Read again lines 1 to 7 of Text One. From these lines, select two words or phrases which describe the old mule called La Vieja. Write down the two words or ...

Notes for examiners

This question tests nothing more than accurate retrieval from a fixed window of the text. The candidate has to lift two words or phrases from lines 1 to 7 that describe La Vieja and write them down. One mark is given for each valid selection, to a maximum of [2]. No comment, analysis or explanation is required, and a candidate who supplies one gains nothing extra for it. What separates a secure answer from a weak one is precision: the selection must point at the describing words themselves, not at a stretch of narrative that happens to contain them.

Creditable selections from lines 1 to 7

• "the oldest mule in my uncle's string", which fixes her age and her place in the team. [1]
• "did not need to be told where the path was", which describes her knowledge of the route. [1]
• "Her muzzle had gone white as ash", a physical detail that signals age through colour. [1]
• "a clean notch bitten out of her left ear", a permanent mark left by an old injury. [1]
• "She walked with a short, rocking step", which describes the way she moves. [1]
• "as if she were counting", which describes how regular that movement is. [1]
• "a bell of hammered tin", the object she carries round her neck. [1]
• "breathing steam", which places her in the cold of the departure morning. [1]
• "stood at the head of the line", which describes her position in the mule train. [1]

Any two of these earn full marks, and any other reasonable word or phrase from lines 1 to 7 that genuinely describes the animal is equally acceptable.

What does not earn the mark

• Anything taken from outside lines 1 to 7. La Vieja lying down at the rock shelter, or breaking the trail on the third morning, is accurate but out of window, so it scores nothing.
• A whole sentence copied out with the describing words buried inside it, where the candidate has not shown which part is the description.
• Comment on how the writer feels about the mule, or on why she matters later in the account, instead of description of her.
• Two selections that are really the same detail written out twice.

Examination takeaway: on this question the mark total tells you how many separate items to write. Two marks means two short, exact quotations and nothing else.