Name of School:_________________________ Candidate name :__________________________

CENTRAL EAST EDUCATION DIVISION

2025 MOCK EXAMINATIONS

ENGLISH
Subject Number: M052/III

Thursday, 27 March Time Allowed: 2 hours

(02:00-4:00pm)

PAPER Question Tick Do not write in

III Number questions these margins
(70 marks) answered
Instructions 1
1. This paper contains 9 printed pages.

Please check.

2. The paper has two sections: A and B. 2

3. You should spend the first 10 minutes

reading all the questions and planning your

answers to the questions you choose. 3

4. Write your Examination Number at the

top of each page of the question paper.

5. In the table provided on this page, tick 4

against the question number you have

answered.

6. At the end of the examination, hand in

your paper to the invigilator.

Page 1 of 12
Name of School:_________________________ Candidate name :__________________________

SECTION A (30 marks)

Answer both questions in this section in the spaces provided

1. POETRY

GEOGRAPHY TEACHER

Our teacher told us one day he would leave

And sail across a warm blue sea
To places he had only known from maps.
And all his life had lodged to be

The house he lived in was narrow and grey

But in his mind’s eye he could see
Sweet-scented jasmine cling to the walls
And green leaves burning on an orange tree.

He spoke of the lands he longed to visit

Where it was never drab or cold
I couldn’t understand why he never left
And shook off the schools’ stranglehold

Then halfway through his final term

He took ill and never returned
he never got to that place on the map
Where the green leaves of the orange trees burned

The maps were redrawn on the classroom wall;

His name forgotten, he faded away.
But a lesson he never knew he taught
Page 2 of 12
Name of School:_________________________ Candidate name :__________________________

Is with me to this day.

I travel to where the green leaves burn,
To where the ocean’s glass-clear and blue,
To places our teacher taught me to love-
And which he never knew

Questions
a. (i) what is the mood of the poem?
___________________________________________________________
(1 mark)
(ii) Justify your answer in a (i)
___________________________________________________________
(1 mark)
b. Explain the meaning of the following expression “the mind’s eye”
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
(2 marks)
c. “….But a lesson he never knew he taught” what is the lesson that he
taught?
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
(2 marks)
d. Pick out one example of each of the following figures of speech in the
poem.
(i) Alliteration
______________________________________________________
(1 mark)
(ii) Metaphor
______________________________________________________

Page 3 of 12
Name of School:_________________________ Candidate name :__________________________

(1 mark)
(iii) Personification
______________________________________________________
(1 marks)
e. Describe any two themes portrayed in the poem.
(i) ______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
(2marks)
(ii) ______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
(2 marks)
f. Describe any one character of the persona.
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
(2 marks)

2. SHORT STORY

Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow

THE FAILED ESCAPE

“Everyone get out of the bus! Now!” a muscular police officer shouted at all of
us on board.

I was puzzled. How did these police officers find out about my escape journey?
Everything was planned smoothly. No one was supposed to smell a rat. Who
tipped the police? Could Ndaona have had a hand in it?

I was still in school when I got pregnant. I was barely fifteen years old when I
gave birth to my daughter Zione. When I missed four monthly cycles, I dropped
out of school and my uncle’s temper flew out of the roof. He was hot with fury
like hell itself. We could smell his anger from a distance. He had two options;
hack James with a machete or send him to jail. Yes, the man who defiled me
was James.
Page 4 of 12
Name of School:_________________________ Candidate name :__________________________

However, James was very cunning. He quickly convinced my mother that he

would take care of me and the baby. He promised to send me back to school
after giving birth and eventually wed me. He left a fat wad of cash that left my
mother smiling and hopeful. Even uncle found it had to hide the excitement that
was written all over his face. He knew he had become an overnight beer
merchant.

Indeed, James started supporting me during pregnancy. He was a businessman

who specialised in agribusiness. JAMES AGRO-TRADE was the leading shop
and the number one shop for farmers. Every week he gave my mother some
soap, meat, rice, cooking oil and some money. He also never forgot a little
something for my uncle. Slowly he became a darling for my uncle and mother.
They liked him so much. Sometimes more than me.

Things took an ugly turn when we woke up to a rude awakening one Saturday
morning. JAMES AGRO-TRADE was empty and closed. James had evaporated
like vapour on a hot summer. No one knew where his legs had carried him. In
his mind he had played a grandmaster’s chess move; a maestro’s stroke. He
thought all of us could easily give up on him just like that. Had he known?

