Cambridge International Examinations
Cambridge Primary Checkpoint

0844/01
ENGLISH
Paper 1
April 2017
1 hour
Candidates answer on the Question Paper.
No Additional Materials are required.
READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST
Write your Centre number, candidate number and name in the spaces at the top of this page.
Write in dark blue or black pen.
DO NOT WRITE IN ANY BARCODES.
Answer all questions.
The number of marks is given in brackets [ ] at the end of each question or part question.
Suggestions for how long to spend on each section are given in the booklet.
The total number of marks for this paper is 50.
This document consists of 12 printed pages.
IB17 05_0844_01/7RP
© UCLES 2017
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Section A: Reading
Spend 20 minutes on this section.
Read the text and then answer the questions.
Swimming the English Channel
The English Channel is 34 kilometres across at the shortest point, from 1st paragraph
Dover in England to Cap Gris Nez in France. Every year, hundreds of
people attempt to swim across this part of the channel, but the success
rate is lower than 10%, and the swim has become known as ‘the Everest
of open-water swimming’.
‘There are a lot of factors that combine to make the swim hard but the 2nd
cold is the biggest hurdle,’ says Alison Streeter, who holds the world
record with a staggering 43 successful swims across the channel.
‘It’s not about the distance – lots of people can swim the equivalent in a 3rd
pool,’ she says, ‘It comes down to the cold. Athletic swimmers are often all
muscle and don’t have much fat on them. This means they get cold more
quickly, and once cold gets into your muscles it is very hard to continue.’
Besides hypothermia* and the risk of cramp*, there are also external 4th
horrors to contemplate such as jellyfish and raw sewage. Then, because
this is a shipping lane, there are 600 commercial ship movements and 80
to 100 ferry crossings between Dover and Calais every day to avoid.
The tides in this part of the Channel are particularly strong and change 5th
direction approximately every six hours. The wind and weather are a
problem too as the Dover Straits are dominated by local weather
conditions that can change very quickly and are hard to forecast
accurately.
The first person to swim unassisted across the Straits of Dover was 6th
Captain Matthew Webb on 25 August 1875. The current world record
holder for the fastest Channel swim is Christof Wandratsch, a German
athlete, who completed his swim in just over seven hours in 2005. The
youngest person to make the crossing, a boy called Thomas Gregory,
was just 11 years old.
Glossary
hypothermia: the condition of having an extremely low body temperature
cramp: contraction of muscles
1
Name the places at either side of the narrow part of the English Channel.
[1]
2
Why do fit athletes in particular have problems with the cold when they are
trying to swim across the English Channel?
[1]
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3
3
Tick () two boxes to show what problems, according to the text,
swimmers may encounter when they attempt to swim across the Channel.
private sailing boats
sea birds
shark attacks
ships and ferries
waste matter
4
[2]
Rewrite the fifth paragraph to include most of the main points, using no
more than 25 words.
[2]
5
Tick () the best description of the text Swimming the English Channel.
It contains only facts.
It contains mostly facts.
It contains mostly opinions.
It contains about half facts and half opinions.
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[1]
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6
Compare these texts.
Text 1
Text 2
You should start training for your
swim months in advance. You can
start this at your local pool. Most
Channel
swimmers,
however,
acclimatise themselves to local
conditions on the beaches of
Folkestone or Hythe in England.
It’s a good idea to start training for
your swim a few months ahead of it.
Your local pool is a great place to
start with but it’s probably best to get
used to the really cold water by
taking a dip in the sea at Folkestone
or Hythe in England.
The information in both texts is the same but the language used is different.
Tick () the text you prefer to read.
Text 1
Text 2
Explain why you chose that text.
[1]
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5
Read this text about jellyfish, and then answer the questions.
Facts about jellyfish
What are jellyfish?
Jellyfish have existed for more than 650 million years and happen to be the
oldest living creatures on the planet. Despite their name, they are not fish
but simple marine invertebrates.
What are they made of?
The jellyfish body lacks any skeletal structure, and is made up of a
gelatinous or jelly-like substance which is 95% water. This is protected by a
thin outer layer called an epidermis. Only 5% of the jellyfish body is solid
matter. They have no heart, lungs, brain or nervous system. Some, though,
possess eye spots capable of sensing light from dark.
How do they breathe?
The walls of their bodies and tentacles are so thin that oxygen is able to
pass directly from the water into their internal organs.
Why do some jellyfish sting?
Some jellyfish have millions of very small cells in their tentacles called
nematocysts. These cells are used to capture food by injecting toxin into
the prey.
How do they swim?
Jellyfish swim by jet propulsion. The jellyfish will expand then quickly
contract its bell-shaped body, which forces water away from the bell and
pushes the jellyfish in the opposite direction.
