The bee observation session
Source A: an original contemporary non-fiction-style account.
The nature centre offered a bee observation session behind a glass screen. I booked for Sunday morning with my nephew, who was disappointed to learn that we would not wear protective suits. The beekeeper explained that the screen allowed us to watch without opening the hive. She pointed out workers carrying pollen and asked us to count how many entered through the small opening during one minute.
My nephew counted eighteen; I counted sixteen. Rather than choose one answer, the beekeeper asked us to try again and compare our methods. I had missed two bees while writing the number down. Afterwards we examined an empty piece of honeycomb that had been placed on a table. We were not allowed to touch the live bees. The session ended with questions, and my nephew wanted to know how the beekeeper recognised the queen. On the bus home he remembered the counting mistake more clearly than the answer, and reminded me of it twice.
Refer to the whole of Source A. Choose the four true statements below. Write their four letters in the answer box. Choose no more than four; if more are given, only the first four distinct letters will be marked.
| Letter | Statement |
|---|---|
| A | The visitors watched through glass. |
| B | They wore protective suits. |
| C | They counted bees for one minute. |
| D | Both counted the same number on their first attempt. |
| E | The beekeeper asked them to repeat the count. |
| F | The visitors touched the live bees. |
| G | They examined an empty piece of honeycomb. |
| H | They travelled home by car. |
160 exam-style questions on AQA GCSE English Language 6.2 Content, covering 6.2.1 Reading sources: non-fiction and literary non-fiction, 6.2.2 Time periods of the sources, 6.2.3 Choice of genre, and 6.2.4 Section B writing task. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.