Source A: The line on the map
An original contemporary non-fiction-style practice text, written for this question.
The first time I went out with the mountaineering club, I was asked to suggest a route for the following Saturday. I had expected the experienced members to choose it without discussion. Instead, they spread a map across the table and asked what I thought. I marked a starting point, a bridge, a steep section and a place where we could turn back. The route looked simple when it was drawn in pencil. That was why I wanted to write down more than the line itself.
I noted how long each section might take, where we would meet if the group became separated and what we would do if the weather changed. One of the older members smiled. He said that I was turning an afternoon walk into an office job. I laughed with him, although I wondered whether careful planning made me look nervous. The others seemed ready to trust the path simply because they had used it before.
On the morning of the walk, low cloud covered the higher ground. At the bridge, the view beyond it had disappeared. The path divided into two tracks, and neither looked more convincing than the other. The club leader took out the map. Because I had written the order of the landmarks, we could work out which track came next instead of choosing the one that seemed easiest. My notes had not made the decision for us, but they gave us something solid to check.
Later, one of the walkers needed to stop and adjust a loose bootlace. We had allowed time for pauses, so nobody had to pretend that the delay did not matter. We reached the turning point later than planned and turned round there. I had secretly wanted to complete every part of the route, but the plan had included a limit as well as an ambition.
I used to think preparation was meant to prevent a problem. Now I think it gives people a sensible way to respond when a problem arrives. The hill had not become less steep because I had written about it. The group simply had more than confidence to rely on. My notes were not proof that I was brave. They were proof that I understood other people would have to make decisions with me.
Source B: Behind the curtain
An original contemporary non-fiction-style practice text, written for this question.
When the pupil responsible for props was absent from our final rehearsals, I agreed to take over. I had only a few days to learn which objects appeared in each scene and who needed to carry them on. At first, the task seemed easy. There were no complicated machines: only letters, cups, books, keys and an umbrella. Some actors suggested leaving everything in one large box beside the curtain and taking out what they needed.
I decided to arrange the props in the order in which they appeared. I labelled two tables, wrote a checklist for each scene and marked where every object should be returned. I also asked two other pupils to check opposite sides of the stage so that nobody had to run across behind the scenery. One of the actors said that I was turning the backstage area into a small warehouse. I smiled, but I wondered whether I was making a simple job unnecessarily serious.
During the first performance, a cup was returned to the wrong table and an actor picked up the umbrella too early. Because the checklist followed the sequence of scenes, we noticed both mistakes before the objects were needed. The system did not stop people making errors. It meant that we could correct them quietly instead of discovering them in front of the audience.
The arrangement helped in less obvious ways as well. An actor waiting for an entrance could concentrate on the next line rather than searching through a box. The two pupils helping me knew which area they were responsible for, so I did not have to give hurried instructions throughout the performance. When a handle came loose from a paper bag, we used the spare one I had placed under the table. Nobody watching the play knew that anything had happened.
Before that week, I had thought preparation was mainly about keeping myself calm. By the final performance, I understood that it could give other people room to concentrate on their own work. My labels did not make the acting better, and the checklist could not control everything that happened. They made the hidden work dependable enough for the visible work to continue. Backstage, being prepared did not mean taking charge of everyone. It meant making sure that everyone else could take their part.
Compare how the writers present the value of careful preparation when other people depend on their decisions.
Use relevant examples from both sources, including short quotations.
To help you organise your response, you may wish to consider:
77 exam-style questions on Edexcel A IGCSE English Language 1.1.3 Links and connections between writers' ideas. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.