Text: an original contemporary review-style practice extract.
I arrived at the community repair session with a desk lamp that had stopped working and no idea what was inside it. Around the hall, people had brought torn bags, loose chair legs and small household objects. The volunteers did not promise to fix everything. They asked what each owner had noticed first.
When my turn came, Jo placed the lamp on the table and invited me to look at the plug before touching anything else. I had expected to stand back while an expert worked. Instead, Jo showed me how to check the simple parts and explained each step as we went. When the lamp still would not light, she suggested one more check rather than pretending the cause was obvious. We found a loose connection, and I helped secure it.
I left with a working lamp and a clearer sense of what I could try next time. Not every object on the tables was repaired, and the hall was busy enough that some people waited. Even so, the session made learning feel as important as leaving with a finished item. Its welcome came from being included, not from a promise of instant success.
In this extract, the writer tries to show why the repair session is welcoming to beginners.
Evaluate how successfully this is achieved. Support your views with detailed reference to the extract. In your answer, consider the opening, one moment during the session and the writer’s final judgement.
834 exam-style questions on Edexcel GCSE English Language 2.3 Content: non-fiction study and transactional text types, covering 2.3.9 Write an article, 2.3.10 Write a letter, 2.3.11 Write a review, 2.3.12 Write a text for a speech, and 2.3.13 Write a section for a guide, textbook, leaflet or booklet. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.