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Read the following passage and then answer the questions that follow.
(Solved)
Read the following passage and then answer the questions that follow.
A new system modeled on Continous Assessment Tests [CATs] will soon replace ranking of teachers, learners, schools and regions in both KCPE and KCSE according to the Cabinet Secretary for Education Science and Technology Prof Jacob Kaimenyi.
In the meantime, the ministry has constituted a team of experts to work out on an elaborate, credible and all-inclusive standard system that the management of schools would use in conducting the tests from the moment learners join school to the time they complete studies. This will include collaboration with the Education Ministry, the Examinations Council, Parents Association and Teachers Unions.
According to the Ministry’s plan, the accumulated marks awarded over a period of time in all areas of learning, including co-curriculum activities would count towards the final results when one leaves school either after KCPE or KCSE examinations. To achieve the best possible grading and desired results, those charged with implementing the new program would have to consider all the important aspects of administering CATs at various levels of learning and teaching. The new system which would be implemented any time soon will serve as an alternative after the recent banning of ranking on performance of schools and candidates in national examinations, though there have been calls from a section of parents, Kenya National Union of Teachers and The private Schools Association to have the Minister rescind his decision on ranking.
It is worth noting that in the CATs program, learners are examined continuously during their education and results considered after leaving school. It is an evaluation conducted over time; in other words, you are examined right through your learning process and not after the learning process [summative evaluation].By doing this assessment, you can track the improvement of the learner; you will be able top give more support and guidance and the learner will have more opportunities to improve.
It has also been established that CATs can provide early indicators of likely performance of learners, something that can be of great help to the students themselves. It can also provide details of what has been learned at a particular stage of the course.
The CS said that after working out the new grading system for KCSE and KCPE candidates to be used by schools, the system would become a policy where KNEC will be left with no other choice but to make it operational to end the public outcry on scrapping franking of schools teachers, candidates and regions. However, we are waiting to see if the teachers, some of whom have been accused of perpetuating examinations’ vices, will uphold the integrity that is in doubt.
[Adapted from Education News:Jan 10-22, 2015]
(a) State what are normally compared after KCPE and KCSE have been announced.
(b) How is the new system going to ensure inclusivity before its inception?
(c) In note form, state four would be advantages of the new system.
(d) In what way are two mentioned systems different?
(e) It is worth noting that in the CAT program, learners are examined continuously during their education and results considered after leaving school.(Re-write adding a question tag
(f) Show that the banning of ranking is not approved by all.
(g) Describe the writer’s attitude in the last paragraph.
(h) What procedure will be followed before the proposed systems begins?
(i) Explain the meaning of the following words as used in the passage
Rescind
Integrity
Date posted:
June 12, 2019
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Answers (1)
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Identify the odd one out of the following.
(Solved)
Identify the odd one out of the following.
i) One walk work
ii) Send ten weak
iii) Debt Debut prompt
iv) Rock mock cost
Date posted:
June 12, 2019
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Answers (1)
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Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.
(Solved)
Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.
Two ample women, somewhat past their primes
(the man between lost in his Daily Times)
Discuss their friends for all the world to hear
Some seats away a gallant says,'My dear'
to a strange girl who glares at him.Uncowed
he prattles on, oblivious of the crowd
On every side there’s animated talk
On the state, on love-down to the price of pork
Some stare through windows, hating all the noise,
Stern faced, like masters angry with their boys
The fop uneasy with the tramp beside
Fidgets and sighs and shifts from side to side
A bus stop now
Sighs and farewells, legs and baskets
Jostle in greatest confusion
The queen without stampedes and rushes
to increase the babel within
'Way please! 'get in!'Abi na Wetin'
'Ouch you’ve hurt my toe!'
Time up! The conductor presses 'Go'
The hubbub continues. 'What does he care?'
The more the noisier, but the richer the fare!
a) What is the message of this poem?
b) Explain the sarcasm in the line
-down to the price of pork
c) Contrast the characters of (the man) and the gallant.
d) Identify and explain two voices in the poem.
e) Describe the character trait of the conductor
f) Identify and illustrate the use of synecdoche in the second stanza of the poem.
g) Why are the last two lines in the poem significant?
h) What is the tone of the poem?
i) Explain the meaning of the following words and phrases
i) The hubbub
ii) Prattle
Date posted:
June 11, 2019
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Answers (1)
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Rewrite the following sentences as instructed without changing the meaning.
