporting and raising a family, of
keeping a roof over their head. 25

As Dr Levitin states in his book The Changing Mind, happiness declines in our 30s, but
it starts to pick up once you reach 54.

© UCLES 2023 06_9093_12_2023_1.21

I’m 59. I am certainly more settled than I was at 20 – I have a home, I have raised children
who are now more-or-less self-sufficient, and, although I am no high flyer, I have built
an enjoyable career. 30

But life still isn’t a bed of roses. I still have a mortgage, alongside an insecure job and
an uncertain future. I can’t claim my pension for another eight years. Life is still throwing
plenty of stress in my direction.

The thought of having to go through another 23 years of this before I feel complete
contentment is depressing to say the least. 35

‘You realise you’ve gotten through all these things that were stressing you out. If you
make it to 82, you know you’ve managed, you’re okay,’ says Dr Levitin.

But will 82 really put me on cloud nine? I think it’s more likely to put me in a care home.
Those over 80 in good health should count themselves lucky.

I don’t think true happiness is an age thing. Happiness is intermittent throughout life, 40
appearing in fits and starts. It is, in my experience, about the little things: food and a
decent film on Saturday nights, walks in the countryside, time with family and friends,
toasted teacake with a good cup of tea.

All these things bring pleasure.

But if we hit the ecstatic button at 82, then great. As I labour towards my eighties, I'll 45
hang onto that thought.

© UCLES 2023 06_9093_12_2023_1.21 [Turn over

Section B: Text analysis

Question 2

Read the following text, which is an extract from a travelogue describing the filming of a travel documentary
called Around the World in Eighty Days.

Analyse the text, focusing on form, structure and language. [25]

Day 22: Crossing the Arabian Sea

The boat really comes to life at first light which, as we are moving east and have not yet
adjusted our watches, comes a little earlier each day. I’m awake today at 5. The wind
has dropped and the sea is flat and calm. Over the reassuring rumble of the engine I
can hear the soft sound of singing. Pull myself up on an elbow and look towards the 5
1
bows . There is Kasim, standing motionless and in perfect silhouette, looking out to sea
and chanting. Beside him two or three others are gathering in the small foresail.

‘’ello Mi-kel!’

‘Mi-kel, Mik-el Jack-son!’

As soon as they see we’re awake someone is taken off foresail lashing and sent to 10
arrange some tea for us. One of the things this traveller has learnt is that those who
have least are prepared to give most. This crew has given up a lot for us – sleeping
space, living space and precious fresh water – without ever making us feel obligated or
tolerated. Their life is communal, they depend on each other rather than machines, and
maybe because of this their attitude to us materially overstocked and somewhat 15
stand-offish Westerners has been unfailingly generous and helpful.

The captain takes a look at the sea and removes his cap, scratches his head and shakes
it respectfully. ‘We are lucky men,’ he says. He’s rarely seen it quite as calm, and he
knows the power of the sea, for in a storm last year, his brother’s ship was sunk and
eighteen drowned. 20

The captain and his navigator sleep in the back of the wheelhouse. A new music centre
and a pair of speakers are the only luxury. The only printed books appear to be
navigational charts and almanacs. The front of the wheelhouse contains, apart from the
wheel, a compass, a clock that’s stopped, a throttle control and a bell that’s rung every
2
time the fish-line is sprung. There is also a panel of dials indicating engine RPM , water 25
temperature and oil pressure. None of these is working.

Under the wheelhouse is a fetid, windowless airless cabin which I hope we never have
to make use of. The temperature in there hovers constantly at 100 degrees, and Julian
and Ron, who have to go in to load film and change stock, emerge pounds lighter. The
3
corresponding aft cabin is full of the crew’s trunks. They are allowed one each in which 30
they can import certain items free of duty. A perk of the job.

Captain Suleyman says the Indian customs are very strict. No gold or guns.

‘Is there much smuggling?’ I ask him.

© UCLES 2023 06_9093_12_2023_1.21

‘Oh, plenty smuggling in clothes, wrist-watches but,’ he reassures me, ‘we are
not smugglers,’ and laughs uproariously. 35

***

Midday: 92°F under the awning. We’re due south of Karachi. Looking at my map I observe
that it has taken us a day to travel between the ‘A’ and the ‘R’ of ‘Arabian Sea’.

Sunday afternoon on the Al Sharma.

Suddenly there is some sea-borne entertainment. Dahwood, at the wheel, has spotted
dolphins approaching the boat. They gather ahead of us, lazily and luxuriously rolling 40
around in the bow wave, weaving in and out, diving, backtracking, returning and always
keeping just ahead of the boat. The crew encourage them with drumbeats and whistles.
As soon as they know there’s an audience the dolphins show off shamelessly. For a
magical few minutes they stay and play. The sea is so blue and clear it is one of the
most remarkable and beautiful sights of the journey so far, rivalled a little later by the 45
raising of the huge sail.
1
bow: the front of a ship
2
RPM: revolutions per minute
3
aft: the back of a ship

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© UCLES 2023 06_9093_12_2023_1.21

Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/22

Paper 2 Writing October/November 2022
2 hours

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*3221913689*

INSTRUCTIONS
• Answer two questions in total:
Section A: answer Question 1.
Section B: answer one question.
• Follow the instructions on the front cover of the answer booklet. If you need additional answer paper,
ask the invigilator for a continuation booklet.
• Dictionaries are not allowed.
INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 4 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

11_9093_22_2022_1.11
© UCLES 2022 [Turn over
2

Section A: Shorter writing and reflective commentary

Question 1
You recently read a newspaper article which said that young people have too much free time these
days. You disagree, and decide to write an email to the editor of the newspaper about this.

(a) Write the text for your email, using no more than 400 words. In your writing, give reasons to
support your opinion. [15]

(b) Write a reflective commentary on your text, explaining how your linguistic choices contribute
to fulfilling the task set. [10]

Section B: Extended writing

Answer one question.

EITHER

Question 2

In class, you have been discussing whether the number of tourists visiting very popular places should
be limited. Your teacher has asked you to write an essay on the topic, giving your opinion. Write between
600 and 900 words. [25]

Question 3

Write a descriptive piece about a jungle. In your writing, create a sense of atmosphere, and focus on
sound, movement and light to help your reader imagine the scene. Write between 600 and 900
words. [25]

Question 4

You recently tried to buy something online, but you had some problems with the experience. You decide
to write a review of this online shopping experience, which you will post on your blog. Write between
600 and 900 words. [25]

© UCLES 2022 11_9093_22_2022_1.11

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© UCLES 2022 11_9093_22_2022_1.11

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Permission to reproduce items where third-party owned material protected by copyright is included has been sought and cleared where possible. Every reasonable
effort has been made by the publisher (UCLES) to trace copyright holders, but if any items requiring clearance have unwittingly been included, the publisher will
be pleased to make amends at the earliest possible opportunity.

To avoid the issue of disclosure of answer-related information to candidates, all copyright acknowledgements are reproduced online in the Cambridge Assessment
International Education Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced for each series of examinations and is freely available to download at
www.cambridgeinternational.org after the live examination series.

Cambridge Assessment International Education is part of Cambridge Assessment. Cambridge Assessment is the brand name of the University of Cambridge Local
Examinations Syndicate (UCLES), which is a department of the University of Cambridge.

© UCLES 2022 11_9093_22_2022_1.11

Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/23

Paper 2 Writing October/November 2022
2 hours

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*5816548683*

This document has 4 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

11_9093_23_2022_1.7
© UCLES 2022 [Turn over
2

Section A: Shorter writing and reflective commentary

Question 1
Something very unusual happened near your home recently. You decide to write a news report
about this event, which will be published in your local newspaper.

(a) Write the text for the news report, using no more than 400 words. In your writing, focus on the
atmosphere of the event and the impact it has had on local people. [15]

(b) Write a reflective commentary on your text, explaining how your linguistic choices contribute
to fulfilling the task set. [10]

Section B: Extended writing

Answer one question.

EITHER

Question 2

Write a story which begins with the following sentence: As he picked up the book, Max realised that an
envelope had been hidden underneath it. In your writing, create a sense of drama and mystery. Write
between 600 and 900 words. [25]

Question 3

In class, you have been discussing the fact that many teenagers spend a lot of time indoors these days.
You decide to write an article for your school magazine. In your writing, focus on ways to encourage
teenagers to spend time outdoors, and why it can be so good for their physical and mental health. Write
between 600 and 900 words. [25]

Question 4

You recently flew to another country, using an airline you have not flown with before. Write a review of
the airline, which will be published on an international travel website. Write between 600 and 900
words. [25]

© UCLES 2022 11_9093_23_2022_1.7

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© UCLES 2022 11_9093_23_2022_1.7

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Permission to reproduce items where third-party owned material protected by copyright is included has been sought and cleared where possible. Every reasonable
effort has been made by the publisher (UCLES) to trace copyright holders, but if any items requiring clearance have unwittingly been included, the publisher will
be pleased to make amends at the earliest possible opportunity.

To avoid the issue of disclosure of answer-related information to candidates, all copyright acknowledgements are reproduced online in the Cambridge Assessment
International Education Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced for each series of examinations and is freely available to download at
www.cambridgeinternational.org after the live examination series.

Cambridge Assessment International Education is part of Cambridge Assessment. Cambridge Assessment is the brand name of the University of Cambridge Local
Examinations Syndicate (UCLES), which is a department of the University of Cambridge.

© UCLES 2022 11_9093_23_2022_1.7

Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/21

Paper 2 Writing October/November 2022
2 hours

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*9842127125*

This document has 4 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

11_9093_21_2022_1.11
© UCLES 2022 [Turn over
2

Section A: Shorter writing and reflective commentary

Question 1

You recently visited a tourist attraction in your area that is very interesting but not well known. You
have offered to help produce a leaflet in order to attract more tourists to visit.

(a) Write the text for the leaflet, using no more than 400 words. In your writing, focus on the reasons
for visiting the attraction, and create a sense of enthusiasm for it. [15]

(b) Write a reflective commentary on your text, explaining how your linguistic choices contribute
to fulfilling the task set. [10]

Section B: Extended writing

Answer one question.

EITHER

Question 2

You have just read a copy of a new comic magazine. Write a review of the magazine, which will be
published on an entertainment website. Write between 600 and 900 words. [25]

Question 3

Write a story which begins with the following sentence: When I was sure that nobody was looking, I
picked up the bag. In your writing, create a sense of drama and suspense. Write between 600 and 900
words. [25]

Question 4

You recently read a newspaper article which said that learning online is preferable to learning in a
classroom. You decide to write an email to the editor, in response to this article, giving your opinion.
Write between 600 and 900 words. [25]

© UCLES 2022 11_9093_21_2022_1.11

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© UCLES 2022 11_9093_21_2022_1.11

BLANK PAGE

Permission to reproduce items where third-party owned material protected by copyright is included has been sought and cleared where possible. Every reasonable
effort has been made by the publisher (UCLES) to trace copyright holders, but if any items requiring clearance have unwittingly been included, the publisher will
be pleased to make amends at the earliest possible opportunity.

To avoid the issue of disclosure of answer-related information to candidates, all copyright acknowledgements are reproduced online in the Cambridge Assessment
International Education Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced for each series of examinations and is freely available to download at
www.cambridgeinternational.org after the live examination series.

Cambridge Assessment International Education is part of Cambridge Assessment. Cambridge Assessment is the brand name of the University of Cambridge Local
Examinations Syndicate (UCLES), which is a department of the University of Cambridge.

© UCLES 2022 11_9093_21_2022_1.11

Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/11

Paper 1 Reading October/November 2022
2 hours 15 minutes

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*1339193888*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 8 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

11_9093_11_2022_1.20
© UCLES 2022 [Turn over
2

Section A: Directed response

Question 1
Read the following text, which is the opening to Ariana Neumann’s memoir, When Time Stopped: A
Memoir of My Father’s War and What Remains, about her Jewish father who survived the Holocaust.

(a) Imagine you are Ariana Neumann. Write a letter to your father, asking him about the mysterious
photograph and watch you remember from your childhood. Use 150–200 words. [10]

(b) Compare your letter with the memoir, analysing form, structure and language. [15]

There is a question mark, almost lost in a sea of names on the walls of an old synagogue
in Prague.

Content removed due to copyright restrictions.

© UCLES 2022 11_9093_11_2022_1.20

Content removed due to copyright restrictions.

Made
in 1732 at the Old Watch Street Shop for Export Trade India’.

© UCLES 2022 11_9093_11_2022_1.20 [Turn over

Section B: Text analysis

Question 2

Read the following text, which is an advertisement from the website of Royal Caribbean Cruises, for a
cruise ship holiday beginning in Singapore.

Analyse the text, focusing on form, structure and language. [25]

GATEWAY TO SOUTHEAST ASIA

Revel in this republic’s eclectic mix of historical tradition and modern charm.

One of the most forward-thinking destinations in Southeast Asia, Singapore is where

billionaires go to blow off steam, the world’s most brilliant minds gather to discuss the
technology of the future, and multicultural history is embraced through art, architecture 5
and stories.

Cruise to Singapore to feel the gentle humidity of the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, a
rainforest that dominates the center of the country, or take a stroll down Haji Lane in
the city center, an eclectic neighborhood with bold, colorful Malay murals on every wall.
For a mix of history and modern culture, explore Singapore’s Muslim roots at the proud 10
gold and white Sultan Mosque. Don’t miss the Gardens on the Bay, home to futuristic
supertrees, and walk the connecting 22-meter high OCBC Skyway that overlooks the
city. Visit Singapore and find beauty and adventure around every corner.

A MULTICULTURAL MECCA

Mandarin, English, Tamil and Malay are all official languages of Singapore, creating a 15
truly multicultural epicenter for the world. Head to the city center to see how many
cultures live harmoniously in the tightly packed, themed neighborhoods.

LIVE THE GLAM LIFE

Kampong Glam is the epicenter of Malay-speaking Singapore. You’ll find a fascinating

mix of architecture packed into a small space that draws from a complex cultural heritage. 20
Shop along the trendsetting Haji Lane, lined with gigantic gorgeous murals, or stand in
awe of the gold and white Sultan Mosque, a structure so big, North Bridge Road was
forced to bend around it.

INDIA TRANSPORTED

If you hear Bollywood music drifting lazily between buildings and smell the complex 25
fragrance of curry spice in the air, you must be in Little India. Cruise to Singapore and
walk along the friendly neighborhood packed full of food stalls, Hindu temples and
budget-friendly shopping centers. Head to Mustafa Shopping Center for retail therapy,
or witness the wonders of the colorful Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple, an opulent temple
dedicated to the goddesses Kali and Parvati. 30

© UCLES 2022 11_9093_11_2022_1.20

CHINESE TREATS

You’ll find delectable treats on every corner in Singapore during your vacation. Stroll
along the bold red and gold streets of China Town to pick up some delicious Chinese
street food. Head to the Street Market to dine on the best crispy duck over noodles,
golden satay and freshly steamed dim sum. Before you leave, be sure to check out the 35
Sri Mariamman Temple and its vivid sculpture work.

BIG CITY DREAMING

Singapore is full of new money and Cinderella stories. From the natural landscapes to
the modern architecture, you’ll see the glitz and glam up close and personal.

THE RICHEST HOTEL IN TOWN 40

Marina Bay Sands sits proudly above all other buildings, famously transforming the
Singaporean skyline. Head to the top of the 55-story tower to catch an aerial glimpse
of the city center, or book a room for the night to gain access to the rooftop bar and
pool, where you can relax in luxury.

FIVE-STAR FEAST 45

Looking for a five-star dining experience to write home about? Head to the Newton Food
Center where hawkers are heroes, gloriously feeding thousands of hungry locals every
day. Order a feast of plates, grab a table and tuck in! You’ll be begging for more chili
crab marinated in a sweet and spicy tomato-based sauce, BBQ grilled stingray, taro
carrot cake and fresh spring rolls. 50

WHERE SINGAPORE BLOOMS

Iconic for its grove of gigantic, glowing supertrees, Gardens on the Bay is a futuristic
location meant to inspire the city. Start your vacation adventure at Cloud Forest, home
to the world’s tallest human-made waterfall, and make your way to the delightful Flower
Grove to walk among brightly colored buds. 55

***

Wherever you go, good food, excellent shopping and incredible architecture await.

© UCLES 2022 11_9093_11_2022_1.20

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© UCLES 2022 11_9093_11_2022_1.20

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© UCLES 2022 11_9093_11_2022_1.20

BLANK PAGE

Permission to reproduce items where third-party owned material protected by copyright is included has been sought and cleared where possible. Every reasonable
effort has been made by the publisher (UCLES) to trace copyright holders, but if any items requiring clearance have unwittingly been included, the publisher will
be pleased to make amends at the earliest possible opportunity.

To avoid the issue of disclosure of answer-related information to candidates, all copyright acknowledgements are reproduced online in the Cambridge Assessment
International Education Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced for each series of examinations and is freely available to download at
www.cambridgeinternational.org after the live examination series.

Cambridge Assessment International Education is part of Cambridge Assessment. Cambridge Assessment is the brand name of the University of Cambridge Local
Examinations Syndicate (UCLES), which is a department of the University of Cambridge.

© UCLES 2022 11_9093_11_2022_1.20

Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/13

Paper 1 Reading October/November 2022
2 hours 15 minutes

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*2305061677*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 8 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

11_9093_13_2022_1.10
© UCLES 2022 [Turn over
2

Section A: Directed response

Question 1
Read the following text, which is an extract from a travelogue by the writer Pankaj Mishra, about his
travel experiences in some small towns in India in 1995.

(a) Imagine you work for the Health and Safety Department of the ISBT. You write a report, making
recommendations about how to improve the bus terminal. Write the text for your report. Use
150–200 words. [10]

(b) Compare your report with the original text, analysing form, structure and language. [15]

‘VERY SENIOR OFFICER and very honest,’ Mr Chugh was saying, now for the fourth
time, ‘but his wife won’t let him be. She wants him to make money. She’s mad, I tell
you, and she’ll drive my brother mad.’

A short, stoutish, balding man in his early fifties, he spoke as though he was an
acquaintance. In fact, I had met him barely ten minutes ago on platform No. 36, where 5
he was waiting, like me, for the late-night bus to Muzaffarnagar. There, amidst the
general wretchedness of Delhi’s Inter State Bus Terminal (ISBT) – the thick fog of
low-octane diesel smoke, the stench from open, unflushed toilets, the roar of bus engines,
the countless cassette players blaring simultaneously, the muddy floor, the swirling
mobs of bewildered travellers, the thuggish touts for private buses, the aggressive 10
child-beggars, the bawling babies – amidst such oppressive disorder, the anxiety-ridden
face of Mr Chugh seemed like a mirror image of my own: a fellow sufferer, I thought,
and immediately felt a bond of empathy between us.

‘Do you know anything about this Muzaffarnagar bus?’ He had spoken to me first in
English, in a thin, quavering, unnaturally high-pitched voice. Subsequently, he spoke 15
only in Hindi. But the initial use of English was important. It was the sole means open
to Mr Chugh of distinguishing himself from the squalor of his surroundings; and it was
a coded overture to another presumed English-speaker, an invitation to privileged
distress.

I replied that the bus hadn’t arrived and that this was all I knew. 20

‘Have you asked the Roadways office?’

I hadn’t. I wasn’t even aware of its existence.

‘Let’s go. Let’s see what they’re up to.’

His company gave me the strength to walk up two ramps to the UP Roadways office,
and enquire about the delayed bus. Then, on being told about its uncertain status, we 25
wandered around the huge waiting hall on the first floor, trading tales of public-sector
ineptitude – no better basis for such impromptu acquaintanceships – before finding a
small partitioned-off waiting room in a corner. There, shielded from the rest of ISBT by
its cracked and grimy glass wall, through which the dimly lit waiting hall appeared
subaqueous and the bales of humans asprawl on the floor like so much marine detritus, 30
under a fan which, miraculously, in the midst of such complete breakdown, still worked,
we seated ourselves, and Mr Chugh got started on topics only a severely undermined
traveller would take up.

© UCLES 2022 11_9093_13_2022_1.10

An intense excitement animated his sweat-drenched face; his voice cackled with nervous
energy; he was in a hurry to confide in me as much as he could. And, less than 15 35
minutes after we had met, I was taken on a whirlwind tour of Mr Chugh’s life.

I learnt, for instance, that he lived in Muzaffarnagar; that he was returning from Jaipur
where his brother lived with his mad wife; that he himself had been a doctor in Toronto.
But – and here the story turned strange – he was not paid his salary for ten years. So,
he came back to India and started working as a consultant to an engineering firm. But 40
he was disappointed by India. His wife was like his mad sister-in-law; she wanted him
to make money. He was now thinking of going back to Toronto. They were now willing
to pay his salary.

At any other time, Mr Chugh’s story would have seemed slightly garbled, hiding some
unpleasant reality (for instance, the bit about his withheld salary: was it because of some 45
wrongdoing on his part?). In its present setting, however, part as though of the disorderly
world around us, it appeared plausible. And the mood was infectious. Mr Chugh asked
me no questions about myself; but I had had to stop myself twice from blurting out a
few family secrets of my own.

Soon, Mr Chugh began to repeat himself: not just the themes, but also the exact 50
sentences he had used earlier. It looked as if he was working himself into a state. The
thought that he might any moment go completely berserk crossed my mind. It was
disturbing: sitting next to him, staring into his thick-jowled, ruddy-cheeked face, and
slowly realizing that such delirium could be less aberrant than what a sweltering May
night at ISBT might make it seem, that it might have its sources in the peculiar 55
circumstances of Mr Chugh’s life.

© UCLES 2022 11_9093_13_2022_1.10 [Turn over

Section B: Text analysis

Question 2
Read the following text, which is an extract from the diary of Dara MacAnulty, a teenage Irish writer and
naturalist, after he and his family had moved to a new house in Northern Ireland.

Analyse the text, focusing on form, structure and language. [25]

Wednesday 1 August

We take Rosie into the Castlewellan Forest Park, which is fewer than 300 steps from
our front door – even fewer if you hop over the back fence. Rosie is our constant
companion on walks. She always wants to walk the same route. If we’re not all together,
or if Mum isn’t with us, Rosie stops suddenly, digs her heels in. I remember once Dad 5
phoning Mum pleading for help because Rosie wouldn’t budge. Mum had to go out and
physically move her. Since then, it’s a standing joke that Mum is top dog. She-wolf.

The walk is easy and I’m chatting with Mum because I’ve promised myself, and her,
that I won’t hold things in to fester any more. First I tell her how much I’m missing our
Fermanagh places, and that everything here is so strange and different. ‘It smells 10
different,’ I explain. ‘Not in a bad way, it just does. It sounds different, too, in a good
way. There are definitely more birds here, more insects.’

