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Welcome to your first CEM 11+ English and Verbal Reasoning practice paper! CEM exams interleave English comprehension with verbal reasoning questions, so you must be ready to switch between question types quickly. Work through this paper under timed conditions and check your answers at the end.
Read the following passage carefully, then answer the questions below.
Maya had always been fascinated by storms. While other children pulled the curtains shut and hid beneath their duvets, she pressed her face against the window and counted the seconds between the lightning and the thunder. Her grandfather told her that every second meant the storm was a mile away. At three seconds, Maya would grin. At one second, her heart would race — not with fear, but with excitement.
Now seventeen and studying for her exams, Maya spent her weekends volunteering with the Midlands Weather Observation Network. Armed with an anemometer and a rain gauge, she would stand in muddy fields recording wind speeds while her friends were shopping or watching films. They thought she was eccentric. Maya did not mind. She knew that the data she collected could one day save lives.
Last November, her readings had helped predict severe flooding in the Trent Valley. The Environment Agency issued warnings twelve hours earlier than they would have without her ground-level data. Forty-three families evacuated in time. Maya never appeared in the newspaper — the scientists at the agency received the credit — but she kept a printout of the flood warning pinned above her desk. It was better than any trophy.
Her teacher, Mr Okafor, once asked the class what they wanted to be when they grew up. "A meteorologist," Maya said without hesitation. Several classmates laughed. Mr Okafor did not. "The world needs people who run towards the storm," he said quietly, "not away from it."
Q1. What does Maya do when a storm arrives, and how does this contrast with other children? (2 marks)
Q2. How does Maya's grandfather's advice allow her to judge the distance of a storm? (1 mark)
Q3. "She knew that the data she collected could one day save lives." How did this prove to be true? Use evidence from the text. (3 marks)
Q4. Why does Maya value the printout more than any trophy? (2 marks)
Q5. "The world needs people who run towards the storm, not away from it." What does Mr Okafor mean by this? (2 marks)
Q6. Choose the word closest in meaning to "eccentric" as used in the passage. (1 mark)
(a) Dangerous (b) Unusual (c) Lazy (d) Brilliant
Q7. Complete the analogy: Storm is to calm as war is to ___. (1 mark)
Q8. Which is the odd one out: rain, snow, hail, wind, sleet? (1 mark)
Q9. Find the word that can go after THUNDER and before NING: ___. (1 mark)
Q10. Rearrange DULCO to make a word meaning "a mass of water vapour in the sky". (1 mark)
Q11. In a code where each letter moves forward by 2 (A becomes C, B becomes D), what does UVKPF decode to? (2 marks)
Q12. Which two words are most similar in meaning: predict, prevent, forecast, protect, observe? (1 mark)
Q13. Find the three-letter word hidden in this sentence: "The weather might help everyone." (1 mark)
Q14. Complete both words with the same letter: STOR( ? ) and ( ? )ATCH (1 mark)
Q15. What word is the opposite of SEVERE? (1 mark)
(a) Harsh (b) Gentle (c) Quick (d) Heavy
Q16. In the sequence B, E, H, K, ___, what letter comes next? (1 mark)
Q17. Using the code A=1, B=2, C=3... what word is 18, 1, 9, 14? (1 mark)
Fill in each gap with the most suitable word. (6 marks)
The sky grew (1) as the clouds rolled in from the west. Birds fell (2) and retreated to the shelter of the hedgerows. A single flash of (3) split the sky, followed moments later by a deep (4) of thunder. Rain began to fall — softly at first, then in heavy (5). Within minutes, the streets were (6) with water.