(Solved)
Rewrite the following sentences as instructed without changing the meaning.
i) I saw the giraffe when I was walking to school. (Rewrite using the present participle)
(ii) “Run to church,” Lukoko told Njuru, “and ask the priest to come now.”
(Rewrite in reported speech)
(iii) You need to get up early tomorrow, ……………………………….(supply a question tag)
(iv) The teacher asked Musyoki and ………….to do it. (Me, I)
(Choose the correct pronoun to fill in the blank)
(v) Goods once sold will not be returned under any circumstances.
Begin: Under …
Date posted:
June 11, 2019
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Answers (1)
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Read the following telephone conversation and answer the questions that follow.
(Solved)
Read the following telephone conversation and answer the questions that follow.
CALLER: What is your name and who are you in that company?
RECEPTIONIST: I am Agnes and I am the receptionist. May I ……..
CALLER: If so, you may not be of any help. I want to speak to the boss.
RECEPTIONIST: Excuse me, who specifically do you want to speak to yet you have not told me your name?
CALLER: They call me DJ Karos or Man P, the king of……
RECEPTIONIST: Sorry for interruption DJ, you have not given the name of the officer you want to speak to.
CALLER: Oh! It is the man who issues works.
RECEPTIONIST: I do not understand you.
CALLER: Come on! Do not tell me you do not know the human officer.
RECEPTIONIST: Do you mind holding on as I put you through to the Human Resource Officer?
CALLER: You guys advertised works in the papers which I realized I can manage but…….
OFFICER: Sorry sir, have you applied for the job?
CALLER: How did you expect me to know that? Am I an angel?
OFFICER: Sorry for inconvenience.
CALLER: You are not sorry; give me this work right away.
i) Identify ways in which telephone etiquette has been flouted in this conservation.
ii) How has the receptionist demonstrated effective conversational skills?
Date posted:
June 11, 2019
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Answers (1)
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Change the following sentences into indirect speech.
(Solved)
Change the following sentences into indirect speech.
(i) 'You have cheated for too long,' blurted the woman.
(ii) 'How much money do you owe me?' demanded the creditor from the debtor
Date posted:
June 10, 2019
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Answers (1)
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Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow
(Solved)
Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow.
A short guy is a disadvantaged individual. And no, the disadvantage is not about reaching high surfaces. He can always stand on his toes or even get a stool. But what would he do when he is discriminated against or taunted on account of his being short; and when tall guys consider it something of a moral responsibility to remind the short fellow over and over that he is inferior?
Apparently, a short man, besides being irritable, is a psychological wreck, thanks to some syndrome of sorts.
Then there is a legion of misinformed women out there who declare to anyone who cares to listen that death would be a welcome alternative to dating a short man. Never mind that most are themselves as short as one can get. In their opinion, which they are entitled to anyway, tall is handsome, strong and literally oozes masculinity while short is the opposite. With limited choice of possible mates, restrictions on probable mates and slew of wrongful generalizations, affirmative action would be in order here.
But as they taunt, vilify, and harass short guys on the basis of height, the tall ones conveniently forget that no one chose how tall they would be. Elementary biology has it that we are all victims of genetic accidents; how tall one becomes is wholly subject to chance. Appearance and other human characteristics are an aggregation of parental traits at best, or a mutation at worst like when only one member is short in a family of tall fellows. It therefore speak volumes about the gray matter upstairs in anyone chest thumping about being tall. Once, when the disciplined forces were hiring, I offered myself for consideration. I was subjected to all sorts of strenuous exercise, running round and round the field in the midday sun like I had gone berserk, shutting my eyes alternately, and a host of other impossible strange routines, only to be turned away at the end of the day for the simple reason that my height did not add up.
Merchants of rumours and falsehood have been at it again. After unleashing the “shorter the monkey the longer the tail” rumour, they are back with another mind-boggling one: that these long-tailed short monkeys are poor lovers. While endowment does not necessarily equal performance, such are generalization of the absurd; something akin to the misplaced belief that all Africans lives on trees. If anything, as one Literary Great apply put it, a tiger does not declare its turpitude, it pounces.
And the politics of generalizations do not end there. The short guy is also said to be irritable and hence the worst possible choice for a boss or even a mate. Who wants to spend time with someone who will be over the roof at the slightest provocation? Not that the myth is gospel truth, but it has resulted in a further restriction of the short guy’s already limited choice of a mate.
As if this is not enough, stiff competition for short ladies silently rages, pitting tall guys against short ones. Despite their wide appeal, the tall fellows have an inexplicable penchant for short ladies. Factor in the belief that it is something of a misnomer to date a taller lady, the decision by some short ladies to give a not interested verdict for short men, and you have remote, dwindling chances of short men getting a mate.