I then go on to tell her about Jude next door, my new friend. This makes her smile and
the dimples in her cheeks become more pronounced – this happens when she’s tired.
There are also shadows under her eyes, and seeing them I want to find the beauty in 15
everything and promise not to let the bullies weigh me down. I have so much love around
me. I want to do it for her. I want to do it for myself. It’s all around me, beauty, so why
should it be hard?

Darkness comes in quick and it’s time to head for home. Mum grabs my arm and we
stop in the falling darkness to watch shadows fly from one side of the road to the other. 20
Bats. Mum and I laugh, and the excitement bubbles up. We rush back to the house: I
find the bat detector and pummel through the kitchen and out the back door. In the
garden more shapes mobilise from the trees – the bat detector is forgotten as I watch
this origami take flight, the bats’ nimble wings making strange angles as they take to
the air to feed. 25

I stay out when Mum heads back inside, watching the night sky. I notice a new feeling,
a buzzing in the air, a pulsation that makes me look over to the buddleia growing in the
garden. It’s whizzing with life and movement is palpitating in and around it. When the
light goes on in the kitchen and I’m joined by everyone – Lorcan and Bláthnaid first,
followed by Mum and Dad – I realise I must have shouted but don’t remember doing it. 30

We watch in wonder as countless silver Y moths feast on the purple blooms. Some rest,
drunk with nectar, before refilling, whirling and dancing in constant motion. The
feather-like scales, brown flecked with silver, are shimmering with starry dust, protecting
them from being eaten by our other nocturnal neighbours. I find it fascinating that silver
Y fur can confuse the sonar readings of bats, and even when they are predated they 35
can escape, leaving the bat with a mouthful of scales. And here we all are, the
MacAnultys congregated in worship of these tiny migrants. Soon they will make the
journey to their birthplace, silver stars crossing land and sea to North Africa.

© UCLES 2022 11_9093_13_2022_1.10

The night crackles as the storm of flitting moves off. We jump up and down and hug
each other, tension leaking out. We chat and look at the sky, sparkling with Orion, Seven 40
Sisters and the Plough. This is us, standing here. All the best part of us, and another
moment etched in our memories, to be invited back and relived in conversations for
years to come. Remember that night, when fluttering stars calmed a storm in all of us.

© UCLES 2022 11_9093_13_2022_1.10

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Permission to reproduce items where third-party owned material protected by copyright is included has been sought and cleared where possible. Every reasonable
effort has been made by the publisher (UCLES) to trace copyright holders, but if any items requiring clearance have unwittingly been included, the publisher will
be pleased to make amends at the earliest possible opportunity.

To avoid the issue of disclosure of answer-related information to candidates, all copyright acknowledgements are reproduced online in the Cambridge Assessment
International Education Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced for each series of examinations and is freely available to download at
www.cambridgeinternational.org after the live examination series.

Cambridge Assessment International Education is part of Cambridge Assessment. Cambridge Assessment is the brand name of the University of Cambridge Local
Examinations Syndicate (UCLES), which is a department of the University of Cambridge.

© UCLES 2022 11_9093_13_2022_1.10

Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/12

Paper 1 Reading October/November 2022
2 hours 15 minutes

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*0918467145*

This document has 8 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

11_9093_12_2022_1.14
© UCLES 2022 [Turn over
2

Section A: Directed response

Question 1
Read the following text, which is an extract from the book The Next Great Migration: The Beauty and
Terror of Life on the Move, by the investigative journalist Sonia Shah, about human migration.

(a) Imagine you are the taxi driver referred to in the text. Write the text for a diary entry about your
impressions of Sonia and her reasons for coming to your country. Use 150–200 words. [10]

(b) Compare your diary entry with the extract, analysing form, structure and language. [15]

The towering Dhauladhar mountain range, with its eighteen-thousand-foot peaks, looms
over the precariously perched village of McLeodganj, nestled on a forested ridge nearly
seven thousand feet up in the foothills of the Himalayas.

Content removed due to copyright restrictions.

© UCLES 2022 11_9093_12_2022_1.14

Content removed due to copyright restrictions.

Each of their
perilous journeys over glaciers and high mountain passes took a month.

© UCLES 2022 11_9093_12_2022_1.14 [Turn over

Section B: Text analysis

Question 2

Read the following text, which is a series of extracts from a speech given by the environmental activist
Greta Thunberg to the British Parliament in 2019.
Analyse the text, focusing on form, structure and language. [25]

My name is Greta Thunberg. I am 16 years old. I come from Sweden. And I speak on
behalf of future generations.

I know many of you don’t want to listen to us – you say we are just children. But we’re
only repeating the message of the united climate science.

Many of you appear concerned that we are wasting valuable lesson time, but I assure 5
you we will go back to school the moment you start listening to science and give us a
future. Is that really too much to ask?

In the year 2030 I will be 26 years old. My little sister Beata will be 23. Just like many
of your own children or grandchildren. That is a great age, we have been told. When
you have all of your life ahead of you. But I am not so sure it will be that great for us. 10

I was fortunate to be born in a time and place where everyone told us to dream big; I
could become whatever I wanted to. I could live wherever I wanted to. People like me
had everything we needed and more. Things our grandparents could not even dream
of. We had everything we could ever wish for and yet now we may have nothing.

Now we probably don’t even have a future any more. 15

Because that future was sold so that a small number of people could make unimaginable
amounts of money. It was stolen from us every time you said that the sky was the limit,
and that you only live once.

You lied to us. You gave us false hope. You told us that the future was something to
look forward to. And the saddest thing is that most children are not even aware of the 20
fate that awaits us. We will not understand it until it’s too late. And yet we are the lucky
ones. Those who will be affected the hardest are already suffering the consequences.
But their voices are not heard.

Is my microphone on? Can you hear me?

Around the year 2030, 10 years 252 days and 10 hours away from now, we will be in 25
a position where we set off an irreversible chain reaction beyond human control, that
will most likely lead to the end of our civilisation as we know it. That is unless in that
time, permanent and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society have taken place,
including a reduction of CO² emissions by at least 50%.

***

We must also bear in mind that these are just calculations. Estimations. That means 30
that these ‘points of no return’ may occur a bit sooner or later than 2030. No one can

© UCLES 2022 11_9093_12_2022_1.14

know for sure. We can, however, be certain that they will occur approximately in these
timeframes, because these calculations are not opinions or wild guesses.

These projections are backed up by scientific facts, concluded by all nations through
1
the IPCC . Nearly every single major national scientific body around the world 35
unreservedly supports the work and findings of the IPCC.

Did you hear what I just said? Is my English OK? Is the microphone on? Because I’m
beginning to wonder.

***

Avoiding climate breakdown will require cathedral thinking. We must lay the foundation
while we may not know exactly how to build the ceiling. 40

Sometimes we just simply have to find a way. The moment we decide to fulfil something,
we can do anything. And I’m sure that the moment we start behaving as if we were in
an emergency, we can avoid climate and ecological catastrophe. Humans are very
adaptable: we can still fix this. But the opportunity to do so will not last for long. We
must start today. We have no more excuses. 45

We children are not sacrificing our education and our childhood for you to tell us what
you consider is politically possible in the society that you have created. We have not
taken to the streets for you to take selfies with us, and tell us that you really admire what
we do.

We children are doing this to wake the adults up. We children are doing this for you to 50
put your differences aside and start acting as you would in a crisis. We children are
doing this because we want our hopes and dreams back.

I hope my microphone was on. I hope you could all hear me.
1
IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

© UCLES 2022 11_9093_12_2022_1.14

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Permission to reproduce items where third-party owned material protected by copyright is included has been sought and cleared where possible. Every reasonable
effort has been made by the publisher (UCLES) to trace copyright holders, but if any items requiring clearance have unwittingly been included, the publisher will
be pleased to make amends at the earliest possible opportunity.

To avoid the issue of disclosure of answer-related information to candidates, all copyright acknowledgements are reproduced online in the Cambridge Assessment
International Education Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced for each series of examinations and is freely available to download at
www.cambridgeinternational.org after the live examination series.

Cambridge Assessment International Education is part of Cambridge Assessment. Cambridge Assessment is the brand name of the University of Cambridge Local
Examinations Syndicate (UCLES), which is a department of the University of Cambridge.

© UCLES 2022 11_9093_12_2022_1.14

Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/23

Paper 2 Writing May/June 2022
2 hours

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*8468998814*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 4 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

06_9093_23_2022_1.6
© UCLES 2022 [Turn over
2

Section A: Shorter writing and reflective commentary

Question 1
You have just read a newspaper article which said that it would be better if everyone in the world
spoke the same language. You disagree, and decide to write an email to the editor of the newspaper
about this.

(a) Write the text for your email, using no more than 400 words. In your writing, give reasons to
support your opinion. [15]

(b) Write a reflective commentary on your text, explaining how your linguistic choices contribute
to fulfilling the task set. [10]

Section B: Extended writing

Answer one question.

Either

Question 2

In class, you have been discussing the advantages and disadvantages of several generations of a family
living together in the same house. Your teacher has asked you to write an essay on the topic. Write
between 600 and 900 words. [25]

Question 3

You have just read a copy of a new magazine about fashion. Write a review of the magazine, which will
be published on a fashion website. Write between 600 and 900 words. [25]

Question 4

Write a descriptive piece called Rooftops, about the view of a town from the top of a tall building. In your
writing, focus on the sights and sounds to help your reader imagine the scene. Write between 600 and
900 words. [25]

© UCLES 2022 06_9093_23_2022_1.6

BLANK PAGE

© UCLES 2022 06_9093_23_2022_1.6

BLANK PAGE

Permission to reproduce items where third-party owned material protected by copyright is included has been sought and cleared where possible. Every reasonable
effort has been made by the publisher (UCLES) to trace copyright holders, but if any items requiring clearance have unwittingly been included, the publisher will
be pleased to make amends at the earliest possible opportunity.

To avoid the issue of disclosure of answer-related information to candidates, all copyright acknowledgements are reproduced online in the Cambridge Assessment
International Education Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced for each series of examinations and is freely available to download at
www.cambridgeinternational.org after the live examination series.

Cambridge Assessment International Education is part of Cambridge Assessment. Cambridge Assessment is the brand name of the University of Cambridge Local
Examinations Syndicate (UCLES), which is a department of the University of Cambridge.

© UCLES 2022 06_9093_23_2022_1.6

Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/13

Paper 1 Reading May/June 2022
2 hours 15 minutes

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*2678930797*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 8 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

06_9093_13_2022_1.6
© UCLES 2022 [Turn over
2

Section A: Directed response

Question 1
Read the following text, which is a report from the website of the global environmental organisation
Greenpeace, about forest fires in Siberia.

(a) You are a resident who lives in the affected area. Write a diary entry following the visit from
the Greenpeace representatives. Use 150–200 words. [10]

(b) Compare your diary entry with the report, analysing form, structure and language. [15]

The further north we travel in the Krasnoyarsk region of Siberia, the thicker the haze.

This content has been removed.

© UCLES 2022 06_9093_13_2022_1.6

This content has been removed.

This means
that we will stop a new climate crisis from happening – save millions of hectares of
valuable taiga forests and prevent the release of hundreds of megatons of carbon
dioxide into the atmosphere.

© UCLES 2022 06_9093_13_2022_1.6 [Turn over

Section B: Text analysis

Question 2

Read the following text, which is an advertisement for a climbing holiday in Greece.

Analyse the text, focusing on form, structure and language. [25]

WORLD-CLASS CLIMBING ON KALYMNOS

Kalymnos is a beautiful Greek island. Its fantastic limestone cliffs make it a paradise
for sport climbing at all grades. Just add sun, sea, secluded beaches, friendly people,
delicious food and great weather and you understand why it’s a world-class climbing
destination. 5

Small boats will take you from island to island with clear water and amazing beaches.
It is a great place to chill out after climbing. Beach bars, snorkelling, kayaking, great
food, fishing, diving, scooter tours, yoga: Kalymnos offers it all. This island has made
a big impression on those that go and return year after year.

FOCUS OF THE KALYMNOS CLIMBING HOLIDAY 10

Kalymnos has become one of the most popular rock climbing destinations in the world.
The variety of climbing is endless. For beginners, intermediate as well as experienced
1
climbers there are slabs, technical walls, and steep caves with tufas . The different
climbing areas on the island are close to one another and easy to get to. And they often
offer breathtaking views over the Mediterranean sea and the island of Telendos. Finally, 15
a mild climate and the warm hospitality of local inhabitants have made Kalymnos a
favourite amongst rock climbers.

The Kalymnos climbing holiday will be geared towards your individual abilities and
aspirations. Depending on where you are in your climbing career, our climbing guides
can focus their attention on your lead climbing skills, which might involve rope 20
awareness, clipping practice and teaching you how to thread anchors. Or they will aim
to improve your movement skills and teach you how to climb more efficiently so you
can climb harder routes than you have ever climbed before. Some climbers take the
opportunity to improve their mental approach to climbing. For instance to learn to deal
with fear of falling or failing. Either way, your instructors will aim to give you the best 25
possible climbing experience.

KALYMNOS CLIMBING HOLIDAY ITINERARY

Saturday: arrival on Kos, take the ferry to Kalymnos, settle in your accommodation.
Meet and greet dinner
Sunday: single pitch sport climbing with certified guide 30
Monday: single pitch sport climbing and coaching
Tuesday: climbing and coaching
Wednesday: rest day
Thursday: climbing and coaching
Friday: climbing and coaching 35
Saturday: departure

© UCLES 2022 06_9093_13_2022_1.6

We don’t have a set list of crags, though some of our favourite climbing areas on
Kalymnos are: Afternoon, Arginonta Valley, Lambda (on the island of Telendos),
Palionisos, Odyssey and Grande Grotta.

KALYMNOS WEATHER & CLIMATE 40

Greece is known for its very hot summers. In the winter there are not many flights to
Kos. Spring and autumn are therefore the best times of year to go climbing on Kalymnos.
We organise climbing trips to Kalymnos in May and October, when it is not too hot, the
sea is warm and the days are long.

ACCOMMODATION 45

Your accommodation will be located in Massouri/Myrties, which is where the climbers

on the island prefer to stay because of its restaurants, bars, climbing shops, minimarkets
and beaches. It is within walking distance to some of Kalymnos’ most popular crags,
like ‘Grande Grotte’, ‘Afternoon’, ‘Panorama’ and ‘Poets’. For those wanting to explore
Kalymnos, transport is readily available. You can either go by bus or taxi or rent a 50
scooter. Most climbing venues are within walking distance of your accommodation and
the water taxi port to take the ferry to the island of Telendos is just down the road.

KALYMNOS CLIMBING HOLIDAY INCLUDES

• 7 nights accommodation including breakfast

• 5 days guided climbing and coaching 55
• Maximum instructor–client ratio is 1:6
• Transport to/from crags

QUICK FACTS

• Fly to Kos
• Ideal for those climbing grade F5 up to F7B+ 60
• Inland and sea-cliff climbing
• Limestone slabs, vertical walls and steep overhangs

1
tufas: limestone rock formations

© UCLES 2022 06_9093_13_2022_1.6

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© UCLES 2022 06_9093_13_2022_1.6

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Permission to reproduce items where third-party owned material protected by copyright is included has been sought and cleared where possible. Every reasonable
effort has been made by the publisher (UCLES) to trace copyright holders, but if any items requiring clearance have unwittingly been included, the publisher will
be pleased to make amends at the earliest possible opportunity.

To avoid the issue of disclosure of answer-related information to candidates, all copyright acknowledgements are reproduced online in the Cambridge Assessment
International Education Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced for each series of examinations and is freely available to download at
www.cambridgeinternational.org after the live examination series.

Cambridge Assessment International Education is part of Cambridge Assessment. Cambridge Assessment is the brand name of the University of Cambridge Local
Examinations Syndicate (UCLES), which is a department of the University of Cambridge.

© UCLES 2022 06_9093_13_2022_1.6

Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/22

Paper 2 Writing May/June 2022
2 hours

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*0576174627*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 4 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

06_9093_22_2022_1.7
© UCLES 2022 [Turn over
2

Section A: Shorter writing and reflective commentary

Question 1
When you were in the town centre recently, you were able to help someone you didn’t know, who
was in a difficult situation. You decide to write about the experience in your diary.

(a) Write the text for your diary entry, using no more than 400 words. In your writing, focus on the
importance of your help and the impact of your actions. [15]

(b) Write a reflective commentary on your text, explaining how your linguistic choices contribute
to fulfilling the task set. [10]

Section B: Extended writing

Answer one question.

EITHER

Question 2

Write a story called Who am I? about a person who suddenly loses their memory. In your writing, create
a sense of drama and suspense. Write between 600 and 900 words. [25]

Question 3

In class, you have been discussing whether it is better to study a wide range of subjects at school, or
to specialise in a few subjects. Your teacher has asked you to write an essay on the topic. Write between
600 and 900 words. [25]

Question 4

You recently went to a new sports centre for the first time. Write a review of the sports centre, which will
be published in your school magazine. Write between 600 and 900 words. [25]

© UCLES 2022 06_9093_22_2022_1.7

BLANK PAGE

© UCLES 2022 06_9093_22_2022_1.7

BLANK PAGE

Permission to reproduce items where third-party owned material protected by copyright is included has been sought and cleared where possible. Every reasonable
effort has been made by the publisher (UCLES) to trace copyright holders, but if any items requiring clearance have unwittingly been included, the publisher will
be pleased to make amends at the earliest possible opportunity.

To avoid the issue of disclosure of answer-related information to candidates, all copyright acknowledgements are reproduced online in the Cambridge Assessment
International Education Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced for each series of examinations and is freely available to download at
www.cambridgeinternational.org after the live examination series.

Cambridge Assessment International Education is part of Cambridge Assessment. Cambridge Assessment is the brand name of the University of Cambridge Local
Examinations Syndicate (UCLES), which is a department of the University of Cambridge.

© UCLES 2022 06_9093_22_2022_1.7

Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/21

Paper 2 Writing May/June 2022
2 hours

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*6722208292*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 4 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

06_9093_21_2022_1.5
© UCLES 2022 [Turn over
2

Section A: Shorter writing and reflective commentary

Question 1
You recently joined an after-school club, which is now looking for more new members. You have
offered to give a short speech to your year group, persuading people to join.

(a) Write the text for your speech, using no more than 400 words. In your writing, focus on the
importance of developing skills and interests, and create a sense of enthusiasm for this club.
[15]

(b) Write a reflective commentary on your text, explaining how your linguistic choices contribute
to fulfilling the task set. [10]

Section B: Extended writing

Answer one question.

EITHER

Question 2

During a recent holiday, you went on a half-day guided tour of a city. Write a review of the guided tour,
which will be published on an international travel website. Write between 600 and 900 words. [25]

Question 3

Write a descriptive piece about a waterfall. In your writing, create a sense of atmosphere, and focus on
sound, light and movement to help your reader imagine the scene. Write between 600 and 900 words.
[25]

Question 4

You have read a newspaper article which said that studying the arts at university is a waste of time, and
that teenagers should be encouraged to take courses that lead directly to a particular job. You disagree,
and decide to write a letter to the editor of the newspaper about this. Write between 600 and 900 words.
[25]

© UCLES 2022 06_9093_21_2022_1.5

BLANK PAGE

© UCLES 2022 06_9093_21_2022_1.5

BLANK PAGE

Permission to reproduce items where third-party owned material protected by copyright is included has been sought and cleared where possible. Every reasonable
effort has been made by the publisher (UCLES) to trace copyright holders, but if any items requiring clearance have unwittingly been included, the publisher will
be pleased to make amends at the earliest possible opportunity.

To avoid the issue of disclosure of answer-related information to candidates, all copyright acknowledgements are reproduced online in the Cambridge Assessment
International Education Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced for each series of examinations and is freely available to download at
www.cambridgeinternational.org after the live examination series.

Cambridge Assessment International Education is part of Cambridge Assessment. Cambridge Assessment is the brand name of the University of Cambridge Local
Examinations Syndicate (UCLES), which is a department of the University of Cambridge.

© UCLES 2022 06_9093_21_2022_1.5

Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/12

Paper 1 Reading May/June 2022
2 hours 15 minutes

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*7612025594*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 8 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

06_9093_12_2022_1.11
© UCLES 2022 [Turn over
2

Section A: Directed response

Question 1
Read the following text, which is an extract from the novel My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth
Strout, about the narrator’s love of reading and her aspirations to be educated.

(a) Imagine you are the guidance counselor referred to in the extract. Write a report for the college
in Chicago, about Lucy’s suitability to study there. Use 150–200 words. [10]

(b) Compare your report with the extract, analysing form, structure and language. [15]

Until I was eleven years old, we lived in a garage.

Content removed due to copyright restrictions.

© UCLES 2022 06_9093_12_2022_1.11

Content removed due to copyright restrictions.

I kept thinking that for a long

time, until I fell asleep.

© UCLES 2022 06_9093_12_2022_1.11 [Turn over

Section B: Text analysis

Question 2

Read the following text, which is an advertisement from an online shop, about the benefits of sleeping
on silk pillowcases.

Analyse the text, focusing on form, structure and language. [25]

Can A Silk Pillowcase Really Be That Good?

Silk bedding has become more popular lately, with more and more people like beauty
experts and bloggers extolling silk pillowcase benefits in particular.

The experts are agreed that a 100% Mulberry silk pillowcase has added beauty benefits
like reducing fine lines and wrinkles. As you move around in your sleep cotton fabric 5
catches your hair resulting in you waking up with frizzy hair. Silk allows your hair and
skin to glide over the pillow so when you wake up you don’t have frizzy bed head.

One of the first questions often raised by those considering a silk pillowcase concerns
keeping it clean. People imagine that a silk pillowcase is easily damaged and therefore
must be hand washed, but this simply isn’t the case. Silk bedding can be machine 10
washed at 30 degrees – and usually dries far more quickly than its cotton counterpart,
too.

Silk is also surprisingly robust. It is strong as well as super soft, and even repels
night-time nasties, such as bed mites or other creepy-crawlies. If you don’t want to
share your bed with unwanted guests, a silk pillowcase is a must. 15

Silk is naturally hypoallergenic. It is also reported to provide relief for those with skin
conditions such as eczema or psoriasis, and because it is so gentle on the skin it can
be very beneficial for those who are undergoing chemotherapy and have very sensitive
skin as a result of their treatment.

As well as being gentle on the skin, silk can help to hydrate it, too – which can reduce 20
the cost of face creams and other skincare potions. Plenty of anecdotal evidence
suggests that sleeping on a silk pillowcase can minimise fine lines and wrinkles, and
give silk fans a youthful, glowing complexion.

Silk is so soothing to sleep on, and it’s not only renowned for its anti-ageing properties
and gentleness. It can also help to control, and reduce, hot flushes. In fact, silk can 25
absorb up to 30% of its own weight in moisture, which can really help those who suffer
from night sweats that can be due to hormones, medication or other health-related
reasons.

