NAME…………………………………………………………… ADM …………………… CLASS…….

FORM THREE
ENGLISH PAPER TWO (101/2)
END OF YEAR 2025 EXAM (OCTOBER)
TIME: 2 HOURS

COMPREHENSION, LITERARY APPRECIATION AND GRAMMAR

INSTRUCTIONS
1. WRITE YOUR NAME, ADMISSION NUMBER AND CLASS IN THE SPACE PROVIDED

2. ANSWER ALL THE QUESTIONS IN THE SPACES PROVIDED

3. ALL ANSWERS SHOULD BE IN ENGLISH

FOR EXAMINER’S USE

QUESTION MAXIMUM SCORE SCORE

1. COMPREHENSION 20

2. LITERARY APPRECIATION 25

3.POETRY 20

4. GRAMMAR 15

TOTAL 80

1. COMPREHENSION
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Read the passage below and then answer the questions that follow.(20 MKS)
It is so easy to overestimate the importance of one defining moment and underestimate
the value of making small improvements on a daily basis. Too often, we convince
ourselves that massive success requires massive action. Whether it is losing weight,
building a business , writing a book, winning a championship, or achieving any other
goal, we put pressure on ourselves to make some earth-shattering improvement that
everyone will talk about.
Meanwhile, improving by 1 percent isn’t particularly notable – sometimes it isn’t even
noticeable—but it can be far more meaningful, especially in the long run. The difference
a tiny improvement can make over time is astounding. Here’s how the math works out:
if you can get 1 percent better each day for one year, you’ll end up thirty-seven times
better by the time you’re done. Conversely, if you get 1 percent worse each day for one
year, you will decline nearly to zero .What starts as a small win or a minor setback
accumulates into something much more.
Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement. The same way that money
multiplies through compound interest, the effects of your habits multiply as you repeat
them. They seem to make little difference on any given day and yet the impact they
deliver over the months and years can be enormous. It is only when looking back two,
five, or perhaps ten years later that the value of good habits and the cost of bad ones
becomes strikingly apparent.
This can be a difficult concept to appreciate in daily life. We often dismiss small changes
because they don’t seem to matter very much in the moment. If you save a little money
now, you’re still not a millionaire. If you go to the gym three days in a row, you’re still out
of shape. If you study English for an hour tonight, you still haven’t learned the language.
We make a few changes, but the results never seem to come quickly and so we slide back
into our previous routines.
Unfortunately, the slow pace of transformation also makes it easy to let a bad habit slide.
If you eat an unhealthy meal today, the scale doesn’t move much. If you work late tonight
and ignore your family, they will forgive you. If you procrastinate and put your project
off until tomorrow, there will usually be time to finish it later. A single decision is easy to
dismiss.
But when we repeat 1 percent errors, day after day, by replicating poor decisions,
duplicating tiny mistakes, and rationalizing little excuses, our small choices compound
into toxic results. It’s the accumulation of many missteps—a 1 percent decline here and
there—that eventually leads to a problem.
Similarly, a slight change in your daily habits can guide your life to a very different
destination. Making a choice that is 1percent better or 1percent worse seems
insignificant in the moment, but over the span of moments that make up a lifetime these
choices determine the difference between who you are and who you could be. Success is
the product of daily habits-not once-in-a-lifetime transformations.
That said, it doesn’t matter how successful or unsuccessful you are right now. What
matters is whether your habits are putting you on the path toward success. You should
be far more concerned with your current trajectory than with your current results .If
you’re

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 Millionaire but you spend more than you earn each month, then you’re on a bad trajectory.
If your spending habits don’t change, it’s not going to end well. Conversely, if you’re broke,
but you save a little bit every month, then you’re on the path toward financial freedom-
even if you’re moving slower than you’d like.
Your outcomes are a lagging measure of your habits. Your net worth is a lagging measure
ofyourfinancialhabits.Yourweightisalaggingmeasureofyoureatinghabits.Yourknowledge is a
lagging measure of your learning habits. Your clutter is a lagging measure of your cleaning
habits. You get what you repeat. Habits are a double-edged sword.
AdaptedfromAtomicHabitsbyJamesClear
a) What does the writer mean by the first statement of the first paragraph? (2marks)