What do they eat?
They feed on tiny fish, larvae, crustaceans and zooplankton. Some even
eat other jellyfish!
7
(a) Which animal group does the jellyfish belong to?
[1]
(b) In which part of a jellyfish do you find nematocyst cells?
[1]
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8
Tick () two boxes to show which statements about jellyfish are FALSE.
The outer layer of a jellyfish is called gelatine.
Jellyfish existed before sharks.
Some jellyfish eat each other.
Jellyfish absorb oxygen through their mouth opening.
The body of a jellyfish consists mainly of water.
9
[2]
Using the text, explain why the body of a jellyfish collapses as soon as it is
removed from water.
[1]
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7
10 These questions refer to both texts.
(a) What is the purpose of the sub-headings in the text Facts about
jellyfish?
[1]
(b) In the text Swimming the English Channel, paragraphs are used.
Draw lines to link each paragraph with its main topic. The first two
have been done for you.
1st
paragraph
2nd
paragraph
3rd
paragraph
4th
paragraph
5th
paragraph
6th
paragraph
© UCLES 2017
Who are the world record holders?
What is the English Channel swim?
What other factors make it difficult to
swim across the Channel?
What is the main problem you face when
swimming across the Channel?
Why is the cold such a problem?
Why can the tides and weather conditions also
make the swim difficult to complete?
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[1]
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Section B: Writing
Spend 25 minutes on this section.
11 Swimming the English Channel and Facts about jellyfish are both articles
taken from information books.
Write your own article for an information book about a topic or an object that
you know something about. It could be:
a sport or sport event
for example
 cycling
 skateboarding
 tennis
 football.
an unusual animal
for example
 a tortoise
 a tiger
 a dragonfly
 a dog.
PLANNING
Spend about five minutes making notes in this box:
Purpose and audience
[6]
Punctuation
[2]
Text structure
[5]
Spelling
[2]
Sentence structure
[5]
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Write your article here:
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Section C: Grammar, Punctuation and Vocabulary
Spend 15 minutes on this section.
12 Join the underlined word in each of these sentences to match the correct
word class.
They have no brain, heart
or bones.
noun
There are external horrors
to contemplate.
adverb
Weather conditions are
hard to forecast
accurately.
adjective
Only 5% of the body of
the jellyfish is solid matter.
13
conjunction
[2]
(a) Underline the main clause in this sentence:
The current world record holder for the fastest Channel swim is
Christof Wandratsch, a German athlete, who completed his swim in
[1]
just over seven hours in 2005.
(b) Rewrite this sentence:
David Walliams completed the crossing in 10 hours and 34
minutes.
Include this clause:
who is a famous actor
Remember to add punctuation. Do not add or change any words.
[2]
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11
14
(a) Change this sentence from the past to the present:
The swimmers were crossing the centre of the Channel when they
suddenly saw a shoal of fish ahead.
[1]
(b) Complete the sentences by writing the passive forms of the verbs given
in brackets. The first one has been done for you.
Jellyfish (find) are found in oceans around the world.
In 2004, the world record (break)
by a
70-year-old woman.
A jellyfish’s body (make)
of 95% water.
The swimmers (support)
15
by people in boats.
[2]
Correct two mistakes in this sentence. Do not change the meaning.
Some jellyfish is transparent which keeps they
h i d d e n f r o m h u n g r y t u r t l e s.
[1]
16 Choose from simple, compound or complex to describe these sentences.
Sentence
Type of sentence
It was a really challenging swim but
he enjoyed it.
Due to the terrible weather
conditions, the swimmer ended up
swimming 56 km to avoid swells.
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[1]
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12
17
Add two apostrophes to this sentence:
T h e s w i m m e r s a r m s a n d l e g s w e r e
a c h i n g s o m u c h t h a t h e d i d n t s e e t h e
j e l l y f i s h w i t h i t s t e n t a c l e s s p r e a d o u t . [1]
18
Add the missing punctuation to these sentences:
“D i d y o u g e t s t u n g b y t h a t
a s k e d t h e m a n i n t h e b o a t.
“Y e s s a i d
h u r t s”
19
t h e
s w i m m e r
a n d
j e l l y f i s h
i t
r e a l l y
[2]
Reread this extract from Swimming the English Channel.
‘There are a lot of factors that combine to make the swim hard but the
cold is the biggest hurdle,’ says Alison Streeter …
Write other words or phrases that mean the same as the underlined words.
Your new words must keep the meaning and make sense in the sentence.
factors
[2]
hurdle
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Cambridge International Examinations is part of the Cambridge Assessment Group. Cambridge Assessment is the brand name of University of Cambridge Local
Examinations Syndicate (UCLES), which is itself a department of the University of Cambridge.
© UCLES 2017
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