Putting skin and hair care benefits to one side for a moment, consider the pure luxury
of sleeping on silk. Silk looks the part – it has a very becoming satin sheen to its surface, 30
making it look just as luxurious as it feels.

Then, there’s the actual feeling of high quality, pure silk on the skin. Once people have
experienced sleeping on silk, they often report having no intention of ever going back

© UCLES 2022 06_9093_12_2022_1.11

to cotton or man-made fabrics, which they often describe as ‘scratchy’ or ‘rough’ in

comparison. 35

So silk is cool in summer or for those experiencing hot flushes or night sweats, but how
about when the weather is colder? Well, silk is also great at retaining warmth, which
can help to minimise waking up in the night due to feeling chilly. This unique quality
may also even help to keep down those heating bills, too.

***

So you’re convinced, and decide to go ahead and buy a silk pillowcase or two. What 40
do you choose? Is all silk made equal? The answer, of course, is no. Silk can vary
tremendously in quality. So how do you know what to look for?

There are two main factors. One is the weave. A charmeuse weave is the best weave
used in making silk because it gives such a smooth and lustrous surface. This is all the
better to rest sensitive skin or flyaway, frizzy hair on because it reduces friction. 45

The other thing to consider is the ‘momme’ count. Like a thread count as applied to
cotton, the momme count gives an indication of the thickness of the material. A higher
momme count is generally better, with 22 being the absolute ideal for bed linen.

At Calidad Home, we only use charmeuse 22 momme 100% Mulberry silk. The most
luxurious silk you can buy. 50

If you like the sound of these silk pillowcase benefits, why not try sleeping on luxury
silk for yourself? It’s a small price to pay for enjoying so many nights of comfortable,
luxurious beauty sleep, as well as smoother skin and hair.

© UCLES 2022 06_9093_12_2022_1.11

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Permission to reproduce items where third-party owned material protected by copyright is included has been sought and cleared where possible. Every reasonable
effort has been made by the publisher (UCLES) to trace copyright holders, but if any items requiring clearance have unwittingly been included, the publisher will
be pleased to make amends at the earliest possible opportunity.

To avoid the issue of disclosure of answer-related information to candidates, all copyright acknowledgements are reproduced online in the Cambridge Assessment
International Education Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced for each series of examinations and is freely available to download at
www.cambridgeinternational.org after the live examination series.

Cambridge Assessment International Education is part of Cambridge Assessment. Cambridge Assessment is the brand name of the University of Cambridge Local
Examinations Syndicate (UCLES), which is a department of the University of Cambridge.

© UCLES 2022 06_9093_12_2022_1.11

Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/11

Paper 1 Reading May/June 2022
2 hours 15 minutes

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*8203387563*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 8 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

06_9093_11_2022_1.14
© UCLES 2022 [Turn over
2

Section A: Directed response

Question 1
Read the following text, which is an extract from an academic book about the people and culture
of a region in the Arctic known as the ‘High North’.

(a) You have been asked to write an advertisement which will be published in a brochure promoting
tourism in the Arctic. Write the text for the advertisement. Use 150–200 words. [10]

(b) Compare your advertisement with the extract, analysing form, structure and language. [15]

From my living-room window in Bodø – every day, if I’m not traveling – I can watch
tourists from around the world exploring my northern Norwegian coastal town.

This content has been removed.

© UCLES 2022 06_9093_11_2022_1.14

This content has been removed.

It’s proof of how little we know about each other, and how others know even less about
us.

© UCLES 2022 06_9093_11_2022_1.14 [Turn over

Section B: Text analysis

Question 2

Read the following text, which is an extract from a review of a new electric car, published on a science
and technology website called The Verge.

Analyse the text, focusing on form, structure and language. [25]

DRIVING THE TAYCAN, PORSCHE’S FIRST ELECTRIC CAR

All the speed you’d expect from a Porsche, with zero emissions

SNAP.

Content removed due to copyright restrictions.

© UCLES 2022 06_9093_11_2022_1.14

Content removed due to copyright restrictions.

The car is so effortless with its power

that I could actually see it becoming something of a problem for owners; more than
once on the drive, I looked down at the speedometer to find out I was cruising a little
too high above the speed limit for my (and possibly a police officer’s) liking.

© UCLES 2022 06_9093_11_2022_1.14

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© UCLES 2022 06_9093_11_2022_1.14

BLANK PAGE

© UCLES 2022 06_9093_11_2022_1.14

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Permission to reproduce items where third-party owned material protected by copyright is included has been sought and cleared where possible. Every reasonable
effort has been made by the publisher (UCLES) to trace copyright holders, but if any items requiring clearance have unwittingly been included, the publisher will
be pleased to make amends at the earliest possible opportunity.

To avoid the issue of disclosure of answer-related information to candidates, all copyright acknowledgements are reproduced online in the Cambridge Assessment
International Education Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced for each series of examinations and is freely available to download at
www.cambridgeinternational.org after the live examination series.

Cambridge Assessment International Education is part of Cambridge Assessment. Cambridge Assessment is the brand name of the University of Cambridge Local
Examinations Syndicate (UCLES), which is a department of the University of Cambridge.

© UCLES 2022 06_9093_11_2022_1.14

Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/12

Paper 1 Reading February/March 2022
2 hours 15 minutes

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*1191697423*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 8 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

03_9093_12_2022_1.14
© UCLES 2022 [Turn over
2

Section A: Directed response

Question 1
Read the following text, which is an extract from Michelle Obama’s autobiography Becoming.

(a) Imagine you are Michelle’s great-aunt Robbie. You write a diary entry recording your thoughts
and feelings after one of Michelle’s weekly piano lessons. Write the text for your diary entry.
Use 150–200 words. [10]

(b) Compare your diary entry with the autobiographical extract, analysing form, structure and
language. [15]

I was about four when I decided I wanted to learn piano. Craig, who was in the first
grade, was already making trips downstairs for weekly lessons on Robbie’s upright and
returning relatively unscathed. I figured I was ready. I was pretty convinced I already
had learned piano, in fact, through straight-up osmosis – all those hours spent listening
to other kids fumbling through their songs. The music was already in my head. I just 5
wanted to go downstairs and demonstrate to my exacting great-aunt what a gifted girl
I was, how it would take no effort at all for me to become her star student.

Robbie’s piano sat in a small square room at the rear of the house, close to a window
that overlooked the backyard. She kept a potted plant in one corner and a folding table
where students could fill out music work sheets in the other. During lessons, she sat 10
straight spined in an upholstered high-back armchair, tapping out the beat with one
finger, her head cocked as she listened keenly for each mistake. Was I afraid of Robbie?
Not exactly, but there was a scariness to her; she represented a rigid kind of authority
I hadn’t yet encountered elsewhere. She demanded excellence from every kid who sat
on her piano bench. I saw her as someone to win over, or maybe to somehow conquer. 15
With her, it always felt like there was something to prove.

At my first lesson, my legs dangled from the piano bench, too short to reach the floor.
Robbie gave me my own elementary music workbook, which I was thrilled about, and
showed me how to position my hands properly over the keys.

‘All right, pay attention,’ she said, scolding me before we’d even begun. ‘Find middle 20
C.’

When you’re little, a piano can look like it has a thousand keys. You’re staring at an
expanse of black and white that stretches farther than two small arms can reach. Middle
C, I soon learned, was the anchoring point. It was the territorial line between where the
right hand and the left hand traveled, between the treble and the bass clefs. If you could 25
lay your thumb on middle C, everything else automatically fell into place. The keys on
Robbie’s piano had a subtle unevenness of color and shape, places where bits of the
ivory had broken off over time, leaving them looking like a set of bad teeth. Helpfully,
the middle C key had a full corner missing, a wedge about the size of my fingernail,
which got me centred every time. 30

It turned out I liked the piano. Sitting at it felt natural, like something I was meant to do.
My family was loaded with musicians and music lovers, especially on my mother’s side.
I had an uncle who played in a professional band. Several of my aunts sang in church
choirs. I had Robbie, who in addition to her choir and lessons directed something called

© UCLES 2022 03_9093_12_2022_1.14

the Operetta Workshop, a shoestring musical theater program for kids, which Craig 35
and I attended every Saturday morning in the basement of her church. The musical
center of my family, though, was my grandfather Shields, the carpenter, who was also
Robbie’s younger brother. He was a carefree, round-bellied man with an infectious
laugh and a scraggly salt-and-pepper beard. When I was younger, he’d lived on the
West Side of the city and Craig and I had referred to him as Westside. But he moved 40
into our neighborhood the same year I started taking piano lessons, and we’d duly
rechristened him Southside.

© UCLES 2022 03_9093_12_2022_1.14 [Turn over

Section B: Text analysis

Question 2

Read the following text, which is a review of Augustine Sedgewick’s book Coffeeland: One Man’s Dark
Empire and the Making of Our Favorite Drug. The review was published in The New York Times.

Analyse the text, focusing on form, structure and language. [25]

How Coffee Ruined a Country

In 1889, 18-year-old James Hill disembarked in El Salvador to sell textiles from

Manchester, England, and wound up bringing the industrial mentality of his native city
to coffee cultivation in his adopted country.

Content removed due to copyright restrictions.

© UCLES 2022 03_9093_12_2022_1.14

Content removed due to copyright restrictions.

Sedgewick’s
satisfying brew made me thirstier for an even bolder blend.

© UCLES 2022 03_9093_12_2022_1.14

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© UCLES 2022 03_9093_12_2022_1.14

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© UCLES 2022 03_9093_12_2022_1.14

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Permission to reproduce items where third-party owned material protected by copyright is included has been sought and cleared where possible. Every reasonable
effort has been made by the publisher (UCLES) to trace copyright holders, but if any items requiring clearance have unwittingly been included, the publisher will
be pleased to make amends at the earliest possible opportunity.

To avoid the issue of disclosure of answer-related information to candidates, all copyright acknowledgements are reproduced online in the Cambridge Assessment
International Education Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced for each series of examinations and is freely available to download at
www.cambridgeinternational.org after the live examination series.

Cambridge Assessment International Education is part of Cambridge Assessment. Cambridge Assessment is the brand name of the University of Cambridge Local
Examinations Syndicate (UCLES), which is a department of the University of Cambridge.

© UCLES 2022 03_9093_12_2022_1.14

Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/22

Paper 2 Writing February/March 2022
2 hours

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*6800144959*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 4 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

03_9093_22_2022_1.8
© UCLES 2022 [Turn over
2

Section A: Shorter writing and reflective commentary

Question 1
You recently won a travel writing competition and the prize was a trip to Antarctica. You decide to
keep a diary of your trip.

(a) Write the diary entry for the day you arrive on Antarctica, using no more than 400 words. In
your writing, focus on the atmosphere and the sense of excitement. [15]

(b) Write a reflective commentary on your text, explaining how your linguistic choices contribute
to fulfilling the task set. [10]

Section B: Extended writing

Answer one question.

EITHER

Question 2

Write a descriptive piece about a library. In your writing, focus on the sound, light and movement inside
the library to help your reader imagine the scene. Write between 600 and 900 words. [25]

Question 3

You recently attended a one-day careers event, aimed at helping teenagers to decide on their future
career. Write a review of the event, which will be posted on a careers advice website. Write between
600 and 900 words. [25]

Question 4

You have just read a newspaper article which said that teenagers spend far too much time on social
media these days. You decide to write an email to the editor in response to this article, giving your
opinion. Write between 600 and 900 words. [25]

© UCLES 2022 03_9093_22_2022_1.8

BLANK PAGE

© UCLES 2022 03_9093_22_2022_1.8

BLANK PAGE

Permission to reproduce items where third-party owned material protected by copyright is included has been sought and cleared where possible. Every reasonable
effort has been made by the publisher (UCLES) to trace copyright holders, but if any items requiring clearance have unwittingly been included, the publisher will
be pleased to make amends at the earliest possible opportunity.

To avoid the issue of disclosure of answer-related information to candidates, all copyright acknowledgements are reproduced online in the Cambridge Assessment
International Education Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced for each series of examinations and is freely available to download at
www.cambridgeinternational.org after the live examination series.

Cambridge Assessment International Education is part of Cambridge Assessment. Cambridge Assessment is the brand name of the University of Cambridge Local
Examinations Syndicate (UCLES), which is a department of the University of Cambridge.

© UCLES 2022 03_9093_22_2022_1.8

Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/12

Paper 1 Passages February/March 2020

2 hours 15 minutes

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

* 5 4 8 3 8 1 2 1 7 7 *

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

INSTRUCTIONS
● Answer two questions in total:
Answer Question 1.
Answer either Question 2 or Question 3.
● Follow the instructions on the front cover of the answer booklet. If you need additional answer paper,
ask the invigilator for a continuation booklet.
● You are reminded of the need for good English and clear presentation in your answers.

INFORMATION
● The total mark for this paper is 50.
● The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 8 pages. Blank pages are indicated.

DC (LK) 186779/2
© UCLES 2020 [Turn over
2

Answer Question 1 and either Question 2 or Question 3.

1 In the following extract from a short story, the narrator describes going to an appointment at a
lawyer’s office in South Africa.

(a) Comment on the language and style of the extract. [15]

(b) Imagine you are one of the lawyer’s other clients and have witnessed the events in the
extract. You decide to write a diary entry reflecting on those events.

Basing your writing closely on the material of the original extract, and using 120 to 150 of
your own words, write a section of your diary entry. [10]

Take it to a lawyer. That’s what my friend told me to do. Now, I had never had
occasion to have anything to do with lawyers. Mention of lawyers always brought
to my mind pictures of courts, police: terrifying pictures. Although I was in trouble, I
wondered why it should be a lawyer who would help me. However, my friend gave
me the address. 5

And from that moment my problem loomed larger. It turned in my mind. On the night
before my visit to the solicitor, my heart was full of feelings of hurt. My soul fed on
fire and scalding water. I’d tell the lawyer; I’d tell him everything that had gnawed
inside me for several days.

I went up the stairs of the high building. Whenever I met a man I imagined that he 10
was the lawyer and all but started to pour out my trouble. On the landing I met a boy
with a man’s head and face and rather large ears and lips. I told him I had come
to see Mr. B, the lawyer. Very gently, he told me to go into the waiting room and
wait my turn with the others. I was disappointed. I had wanted to see Mr. B, tell him
everything and get the lawyer’s cure for it. To be told to wait … 15

They were sitting in the waiting room, the clients, ranged round the walls – about
twenty of them, like those dolls waiting to be bowled over at a merry go round fair.
It didn’t seem that I’d get enough time to recite the whole thing – how it all started,
grew into something big and was threatening to crush me – with so many people
waiting. The boy with the man’s head and face and large ears came in at intervals 20
to call the next person. I knew what I’d do: I’d go over the whole problem in my
mind, so that I could even say it backwards. The lawyer must miss nothing, nothing
whatever.

But in the course of it all my eyes wandered about the room: the people, the walls,
the ceiling, the furniture. A bare, unattractive room: the arms of the chairs had 25
scratches on them that might have been made with a pin by someone who was tired
of waiting. Against the only stretch of wall that was free of chairs for clients, a man of
about fifty sat at a table, sealing envelopes.

‘The big man is very busy today, eh?’ observed the man at the table.

‘Yes,’ I said mechanically. 30

My attention was drawn to the whole setting once more: a plain unpretentious room
with oldish chairs; the pile of letters and envelopes; the man; and the picture of the
cat.

© UCLES 2020 9093/12/F/M/20

An envelope fell to the floor. He bent down to take it up. I watched his large hands
feel about for it, fumbling. Then the hand came upon the object, but with much more 35
weight than a piece of paper warranted.

Even before he came up straight on his chair I saw it clearly. The man at the table
was blind, stone blind. As my eyes were getting used to the details, after my mind
had thus been jolted into confused activity, I understood. Here was a man sealing
envelopes, looking like a drawing on a flat surface. Perhaps he was flat and without 40
depth, like a gramophone disc; too flat even to be hindered by the heat, the boredom
of sitting for hours doing the same work; by too many or too few people coming. An
invincible pair, he and the cat glowering at him, scorning our shames and hurts
and the heat, seeming to hold the key to the immediate imperceptible and the most
remote unforeseeable. 45

I went in to see Mr B. A small man (as I had imagined) with tired eyes but an
undaunted face. I told him everything from beginning to end.

© UCLES 2020 9093/12/F/M/20 [Turn over

2 The following text is taken from a book, written by Philip Hoare, that blends memoir and travel
writing. In the text, the writer contemplates some of the sights and sounds of the natural world.

(a) Comment on the language and style of the text. [15]

(b) You have been asked to produce a guide for novice birdwatchers.

Basing your writing closely on the material of the original text, write a section for the guide
about the behaviour of blackbirds. Use 120 to 150 of your own words. [10]

There could hardly be a more common bird, yet you could travel around half the
world and never hear anything so beautiful as a blackbird in a suburban garden.
Their big eyes sense the small slip from darkness to the semblance of light before
all other garden birds; only robins can rival them in this keen awareness. I listen
to the first notes of the first song, a lone voice in the dark, joined by another, then 5
another, until they form a circle of sound. From dawn to dusk they rise and fall, fit
and start, from roofs to trees, announcing their allure. Their songs are asymmetrical,
apparently random; phrases are thrown out to be echoed by rivals, in the way
humpback whales take up that year’s song and repeat it through the oceans. As the
philosopher and musician David Rothenberg showed me, when you speed up the 10
song of a humpback, it sounds very much like birdsong, with the same ‘sustained
whistles, rhythmic chirps, and noisy brawphs’.

Each sequence is its own narrative, precisely measured out. Blackbirds have
the ability to sound both ridiculous and sublime at the same time, with their
querying intonation ending in an upnote, like a teen’s mallspeak – duh-duh-duh?; 15
or duh-duh-lu, duh-duh-lu! But theirs is a serious intent, bent on preventing any
incursion into their fiefdom1, as well as sounding sexy to a potential mate. They’ll
fly just a few feet off the ground, to avoid predators from above – although a habit
which made sense when their only enemies were raptors is less useful now that
their low flight-paths take them directly into potentially lethal traffic; it amazes me, 20
as yet another black streak almost zooms through my bike wheels, that they don’t
sustain more casualties. They must retain a trace memory of when all this was only
heathland. A blackbird defends its territory all its life; some may live for up to twenty
years. The same bird bobs and bows and runs across my garage roof year after
year, looking up at me in turn. 25

How can such a grey, wet day be so beautiful? After days of rain I ride out at dawn,
taking my chance during a brief interlude of dryness. There’s nothing to focus on,
just cloud. Under such skies anything is a gain. It’s May Day. The rain intensifies the
smell of the morning. The woods through which the road runs lean over and meet
tree-to-tree, negating the tarmac below. At the beach, the water is flat calm. The 30
world has opened up again.

A new shape appears high over the shore; the slender wings of a swallow, zigzagging
its way from the sea to the trees, thousands of miles from sub-Saharan Africa. Later,
I’ll watch them from water level as they swoop within inches of my head, so close
that I can see every detail: blue-black backs as iridescent as a mineral, pure white 35
bellies and rosy chins.

© UCLES 2020 9093/12/F/M/20

To the Romans, the swallow represented the household gods because it nested in
the eaves2; it was unlucky to kill one. The birds’ annual disappearance was a source
of mystery. Some said they flew to the moon, or even changed species.

As late as the sixteenth century it was believed that they hibernated in the water, 40
from where fishermen would cast their nets and pull out swallows, ‘huddled against
each other, beak to beak, wing to wing, foot to foot … among the reeds’.

1fiefdom: an area or activity that is commanded by a particular person or group

2eaves: roof space

© UCLES 2020 9093/12/F/M/20 [Turn over

3 The following text is taken from a review of a virtual reality gaming headset, the Oculus Rift. The
review was published on a technology website in 2018.

(a) Comment on the language and style of the text. [15]

(b) Imagine you are the writer of the original text. You have been asked to write a review of
another new product for the same website.

Basing your writing closely on the language and style of the original text, and using 120 to
150 of your own words, write a section of the review. [10]

Oculus Rift review

Oculus Rift is an affordable, desktop PC-powered VR headset

★★★★✰ By Nick Pino 15 days ago Gaming accessories

OUR VERDICT

Oculus Rift isn’t the all-encompassing ‘future of entertainment’ some may have 5
expected, but we’re optimistic that it might earn that title in the coming years.

FOR AGAINST
Snug fit Can cause nausea
Best VR games Minimum PC requirements
Growing list of movies and apps Still a big investment 10

The Oculus Rift is already two years old – doesn’t time fly, etc etc. It promised to
change the world of gaming forever when it launched in 2016, and while it hasn’t
quite done that yet, the VR landscape has slowly matured and become a more
attractive proposition.

Since it made its debut, the Oculus Rift has been given opportunities to spread its 15
wings a bit – a number of high-profile games have launched on the hardware, and
it’s received motion controllers in the form of Oculus Touch (one of the most crucial
upgrades since launch day).

Recent sales data would seem to suggest Oculus Rift is catching up with HTC Vive,
though the numbers are by no means definitive. But you’re not here for speculation, 20
right? You’re here because you’re interested in reading about one of the world’s
coolest, most bleeding-edge technologies: VR. Now, after two years with the Oculus
Rift, the HTC Vive and PlayStation VR, can we finally say ‘virtual reality is here to
stay’?

How the Oculus Rift works 25

So, what exactly are you buying? What does the Oculus Rift do?

I’ve tried my best to explain virtual reality in words and, on multiple occasions, have
completely and utterly failed. At best all I can do is paint a half-baked image in
hopes to inspire you to go out and find a friend or co-worker with an Oculus Rift of
their own who’d be kind enough to let you give it a whirl. Here goes nothing. 30

© UCLES 2020 9093/12/F/M/20

Imagine standing on the ledge of a 100-storey building. Imagine looking down at the
street below you. Imagine the tightening of your stomach and the sense of dread
that you might, at any second, fall to your demise.

Now imagine taking one step forward.

You’re falling and the world is whipping before you. You’re petrified. But you also 35
feel alive. The second right before you hit the ground is the worst – your brain is
actually prepared for the moment by dumping adrenaline into your system as a mild
painkiller.

But while all this is happening, you haven’t actually moved. You’ve been sitting in a
chair in your own home, staring into a screen. Your biometrics have changed, but, 40
geographically speaking, you’re exactly where you were 10 minutes ago.

This is what it’s like to use virtual reality, to get the experience of being somewhere
else in a different time, a different place, sometimes as far as an alien world, all
without ever leaving your home.

The latest iteration of the headset is significantly better than any of the previous 45
development kits. It’s easier to set up thanks to an intuitive program that you’re
prompted to download when you plug it in, and it now takes less technical know-how
to install games and troubleshoot when things go awry.