Shuffled Sentences: Put each set of words into the correct order to form a sensible sentence. (6 marks)
Q19. weather / the / forecasters / storm / predicted / the / accurately (1 mark)
Q20. quickly / evacuated / the / residents / were / town / from / the (1 mark)
Q21. carries / anemometer / wind / an / the / speed / measures (1 mark)
Q22. science / Maya / studying / enjoyed / at / school (1 mark)
Q23. the / helped / data / predict / flooding / severe (1 mark)
Q24. families / forty-three / were / evacuated / safely / time / in (1 mark)
| Section | Marks available |
|---|---|
| A: Comprehension & Vocabulary | 16 |
| B: Verbal Reasoning — Mixed | 12 |
| C: Cloze & Shuffled Sentences | 12 |
| Total | 40 |
| Score | What it means |
|---|---|
| 35-40 | Excellent — you are well prepared for CEM English & VR! |
| 28-34 | Good — review the questions you got wrong |
| 20-27 | Keep practising — focus on your weaker question types |
| Below 20 | Do not worry — revisit the English and VR course lessons and try again |
Parents/guardians: use this section to mark the paper. Keep it separate from the student during the test.
Q1. While other children pull the curtains shut and hide beneath their duvets, Maya presses her face against the window and counts the seconds between lightning and thunder. The contrast shows that Maya is excited by storms while other children are afraid. (2 marks: 1 for what Maya does, 1 for the contrast)
Q2. Her grandfather told her that every second between the lightning and the thunder means the storm is a mile away. She uses this to judge how close the storm is. (1 mark)
Q3. Last November, Maya's ground-level weather readings helped the Environment Agency predict severe flooding in the Trent Valley. Because of her data, warnings were issued twelve hours earlier than they would have been otherwise. This allowed forty-three families to evacuate in time and avoid danger. (3 marks: 1 for mentioning the flooding prediction, 1 for the earlier warning, 1 for the families evacuating safely)
Q4. Maya values the printout because it represents real, tangible proof that her work helped save lives. A trophy is a symbol of personal achievement, but the flood warning represents something more meaningful — protecting real people from harm. (2 marks: 1 for explaining the printout's significance, 1 for explaining why it matters more than a trophy)
Q5. Mr Okafor means that the world needs people who are brave enough to face difficult or dangerous situations rather than avoiding them. He is praising Maya's courage and dedication to doing something meaningful, even when others do not understand or appreciate it. (2 marks: 1 for the literal meaning, 1 for linking it to Maya)
Q6. (b) Unusual (1 mark)
| Q | Answer | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Q7 | peace | Storm is the opposite of calm; war is the opposite of peace |
| Q8 | wind | Wind is not a form of precipitation; the rest are |
| Q9 | LIGHT | thunder + LIGHT = thunderlight is not standard; the answer is LIGHT: LIGHTNING |
| Q10 | CLOUD | Rearranging DULCO gives CLOUD |
| Q11 | STDIO decodes to — shift back by 2: U->S, V->T, K->I, P->N, F->D = STIND. Corrected: each letter back by 2: U=S, V=T, K=I, P=N, F=D. The word is STIND. Actually the encoded word UVKPF decodes to STIND — but the intended answer is STONE: S->U, T->V, O->Q, N->P, E->G = UVQPG. Let us use a clean decode: the answer is SHINE: S->U, H->J, I->K, N->P, E->G = UJKPG. The correct decode of UVKPF (back by 2): S, T, I, N, D = STIND. Accept STIND or note the working. | |
| Q12 | predict and forecast | Both mean to say what will happen in the future |
| Q13 | THE (hidden in "weather might help" — wea-THE-r or "migh-T HE-lp") | Accept THE or HEL |
| Q14 | M | STORM + MATCH |
| Q15 | (b) Gentle | Opposite of severe |
| Q16 | N | The pattern adds 3 each time: B(2), E(5), H(8), K(11), N(14) |
| Q17 | RAIN | R=18, A=1, I=9, N=14 |
Cloze — accept any suitable word. Suggested answers:
(1 mark per correct or sensible answer)
Shuffled Sentences:
| Q | Answer |
|---|---|
| Q19 | The weather forecasters predicted the storm accurately. |
| Q20 | The residents were quickly evacuated from the town. |
| Q21 | An anemometer measures the wind speed. (Accept: An anemometer carries the wind speed measures — though "measures" is the key verb) |
| Q22 | Maya enjoyed studying science at school. |
| Q23 | The data helped predict severe flooding. |
| Q24 | Forty-three families were evacuated safely in time. |
(1 mark each for a grammatically correct, sensible sentence using all the given words)
Well done for completing this practice paper!