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b) What are we told about habits in the second paragraph of the passage? (2marks)

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c) What is the relationship between habits and compound interest? (2 marks)

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d) Cite examples from the passage to show that habits are a double-edged sword.
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e) In a summary of not more than 60 words explain why the author says the concept of
habits being compound interest is difficult to appreciate in daily life. (5marks)
Rough copy

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Fair copy

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f) “You should be far more concerned with your current trajectory than with your current
results.”(Rewrite beginning: Your….) (1mark)

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g) Explain the following imagery: “Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement.”
(3marks)
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 h) Explain the meaning of the following words as used in the passage. (3marks)
i) astounding…………………………………………………………………………………………………….
ii) enormous………………………………………………………………………………………………………
iii) clutter………………………………………………………………………….................................................
2. FATHERS OF NATIONS
Read the excerpt below and then answer the questions that follow (25mks)
“Tad,” said the cranky passenger as he was settling down in the economy class, in a seat
next to Dr.Afolabi’s. “Tad Longway,” he added. His voice, deep, lingered on like the boom
of a bigdrum.Heheldoutacard.
Dr.Afolabi took it. It said the man was a Director of Special projects at the Agency
for Governance and Development in Africa. “Pleased to meet you,
Mr.Longway,”Dr.Afolabi said. My name is Abiola Afolabi.I teach at the University of
Ibadan,Nigeria.”
“You gave an excellent keynote address the other day, DrAfolabi,” said the cranky
passenger. Sparks of earnestness were crossing his eyes, both crystal-green like toy
marbles, confirming the compliment was sincere. “Your keynote address at the
Foundation for Democratic Rule, I mean. It was brilliant.”
“I’m glad you liked it, Mr.Longway,” Dr.Afolabi said. His voice had become warm.
“You were there, then, Mr.Longway?”
“Yes, but in the last row. As a mere spectator, I did not want to be obtrusive.
Anyway, you were superb, Dr.Afolabi. If you don’t mind my adding this, I was more
impressed by the points that the audience raised afterwards, during the question-and –
answer period.”
Dr.Afolabi felt the praise he had just heard turn into reproach. “So what were
those points, Mr.Longway?” he asked. His voice was less warm.
“Remember the guy from Grassroots International; short fellow, round of body
and outspoken of manner? What was his name? It’s on the tip of my tongue.”
“You mean the fire-eater who kept accusing me of looking for answers where I
shouldn’t even look,” Dr.Afolabi said.
“Exactly, that’s our man. Yes, I thought he was right on point, Dr.Afolabi. He too
was unhappy with the present state.”
“Wait, the present state of what?
“Africa.” I don’t understand.”
“No problem: I’ll spell it out for you. You see, Dr.Afolabi, Africa, in its present state,
has two new arrivals: corruption and impunity. The first is a crime the second protects
from punishment, the second is another crime the first rewards with kickbacks. That is
African its present state. Now can it change?”
“Tell me. Canit?”

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 “Well, let’s ask the Law of Will.”
“What?”
“Unless there is will to change, there will be no change.” That is the Law of Will.
Dr. Afolabi, I was wondering whether you might be interested in an adventure that is
being sponsored by AGDA. Oh, I am sorry: make that the Agency for Governance and
Development in Africa. Its underlying idea is to mobilize our discontent with Africa, in
its present state, into will to change it.
“This little meeting between us is not an accident, then, is it, Mr. Longway?”
“What’s an accident, Dr. Afolabi? All events are but consequences of events that
precede them. Now, what is this I hear about you serving as advisor at the next summit
of Africa’s heads of states in Banjul, the Gambia?”
“You are well informed, Mr.Longway,” Dr. Afolabi said. He had begun to see the
green-eyed man in a different light. “Yes, heads of state have invited me there to give
them my view son Way Omega,” headed. “You know of Way Omega. No?”
“Yes, I do. So what are they, your views?
“They are that the summit should go with Way Omega. It will change our style of
doing business. Just think: no more military coups or rigged elections, no more civil wars
or ethnic clashes .If adopted , what a breath offreshair Way Omega would be!”
a) Place this excerpt in its immediate context. (4marks)