Once you’ve plugged the headset into the HDMI port on your GPU, the two USB
cables from the headset and sensor to two USB 3.0 ports on your PC, and the Xbox 50
One controller adapter into a USB 2.0 port on your PC, you’re ready to start the
short and simple setup process, which only takes about 10 minutes.

What you’ll find when you’re done is a library of about 100 titles that are longer than
anything found on the HTC Vive. I’ve played a good deal of them, and while some
are better than others, there weren’t any that I felt were a waste of time or money. I’ll 55
cover them in more detail on the next page but, in the broadest of strokes, the Rift is
a fun gaming system, even if it’s not number one right now.

© UCLES 2020 9093/12/F/M/20

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Cambridge Assessment International Education is part of the Cambridge Assessment Group. Cambridge Assessment is the brand name of the University of
Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES), which itself is a department of the University of Cambridge.

© UCLES 2020 9093/12/F/M/20

Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/22

Paper 2 Writing February/March 2020

2 hours

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

* 7 5 8 5 8 5 0 7 2 0 *

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

INSTRUCTIONS
● Answer two questions in total:
Section A: answer one question.
Section B: answer one question.
● Follow the instructions on the front cover of the answer booklet. If you need additional answer paper,
ask the invigilator for a continuation booklet.
● You are reminded of the need for good English and clear presentation in your answers.

INFORMATION
● The total mark for this paper is 50.
● All questions are worth equal marks.

This document has 4 pages. Blank pages are indicated.

DC (CE) 181689/1
© UCLES 2020 [Turn over
2

Answer one question from Section A and one question from Section B.
All questions carry equal marks.
You should write 600–900 words for each question.

Section A: Imaginative writing

1 Write a story which begins with the following sentence: I reached the top of the hill and turned to
look back one final time. In your writing, create a sense of suspense and drama.

2 Write two contrasting descriptive pieces (300–450 words each): the first about an athlete just
before taking part in an important race; the second about the same athlete just after finishing the
race. In your writing, create a sense of atmosphere and place.

3 Write a descriptive piece called Arrival, about a large cruise ship coming into a port. In your writing,
focus on sound, movement and colour to help your reader imagine the scene.

Section B: Writing for an audience

4 In class, you have been discussing recycling. Write an article for your school magazine, describing
the benefits of recycling and ways to encourage young people to recycle more.

5 A new television series about travel has just ended. Write two contrasting reviews (300–450 words
each), which will be published on a website called TV Today. One of the reviews is positive about
the series, and the other is critical of it.

6 Write the voiceover script for a television news report about the increasing popularity of online
shopping. In your writing, focus on the reasons for this increasing popularity, and the problems it is
causing.

© UCLES 2020 9093/22/F/M/20

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© UCLES 2020 9093/22/F/M/20

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© UCLES 2020 9093/22/F/M/20

Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/23

Paper 2 Writing October/November 2021
2 hours

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*4998918082*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 4 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

11_9093_23_2021_1.12
© UCLES 2021 [Turn over
2

Section A: Shorter writing and reflective commentary

Question 1
A small local school is going to close next month, and the students are all going to join your school,
which is much larger. Your headteacher has asked you to give a short speech to the new students
about the positive aspects of being in a large school.

(a) Write the text for the speech, using no more than 400 words. In your writing, focus on the
atmosphere at your school and the possibilities that it offers. [15]

(b) Write a reflective commentary on your text, explaining how your linguistic choices contribute
to fulfilling the task set. [10]

Section B: Extended writing

Answer one question.

EITHER

Question 2

You recently read a newspaper article called Why all children should learn to cook. Readers have been
invited to write letters in response to this article. You decide to write a letter, giving your opinion. Write
between 600 and 900 words. [25]

Question 3

You have just seen a TV documentary about wildlife in the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Write a review
of the documentary, which will be posted on a conservation website. Write between 600 and 900 words.
[25]

Question 4

Write a descriptive piece called Top of the World, about being at the top of a mountain. In your writing,
focus on the sights and sounds to help your reader imagine the scene. Write between 600 and 900
words. [25]

© UCLES 2021 11_9093_23_2021_1.12

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© UCLES 2021 11_9093_23_2021_1.12

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Permission to reproduce items where third-party owned material protected by copyright is included has been sought and cleared where possible. Every reasonable
effort has been made by the publisher (UCLES) to trace copyright holders, but if any items requiring clearance have unwittingly been included, the publisher will
be pleased to make amends at the earliest possible opportunity.

To avoid the issue of disclosure of answer-related information to candidates, all copyright acknowledgements are reproduced online in the Cambridge Assessment
International Education Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced for each series of examinations and is freely available to download at
www.cambridgeinternational.org after the live examination series.

© UCLES 2021 11_9093_23_2021_1.12

Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/21

Paper 2 Writing October/November 2021
2 hours

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*0215405597*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 4 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

11_9093_21_2021_1.12
© UCLES 2021 [Turn over
2

Section A: Shorter writing and reflective commentary

Question 1
You have recently left home and are spending three months living and studying in another country.
You have decided to write a blog about the experience.

(a) Write the text for your first blog entry, using no more than 400 words. In your writing, create a
sense of excitement and anticipation. [15]

(b) Write a reflective commentary on your text, explaining how your linguistic choices contribute
to fulfilling the task set. [10]

Section B: Extended writing

Answer one question.

EITHER

Question 2

Write a descriptive piece called The Classroom. In your writing, create a sense of atmosphere, and focus
on movement and sound to help your reader imagine the scene. Write between 600 and 900 words.
[25]

Question 3

In class, you have been discussing whether it is worse to have too much money or not enough. Your
teacher has asked you to write an essay on the topic, giving your opinion. Write between 600 and 900
words. [25]

Question 4

You recently went to a new café in your town. Write a review of the café, which will be published in your
local newspaper. Write between 600 and 900 words. [25]

© UCLES 2021 11_9093_21_2021_1.12

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© UCLES 2021 11_9093_21_2021_1.12

BLANK PAGE

Permission to reproduce items where third-party owned material protected by copyright is included has been sought and cleared where possible. Every reasonable
effort has been made by the publisher (UCLES) to trace copyright holders, but if any items requiring clearance have unwittingly been included, the publisher will
be pleased to make amends at the earliest possible opportunity.

To avoid the issue of disclosure of answer-related information to candidates, all copyright acknowledgements are reproduced online in the Cambridge Assessment
International Education Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced for each series of examinations and is freely available to download at
www.cambridgeinternational.org after the live examination series.

© UCLES 2021 11_9093_21_2021_1.12

Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/22

Paper 2 Writing October/November 2021
2 hours

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*0082942650*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 4 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

11_9093_22_2021_1.16
© UCLES 2021 [Turn over
2

Section A: Shorter writing and reflective commentary

Question 1
You have been learning about why too much sugar is bad for you. Your headteacher has asked
you to give a short speech to the school, persuading everyone to reduce the amount of sugar they
eat.

(a) Write the text for the speech, using no more than 400 words. In your writing, give advice on
improving diet, and create a sense of motivation. [15]

(b) Write a reflective commentary on your text, explaining how your linguistic choices contribute
to fulfilling the task set. [10]

Section B: Extended writing

Answer one question.

EITHER

Question 2

Write a story called The Note, about a message someone received unexpectedly from an unknown
source. In your writing, create a sense of drama and suspense. Write between 600 and 900 words.
[25]

Question 3

In class, you have been discussing the fact that people don’t spend enough time together as a family
these days. Write an article for your school magazine, giving your opinion on the topic. Write between
600 and 900 words. [25]

Question 4

You recently went to a local event which takes place once a year in your town. Write a review of the
event, which will be posted on a travel website. Write between 600 and 900 words. [25]

BLANK PAGE

Permission to reproduce items where third-party owned material protected by copyright is included has been sought and cleared where possible. Every reasonable
effort has been made by the publisher (UCLES) to trace copyright holders, but if any items requiring clearance have unwittingly been included, the publisher will
be pleased to make amends at the earliest possible opportunity.

To avoid the issue of disclosure of answer-related information to candidates, all copyright acknowledgements are reproduced online in the Cambridge Assessment
International Education Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced for each series of examinations and is freely available to download at
www.cambridgeinternational.org after the live examination series.

Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/12

Paper 1 Reading October/November 2021
2 hours 15 minutes

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*3012415460*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 8 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

Section A: Directed response

Question 1
Read the following text, which is a review of a new watch, from the New Atlas science and technology
website.

(a) You work in the advertising department at Oaxis. Write the text of an advertisement for the
new Oaxis semi-smartwatch, which will be published in a magazine for young people. Use
150–200 words. [10]

(b) Compare your advertisement with the review, analysing form, structure and language. [15]

This very tidy-looking semi-smartwatch is designed to roll the functionality of a fitness

tracker in with a stylish analog dress watch you can wear anywhere. It’s a great concept
– let’s see how this Singaporean company has executed it!

First things first: the chief purpose of a watch these days is to look good, and I think
Oaxis has done a terrific job with this minimalist design. In the few days I’ve been 5
wearing it around I’ve had more than a few compliments, it’s a nicely neutral design
that works with a suit or casual wear. It is by a factor of 10 the nicest looking watch I’ve
ever worn.

Having said that, maybe it’s a bit thick, and as soon as you hit the side button (and it
1
is just a button, don’t go trying to adjust the time with it) and the tiny 0.42-inch OLED 10
screen comes on, it does get a touch of the old digital calculator about it; the rectangular
screen sits inside a circular window looking a bit awkward.

It ships with a small wireless charging dock that fully tops up the watch in an hour and
a half, which will last you around 30 days of wear – a refreshing change from most
smartwatches. 15

It syncs to my Google Pixel 3 XL Android phone quickly and easily, with no fuss, and
the Oaxis Timepiece app lets you quickly synchronize the time with whatever your
phone’s saying. Here too, you can decide how ‘smart’ you want the Oaxis to be. Do
you want it to vibrate and tell you who’s calling? Read you text messages and emails?
Calendar reminders? Social media alerts? After a couple of days running all of these, 20
I ended up deciding the answer was: no. The tiny screen on this thing means that
sometimes single words can’t completely fit on a page. Scrolling through to read anything
of substance is a pain. I’m out.

The app itself isn’t particularly impressive, it’s basic at best. The back button doesn’t
work, which is odd, and there’s no obvious way to force a data sync. 25

On to the fitness tracking side of things, then. The Oaxis carries a built-in pedometer,
which works well if you’re into that sort of thing. It does rudimentary sleep analysis if
you leave it on overnight, which is nice. And it gives you estimated calories and distance
walked, which are fine, but to this point, it’s only replicating things your phone can do
anyway. 30

The big ticket item here is the heart rate monitor – a handy thing to have if you want to
keep track of your cardio progression during exercise and at rest.

Now, perhaps my expectations here were out of line, but to me, a heart rate tracker
should constantly keep an eye on your heart rate, take measurements every few
seconds, display a rolling readout if you put it in the right display mode, and output a 35
nice graph that you can check out at the end of the day.

The Oaxis, at least in its current form, does not do this. It takes measurements – but
only when you directly request them. So if I want to know what my heart rate is doing
when I’m cycling, I need to take a hand off the bars, beep my way through to the heart
rate screen (which is hard to do, because the OLED screen doesn’t show up very 40
brightly in the sun), hold the button down for 3 seconds, wait about 10 or 15 seconds
for it to take a reading, and then squint at the screen for a reading.

These individual readings are synchronized with the Timepiece app, where they’re
presented to you in the form of daily tables: here’s the time you asked for a reading,
and here’s the reading. Honestly, I don’t find this useful at all during exercise. As a way 45
of tracking your resting heart rate, I guess it’s fine.

The Oaxis is selling at US$89 for the 38 mm model, and US$99 for the 41 mm, which
is the size we’re reviewing. It comes in black, silver or gold, with black or white faces,
and a variety of straps.

At those kinds of prices, even though the Timepiece isn’t what we were hoping for in a 50
heart rate monitor, it’s still a nice watch at a good price with the potential to improve
significantly in software upgrades.

Notes:
1
OLED: a type of light

Section B: Text analysis

Question 2

Read the following text, which is an article from the Yale Daily News blog. It was written in 2012 by a
graduating student of the university.

Analyse the text, focusing on form, structure and language. [25]

We don’t have a word for the opposite of loneliness, but if we did, I could say that’s
what I want in life. What I’m grateful and thankful to have found at Yale, and what I’m
scared of losing when we wake up tomorrow and leave this place.

It’s not quite love and it’s not quite community; it’s just this feeling that there are people,
an abundance of people, who are in this together. Who are on your team. When the 5
check is paid and you stay at the table. When it’s four a.m. and no one goes to bed.
That night with the guitar. That night we can’t remember. That time we did, we went,
we saw, we laughed, we felt. The hats.

Yale is full of tiny circles we pull around ourselves. A cappella groups, sports teams,
houses, societies, clubs. These tiny groups that make us feel loved and safe and part 10
of something even on our loneliest nights when we stumble home to our computers –
partner-less, tired, awake. We won’t have those next year. We won’t live on the same
block as all our friends. We won’t have a bunch of group-texts.

This scares me. More than finding the right job or city or spouse – I’m scared of losing
this web we’re in. This elusive, indefinable, opposite of loneliness. This feeling I feel 15
right now.

But let us get one thing straight: the best years of our lives are not behind us. They’re
part of us and they are set for repetition as we grow up and move to New York and
away from New York and wish we did or didn’t live in New York. I plan on having parties
when I’m 30. I plan on having fun when I’m old. Any notion of THE BEST years comes 20
from clichéd ‘should haves ...’ ‘if I’d ...’ ‘wish I’d ...’

Of course, there are things we wished we did: our readings, that boy across the hall.
We’re our own hardest critics and it’s easy to let ourselves down. Sleeping too late.
Procrastinating. Cutting corners. More than once I’ve looked back on my High School
self and thought: how did I do that? How did I work so hard? Our private insecurities 25
follow us and will always follow us.

But the thing is, we’re all like that. Nobody wakes up when they want to. Nobody did
all of their reading (except maybe the crazy people who win the prizes). We have these
impossibly high standards and we’ll probably never live up to our perfect fantasies of
our future selves. But I feel like that’s okay. 30

We’re so young. We’re so young. We’re twenty-two years old. We have so much time.
There’s this sentiment I sometimes sense, creeping in our collective conscious as we
lay alone after a party, or pack up our books when we give in and go out – that it is
somehow too late. That others are somehow ahead. More accomplished, more
specialized. More on the path to somehow saving the world, somehow creating or 35
inventing or improving. That it’s too late now to BEGIN a beginning and we must settle
for continuance, for commencement.

When we came to Yale, there was this sense of possibility. This immense and indefinable
potential energy – and it’s easy to feel like that’s slipped away. We never had to choose
and suddenly we’ve had to. Some of us have focused ourselves. Some of us know 40
exactly what we want and are on the path to get it; already going to med school, working
at the perfect NGO, doing research.

For most of us, however, we’re somewhat lost in this sea of liberal arts. Not quite sure
what road we’re on and whether we should have taken it. If only I had majored in biology
... if only I’d gotten involved in journalism as a freshman ... if only I’d thought to apply 45
for this or for that ...

What we have to remember is that we can still do anything. We can change our minds.
We can start over. Get a post-bac or try writing for the first time. The notion that it’s too
late to do anything is comical. It’s hilarious. We’re graduating college. We’re so young.
We can’t, we MUST not lose this sense of possibility because in the end, it’s all we 50
have.

***

We don’t have a word for the opposite of loneliness, but if we did, I’d say that’s how I
feel at Yale. How I feel right now. Here. With all of you. In love, impressed, humbled,
scared. And we don’t have to lose that.

We’re in this together, 2012. Let’s make something happen to this world. 55

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Permission to reproduce items where third-party owned material protected by copyright is included has been sought and cleared where possible. Every reasonable
effort has been made by the publisher (UCLES) to trace copyright holders, but if any items requiring clearance have unwittingly been included, the publisher will
be pleased to make amends at the earliest possible opportunity.

To avoid the issue of disclosure of answer-related information to candidates, all copyright acknowledgements are reproduced online in the Cambridge Assessment
International Education Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced for each series of examinations and is freely available to download at
www.cambridgeinternational.org after the live examination series.

Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/13

Paper 1 Reading October/November 2021
2 hours 15 minutes

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*0957973064*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 8 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

Section A: Directed response

Question 1
Read the following text, which is an extract from a magazine article about Epic, a new software
package for healthcare professionals.

(a) You are a doctor who has used Epic. Write the text of a podcast for other doctors, promoting
the benefits of the new software. Use 150–200 words. [10]

(b) Compare your podcast with the article, analysing form, structure and language. [15]

Why Doctors Hate Their Computers

Digitization promises to make medical care easier and more efficient. But are screens
coming between doctors and patients?

On a sunny afternoon in May, 2015, I joined a dozen other surgeons at a downtown

Boston office building to begin sixteen hours of mandatory computer training. We sat 5
in three rows, each of us parked behind a desktop computer. In one month, our daily
routines would come to depend upon mastery of Epic, the new medical software system
on the screens in front of us. The upgrade from our home-built software would cost the
hospital system where we worked, Partners HealthCare, a staggering $1.6 billion, but
it aimed to keep us technologically up to date. 10

***

The surgeons at the training session ranged in age from thirty to seventy, I estimated
— about sixty per cent male, and one hundred per cent irritated at having to be there
instead of seeing patients. Our trainer looked younger than any of us, maybe a few
years out of college, with an early-Justin Bieber wave cut, a blue button-down shirt,
and chinos. Gazing out at his sullen audience, he seemed unperturbed. I learned during 15
the next few sessions that each instructor had developed his or her own way of dealing
with the hostile rabble. One was encouraging and parental, another unsmiling and
efficient. Justin Bieber took the driving instructor’s approach: You don’t want to be here;
I don’t want to be here; let’s just make the best of it.

I did fine with the initial exercises, like looking up patients’ names and emergency 20
contacts. When it came to viewing test results, though, things got complicated. There
was a column of thirteen tabs on the left side of my screen, crowded with nearly identical
terms: ‘chart review’, ‘results review’, ‘review flowsheet’. We hadn’t even started learning
how to enter information, and the fields revealed by each tab came with their own tools
and nuances. 25

But I wasn’t worried. I’d spent my life absorbing changes in computer technology, and
I knew that if I pushed through the learning curve I’d eventually be doing some pretty
cool things. In 1978, when I was an eighth grader in Ohio, I built my own four-kilobyte
computer from a mail-order kit, learned to program in BASIC, and was soon playing
the arcade game Pong on our black-and-white television set. The next year, I got an 30
Apple II computer and eventually became the first kid in my school to turn in a
computer-printed essay (and, shortly thereafter, the first to ask for an extension ‘because

the computer ate my homework’). As my Epic training began, I expected my patience

to be rewarded in the same way.

My hospital had, over the years, computerized many records and processes, but the 35
new system would give us one platform for doing almost everything health professionals
needed — recording and communicating our medical observations, sending prescriptions
to a patient’s pharmacy, ordering tests and scans, viewing results, scheduling surgery,
sending insurance bills. With Epic, paper lab-order slips, vital-signs charts, and
hospital-ward records would disappear. We’d be greener, faster, better. 40

But three years later I’ve come to feel that a system that promised to increase my
mastery over my work has, instead, increased my work’s mastery over me. I’m not the
only one. A 2016 study found that physicians spent about two hours doing computer
work for every hour spent face to face with a patient — whatever the brand of medical
software. In the examination room, physicians devoted half of their patient time facing 45
the screen to do electronic tasks. And these tasks were spilling over after hours. The
University of Wisconsin found that the average workday for its family physicians had
grown to eleven and a half hours. The result has been epidemic levels of burnout among
clinicians.

Something’s gone terribly wrong. Doctors are among the most technology-avid people 50
in society; computerization has simplified tasks in many industries. Yet somehow we’ve
reached a point where people in the medical profession actively, viscerally, volubly hate
their computers.

Section B: Text analysis

Question 2

Read the following text, which is an ecotourism advertisement from The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund
International conservation website.

Analyse the text, focusing on form, structure and language. [25]

What to expect when you visit gorillas in Rwanda

‘A life changing experience!’ This is what most tourists say after they visit the mountain
gorillas in Rwanda, and Fossey Fund staff totally agree, since they spend every single
day with gorillas — each day is exciting and new discoveries happen all the time.

Mountain gorillas are a unique species, with complex personalities and behaviors, as 5
well as interesting social structures. Our researchers take detailed notes about what
they see among the gorillas each day, just as Dian Fossey used to do. And now we
have a 50-year database of such information!

Here are some of the details about the wonderful experience of seeing the mountain
gorillas of Rwanda: 10

Getting ready to see the gorillas

The walk that tourists take to get to the gorillas is an experience in itself, as it brings
you to one of the most beautiful places on earth. This is one of the few remaining tropical
mountain forests, located on the steep slopes of the Virunga volcanoes. Gorilla groups
are spread out everywhere among the five volcanic mountains (Karisimbi, Bisoke, 15
Sabyinyo, Gahinga, Muhabura), so depending on which group you are going to visit
your itinerary will differ. The walk to reach a gorilla group can take from one to several
hours, but no matter how long it is, the end result is always amazing.

Expert gorilla trackers always lead the way, as they detect and follow gorilla traces from
the last spot where the designated gorilla group was seen. These traces can include 20
hand and foot prints, bent vegetation, remains of plants the gorillas have eaten and
other signs. Every small detail is investigated, as the trackers determine the gorillas’
direction.

It’s not possible to predict how far the gorillas have moved from the previous day, or
what direction they’ve taken, so patience is definitely a good state of mind while following 25
trackers at this time. But sooner or later, they will find the group they are seeking.

There they are!

The first sight of gorillas is unforgettable! Inside the intense green of the dense
vegetation, you’ll see dark shapes as you go closer. It takes a few seconds to realize
that these shapes are wild gorillas, right there in front of you. Amazingly, they are 30
perfectly calm. The gorillas may glance at you at first, but will quickly resume their
normal activities.

You will be impressed by the huge size of the adult male gorillas (reaching up to 400
pounds). They are called silverbacks because of the gray color of the hair on their

backs. You will notice that the adult females are much smaller and do not have gray 35
backs.

TIP 1: If you happen to look into the eyes of a gorilla, take a quick moment to fully enjoy
the experience, but then immediately take your gaze off the gorilla’s eyes and look
down. This signals to the gorilla that you are not a threat and that everyone can relax.

These gorillas are habituated to the presence of humans, which means that they tolerate 40
us without modifying their behaviors, seeing us as a neutral part of their environment.
However, in order to maintain this peaceful setting, there are rules for humans to follow.