A long time had gone by. James was merely a memory in the village. Everyone
forgot about him but me. How could I forget him when I saw his face every
day? Yes, my daughter Zione had her father’s face. Every time I saw Zione a
bitter memory of James flashed the back of my memory with unresolved
trauma. I felt betrayed and foolish. A lake of tears gashed down my cheeks.

One afternoon, a rumour flew past my hungry ears that James was in Lilongwe.
I wasn’t very certain about his specific location but Area 47 was mentioned.
Rumour had it that he was happily married to a beautiful woman. Blood rushed
to my brain and sent me into a migraine headache. So I envisaged a plan, some
may call it evil but who cares? Violence must always be responded with
violence. That had been my philosophy from the day I was betrayed.

I left Zione with my mother at night and fled the village. No, I did not inform
my mother. She discovered departure the next day. No one knew where I went.
I took a minibus to Lilongwe. I did not know where Area 47 was at that time.
So I went to Chinsapo where my friend Ndaona was staying. She was living in a
small house with one bedroom. She was staying alone since she had also
abandoned her kid in Mingu Village, Mchinji District. She was not employed
but she managed to stay alone. She had a business going on after hours. Since I
Page 5 of 12
Name of School:_________________________ Candidate name :__________________________

needed money to survive, I also joined the night business. No, I will not reveal
the business. That will be a secret forever. I worked diligently until time came
when I got tired of the business and decided to say bye to Ndaona.

“I have decided to become a house maid. I will move to Area 47 to look for a
day job,” I told Ndaona.

I did not wait for her response. I did not need her permission. I left Chinsapo
and went straight to Area 47. I worked very hard to find out where James was
working. It took me three days to discover where he was staying. I quickly
landed on a job as a house maid. No, not at James’s house. It was at his
neighbour’s house where I started working.

In a few days, I became friends with James’ wife. I used to frequent their house
whenever James went to work. He had never seen me. He did not even know his
spouse had a new companion. His wife was a beautiful woman with a kind and
humble heart. Sometimes I could offer to wash her kid’s clothes since she did
not have a maid. She did not believe in having a maid because she was a house
wife. Sometimes I could cook for her too. Little did she know that she was
keeping a snake hidden in the grass.

My day for revenge came. My evil plan was simple. I bought some insecticide
and poured it in the family’s dinner. In the morning, the whole family perished;
James, his wife and their four-year-old kid. I was gone the same morning. I
started my escape journey to Zambia the next day. I was on a bus to Zambia
when the police stopped us and arrested me on charges of murder. I am in
prison serving a life sentence now.

a. From what point of view is the story told?

___________________________________________________________
(1 mark)
b. How does James convince the family after he ran in trouble?
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
(2 marks)
Page 6 of 12
Name of School:_________________________ Candidate name :__________________________

c. How has the narrator achieved flashback in the story?

___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
(2 marks)
d. What figures of speech do the following expressions present?
(i) we could smell his anger
______________________________________________________
(1 mark)
(ii) a lake of tears gashed down my cheeks
______________________________________________________
(1 mark)
e. Why does the narrator call herself a snake in the grass?
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
(2 marks)
f. Describe the character of James.
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
(2 marks)
g. Explain any two themes from the story.
(i) ______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
(2 marks)
(ii) ______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
(2 marks)

Page 7 of 12
Name of School:_________________________ Candidate name :__________________________

Section B (40 marks)

Answer both questions in this section in the spaces provided. Choose either a or
b in each case and not both.

3.THE PEARL by John Steinbeck

EITHER
a. Using four points in each case, discuss how the following themes have
been portrayed in the book “The Pearl”.
(i) Disillusionment
(ii) Hope
OR
b. Using eight points from the novel “The Pearl” discuss how the discovery
of the pearl has changed the behavior of Kino.

4. MACBETH by William Shakespeare

EITHER
a. Using eight points from the play, “Macbeth” discuss how the theme of
moral decadence is portrayed.

OR

b. With four points in each case, discuss the character of the following in
the Play “Macbeth”
(i) Malcom
(ii) Captain

Page 8 of 12
Name of School:_________________________ Candidate name :__________________________

________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________

Page 9 of 12
Name of School:_________________________ Candidate name :__________________________

________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________

Page 10 of 12
Name of School:_________________________ Candidate name :__________________________

________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________

Page 11 of 12
Name of School:_________________________ Candidate name :__________________________

________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
END OF QUESTION PAPER

Page 12 of 12