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b) “Exactly, that’s our man.”Why do you think Mr. Longway says that this is their man?
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c) “You see, DrAfolabi, Africa, in its present state, has two new arrivals: corruption and
impunity.” Referring to elsewhere in the novel, name the other problems that bed evil
Africa.
(2marks)

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d) What is the position of Mr. Longway on the African leadership in its present state?
Explain your answer. (3
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e) Identify and illustrate one theme evident in the excerpt. (2marks)

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f) “A samer espectator, I did not want to be obtrusive.” (Rewrite beginning: I did not….)
(1mark)
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g) How is Mr. Longway portrayed in this excerpt? Illustrateyouranswer. (4marks)

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h) Identify and explain two features of style evident in the excerpt. (4marks)

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i) Explain the meaning of the following words as used in the excerpt. (3marks)
i) earnestness………………………………………………………………………………………………
ii) obtrusive………………………………………………………………………………………………….
iii) underlying……………………………….……………………………………………………………….

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3. LITERARY APPRECIATION
Read the following poem and then answer the questions that follow. (20 mks)
Good Timber

The tree that never had to

fight For sun and sky and air
and light, But stood out in the
open plain And always got its
share of rain, Never became a
forest king
But lived and died a scrubby thing.

The man who ever had to toil

To gain and farm his patch of
soil,
Who never had to win his
share Of sun and sky and light
and air, Never became a manly
man
But lived and died as he began.

Good timber does not grow with ease:

The stronger wind, the stronger
trees;
The further sky, the greater length;
The more the storm, the more the
strength. By sun and cold, by rain and
snow,
In trees and men good timbers grow.

Where thickest lies the forest

growth We find the patriarchs of
both,
And they hold counsel with the stars
Whose broken branches show the
scars Of many winds and much of
strife.
That is the common law of life

By Douglas Malloch

a) What is this poem about? (3marks)

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b) Explain the similarity between good timber and a manly man. (3marks)

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c) Why couldn’t the tree described in the first stanza become a forest king ? (2marks)

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d)What is the tone of this poem? Explain your answer. (3marks)

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e) Identify and explain the use of any two poetic devices evident in this poem.(4 marks)

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 f) What is the message of this poem? (2marks)

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g) Explain the meaning of the following words as used in the poem.(3 marks)
i) scrubby……………………………………………………………………………..
ii )patriarchs……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

iii) strife………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

4. GRAMMAR (25mks)
(a) Rewrite the following sentences according to the information given after each. Do
not change the meaning. (4marks)
i) Do not give in to peer pressure the IG advised his police officers(Punctuate correctly)

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ii) That was the first time our MPs voted to impeach a Cabinet Secretary.(Begin: Never….)
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iii) The party had just started. The police officers arrived. . (Join into one sentence
Beginning: Hardly….)
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iv) Do not give in to peer pressure the IG advised his police officers(Punctuate correctly)
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v) That was the first time our MPs voted to impeach a Cabinet Secretary.(Begin: Never….)
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vi) The party had just started. The police officers arrived. . (Join into one sentence
Beginning: Hardly….)
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vii) The American public is not interested in appeasing terrorists. (Begin: Appeasing…)

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b) Choose the correct alternative from the brackets to complete the sentences.(3marks)

(i) We were requested to remain................................(sitted, seated) as the guests left.

(ii) This.............................(maybe, may be) the last match that he plays for Arsenal.

(iii) Did you say there...............(were, was) chaos in parliament during the debate on this bill?

c) Fill in the blank spaces with the correct form of the words in brackets.(3marks)

(i) The doctors’ union has described the latest pay offer as.............................................(accept);
they will not call off the strike.

(ii) Jordan was......................................................................................,(argue)the best basketball player of all

time.
(iii) The autopsy revealed that his murderer had..................................(strike) him on the
forehead with an iron bar.

d) Replace the underlined idiomatic expressions with words of similar meaning.(3marks)

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(i) Massive migration is a real hot potato for European countries.
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(ii) The project had been given funding for another year, but it is not out of the woods yet.
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(iii) I dislike that man because he tried to stabmein the back.
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e) Fill in each blank space with the correct word. (2marks)

(i) Omondi would be staying.........................his cousin’s place for the weekend.

(ii) Please sign your name...............................the dotted line after you read then contract.

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