TIP 2: Humans are asked to keep a safe distance of 7 meters (about 23 feet) away
from the gorillas. This also prevents spreading any human diseases to the gorillas. If
a gorilla moves closer to you, you stay still and let him pass by. If you happen to be 45
standing exactly where a gorilla wants to be, just give him the space and let him move
as he likes. If the gorilla approaches you and then sits down, you should slowly move
away to resume the 7-meter distance.

***

Spending time with mountain gorillas is truly one of the most memorable wildlife
experiences on earth. Being in and amongst a gorilla family is sure to create memories 50
and impressions that you will never forget. With only 880 mountain gorillas remaining,
it is also important for tourists to remember their own behavior when they are with the
gorillas, to minimize any potential risk to the gorillas. This means maintaining the required
distance, coughing into your arm, and avoiding spitting or eating in the forest.

For further information on responsible ecotourism and to learn more about visiting the 55
gorillas, click here.

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Permission to reproduce items where third-party owned material protected by copyright is included has been sought and cleared where possible. Every reasonable
effort has been made by the publisher (UCLES) to trace copyright holders, but if any items requiring clearance have unwittingly been included, the publisher will
be pleased to make amends at the earliest possible opportunity.

To avoid the issue of disclosure of answer-related information to candidates, all copyright acknowledgements are reproduced online in the Cambridge Assessment
International Education Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced for each series of examinations and is freely available to download at
www.cambridgeinternational.org after the live examination series.

Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/11

Paper 1 Reading October/November 2021
2 hours 15 minutes

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*1184650082*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 8 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

Section A: Directed response

Question 1
Read the following text, which is a news report about two large fires, one in Paris and one in South
America. The report was published on an Australian news website.

(a) You decide to write a letter to the French President about the issues raised in the news report.
Use 150–200 words. [10]

(b) Compare your letter with the news report, analysing form, structure and language. [15]

When a fire destroyed the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris, the world knew in three
minutes. But this most recent disaster has divided the internet.
1
When a fire tore through Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris earlier this year, donations
poured in across the world at such a rapid rate, more than one billion dollars was raised
in just two days. 5

The world was made aware of the catastrophe within three minutes of the first flame.

In fact, the amount of money pledged by celebrities, billionaires and other generous
donors far surpassed the amount needed to make the dramatic structural repairs.

The wave of goodwill, however, has generated a new wave of backlash on social media
more than four months after the tragedy. 10

Why? Well, another horrific fire is burning in one of the world’s most crucial natural
landmarks — but it’s taken three weeks for the world to really take note. In fact, it’s only
just started to get some attention, despite more than one-and-a-half soccer fields being
destroyed every minute.

For three whole weeks, the single largest tropical rainforest in the world is being 15
destroyed.

The Amazon is often referred to as the planet’s lungs, producing 20 per cent of the
oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere. As the largest rainforest on the planet, it is considered
a vital instrument in slowing global warming.

With such a catastrophe taking place for weeks on end, social media users have been 20
quick to question why the tragedy at Notre-Dame surpassed what’s currently unfolding
in the Amazon.

Images of fires purportedly devouring sections of the world’s largest rainforest have
gone viral on Twitter, prompting the backlash and trending hashtag #PrayforAmazonas,
which has now received more than 249,000 tweets. 25

‘I would rather see Notre-Dame totally destroyed and see the Amazon forest protected
forever,’ one person said.

‘There’s no point in preserving history if we’re just gonna watch the future of our planet
slip away.’

Another added that when Notre-Dame burned, the world stopped. 30

‘Billionaires emptied their pockets to help rebuild,’ he said. ‘Meanwhile the Amazon has
been burning for 3 weeks. The difference is, we don’t get to build a new earth. When
it’s gone, it’s gone.’

While it was not possible to measure the size of the area affected by fires, thick smoke
2
in recent days has blanketed several cities, including São Paulo , and caused a 35
commercial flight to be diverted.

Official figures show nearly 73,000 forest fires were recorded in Brazil in the first eight
months of the year — the highest number for any year since 2013.

Most were in the Amazon.

Amazon Rainforest Fast Facts 40

• The Amazon rainforest covers over 5.5 million square kilometres. That’s equivalent
3
to Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory combined.
• It is known as ‘the lungs of the Earth’ because more than 20 per cent of the world’s
oxygen is produced by the Amazon.
• There are around 16,000 tree species and 390 billion individual trees in the Amazon. 45
• The Amazon is thought to have 2.5 million species of insects. More than half the
species in the rainforest are thought to live in the canopy.
• 400–500 indigenous tribes call the Amazon rainforest home. It’s believed about
50 of these tribes have never had contact with the outside world.
• Cattle farming accounts for roughly 70 per cent of deforestation in the Amazon. 50
• Since 1970, 800,000 square kilometres of the rainforest have been destroyed by
3
deforestation — equivalent to an area the size of New South Wales .

Notes:
1
Paris: the capital city of France
2
São Paulo: a major city in Brazil
3
Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory and New South Wales: regions of
Australia

Section B: Text analysis

Question 2

Read the following text, which is an open letter on the subject of happiness by the famous entrepreneur,
Richard Branson.

Analyse the text, focusing on form, structure and language. [25]

Dear Stranger,

You don’t know me but I hear you are going through a tough time, and I would like to
help you. I want to be open and honest with you, and let you know that happiness isn’t
something just afforded to a special few. It can be yours, if you take the time to let it
grow. 5

It’s OK to be stressed, scared and sad, I certainly have been throughout my 66 years.
I’ve confronted my biggest fears time and time again. I’ve cheated death on many
adventures, seen loved ones pass away, failed in business, minced my words in front
of tough audiences, and had my heart broken.

I know I’m fortunate to live an extraordinary life, and that most people would assume 10
my business success, and the wealth that comes with it, have brought me happiness.
But they haven’t; in fact it’s the reverse. I am successful, wealthy and connected because
I am happy.

So many people get caught up in doing what they think will make them happy but, in
my opinion, this is where they fail. Happiness is not about doing, it’s about being. In 15
order to be happy, you need to think consciously about it. Don’t forget the to-do list, but
remember to write a to-be list too.

Kids are often asked: ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ The world expects
grandiose aspirations: ‘I want to be a writer, a doctor, the prime minister.’ They’re told:
go to school, go to college, get a job, get married, and then you’ll be happy. But that’s 20
all about doing, not being – and while doing will bring you moments of joy, it won’t
necessarily reward you with lasting happiness.

Stop and breathe. Be healthy. Be around your friends and family. Be there for someone,
and let someone be there for you. Be bold. Just be for a minute.

If you allow yourself to be in the moment, and appreciate the moment, happiness will 25
follow. I speak from experience. We’ve built a business empire, joined conversations
about the future of our planet, attended many memorable parties and met many
unforgettable people. And while these things have brought me great joy, it’s the moments
that I stopped just to be, rather than do, that have given me true happiness. Why?
Because allowing yourself just to be puts things into perspective. Try it. Be still. Be 30
present.

For me, it’s watching the flamingos fly across Necker Island at dusk. It’s holding my
new grandchild’s tiny hands. It’s looking up at the stars and dreaming of seeing them
up close one day. It’s listening to my family’s dinner-time debates. It’s the smile on a

stranger’s face, the smell of rain, the ripple of a wave, the wind across the sand. It’s 35
the first snowfall of winter, and the last storm of summer. It’s sunrise and sunset.

There’s a reason we’re called human beings and not human doings. As human beings
we have the ability to think, move and communicate in a heightened way. We can
cooperate, understand, reconcile and love, that’s what sets us apart from most other
species. 40

Don’t waste your human talents by stressing about nominal things, or that which you
cannot change. If you take the time simply to be and appreciate the fruits of life, your
stresses will begin to dissolve, and you will be happier.

But don’t just seek happiness when you’re down. Happiness shouldn’t be a goal, it
should be a habit. Take the focus off doing, and start being every day. Be loving, be 45
grateful, be helpful, and be a spectator to your own thoughts.

Allow yourself to be in the moment, and appreciate the moment. Take the focus off
everything you think you need to do, and start being – I promise you, happiness will
follow.

Happy regards, 50

Richard Branson

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To avoid the issue of disclosure of answer-related information to candidates, all copyright acknowledgements are reproduced online in the Cambridge Assessment
International Education Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced for each series of examinations and is freely available to download at
www.cambridgeinternational.org after the live examination series.

Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/23

Paper 2 Writing May/June 2021
2 hours

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*4286473557*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 4 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

Section A: Shorter writing and reflective commentary

Question 1
You recently went to see a famous band playing live in a large stadium. You decide to write a diary
entry about the experience.

(a) Write the text for the diary entry, using no more than 400 words. In your writing, focus on the
atmosphere and sense of excitement. [15]

(b) Write a reflective commentary on your text, explaining how your linguistic choices contribute
to fulfilling the task set. [10]

Section B: Extended writing

Answer one question.

EITHER

Question 2

Write a story which begins with the following sentence: It was in the middle of the night when I finally
made up my mind. In your writing, create a sense of drama and tension. Write between 600 and 900
words. [25]

Question 3

You are going to take part in a debate at school about whether teenagers should get jobs or relax during
long school holidays. Your headteacher has asked you to open the debate by giving a speech on the
topic. Write the text for the speech, discussing both points of view and giving your opinion. Write between
600 and 900 words. [25]

Question 4

A museum in your town has recently re-opened after a major redevelopment, and you have visited it.
Write a review of the museum, which will be published in your school magazine. Write between 600 and
900 words. [25]

BLANK PAGE

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effort has been made by the publisher (UCLES) to trace copyright holders, but if any items requiring clearance have unwittingly been included, the publisher will
be pleased to make amends at the earliest possible opportunity.

To avoid the issue of disclosure of answer-related information to candidates, all copyright acknowledgements are reproduced online in the Cambridge Assessment
International Education Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced for each series of examinations and is freely available to download at
www.cambridgeinternational.org after the live examination series.

Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/22

Paper 2 Writing May/June 2021
2 hours

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*4136969800*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 4 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

Section A: Shorter writing and reflective commentary

Question 1
You have seen an announcement in a local newspaper asking people to send in letters describing
their favourite building in the town. The letters will be published in a special edition of the newspaper
next month. You decide to write a letter about a building you particularly like.

(a) Write the text for the letter, using no more than 400 words. In your writing, describe the building
and explain why you like it. [15]

(b) Write a reflective commentary on your text, explaining how your linguistic choices contribute
to fulfilling the task set. [10]

Section B: Extended writing

Answer one question.

EITHER

Question 2

You recently watched a new television news programme. Write a review of the news programme, which
will be published in your school magazine. Write between 600 and 900 words. [25]

Question 3

In class, you have been discussing the fast pace of modern life. Your teacher has asked you to write
an article called Slow down! In your writing, focus on the challenges created by the speed of life these
days, and discuss how people cope with these challenges. Write between 600 and 900 words. [25]

Question 4

Write a story called How Did That Happen? about a holiday which did not go according to plan. In your
writing, create a sense of anticipation and drama. Write between 600 and 900 words. [25]

BLANK PAGE

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effort has been made by the publisher (UCLES) to trace copyright holders, but if any items requiring clearance have unwittingly been included, the publisher will
be pleased to make amends at the earliest possible opportunity.

To avoid the issue of disclosure of answer-related information to candidates, all copyright acknowledgements are reproduced online in the Cambridge Assessment
International Education Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced for each series of examinations and is freely available to download at
www.cambridgeinternational.org after the live examination series.

Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/12

Paper 1 Reading May/June 2021
2 hours 15 minutes

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*3987404321*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 8 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

Section A: Directed response

Question 1
Read the following text, which is an extract from a speech given in 1994 by Hillary R. Clinton at the
United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women. At the time, as the wife of President Bill
Clinton, she was First Lady of the United States of America.

(a) You are a blogger for your university student website and you attended Hillary R. Clinton’s
speech. Write a blog post for your fellow students, giving your personal account of the event.
Use 150–200 words. [10]

(b) Compare your blog post with the original speech, analysing form, structure and language.
[15]

I would like to thank the Secretary General of the United Nations for inviting me to be
part of the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women. This is truly a celebration
– a celebration of the contributions women make in every aspect of life: in the home,
on the job, in their communities, as mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, learners, workers,
citizens and leaders. 5

It is also a coming together, much the way women come together every day in every
country.

We come together in fields and in factories. In village markets and supermarkets. In

living rooms and boardrooms.

Whether it is while playing with our children in the park or washing clothes in a river, or 10
taking a break at the office water cooler, we come together and talk about our aspirations
and concerns. And time and again, our talk turns to our children and our families.

However different we may be, there is far more that unites us than divides us. We share
a common future. And we are here to find common ground so that we may help bring
new dignity and respect to women and girls all over the world – and in so doing, bring 15
new strength and stability to families as well.

By gathering in Beijing, we are focusing world attention on issues that matter most in
the lives of women and their families: access to education, health care, jobs, and credit,
the chance to enjoy basic legal and human rights and participate fully in the political
life of their countries. 20

There are some who question the reason for this conference. Let them listen to the
voices of women in their homes, neighborhoods, and workplaces.

There are some who wonder whether the lives of women and girls matter to economic
and political progress around the globe Let them look at the women gathered here
and at Huairou the homemakers, nurses, teachers, lawyers, policymakers, and 25
women who run their own businesses.

It is conferences like this that compel governments and peoples everywhere to listen,
look and face the world’s most pressing problems.

Wasn’t it after the women’s conference in Nairobi ten years ago that the world focused
for the first time on the crisis of domestic violence? 30

Earlier today, I participated in a World Health Organization forum, where government

officials, NGOs, and individual citizens are working on ways to address the health
problems of women and girls.

Tomorrow, I will attend a gathering of the United Nations Development Fund for Women.
There, the discussion will focus on local – and highly successful – programs that give 35
hard-working women access to credit so they can improve their own lives and the lives
of their families.

What we are learning around the world is that, if women are healthy and educated, their
families will flourish. If women are free from violence, their families will flourish. If women
have a chance to work and earn as full and equal partners in society, their families will 40
flourish. And when families flourish, communities and nations will flourish. That is why
every woman, every man, every child, every family, and every nation on our planet has
a stake in the discussion that takes place here.

***

Let this conference be our – and the world’s – call to action.

And let us heed the call so that we can create a world in which every woman is treated 45
with respect and dignity, every boy and girl is loved and cared for equally, and every
family has the hope of a strong and stable future.

Thank you very much.

Section B: Text analysis

Question 2

Read the following text, which is an editorial piece about the environment from the LA Times, an American
newspaper.

Analyse the text, focusing on form, structure and language. [25]

Human activities could erase 1 million of our fellow species

It’s hard to imagine a more dire assessment of what we humans have done to the world
than the 1,500-page United Nations report released Monday in Paris that says, among
other things, that our collective activities have put some 1 million plant and animal
species at risk of extinction, many within decades. While environmentalists and other 5
scientists have warned for years that humans are uniquely dangerous to the habitability
of the planet, the new report takes a deep and broad look at exactly what those impacts
have been so far, and what they foretell. It isn’t pretty.

The report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and

Ecosystem Services involved the work of more than 450 researchers and relied on 10
15,000 scientific and government reports; it took three years to complete. It’s an
astounding accounting of what we have wrought, warning that extinction rates are
accelerating rapidly and making clear that without fundamental changes to how we live
and organize human societies, the massive decline in biodiversity will endanger
humankind as well, because our fate is so deeply interwoven with that of other species. 15

‘The overwhelming evidence presents an ominous picture,’ said Robert Watson,

chair of the U.N. body that presented the report. ‘The health of ecosystems on which
we and all other species depend is deteriorating more rapidly than ever. We are eroding
the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health and quality of
life worldwide.’ 20

The rate of global change in nature during the past 50 years, the report says, ‘is
unprecedented in human history.’ Not coincidentally, the world population has increased
from 3.7 billion to 7.6 billion since 1970.

Despite the dire risk from our burning of fossil fuels, it seems that climate change is
only the third biggest threat to existence of global species, at least for the moment. At 25
the top of the list is land use, including development, logging, hunting, mining and
harvesting, and man’s impact on the oceans from pollution and overfishing.

Three-quarters of the earth’s surface bears the scars of human presence, as does
two-thirds of the marine environment, the report says. Urbanized areas have doubled
since 1990 and pollution from plastics has increased tenfold. Over-hunting and 30
overfishing have undercut the natural diversity crucial to sustainability.

Some scientists argue that the global ecosystem is undergoing a ‘sixth extinction,’ much
like what happened to the dinosaurs and other lifeforms during five previous global
catastrophes. But this is the first such crisis in which the blame does not fall on a massive
asteroid strike or pervasive volcanic activity but on the behavior of a single species: us. 35

The message is clear: Unless the world drastically reorders its priorities and alters its
policies, the despoliation of nature will continue.

So what is to be done? A lot of hard work. The report recommends a wide range of
actions, including less intrusive and lower-impact land-use policies and integration of
agriculture with development, stronger focus on conservation and retention of ecological 40
diversity, localization (and ‘improved distribution’) of agricultural food chains, stronger
marine protections and use policies, and in urban areas a better focus on sustainable
development in making planning decisions.

Of course, those steps require political will, and if the decades-long fight to counter the
worst effects of climate change from global warming is any indicator, we may be in 45
trouble. The issue is global, and correcting the course of human behavior takes
leadership and international cooperation.

We hope this report, and a global consensus on the dangers we face from climate
change and a variety of other behaviors, will lead to smarter, less damaging policies.
This isn’t a matter of balancing the survival of one species or another against the human 50
need for food, water and shelter. This report warns in no uncertain terms that we face
an existential threat of our own making. It’s humankind’s to fix, and the urgency of doing
so can’t be overstated.

BLANK PAGE

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be pleased to make amends at the earliest possible opportunity.

To avoid the issue of disclosure of answer-related information to candidates, all copyright acknowledgements are reproduced online in the Cambridge Assessment
International Education Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced for each series of examinations and is freely available to download at
www.cambridgeinternational.org after the live examination series.

Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/13

Paper 1 Reading May/June 2021
2 hours 15 minutes

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*0719310287*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 8 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

Section A: Directed response

Question 1
Read the following text, which is a blog post from the Psychology Today website.

(a) Your teacher has asked you to write the opening speech for a class debate on the subject of
organic food. Write your speech, outlining the pros and cons of organic food. Use 150–200
words. [10]

(b) Compare your speech with the blog post, analysing form, structure and language. [15]

Organic food isn’t all it’s cracked up to be

Here’s food for thought: Taste happens in your head, not your mouth. Color, for instance,
is a strong influence on how we perceive flavor. Purple grapes don’t look quite right
when served on a blue plate. Similar color contrast impressions operate at multiple
levels both psychologically and in the brain. It may be that the term ‘blue plate special’ 5
became popular during the 1930s Depression when cooks noticed that customers were
satisfied with smaller portions when meals were served on a blue plate. Shape affects
gustatory judgments, too. An angular plate emphasizes the sharpness of a dish. Weight
also matters: the more heft a bowl has the more satiated you’ll feel no matter how much
or little you eat. 10

Labeling is powerful: In blind tastings people judge wine as tasting superior when told
it costs a lot despite being exactly the same drink as the competitors they taste. Studies
repeatedly show that consumers can’t detect any difference between organic-labeled
and conventionally grown vegetables even when 30% of those tested thought that
organic vegetables had to taste better. 15

Expectation and belief strongly shade how food tastes, even when it is served blind or
in black glassware. A lack of visual cues can make it impossible to tell one flavor from
another. The 8% of men who are red–green colorblind, for example, can’t tell the
difference between a rare steak and one well done. One would think that a tough texture
gave the overcooked steak away, but visual cues, or their absence, outweigh other 20
signals.

Now imagine fields of old-fashioned produce. Chickens clucking in the yard. A nice
image, but not necessarily reality. As organic products have gained in popularity the
incentive to industrialize has influenced producers. That’s perfectly legal because
‘organic’ by definition means only not sprayed with synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. 25
That leaves more than 20 chemicals approved for organic farming that may not be any
less risky or more sustainable than synthetic ones.
1
One USDA report showed that 43% of 571 samples labeled organic contained prohibited
pesticide residues. Some were mislabeled regular produce. Others were downwind
from prohibited pesticides used in conventional fields nearby. Major brands often grow 30
their organic crops next to conventional ones, so it’s no surprise they’re contaminated.

Labels have become a problem: Organic isn’t much about food at all. It’s now an image
and testament to a lifestyle, a virtuous story about the person whose kitchen it fills.
People choose it because they value romanticized notions of health, quality, the natural

world. Marketers know that we’re swayed by confirmation bias so they can sell us 35
products that don’t live up to an imagined ideal. Confirmation bias is basically believing
evidence that supports what you already believe while rejecting whatever doesn’t fit.

‘Organic’ once did mean more traditional farming practices and less-processed raw
ingredients. Our brains still hang on to that ideal even in the face of negative evidence.
Attached to beliefs and symbols of a principled lifestyle, cognitive bias nudges us to 40
reject contrary facts. Advertisers claim their organic cereal is healthier, and our critical
thinking forgets that frosted cereals are nutritionally poor choices no matter which way
you grow, grind, and bake them.

The smokiest mirror of the organic industrial complex may be that its system is based
on trust. An investigation by the Wall Street Journal found that 47% of USDA certifying 45
agents – people accredited by USDA and trusted to inspect and certify organic farms
and suppliers – failed to uphold basic Agriculture Department standards at least once.
2
Caveat emptor : claims of health benefits and ‘natural’ ingredients can be meaningless
when we take producers at their literal word.

There is more to labels than meets the eye, and the psychology of food marketing has 50
yet to change reality. Swedish researchers concluded that ‘choosing a lifestyle based
upon an organic diet constitutes a return to the natural world on a philosophical level,
whereas on a psychological level it connects one to aspects such as identity, values,
and well-being’. Organic chickens may be ‘cage-free’ and have ‘outdoor access,’ but
that doesn’t mean they’re not still living in crowded factory-conditions-plus-window. You 55
have to look beyond the label. As for moral superiority, that can’t fit in a shopping cart
anyway.

Notes:
1
USDA: United States Department of Agriculture
2
Caveat emptor: Latin for ‘let the buyer be aware’

Section B: Text analysis

Question 2

Read the following text, which is an extract from the autobiography of the famous journalist and television
broadcaster, Sir Trevor McDonald.

Analyse the text, focusing on form, structure and language. [25]

I remember the cold.

I had dragged myself out of bed before dawn. There was nothing unusual about that.
It was what we had to do when working in Washington to cope with the five-hour time
difference between DC and London. By the time I was barely awake, my office on the
other side of the Atlantic was well into its working day. 5

Drawing back the blinds and looking out of my hotel window down onto the street below
I was amazed at the sight of streams of people making their way up towards Capitol
Hill. From my room high up on the tenth floor they seemed like a procession of Lowry-like
1
figures , shuffling along wordlessly in the semi-dark, in heavy overcoats, thick scarves
and gloves. It was, after all, a January winter’s day in Washington DC. 10

The event that had brought them to the nation’s capital was hours away, but everyone
expected the crowds to be large and getting there early would be the only way to find
a good spot to watch the ceremony. Only on venturing outside myself much later did I
discover how cold it was. A freeze had set in. First light revealed a clear day and a sky
of faultless blue, but when the wind rose, it showered icicles across the Mall. They hit 15
you in the face with the sting of burning needles. Toes and fingers went numb.

And yet the weather discouraged no one.

Spirits were high. The mood was celebratory. It was as if the warmth of expectation
had blunted the effects of the cold.

The early risers had done the right thing. By late morning the largest number of people 20
ever to assemble in Washington had occupied every square inch of the two-mile-long
grass runway from Capitol Hill to the Lincoln Memorial to witness the final act in a
political drama that had transfixed America and the world.

Picking my way through the gathering multitude that day I could almost taste the
excitement. A black man with the unlikely name of Barack Hussein Obama had defied 25
political orthodoxy and was about to be sworn in as president of the United States. It
was happening in a country where black Americans had only been legally guaranteed
the right to vote a little over forty years earlier after a campaign as bruising and turbulent
as the Civil War.

Now this junior senator from Illinois was about to enter the White House of Jefferson, 30
Lincoln and Roosevelt, of JFK, Reagan, Clinton and Bush – a White House built by
slaves. As tradition required, a huge cast of political and civic dignitaries had made its
way stageside up at the far end of the Mall – decked out in style and living up to its
name as America’s Front Yard.

Everything slotted into place for a presidential inauguration like no other and I was there 35
to watch an extraordinary moment in American history. It was one of the thrills of my
life as a journalist and as a black man.

I had followed the noisy carnival of the presidential election campaign with its twists
and turns, its frothy controversies and its spasms of political spite. Those memories
were already passing into history. They had been superseded by the election result. 40

Watching the president elect’s victory speech at Grant Park in Chicago late on election
night from my hotel in Washington, I strained to believe what my eyes were telling me.
I had telephoned friends in London to share the excitement but also as a way of checking
that I had not been transported to a distant planet at a time in the distant future. That
evening in Chicago, Obama struck all the right notes in describing to an ecstatic crowd 45
and to the American nation the historic nature of his victory.

My conversations with friends across the Atlantic had all ended in tears of high emotion
and glorious incredulity.

Notes:
1
Lowry-like figures: refers to images of people painted by artist L.S. Lowry

BLANK PAGE

Permission to reproduce items where third-party owned material protected by copyright is included has been sought and cleared where possible. Every reasonable
effort has been made by the publisher (UCLES) to trace copyright holders, but if any items requiring clearance have unwittingly been included, the publisher will
be pleased to make amends at the earliest possible opportunity.

To avoid the issue of disclosure of answer-related information to candidates, all copyright acknowledgements are reproduced online in the Cambridge Assessment
International Education Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced for each series of examinations and is freely available to download at
www.cambridgeinternational.org after the live examination series.

Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/21

Paper 2 Writing May/June 2021
2 hours

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*3779301421*

This document has 4 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

Section A: Shorter writing and reflective commentary

Question 1
A famous person came to your school recently to give a talk about their career and life. Your
headteacher has asked you to write a news story describing the event, which will be published in
your school magazine.

(a) Write the text for the news story, using no more than 400 words. In your writing, focus on the
atmosphere of the event and the impact that the talk has had on the students. [15]

(b) Write a reflective commentary on your text, explaining how your linguistic choices contribute
to fulfilling the task set by your headteacher. [10]

Section B: Extended writing

Answer one question.

EITHER

Question 2

Write a descriptive piece called The Heat Is On, about a park on a hot day in summer. In your writing,
focus on colour, sound and movement to help your reader imagine the scene. Write between 600 and
900 words. [25]

Question 3

In class, you have been discussing whether doing sport at school is a waste of time. Your teacher has
asked you to write an essay on the topic. Write between 600 and 900 words. [25]

Question 4

You recently went to a concert in your town. Write a review of the concert, which will be posted on a
website called World of Music. Write between 600 and 900 words. [25]

BLANK PAGE

Permission to reproduce items where third-party owned material protected by copyright is included has been sought and cleared where possible. Every reasonable
effort has been made by the publisher (UCLES) to trace copyright holders, but if any items requiring clearance have unwittingly been included, the publisher will
be pleased to make amends at the earliest possible opportunity.

To avoid the issue of disclosure of answer-related information to candidates, all copyright acknowledgements are reproduced online in the Cambridge Assessment
International Education Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced for each series of examinations and is freely available to download at
www.cambridgeinternational.org after the live examination series.

Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/11

Paper 1 Reading May/June 2021
2 hours 15 minutes

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*6365002644*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 8 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

Section A: Directed response

Question 1
Read the following text, which is an extract from the autobiography of Usain Bolt, the famous
sprinter. In the extract he describes the 100 metres race in which he won his first Olympic gold
medal.

(a) You are a journalist at the Olympic 100 metres final which Usain Bolt describes in the extract.
Write your report of the race for the sports section of your newspaper. Use 150–200 words.
[10]

(b) Compare your newspaper report with the autobiographical extract, analysing form, structure
and language. [15]

Bang!

The gun went.

Man, a lot can go through a sprinter’s mind over 100 metres, and I’ve talked garbage
to myself in every race I’ve ever run in. That might sound crazy to a lot of people because
the metres flash by in just over nine and a half seconds, ten on a really bad day for me, 5
but in that time I can think about a hell of a lot of stuff: like my start as I burst out of the
line, especially if I’ve left the blocks too late. I think about who’s doing what ahead of
me in the lanes, or whether someone behind is doing something stupid, like trying to
beat me. Seriously, I talk a lot of trash in my head when I’m tearing down the track at
top speed. 10

Pow!

I burst from the blocks, but Richard Thompson, the Trinidad and Tobago sprinter, was
in the lane next to me and he got a start like nobody else in the history of the Olympics.

Wow! How did he do that?! Now I can’t see where I am in the race, because he’s
1
blocking my view of Asafa on the other side. 15

I kept my eye on him all the way, extending my legs out of the drive phase. I made one,
two, three steps and then I stumbled – I made a bad step and rocked to my right – but
I recovered quickly and maintained my cool. I’d been through races before where I’d
suffered a bad start, or a shaky first 20 metres, so I didn’t freak.

Like Stockholm, yo. Remember Stockholm. Do not panic. Get through your drive phase 20
and chill. Chill, chill, chill. Thompson hasn’t pulled away. He’s right there in front of you

I glanced across the line.

He’s the only dude leading the pack.

And then there was me.

Keep chilling. 25

I could feel my momentum building, my longer stride taking me past Thompson, and
once I’d cleared him, I could see the rest of the line. I did a quick check – I was ahead,
but there was no Asafa.

Where the hell is Asafa?

Everybody else was there, bunched in. Thompson, Walter Dix (USA), Churandy Martina 30
(Netherlands Antilles), Michael Frater (Jamaica), Marc Burns (Trinidad and Tobago)
and the other American runner, Darvis Patton, but still no Asafa. That seemed stupid
to me, he was supposed to be there.

This is kinda weird. He should be around

At 75, 80 metres I peeped again. I say peeped, but I actually looked back over my 35
shoulder. I needed to know where he was.
2
Where are you, bredder ? You’re the man that’s supposed to be doing well here now
Tyson’s not playing. What are you doing? Do I need to run harder? Can I chill?

Then it dawned on me.

Oh man, oh man I’m gonna win this race! 40

Talk about losing it. I went totally wild even though I was still ten metres from the line.
I threw my hands up in the air and acted all mad. I pounded my chest because I knew
that nobody was going to catch me. It was done, I was the Olympic champ and all the
work I’d suffered with Coach had paid off – all those laps of the track had taken me to
the tape in first place. 45

Notes:
1
Asafa: Asafa Powell, Bolt’s Jamaican team mate and former 100 metres world record holder
2
bredder: a Jamaican dialect word meaning brother

Section B: Text analysis

Question 2

Read the following text, which is an article from the science section of a magazine, about whether trees
can communicate.

Analyse the text, focusing on form, structure and language. [25]

Do Trees Talk to Each Other?

I’m walking in the Eifel Mountains in western Germany, through cathedral-like groves
of oak and beech, and there’s a strange unmoored feeling of entering a fairy tale. The
trees have become vibrantly alive and charged with wonder. They’re communicating
with one another, for starters. They’re involved in tremendous struggles and 5
death-defying dramas. To reach enormousness, they depend on a complicated web of
relationships, alliances and kinship networks.

Wise old mother trees feed their saplings with liquid sugar and warn the neighbors when
danger approaches. Reckless youngsters take foolhardy risks with leaf-shedding,
light-chasing and excessive drinking, and usually pay with their lives. Crown princes 10
wait for the old monarchs to fall, so they can take their place in the full glory of sunlight.
It’s all happening in the ultra-slow motion that is tree time, so that what we see is a
freeze-frame of the action.

My guide here is a kind of tree whisperer. Peter Wohlleben, a German forester and
author, has a rare understanding of the inner life of trees, and is able to describe it in 15
accessible, evocative language. He stands very tall and straight, like the trees he most
admires, and on this cold, clear morning, the blue of his eyes precisely matches the
blue of the sky. Wohlleben has devoted his life to the study and care of trees. He
manages this forest as a nature reserve, and lives with his wife, Miriam, in a rustic cabin
near the remote village of Hümmel. 20

Now, at the age of 53, he has become an unlikely publishing sensation. His book The
Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate, written at his wife’s
insistence, sold more than 800,000 copies in Germany, and has now hit the best-seller
lists in 11 other countries, including the United States and Canada.

Wohlleben sees a forest as a superorganism of unique individuals. A single beech tree 25

can live for 400 years and produce 1.8 million beechnuts.

A revolution has been taking place in the scientific understanding of trees, and Wohlleben
is the first writer to convey its amazements to a general audience. The latest scientific
studies, conducted at well-respected universities in Germany and around the world,
confirm what he has long suspected from close observation in this forest: trees are far 30
more alert, social, sophisticated – and even intelligent – than we thought.

With his big green boots crunching through fresh snow, and a dewdrop catching sunlight
on the tip of his long nose, Wohlleben takes me to two massive beech trees growing
next to each other. He points up at their skeletal winter crowns, which appear careful
not to encroach into each other’s space. ‘These two are old friends,’ he says. ‘They are 35
very considerate in sharing the sunlight, and their root systems are closely connected.

In cases like this, when one dies, the other usually dies soon afterward, because they
are dependent on each other.’

Since Darwin, we have generally thought of trees as striving, disconnected loners,

competing for water, nutrients and sunlight, with the winners shading out the losers and 40
sucking them dry. The timber industry in particular sees forests as wood-producing
systems and battlegrounds for survival of the fittest.

There is now a substantial body of scientific evidence that refutes that idea. It shows
instead that trees of the same species are communal, and will often form alliances with
trees of other species. Forest trees have evolved to live in cooperative, interdependent 45
relationships, maintained by communication and a collective intelligence similar to an
insect colony.

BLANK PAGE

Permission to reproduce items where third-party owned material protected by copyright is included has been sought and cleared where possible. Every reasonable
effort has been made by the publisher (UCLES) to trace copyright holders, but if any items requiring clearance have unwittingly been included, the publisher will
be pleased to make amends at the earliest possible opportunity.

To avoid the issue of disclosure of answer-related information to candidates, all copyright acknowledgements are reproduced online in the Cambridge Assessment
International Education Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced for each series of examinations and is freely available to download at
www.cambridgeinternational.org after the live examination series.

Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/22

Paper 2 Writing February/March 2021
2 hours

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*3097027973*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 4 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

Section A: Shorter writing and reflective commentary

Question 1
You recently read a newspaper article which said that it is a waste of time for children to learn to
play a musical instrument. You disagree, and decide to write a letter to the editor of the newspaper
about this.

(a) Write the text for the letter, using no more than 400 words. In your writing, give reasons to
support your opinion. [15]

(b) Write a reflective commentary on your text, explaining how your linguistic choices contribute
to fulfilling the task set. [10]

Section B: Extended writing

Answer one question.

EITHER

Question 2

You have recently seen the latest film by a popular director, and you decide to write a review of it. The
review will be published in your school magazine. In your writing, give your opinion of this film, and
explain how it compares to the director’s previous ones. Write between 600 and 900 words. [25]

Question 3

Write a story called Forgotten, about a place that nobody has visited for many years. In your writing,
create a sense of mystery and drama. Write between 600 and 900 words. [25]

Question 4

In class, you have been discussing the reasons why many teenagers are not interested in the news.
Your teacher has asked you to write an essay on the topic, giving your opinion. Write between 600 and
900 words. [25]

BLANK PAGE

Permission to reproduce items where third-party owned material protected by copyright is included has been sought and cleared where possible. Every reasonable
effort has been made by the publisher (UCLES) to trace copyright holders, but if any items requiring clearance have unwittingly been included, the publisher will
be pleased to make amends at the earliest possible opportunity.

To avoid the issue of disclosure of answer-related information to candidates, all copyright acknowledgements are reproduced online in the Cambridge Assessment
International Education Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced for each series of examinations and is freely available to download at
www.cambridgeinternational.org after the live examination series.

Cambridge International AS & A Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/12

Paper 1 Reading February/March 2021
2 hours 15 minutes

You must answer on the enclosed answer booklet.

You will need: Answer booklet (enclosed)

*0784976610*

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 8 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

Section A: Directed response

Question 1
Read the following text, which is an extract from an article about child prodigies, published in The
Sydney Morning Herald newspaper.

(a) You decide to write a letter to the newspaper in response to the article, expressing
your opinions about the issues it raises. Use 150 to 200 words. [10]

(b) Compare your letter with the article, analysing form, structure and language. [15]

46 hours a week of practice: When is enough, enough for prodigy children?

The golfer

Sahara Hillman-Varma goes for a jog most mornings before school then practises golf
for two or three hours every afternoon.

Content removed due to copyright restrictions.

2021 03_9093_12_2021_1.17
3

Content removed due to copyright restrictions.

But he said parents should only do what was

possible given the time and cost restraints and the needs of other family members.

Section B: Text analysis

Question 2

Read the following text, which is a review of a virtual reality experience designed by the
sculptor Antony Gormley.

Analyse the text, focusing on form, structure and language. [25]

The moon is deeply embedded in our artistic culture – we sing about it, write about it,
make films about it and in return it affects our very being through its lunar cycles.

Content removed due to copyright restrictions.

And, for me, Lunatick hit that message home above all else.

BLANK PAGE

Permission to reproduce items where third-party owned material protected by copyright is included has been sought and cleared where possible. Every reasonable
effort has been made by the publisher (UCLES) to trace copyright holders, but if any items requiring clearance have unwittingly been included, the publisher will
be pleased to make amends at the earliest possible opportunity.

To avoid the issue of disclosure of answer-related information to candidates, all copyright acknowledgements are reproduced online in the Cambridge Assessment
International Education Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced for each series of examinations and is freely available to download at
www.cambridgeinternational.org after the live examination series.

Specimen Paper Answers
Paper 2 Writing
Paper 3 Language Analysis
Paper 4 Language Topics
Cambridge International AS & A Level
English Language 9093
For examination from 2021

Version 2
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Assessment is the brand name of the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES),
which itself is a department of the University of Cambridge.

UCLES retains the copyright on all its publications. Registered Centres are permitted to copy material from
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material that is acknowledged to a third party, even for internal use within a Centre.
Contents

Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................ 4
Assessment at a glance..................................................................................................................................... 5
Paper 2 .............................................................................................................................................................. 8
Paper 3 ............................................................................................................................................................ 12
Paper 4 ............................................................................................................................................................ 18
Specimen Paper Answers

Introduction
The main aim of this booklet is to exemplify standards for those teaching Cambridge International AS & A
Level 9093 English Language, and to show examples of very good answers.
We have selected questions from the Specimen Papers for examination from 2021.
In this booklet, we have provided answers and examiner comments for:
• Specimen Paper 2 Writing: Questions 1(a) and 1(b)

• Specimen Paper 3 Language Analysis: Question 1

• Specimen Paper 4 Language Topics: Question 2.
Each question is followed by an example of a high-level answer with an examiner comment on performance.
Comments are given to indicate where and why marks were awarded, and how additional marks could have
been obtained. In this way, it is possible to understand what candidates have done to gain their marks and
how they could improve.
The mark schemes for the Specimen Papers are available to download from the School Support Hub
www.cambridgeinternational.org/support

9093 English Language 2021 Specimen Papers 02, 03 and 04

9093 English Language 2021 Specimen Papers Mark Schemes 02, 03 and 04

Past exam resources and other teaching and learning resources are also available on the School Support
Hub www.cambridgeinternational.org/support.

4
Specimen Paper Answers

Assessment at a glance
Paper 2 Writing
Written paper, 2 hours, 50 marks
Candidates may not use dictionaries.
The question paper is set out in two sections:
• In Section A there is one compulsory question which is divided into two parts – Question 1(a) and
Question 1(b). Candidates must answer both parts.

• In Section B, candidates are required to answer one question from a choice of three.
Externally assessed
50% of the AS Level
25% of the A Level
In Paper 2, candidates need to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of a range of written forms. They
should understand the significance of audience in writing and reading texts and the ways in which genre,
purpose and context affect the meaning of texts.
Candidates should be able to:
• write for a specific audience and purpose to respond to the question

• use an appropriate structure

• organise their writing to achieve specific effects
• express ideas accurately and clearly at word and sentence level

• reflect upon and evaluate the qualities of candidates’ own writing, including aspects of purpose, form
and audience.

Paper 2 assessment objectives (AO)

AO2 Write effectively, creatively, accurately and appropriately, for a range of audiences and purposes.
AO3 Analyse the ways in which writers’ and speakers’ choices of form, structure and language shape
meanings.

5
Specimen Paper Answers

Paper 3 Language Analysis

Written Paper, 2 hours 15 minutes, 50 marks
Candidates may not use dictionaries.
Candidates are required to answer two compulsory questions:
• Question 1 in Section A (Language change)
• Question 2 in Section B (Child language acquisition).
Externally assessed.
25% of the A Level
In Paper 3, Question 1, candidates should be able to show knowledge and understanding of how the English
language has developed from Early Modern English to Contemporary English. Learners should be familiar
with concepts and terminology related to language change, theories and theorists of language change, n-gram
graphs representing changes in language use over time, and word tables derived from corpus data.
Candidates should be able to:
• analyse unseen texts
• interpret and analyse n-gram graphs and corpus data relating to language change

• use context and relevant theories that relate to language change.

In Paper 3, Question 2, candidates should be able to show knowledge and understanding of the main stages
of early development in child language acquisition. Learners should be familiar with the different functions of
childrens’ language, theories and theorists of child language acquisition, and the conventions and features of
unscripted conversation and spoken language transcription.
Candidates should be able to:
• analyse spoken language transcripts as examples of child language acquisition

• interpret and analyse conversation involving children between the ages 0 and 8
• use context and relevant theories and concepts relating to child language acquisition.

Paper 3 assessment objectives (AO)

AO1 Read and demonstrate understanding of a wide variety of texts.
AO2 Write effectively, creatively, accurately and appropriately, for a range of audiences and purposes.
AO4 Demonstrate understanding of linguistic issues, concepts, methods and approaches.
AO5 Analyse and synthesise language data from a variety of sources.

6
Specimen Paper Answers

Paper 4 Language Topics

Written Paper, 2 hours 15 minutes, 50 marks
Candidates may not use dictionaries.
Candidates are required to answer two compulsory questions:
• Question 1 in Section A (English in the world)
• Question 2 in Section B (Language and the self).
The paper is an externally set assessment, marked by Cambridge.
25% of the A Level
In Paper 4, Question 1, candidates should be able to show knowledge and understanding of theories,
therorists and studies relating how English has developed as a global language. Learners should be able to
discuss the historical developments that have led to English becoming a world-wide language, varieties of
English and relevant ethical considerations. Responses should show candidates’ considerations in a logical
analytical essay.
Candidates should be able to:

• read and demonstrate critical understanding of unseen texts relating to ‘English in the world’
• select and analyse ideas and examples from the text
• relate ideas and examples to theories, theorists and studies from their wider research.
In Paper 4, Question 2, candidates should be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of theories,
theorists and studies relating to the key concepts of innateness and learning. They should be able to discuss
the relationship between language and thought, and the relationship between language and social identity.
Candidates should be able to:
• read and demonstrate critical understanding of unseen texts relating to ‘Language and the self’

• select and analyse pertinent ideas and examples from the texts
• relate these ideas and exmples to theories, theorists and studies.

Paper 4 assessment objectives (AO)

7
Specimen Paper Answers

Paper 2
Question 1 (25 marks)
Your head teacher has asked you to produce a leaflet called Leaving Home. The leaflet will be aimed
at older teenagers who are going to live in another town or city to go to university.
(a) Write the text for the leaflet, using no more than 400 words. In your writing, give advice and
guidance on how to manage living away from your family for the first time. (15 marks)
(b) Write a reflective commentary on your text, explaining how your linguistic choices contribute
to fulfilling the task set by your head teacher. (10 marks)
Specimen answer 1(a)
So, congrats! You’ve aced your A levels, and now it’s the time you’ve been waiting for. Time to
wave bye bye to your bro, sis, Ma, Pa and pet goldfish and head off for Universityville, Freedom
County, zip code IND3P3ND3NC3. Yay! But before you pack your lifetime collection of odd
socks and a year’s supply of chocolate, hang on a minute and have a look at some valuable
advice from me, your friendly expert Uni Preparation Guide.

Tempted to squander? Try not to blunder!

Too posh to look after your dosh? Or in too much of a daze to save? At Uni, you’ll be in charge
of your own money for the first time in your life. It may feel pretty amazing to have all that
filthy lucre to manage. Keep a track of everything you spend so you don’t run out of cash when
you’re going to need it most. Always make sure you’ve allowed enough for rent, food, books and
travel before you’re even tempted to treat yourself to that extra-special customised Porsche.

JK! For that you’ll have to wait until you’ve graduated…

Eating like Einstein

We all know that students need brainpower, brains need food and food equals fuel, but what
kind of fuel are you going to feed that thinking machine inside your head? Burgers? Fries? Ice
cream? Cake? Uh-oh! Take-aways are super-high in empty calories and astronomical in cost.
Instead, take time to select fresh fruit and veg to cook yourself; choose pasta for slow-release
carbs. Eating healthily, you’ll feel good, learn more efficiently and you won’t be allowing
unhealthy choices to chow down on your budget!

Tickety tock

No doubt having made all those new friends, you’ll be desperate to become the life and soul of
the party, but late nights and disco fever can take their toll. Sure, use your planner to detail
which nights you’re meeting your mates, league match fixtures and hot dates with the girl who
sits on the front bench of the lecture theatre, but plot in your lecture timetable, seminar dates
and assignment deadlines first. If you manage your time carefully, you won’t need to give your
fave band’s next gig a miss because you’ve an essay to hand in the next day – you’ll have that
essay proof-read and printed, smug as you like.
Good luck, peeps! And enjoy!

8
Specimen Paper Answers

Examiner comment
Question 1(a)
The candidate has chosen a lively and engaging style in which to address the specified audience, of older
teenagers, as described in the question. There is much use of ellipsis and rhythmic structures, and informal,
popular colloquial language, which targets the audience well. It is clear that the candidate is confident in using
literary features such as alliteration, assonance and end-rhyme, and a range of linguistic and rhetorical
devices, including direct address, questioning technique, fragmentation, abbreviation and play on a
contemporary semiotic system.
However, the candidate also addresses the secondary audience, the head teacher, and juxtaposes short
structures with lengthier and more complex sentences. This demonstrates that the candidate has understood
that the content of the leaflet needs to contain serious messages regarding leaving home to go to university,
as well as using stylistic devices which would attract and maintain the attention of its primary audience. Marks
were therefore awarded at Level 5 because the target audience was fully engaged and the content was fully
relevant.
The response contains a high level of accuracy of expression and a wide range of lexical content which is
required in Level 5. Although much of the lexical content is high frequency, chosen with the primary audience
in mind, low frequency items from the lexical field are included throughout each paragraph. This shows that
the candidate has understood that the purpose of the leaflet is to advise potential university students.
Graphologically, the candidate has set out the text logically, with an introductory paragraph under a main
heading. The candidate uses subheadings to maintain the style of writing that the candidate has chosen and
to separate each individual point of the main content of the text. This makes the text clear and addresses the
overall required form of the leaflet.
Marks awarded = 14 out of 15 (AO2)

How the candidate could have improved the answer

Full marks could have been awarded if the candidate had included ideas on the fact that the older teenagers
in the question were about to live in another town or city. However, the candidate has carefully selected three
topics on which to offer advice and has fulfilled the brief of using no more than 400 words. Therefore, the task
has been fully achieved and the criteria of Level 5 has been met.

9
Specimen Paper Answers

Specimen answer 1(b): Reflective commentary

I decided to write the text for my leaflet in the same chatty style as that used in popular
magazines which are aimed at teenagers, giving a light-hearted and humorous feel to the text
whilst offering serious messages. My reason for the humour was to attract and maintain the
attention of the target audience of older teenagers; on the other hand I felt that the information
and advice the leaflet was offering needed to be sensible and worthwhile, as the original
instructions had come from the headteacher – therefore he also needed to approve of what I
wrote.

The structure of the leaflet is set into separate paragraphs, to make the overall graphology of
the leaflet clear and easy to read. I used subheadings which have catchy titles including ellipsis
and rhetorical question (‘Tempted to squander?’) coupled with a rhyming imperative (‘Try not
to squander!) and alliteration (‘Eating like Einstein’ and ‘Tickety tock . . .’ as I felt they needed
to match the overall style of writing, rather than just state ‘Healthy Eating’, for example, at
the top of the third paragraph which would seem too formal for the writing style I chose.

I used second person address throughout to create an intimate relationship between writer and
audience. I wanted to enhance this by creating a very informal register, with flattery (‘congrats’)
and colloquial terms such as ‘JK’, ‘Yay!’ and ‘peeps’ which were used to position the reader as
an equal. The inclusion of ‘zip code IND3P3ND3NC3’ is set out to resemble text-speak which
also lowers the level of formality and is in capitals to imply shouting and excitement.

My sentence structures include snappy fragments, ‘So, congrats!’ with the low register discourse
marker opening the leaflet but more complex sentences containing the more serious messages,
such as ‘Keep a track of everything . . .’ (paragraph 2) are positioned inside each paragraph.
Hopefully this juxtaposition of structures acknowledges the fact that the leaflet is meant to
appeal by being humorous whilst containing meaningful information.

Some of the features I used were intended to enhance the feeling of excitement about going to
university. Therefore ‘Too posh to look after your dosh? or in too much of a daze to save?’
include rhyme on ‘posh’ and ‘dosh’ and assonance in ‘daze’ and ‘save’ inside rhetorical questions
with ellipsis, to create an interesting rhythm. However, I also used hyperbole in ‘super-high’
and ‘astronomical’ to reinforce my warning about eating fast food in paragraph 3. By combining
these features, I wanted to give an overall impression of everything that going to university
might mean, which should be an exciting but maybe also a tricky time for young people leaving
home for the first time.

On reflection, I feel that I have achieved my aims in my writing. I wondered at first whether I
had chosen too many colloquial features and not enough low frequency lexis or formal
grammatical structures although when I considered that my main purpose was to get teenagers
to read my leaflet, when I read through my writing I felt that I had a good balance of informality
of style and formality of sensible advice.

10
Specimen Paper Answers

Examiner comment
Question 1(b)
The candidate identifies the ways in which the style and language were used to attract and maintain the
attention of the audience and includes examples from the text in a selective manner. The candidate describes
the stylistic devices chosen very clearly, confidently using a range of technical terminology with accuracy. The
detailed descriptions of the candidate’s choices are explained, including reasons for why the choices were
made which makes this analysis very sophisticated.
The commentary is structured logically with separate paragraphs containing the individual points that the
candidate makes. The structure of the commentary is sophisticated as the paragraphs move through ideas on
form, structure, and language, demonstrating that the candidate understands how choices made have shaped
meaning for the specified audience.
The candidate effectively reflects and evaluates the different levels of formality of their language choices. The
candidate could have commented more fully on the fact that, although there is a purposefully low level of
formality in the response, the writing should also appeal to an educated audience. This is evident in the use of
the lexical field of education, for example, ‘lecture’, ‘seminar’, ‘assignment’ and ‘proof-read’. This matches the
audience of someone who has recently completed A levels and intends to go to university through several
instances of low frequency lexis (‘filthy lucre’, ‘efficiently’).
Marks awarded = 9 out of 10 marks (AO3)
Total marks awarded for Question 1 = 23 out of 25

How the candidate could have improved the answer

To achieve full marks, the candidate could have written in a more concise style to avoid wasting words (and
therefore exam time) – at times, the reflective commentary itself is written in the same ‘chatty style’ of the
writing it describes. The candidate could have therefore written more formally. Nonetheless, the task is very
successfully completed and the candidate achieves Level 5.

Common mistakes (Paper 2, Question 1)

Some candidates do not consider how the marks are allocated. It is important that candidates know that
Question 1(a) has 15 marks and Question 1(b) has 10 marks so that they can plan their time in the exam
effectively.
With regard to planning, some candidates spend so much time making a detailed plan that they do not leave
enough examination time for the writing required. Although a plan is useful, it should be brief and used as a
tool for reference only.
Candidates do not always make sure that their work is organised logically. In the example above, the leaflet is
set out using well-defined paragraphs with a clear separation of ideas. It is a common mistake to include
illustrations in the response as candidates feel that this will show the specified form – instead candidates
should use the examination time to its maximum by concentrating on language choices relating to audience
and meaning.
Often, candidates do not select examples from their own writing carefully enough. They should use one or two
examples only to support each point made in their commentary, and not quote whole sentences from their
work to support an idea.
When writing a commentary, candidates should write concisely and in an appropriate register. It is a common
mistake to write the commentary in the same style and register used in Question 1(a). Question 1(b) should
always be more formal, although using the first person is completely acceptable, as it should detail the personal
choices made by the candidate.
At times, learners only describe the features that they have used in Questions 1(a). However, it is important to
give reasons for any language choices made and to evaluate how successful their choices have been.

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Specimen Paper Answers

Paper 3
Question 1 (25 marks)
Read Texts A, B and C
Analyse how Text A exemplifies the various ways in which the English language has changed over
time. In your answer, you should refer to specific details from Texts, A, B and C, as well as to ideas
and examples from your wider study of language change.
Text A

Excerpt from a diary written in 1677 in which a writer named John Evelyn describes a visit to
a palace

Since first I was at this place, I found things exceedingly improv’d. It is seated in a bottome between
two gracefull swellings, the maine building being now in ye figure of a Greek II with foure pavilions,
two at each corner, and a breake in the front, rail’d and balustred1 at the top, where I caused huge
jars to be plac’d full of earth to keep them steady upon their pedestals between the statues, which
make as good a shew as if they were of stone, and tho’ the building be of brick, and but two stories
besides cellars, and garrets2 cover’d with blue slate, yet there is roome enough for a full court, the
offices and out-houses being so ample and well dispos’d. The King’s apartment is magnificently
furnish’d. There are many excellent pictures of the greate masters. The gallery is a pleasant, noble
roome; in the breake, or middle is a billiard table, but the wainscot3 being of firr, and painted, does
not please me so well as Spanish oake without paint. The chapel is pretty, the porch descending to
the gardens. The orange garden is very fine, and leads into the green-house, at ye end of which is
a hall to eate in, and the conservatory some hundred feete long, adorn’d with mapps, as the other
side is with the heads of the Caesars ill cut in alabaster: above are several apartments for my Lord,
Lady and Dutchesse, with kitchens and other offices below in a lesser form; lodgings for servants,
all distinct, for them to retire to when they please, and would be in private, and no communication
with the palace, which tells me he will wholly resign to his sonn-in-law and daughter, that charming
young creature. The canall running under my lady’s dressing-room chamber window is full of carps
and foule which come and are fed there.

Notes:

1 balustred: supported by a pillar

2 garrets: top-floor or attic rooms

3 wainscot: wooden panelling on the lower part of the walls of a room

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Specimen Paper Answers

Text B

The top five collocates for ‘room’ and ‘chamber’ from the British National Corpus (1980s-1993)

‘room’ ‘chamber’
dining commerce
living deputies
sitting council
door music
across orchestra

Text C

n-gram graph for the words tho + tho’ and though (1600-2008)

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Specimen Paper Answers

Specimen answer
The excerpt from John Evelyn’s diary, written in 1677, shows how texts of the time were
written in a continuous block, rather than being separated into paragraphs as we are used to
seeing in contemporary writing. The graphology gives today’s reader the impression that the
text is difficult to read and rather dense, although since Text A is an excerpt from a private
diary, the continuous block could also be a reflection of the flow of the writer’s thoughts.
Contemporary readers may expect paragraph breaks at lines 7 (after ‘well-dispos’d’) and 11
(after ‘without paint’) to mark a logical separation of ideas.
However, it is less clear as to where a break should occur from that point onwards as there is
a very long sentence separated by colon (after ‘alabaster’) in line 14 and semi-colon (after
‘form’) in line 16, and which contains further clauses separated by commas, using the
conjunction ‘and’ on multiple occasions. Although the genre of the writing, in the form of the
diary, could influence the stream of consciousness effect which is gained from this long sentence,
a contemporary writer may tend to use short or even fragmented sentences to gain a similar
effect.
Text A demonstrates how orthography in written and printed English has changed over time
to reflect changes in pronunciation. In line 5, an example of what Otto Jesperson described as
‘The Great Vowel Shift’ which took place between the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries
continued to affect spelling, is in the word ‘shew’ which we now expect to see expressed as
‘show’. Similarly, at line 6 in Text A, ‘stories’ (meaning different levels in a building) is today
expressed as ‘storeys’, changing the spelling of the vowel – indeed the orthography of these two
different words now indicates two very different meanings.
It is clear from Text A that orthographical changes were continuing during the seventeenth
century, as the text contains examples of expression of the definite article in two ways: ‘ye’ and
‘the’. At the time of writing, due to technological development in the printing industry, following
the introduction of the first printing press by Caxton in 1476, it was standard practice for
printers to use ‘ye’ to spell the definite article. This is similar to what Hockett described in his
Random Fluctuation Theory, where language has some form of instability – in this example it
is the instability of the way in which writing could be printed due to inadequate technology –
and the language presented is as a response to the fluctuating context (where the fluctuating
context is the on-going development of the printing technology).
Some examples of how morphological change affected English orthography over time are
provided in Text A. These are indicated by doubling the consonant at the end of adjectives such
as ‘gracefull’ and nouns such as ‘canall’. Contemporary English has also discarded the grapheme
‘e’ used as an inflected ending: examples from the text include ‘bottome’ (noun), ‘foure’
(adjective) and ‘keepe’ (verb).
It is interesting, however, to see that although written English of 1677 used these inflected
word endings which made words longer, there are examples of apostrophes of elision used in
the past tenses of verbs such as ‘improv’d’, ‘dispos’d’ and ‘furnish’d’ to shorten words to gain
an effect as if they were being spoken – a feature which also is no longer in use. Moreover, Text
A shows a shortened spelling of ‘tho’ ‘. Text C compares the way in which the contemporary

14
Specimen Paper Answers

Specimen answer, continued

spelling of ‘though’ has changed over time, indicating clearly that English written at same time
as Evelyn was producing his diary tended to use ‘tho’ or ‘tho’’, thus it is likely that Evelyn was
observing the emerging fashionable writing style of the time. Text C is an effective illustration
of changing spelling of vowel or diphthong in its comparison of ‘tho’ and ‘though’, where
contemporary English has reverted to the lengthier spelling. ‘Tho’ reaches a peak of 0.095% at
around the time that Evelyn was writing before becoming obsolete at around 1980. Text C also
shows that the present-day spelling of ‘though’ was used extensively at around 1650, but
underwent a fall in use before becoming standardised during the nineteenth century. It is
particularly interesting, however, that the electronic communication used now reverts to the
short spelling of ‘tho’ (although without the apostrophe) therefore an n-gram graph constructed
at, say, twenty years from now, could show a very different image with a resurgence of use in
the form ‘tho’ as change in the English language develops further.
The lexical field of Text A concerns architecture and the domestic use of space. The lexical items
are not necessarily low frequency to a contemporary audience, although nouns to describe
domestic spaces may not be used in the same way as they are used today. However, clearly
Evelyn is describing a grand establishment. For example, whereas the two nouns selected in Text
B – ‘roome’ and ‘chamber’ are used synonymously in Text A, over time their meanings have
undergone a pragmatic shift somewhat as Text B demonstrates. The top five collocates from
the British National Corpus for ‘room’ indicate modern domestic life, with the first three (dining
room, living room and sitting room) implying the intimacy of a family home. However, the
collocates for ‘chamber’ indicate more formal situations or groups, such as a chamber orchestra,
council chamber or chamber of commerce. Thus, ‘chamber’ can now be perceived as having a
higher linguistic status than ‘room’ and has an amelioration pertaining to education or
government.
One reason for the divergence in meaning of these words could be their etymology: ‘room’ is
Germanic and entered Anglo Saxon as part of the lingua franca shared between invaders and
natives, and has maintained its use through early and middle English to the present day. On
the other hand ‘chamber’ is from the French ‘chambre’ and perhaps retained the elevated status
of the French language which was brought to England in the Norman invasion of 1066. Other
examples of French etymology from Text A and which are used to today but in more formal or
grand instances are ‘balustred’ (which has become’ balustraded’) and ‘pavilion’.
According to Shaw and McKay in their cultural transmission theory, the different pathways
that language is transmitted and received creates levels of understanding and bias across
cultures. The way in which the meanings of ‘room’ and ‘chamber’ have diverged over time are
examples of language transmitted and received through cultural change and development.
In text A, the use of the word ‘apartment’, also of French etymology, indicates an area in the
palace separated for private occupation of family members. Today, the term implies a dwelling
which is of a similar type although of higher status than a flat and thus is another example of
divergence over time in pragmatic use of language.

15
Specimen Paper Answers

Examiner comment
The candidate applied a number of frameworks to analyse the text, looking at graphology, orthography,
morphology, lexis, etymology and pragmatics. This is an effective way of working through analysis because it
helped the candidate to structure their writing. Each paragraph leads logically on to the next. Candidates are
not required to use any set structure for their response, although using a range of frameworks, as can be seen
in this response, helped the candidate to write an insightful analysis of the data from all three sources. The
candidate could have analysed grammar, syntax or semantics because Text A has many features from all
frameworks. Candidates should first read the texts carefully before deciding how they are going to analyse the
text as this may change depending on the text.
There is synthesis of evidence from all three texts. For example, comments on spelling in Text A flow naturally
into analysis of morphology, and this in turn enables the candidate to support the analysis with reference to
Text C. Similarly, the analysis of the lexical field narrows to lexical content, and points are supported by
reference to Text B. It is clear that the candidate has detailed knowledge and understanding of how n-gram
graphs and word tables are used in language analysis. Comments on Text C compare the data with the
language in Text A and include a discussion on contemporary and future use of English. By doing this, the
candidate is thinking creatively, addressing AO2 as well as AO5. The candidate discusses etymology in detail
when referencing Text B and the candidate has selected ‘apartment’ from Text A to compare which provides
further depth to the comparison of Texts A and B, therefore fully addressing AO5.
The candidate effectively refers to theories and theorists throughout their response. Random Fluctuation
Theory and Cultural Transmission Theory are useful here and the candidate shows that they understand how
and why they are appropriate to the analysis. By integrating these theories into the analysis, the candidate is
able to develop the discussion fully enough to gain marks at Level 5 although the later discussion on Shaw
and McKay could have been more detailed. Further knowledge and understanding is demonstrated by the
candidate’s reference to Caxton and the on-going technological developments affecting change over time in
printed presentation of the English language. This reference is concise and clear. Similarly, the candidate
refers to Jesperson’s study of the changing use of vowels and how it affected spelling in printed English. The
candidate clearly shows knowledge and understanding of how English is continuing to change. In both of these
references, the candidate does not simply state the history of English, making sure that the references are
brief and appropriate. Therefore the content remains fully relevant, with ideas being developed in a
sophisticated manner.
Expression is sophisticated throughout the response, with a high level of accuracy. Use of technical
terminology maintains the register required for marks at Level 5. There is no formal conclusion to the response.
Although a conclusion would have given an overall sense of completion to an otherwise well-crafted essay, it
is better to leave one out rather than add a conclusion that is irrelevant.
Total marks awarded = 23 out of 25

How the candidate could have improved the answer

For full marks in AO2, the candidate could have provided a final paragraph that concluded all the analysis. For
full marks in AO4, the candidate could have developed their discussion on Shaw and McKay further. The
response gained full marks in AO5 for the insightful selection of items for analysis and the sophisticated way
in which the data was used.

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Specimen Paper Answers

Common mistakes (Paper 3, Question 1)

Candidates often do not bear in mind how the assessment objectives are weighted and therefore do not spend
the appropriate amount of time on each one.
It is a common mistake for candidates to write in a less formal register, using a limited range of technical
terminology. Writing should be appropriate to the audience and purpose and should use a wide range of
technical terminology (AO2).
Candidates commonly spend much of the examination time proving a detailed account of the history and
development of the English. This often makes the material irrelevant. Candidates should keep references to
history brief and instead apply their knowledge of early developments appropriately to the texts presented
(AO4). Any knowledge of history should be relevant to the analysis of the text and should not simply be a
discussion of the time period that the text is from.
Often, candidates are too brief in mentioning theories and theorists by name and do not explain how and why
they are fully relevant to the analysis (AO4).
Candidates often do not select relevant evidence for analysis from Text A so they cannot make successful,
relevant comparisons with the data from Texts B and C (AO5). Candidates need to mention all three texts in
their response and they should use Texts B and C to support ideas for analysis from Text A.

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Specimen Paper Answers

Paper 4
Question 2 (25 marks)
Read the following text, which is an extract from a blog on the website of SOAS, a college of the
University of London. It was posted in 2017.
Discuss what you feel are the most important issues raised in the text relating to the ways in which
language can shape and reflect social identity. You should refer to specific details from the text as
well as to ideas and examples from your wider study of Language and the self.
The rise of Multicultural London English, innit?

Received Pronunciation is under attack. An early threat to the standard accent of English as spoken
in the south of England dates back to the 1980s in the form of Estuary English. A more recent – and
perhaps more potent – assault comes in the form of Multicultural London English (MLE).

MLE is a sociolect of English, in as much as it is a dialect specific to a particular social class. It is

predominantly spoken by young, working class people in the multicultural neighbourhoods of inner-
city London and its suburbs.

In a newspaper article, Dr Chris Lucas, Senior Lecturer at SOAS University of London, describes
the spread of MLE beyond the capital: ‘London accents have spread beyond London and are
spreading still. You’re seeing more and more features of this Multicultural London English being
adopted and blended with the local, traditional, working-class accents of whichever city if might be –
Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham.’

The power of cool

The term ‘cool’ to signify something that is fashionable and stylish may be thought to have its origins
in the Jazz Age of the 1930s; however, the term was being used at least a century beforehand to
similarly signify something that was desirable.

The spread of MLE beyond London can be seen as a triumph of the ‘cool’, with language taken from
Grime, Street and Hip-Hop music and from a gang culture characterised in films such as
AdULTHOOD and KiDULTHOOD, becoming fashionable in youth culture.

However, the rise of MLE in London has not been so much as a result of the influence of popular
culture, but has occurred naturally due to an inner-city generation’s exposure to a variety of accents,
foreign languages, and pronunciations, which have shaped its everyday spoken language.

Loanwords

The use of MLE words which derive from other languages is significant. For example, the suffix –
dem as a plural marker in words such as mandem or gyaldem, or the term dutty to mean something
that is either dirty, bad, or ugly, both come from Jamaican Creole. The concept of loanwords is
nothing new in language: the English language would be nothing like as rich without the loanwords
it has acquired from its neighbours, far and wide.

Urban British English (UBE)

Language is ever evolving. Even during the relatively short time it has taken for MLE to become
established, spread and now studied, it is also becoming redundant. As MLE gains popularity beyond
its original catchment area of London and the Home Counties, so its relevance is diminished. So RIP
MLE; and hello UBE.
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Specimen Paper Answers

Specimen answer
Language has an important social function in that it can generate and maintain identification
of oneself and one’s place within, and a feeling of belonging to, a certain social group. By creating
a language style, emerging social groups communicate by means of a sociolect and in turn that
sociolect conveys its culture and values. The extract begins by using a lexical field of war to
describe how the use of what it describes as ‘the standard accent’ of Received Pronunciation
(RP) became less popular than what Rosewarne described as ‘Estuary English’(EE) in the 1980s.
RP remains the accent of the British acrolect – where the specific social group is the British
aristocracy and highly educated members of the public. RP maintains its position in society,
however there are signs that it continues with some phonological modifications inherited from
the rise of EE which was initially heard spoken by lower class groups from the geographical
regions surrounding the river Thames in south east England. Media evidence has shown that
younger members of the British royal family are now being heard to use features of EE including
glottal stop, intrusive rhotic (Labov) and /l/ vocalisation, despite pejorative connotations and
perhaps in an effort to re-popularise what some may feel to be an out-dated institution. Wells
challenged the term ‘Estuary English’, as did Trudgill, with both theorists arguing that the
phenomenon of spread of changing accents was not new and that EE, although including
phonetic features of the accent of working-class London was spreading at varying rates and
levels into areas beyond south east England.

However, as the extract states, MLE is not an accent but a dialect, which by definition uses a
different lexicon and alters syntax to shape and reflect the identity of its social group. Dialect
is a more in-depth clue to social identity than the phonetic features of accent. As the extract
states, MLE is used by ‘young, working-class people in the multicultural neighbourhoods of
inner-city London and its suburbs’. Thus, there are four elements which identify speakers of
MLE: age, social class, cross-culture and region.

With regard to age, it may be youth culture making MLE a fashionable, or as the extract states
‘cool’, sociolect although fashion is only ever temporary and is always overtaken by the next
fashionable influence. This is true of all slang and much colloquialism which can quickly sound
archaic as new terms enter a language. The extract identifies genres of popular music which
have influenced contemporary youth culture to use MLE but in its final paragraph states that
MLE is ‘becoming redundant’, possibly as quickly as new genres of music have become fashionable
among young adults. Thus, there is the idea that it is a shared sense of culture-specific values
which shape the social group, with language features of that shared culture forming the basis
of the sociolect.

Social class as a signifier of status appears fundamental to RP, EE and MLE, where RP may be
the acrolect, EE becoming the mesolect and MLE seen as emerging from a basilect in
stratifications of British society. However, although RP perhaps remains the standard form and
therefore might retain overt prestige in any speech community, Labov argues that lower forms
of language are used purposefully by some speakers to gain covert prestige, shaping their

19
Specimen Paper Answers

Specimen answer, continued

language to gain acceptance by or and be identified with a specific social group. It could be that
where a dialect is seen to have covert prestige, especially when it is associated with gang culture
popularised in films with a young target audience, then a geographical spread of the dialect
occurs. If MLE has been identified as a prestigious dialect, albeit covertly, in the capital city,
then it is reasonable to expect that other inner city social groups might also wish to assume the
prestige associated with the dialect and adopt it accordingly to enhance the power of the social
group, where power is an important aspect of the ‘gang culture’ mentioned in the extract.

As the extract states, ‘the rise of MLE’ has been a natural evolution resulting from exposure to
contemporary multicultural inner-city life, quoting ‘a variety of accents, foreign languages and
pronunciations’ as features of influence. Where different cultures have met in areas such as
inner-city London, convergence (according to Giles) occurs when speakers accommodate each
other for mutual understanding. However, the spread of MLE to inner-city areas of other British
cities is a form of divergence from traditional speech patterns of those regions for the purpose
of gaining covert, although perhaps temporary, prestige. In this way, the divergence shows a
wilful departure from one’s usual linguistic identity in order to gain status from a new social
group by using its speech patterns.

Border crossing and dialect levelling take place on contact with other cultures with new words
entering the lexicon, such as the ‘mandem’ and ‘gyaldem’ from Jamaican Creole used in the
extract to show how borrowing has formed part of MLE. Milroy argues that the phenomenon
of koineization happens after cross-cultural contact occurs, creating a new language variety
when speakers from other cultures mix their dialects to form a new one. The effect as far as
using language to shape and reflect identity is similar to mutual accommodation but mixes
features of different dialects, and leads to a completely new dialect. This could account for the
emergence of MLE resulting from the ‘exposure’ occurring in contemporary London defined in
the extract.

The extract states that the linguistic diffusion that MLE later experienced has meant that ‘its
relevance is diminished’ and refers to the new term ‘Urban British English’ to describe the
dialect now that MLE has evolved, moving away from London and towards other major British
cities. The new term possibly illustrates that speakers of the dialect no longer identify themselves
with a specific region, although it is a dialect used in urban areas. This is similar to the way in

which Trudgill described the spread of EE in that once features of the general Home Counties
accent were being adopted by British people throughout the UK in favour of their own regional
accents, the term ‘Estuary English’ was no longer valid. With the occurrence of diffusion and
generalisation, the loss of identity as a resident of the Home Counties also occurred as the British
accent became more and more similar nationwide. It is possible that with the transformation
of MLE into UBE, then the perceived covert prestige, gang culture power and class status of
some speakers will also be lost - and the loss of those features may result in the ability for some
to use language to shape and reflect their identity.

20
Specimen Paper Answers

Examiner comment
The candidate has used the examination time well to produce a response of the appropriate length, which
begins with an effective explanation of how language is important in self-identification and a person’s position
in a social context. This introduction is an effective start to the essay and the candidate begins the discussion
well.
The candidate writes in a sophisticated way and accurately uses a high level of technical terminology. In the
first paragraph, the candidate refers to the extract’s lexical field but analysis of the stimulus material itself if not
required. However, the remainder of the response is fully relevant to the question.
The candidate carefully selected ideas from the extract. The candidate discusses each topic in the same order
that they are presented in the extract, moving through a discussion on Received Pronunciation to Estuary
English, before talking about Multicultural London English. This gives a clear logic and structure to the
response, making it easy to follow. Although the candidate does not provide a formal conclusion, there is a link
in to Estuary English in the final paragraph, which draws together the whole response. This approach can
sometimes be more effective than a formal conclusion that simply lists points raised in the essay. The response
is therefore in Level 5 for AO2.
The candidate demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of the text and gives a clear definition of the
differences between accent and dialect. They are able to state why and how the adoption of MLE shapes and
reflects social identity. Moreover, the candidate uses this phrase throughout the response so it is clear that the
candidate is using the question to maintain focus on how the ideas in the extract can be used to start a
discussion.
As the response develops, the candidate refers specifically to young, working-class people in the multicultural
neighbourhoods of inner-city London and uses each of these four elements to develop a detailed discussion
of how and why age, social class, cultural contact and region of origin affect a discourse community and result
in the creation of a new dialect. Therefore, the response demonstrates the sophisticated understanding of, and
insightful reference to, text required at Level 5 of AO1.
With regard to the understanding of linguistic issues, concepts, methods and approaches, the candidate refers
to the theories of Wells and Trudgill and contrasts these to the views of Rosewarne in the opening paragraph.
They offer some detailed description of each theory. There is also a detailed description of some of the
phonological features of Estuary English, which demonstrates the candidate’s depth of knowledge, although
the undeveloped mention of Labov is out of place and not appropriate to the context. The candidate does not
name Giles’ Accommodation Theory, although elements such as convergence and divergence are described,
leading to a description of Milroy’s Koineization which increases the depth of the response effectively. Overall,
the candidate demonstrates the sophisticated theoretical knowledge and understanding appropriate to AO4 at
Level 5.
The extract provides a range of points for discussion and the candidate’s selection of evidence provides a
detailed response, rather than make short references to all of the points raised in the stimulus material. Other,
equally effective discussions could have involved the use of specific loanwords in the English language, the
constant change of the sociolect continuum, or the ability to codeswitch and reasons why some speakers do
this. Candidates should select from the text according to the depths of their knowledge and understanding,
answering as fully as possible, and not work through any prescribed list that they assume will be present in
the text.
Total marks awarded = 23 out of 25

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Specimen Paper Answers

How the candidate could have improved the answer

There is some reference to slang and colloquialism, implying that the candidate has a misplaced inference
from the text regarding those linguistic features. This detracts from the overall effectiveness of the response,
which would otherwise have gained full marks at AO1. Full marks have been awarded for AO2 assessment
objective because the response is crafted in a sophisticated manner with an equally sophisticated level of
expression. Full marks would have been awarded for AO4 if the candidate had provided a more detailed
description of Accommodation Theory.

Common mistakes (Paper 4, Question 2)

Candidates often attempt to analyse the language used in the stimulus material, which is not required by the
question. Instead, they should concentrate on providing a developed discussion of the ideas contained in the
extract provided – otherwise the response will become irrelevant which could result in a loss of focus. The
extract is intended to be used as a stimulus for discussion, not a text to be analysed on the basis of language.
Some candidates refer to theories and theories without fully thinking about how relevant they are. Equally,
candidates may introduce theorists by name, and not provide a full discussion of how and why the work of a
theorist is appropriate to the discussion in hand. In the specimen response above, the candidate has inserted
(Labov), who did indeed theorise on the intrusive rhotic, but the study was conducted in America and is
therefore not relevant as well as being an undeveloped reference.
It is a common mistake in a discursive response to not use technical terminology and to write in a less formal
register than might be used in an analytical essay. It is important in Question 2 of Paper 4 to write with
sophisticated expression using a linguistic approach to avoid the response becoming too general.
Often, candidates will incorporate lengthy references from the extracts. These are time-consuming so it is
important that references are brief, specific and relevant. This will help candidates to develop individual points
in an organised fashion.
Some candidates do not develop points fully because they attempt to address all of the points raised by the
stimulus material. To avoid a lack of development, candidates should select carefully from the extract to
enhance the depth of discussion.

22
Cambridge Assessment International Education
The Triangle Building, Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge, CB2 8EA, United Kingdom
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ZNOTES.ORG

UPDATED TO 2017 SYLLABUS

CAIE AS LEVEL
ENGLISH
LANGUAGE (9093)
SUMMARIZED NOTES ON THE READING AND WRITING SYLLABUS
CAIE AS LEVEL ENGLISH LANGUAGE (9093)

Step 4: Start writing! But to write a powerful beginning,

you can follow this template?
1. Prepping for the
Begin by writing your answer in terms of the Acronym
Commentary (T-A-P-G)
T - Tone
A - Audience
1.1. Introduction P - Purpose
G - Genre
There are two things to keep in mind if you want to score
in the first paper of the English Language: T: What kind of voice does the author use? Does she
You need to have a broad mind; Think big! deliver with anger? Happiness?
Be as precise as possible. A: Who would be the typical audience for such a passage?
Whether you are writing a commentary or the directed Who is it merely dedicated to?
writing part, you need to have these two qualities. Of P: Why did the author write this piece in the first place?
course, your english needs to be above par, but with To convince? To entertain? To speculate? (This list can go
these traits, you will be far more ahead than anyone else. on)
If you can get your point across by portraying proper G: What type of passage is this? Fictional? Non-fictional?
analysis with solid evidence, you’ve already earned your etc.
seat in the top tier.
You can think of this as an equation:

Function + Evidence = 1 piece to add in your answer This is a good example:

I could’ve written one point instead, but you don’t need to The author, Diana Dockerman, really works
write 15 pieces, that is just too much. You can write 9-12 hard to reiterate her campaign about the
pieces, which can probably fetch you all 15 marks environment. Throughout the passage, she
fights for the moral values of the earth in her
speech and overall creates a powerful
1.2. Keywords and Functions in a Typical atmosphere where she won her audience’s
English Passage vote!

On the same page where you received these notes, there And from here, you can enter in the real stuff you need to
is another document below which has a nice list of explain
functions and effects. It is deeply recommend that you Keep in mind that you shouldn’t be listing the function
know those functions. and then its effect. This will start to be robotic and that’s
the reason why many students lose marks in the English
paper. Your goal is to effectively create transition to each
1.3. Steps to Attack the Commentary effect you explain.
Example:
For some passages, it can be really hard to start the
commentary, and that’s okay. The key here is to get all Just as the author “fights for what’s right,” she
your thoughts on paper, no matter how pathetic they continues to create this stream of
may be. From the second you open the test booklet to consciousness by emphasizing on the potential
the minute the timer lapses, you can follow this protocol weapons that they can use to create a more
anytime and every time. cleaner earth!
Step 1: When the timer begins, take a deep breath, and
read through all three questions. Just read the italicized You can see that the student here didn’t create a robotic
fonts to get the idea of what the three passages are. tone. She creates flow and that is what the examiner
Step 2: Go to question 1. Read the commentary part (a) would love to see.
ONLY. Why? Because your mind will be more equipped in Tip: Your examiner will be reading tons of papers. Since
taking the substance much more than reading everything they really need see how you analysed the text, underline
else. your functions with the evidence. This will be more eye-
Step 3: As you read, annotate. This annotation should be catching and they can breeze through your paper,
your guide notes and your plan to write the answer. To be allotting you as many marks as possible
more organized, dedicate the left side of the page to Step 5: Repeat this process for two questions and spend
categorize the type of evidence you found. On the right 5 minutes for each commentary (So 10 minutes overall) in
side, write down the explanation (try to make this crisp revising your answer. Just check punctuation and your
since your answer you are supposed to write in the lines word choice. You shouldn’t spend the last thirty seconds
provided is more important)

WWW.ZNOTES.ORG
CAIE AS LEVEL ENGLISH LANGUAGE (9093)

in adding or deleting any pieces you’ve written. This can Respected sir,
become a really big problem if you don’t finish This letter is to inform you that I am accepting the
partnership for the designed engine. We will definitely…………
(blah blah blah)
2. The Directed Writing Yours sincerely,
Robert Gelving
After the commentaries, you have part (b). It isn’t that big,
but those marks can be fetching since these small tasks
can boost your score up. And for informal, it’s just the same but you don’t need to
The directed writing part can be anything. For instance: write anything on the left side (which is all for the
Letter to a person recipient) So it would be like
A speech
An advertisement
3 Tacklehead Street
Or continue the passage
Palm City. California
Writing a diary or a journal entry
United States
To be very clear most of these are only done by how well
09878
you understand the style and use that to write this. If you
don’t understand how the author speaks, you’ve failed
5th September, 2017
the first step which can cost you.
Hey Tony,
For some, like the letter, you’ll have to write the format,
How’s your work going? I know it’s been a long time, but I
which shows that you are taking the task very seriously.
really want tell you…..
We’ll show you the formats for a few and if that’s not
Have fun!
applicable, we’ll release some tips that you can add in
Love,
your answers!
Robert

2.2. Writing the Letter

This isn’t informal to us (Usually we’d greet our friend like,
The letter is a rather easy format. Here it is “Whatsup!”)
But Cambridge will consider this as slang, so be very
careful about this
Formal:

The Sender’s Address

2.3. The Speech
(Street, City and zip code to be separated in lines)
The only way to achieve a great speech is to understand
that passage very well (which is what the test is overall)
The Recipient’s Name
but you can get the best out of everything if you had
The Recipient’s title (if it’s there. Else ignore)
understood the functions (which, again, has to do with
The Recipient's Address
the commentary)
(Again, separating needed)
Always know the tone. If you know this, your lines will
Date
come out automatically.
Respected ________ / Dear _________ /
If the speaker is inspiring, try to mimic that. Add some
This letter is to inform you………………. (Starting is an example,
quotes you’ve read or make it feel good!
but something you can use)
Your piece of writing should always imbibe what has been
Yours sincerely,
created in the passage
Name
Not following that can really pull your grade down

Here is an example:
2.4. The Advertisement
3 Tacklehead Street
Palm City, California The ad is the same thing. Most of this is just how well you
United States are with English.
09878 Always remember that the tone is to be persuasive. Try to
Tony Klutz be convincing
CEO of Gnomes Tech Just as you are setting a proper tone, you need to keep in
345 Dwarf Street mind that you are staying on the same boat! Do not drift
Cupertino, California off topic or else you’ve pretty much will get NO marks for
United States it.
5th September, 2017

WWW.ZNOTES.ORG
CAIE AS LEVEL ENGLISH LANGUAGE (9093)

There are going to be some prompts where you’ll have

2.5. Continuing the Passage
characters.
This comes back to my main point: You will only maximise In English, the main idea of achieving a high score is to
develop a proper structure when writing. And
your score if you know the passage well. Then and only
characterization, if used properly, will help you create
then will you continue the passage with ease.
proper persona’s and will enhance your piece
You need sometimes ask yourself,
2.6. Diary/Journal Entry What is the physical clothing and behaviour?
What will the character’s play/role and dialogue will be
Generally speaking, you don’t need to write the format (a rough sketch for dialogue is fine)
for this type of entry. All you might have to do is write Protagonist?
about experience the character felt and all.
So knowing the passage well will be easy for you
Show don’t Tell

2.7. Keep in mind that… Many of us learned this in our young years with small
objects and storytelling.
I understand that I have repeated that “knowing the But this is still a vital skill we can use in our writing
passage well” many times. Show don’t tell is when you add more description and
But understand that it is true. detail to an action or event instead of directly stating it
If you know the passage, the ins and outs, and you can
think like the author (which, by the way, comes with Sentence Structure and Variance
practice) you can score the part (b) section far better
Don’t structure your sentences in the same way every
time
3. The Compositions & Paper This will make it boring for everyone to read
Changing it around a bit adds flavour and that is very
2 essential when writing in English for any type of prompt

3.1. The Structure of this Paper Location:

Locations do matter a lot. So whether you describe an ice

Paper two is worth 50 marks where you need to write one
cream shop or a dungeon. You need to make the reader
“Imaginative piece” and one “Writing for an Audience”,
feel like they are there.
both worth 25 marks
Let them smell the aroma of a restaurant you are talking
You have 2 hours to finish this paper. So ideally spending
about
one hour for each should be efficient enough.
Let them feel chained if they are in a dungeon
This may sound a little intimidating, but with minimal
3.2. The Imaginative Writing practice, this type of vivid writing can come

In the paper, they present you with 3 different prompts.

Each one may be something like:
3.3. Additional Tips
1. Opening/Closing a story
If you can’t approach a description, try to use your
2. Creating scenario when giving a sentence
senses. It’s the easiest way to get started
3. A descriptive piece
Make sure you have plan. Even if it takes 10 minutes.
4. Comparing two likely events
It’s better to be planned and write then have no plan and
5. Monologue between two characters
rush.
There are different components you’ll have to consider
If you are pressed for time, you can still relax because
before writing an effective imaginative writing piece.
you have the plan. But if you didn’t, your writing will be all
over the place
A Narrative voice: You do have various ways to plan, like a web, or a list or
even a list.
After reading and choosing the prompt you like, check
Use whatever suits you
whether they have added or hinted upon the voice you
Remember that your beginning and end of the story
should use. (1st or 3rd person)
matter the most. Make them captivating!
If that isn’t given, then in your plan, you can choose and
use it on you advantage

Characterization

WWW.ZNOTES.ORG
CAIE AS LEVEL ENGLISH LANGUAGE (9093)

List of three: A sequence of three items, one after the

4. Keywords & Components In other, often used to create a particular.
Personification: Giving human characteristics to animals,
An English Passage objects and so on.
Ambivalent: being undecided or having contrasting
4.1. Introduction feelings about something.
Internal: inside a particular location
Below now is a list of words and language affects you can Present tense: Form of the verb describing current
use during your commentary. Please keep in mind that actions (go, eat, run)
you’ll earn the marks if you use these functions properly. Direct statement: Something stated as defined fact,
Indeed, this list is pretty in-depth, but that doesn’t mean opinion, or truth with no sense of doubt at all
that you should memorize all of them. Knowing them and Syntax: The order of words and phrases in a sentence
their application will fetch you many marks in the test. Narrative: The development or unfolding of a plot,
account or story
Repeated Syntactical structures / patterning: The use of
4.2. The List the same types of word or phrase order
Inner thoughts: ideas in the mind of a character or
Register: The type of language used for a particular
narrator
purpose or a particular setting Dialogue: Speech or conversation with characters or with
Context: The background, setting, and culture of a certain the narrator
abstract Imperative: Order or Command
Voice: The distinctive tone the writer uses during the
Understatement: Phrasing ideas that don’t sound that
passage
doesn't sound so impressive than it actually is.
Mood: (Or Tone) is the feel of emotive presence in the Hyperbole: Exaggeration
text. Atmosphere or feeling Anecdotal: Adding mini stories or personal events
Formality/Informality: The language used. Is it formal? Are Persuasive: Trying to convince others about a particular
they speaking Standard English like you would speak with
idea, viewpoint or product
your teacher? Or is it informal, where slang comes into
Review: A critical assessment of something from product
play? to a book (it can be literally anything)
Symbol: A word or phrase that can represent an idea.
Ironic: suggesting the opposite to what is expected
Imagery: Language that draws visual and powerful
Sarcastic: Sharp and mocking
depictions that suggest ideas
Question tag: a verbal addition to statements to add
Assert: To state something as true when you have no real
rhetorical emphasis or to elicit a reaction.
evidence to support it Modal: A form type of verb that modifies the meaning of
Juxtapose: To place ideas or word/phrases in close another one (Ex: we might go there, but I don’t know)
proximity to each to convey an idea, or to balance Adverb: A word which tells is more about a verb
contrasting points.
Word associations: ideas suggested by particular words
Figurative language: language such as imagery, in which or phrases
the literal meaning is less relevant than what the Register: Language associated with a particular subject or
word/phrase suggests or symbolises. situation
Stream of Consciousness: How words reflect the way in Ideal: A vision of something perfect, a desire to aim for
which a narrator’s or speaker's mind is actually working at
Extended image: A comparison of two things which
a given point returned to throughout the text
Metaphor: a direct comparison between two things which Parallel structures: Words and phrases that are similar in
is not literally true
length and order
Alliteration: The repetition of same of sounds or of the Mode of address: The way in which in the reader is
same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words
“spoken to” by the writer
Anaphoric: A reference which depends on, or connects Discursive: A discursive text is one that explores a subject
back to, previous, word or phrase or reflects thoughtfully on it
First person: The mode of narration in which the writer Direct speech: Using speech marks to quote someone’s
uses the I form words exactly.
Simile: A comparison between two things which uses like
Indirect speech: A report or summary of someone else’s
or as. words or account without speech marks.
Perspective: The viewpoint or “angle” the writer is trying Voiceover: The voice of an unseen narrator, spoken
to convey in a situation material
Contract: Opposites of ideas used in the text Rhetorical device: A particular word, phrase or pattern of
External or Exterior location: a place or setting outside
language which a writer uses to prompt a particular

WWW.ZNOTES.ORG
CAIE AS LEVEL ENGLISH LANGUAGE (9093)

reaction from, especially one that makes them see the Connective: Words or phrases which link other phrases,
writer as rational or reasonable. sentences or paragraphs
Persona: The role of a character Inserted phrase: Words placed into a part or sentence
Exemplification: Illustrating and supporting by giving Cyclical: Coming full article, ending where it begin.
examples

WWW.ZNOTES.ORG
CAIE AS LEVEL
English Language (9093)

These notes have been created by Abhijit Vempati for the 2017 syllabus
This website and its content is copyright of ZNotes Foundation - © ZNotes Foundation 2022. All rights reserved.
The document contains images and excerpts of text from educational resources available on the internet and
printed books. If you are the owner of such media, test or visual, utilized in this document and do not accept its
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