Maybe it is time the short in stature considered coming together to fight this wholesale discrimination on account of their height, over which they have no control. An association would be the perfect gateway to affirmative action. Surely, what has height got to do with love, temperament and everything else for that matter?
Questions
(a) Why does the writer think the short guy is disadvantaged?
b) Explain the irony of some women discriminating the short man.
(c) According to the writer, what determines a person’s height.
(d) Why does the writer give his experience when the disciplined forces were hiring?
(e) 'There is a legion of misinformed women out there who declare to anyone who cares listen to dating a short man.
(Rewrite the sentence using ‘prefer’
(f) What two reasons are given why it might be difficult for short men to get mates?
(g) What solution is given by the writer to end discrimination of the short man?
(h) What is attitude of the writer towards people discriminate against the short man?
(i) Explain the meaning of the following words and phrases as used in the passage
(i) legion
(ii) Aggregation
(iii) Chest thumping
(iv) Inexplicable penchant
Date posted:
June 10, 2019
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Answers (1)
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Imagine you are performing this poem to learners who are visually impaired. Explain four ways in which you would ensure that they get the message...
(Solved)
Imagine you are performing this poem to learners who are visually impaired. Explain four ways in which you would ensure that they get the message effectively.
Date posted:
June 10, 2019
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Answers (1)
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Give another word pronounced as the following
i) Gate __________________________________________________________________________
ii) You __________________________________________________________________________
iii) Here
(Solved)
Give another word pronounced as the following
i) Gate __________________________________________________________________________
ii) You __________________________________________________________________________
iii) Here
Date posted:
June 10, 2019
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Answers (1)
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Change the following sentences into passive voice.
(Solved)
Change the following sentences into passive voice.
(i) Wyclif wrote the best essay
(ii) The Maasai warriors built their huts in the valley
(iii) Joy baked the most delicious cake
Date posted:
June 10, 2019
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Answers (1)
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Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.
(Solved)
Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.
BUILDING THE NATION
Today I did my share
In building the nation
I drove a permanent Secretary
To an important urgent function
In fact a luncheon at the Vic.
The menu reflected its importance
Cold Bell beer with small talk,
Then friend chicken with niceties
Wine to fill the hollowness of the laughs
Ice-cream to cover the stereotype jokes
Coffee to keep the PS awake on return journey.
I drove the Permanent Sectretary back.
He yawned many times in the back of the car
Did you have any lunch friend?
I replied looking straight ahead
And secretly smiling at his belated concern
That I had not, but was smiling!
Upon which he said with a seriousness
That amused more than annoyed me,
Mwananchi, I too had none!
I attended to matters of state
Highly delicate diplomatic duties you know,
And friend, it goes against my grain,
Causes me stomach ulcers and wind.
Ah, he continued, yawning again,
The pains we suffer in buiding the nation!
So the PS had ulcers too!
My ulcers I think are equally painful
Only they are caused by hunger,
Not sumptuous lunches!
So two nation builders
Arrived home this evening
With terrible stomach pains
The result of building the nation -
- Different ways.
Henry Barlow
1. Identify two voices in the poem
2. Explain what the poem addresses
3. Identify and illustrate the use of any two poetic devices uses in the poem and explain their effectiveness
4. Describe the tone in the poem
5. How would you describe the attitude of the permanent secretary towards the persona?
6. Describe the rhyme scheme in stanza one
7. i) 'He yawned many times in the back of the car.' Add a question tag
ii) ' I drove the permanent secretary back.' Write in passive voice
Date posted:
June 10, 2019
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Answers (1)
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The following sentences has two possible meanings. Explain them.
(Solved)
The following sentences has two possible meanings. Explain them.
Akinyi loves dancing more than Otieno
Date posted:
June 7, 2019
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Answers (1)
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Fill in each blank space with the correct form of the word in brackets.
(Solved)
Fill in each blank space with the correct form of the word in brackets.
i) It is not possible to spell a word from her ……………………….. (pronounce)
ii) Do not wait for the bus, it comes to this town very ………………… (Regular)
iii) The hunt for the murderers has been …………………………. (intense)
Date posted:
June 7, 2019
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Answers (1)
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Fill in the blanks with suitable preposition.
(Solved)
Fill in the blanks with suitable preposition.
i) His breath smelt ………………………. alcohol.
ii) She was living ………………………… her means.
iii) She sang her heart …………………….
Date posted:
June 7, 2019
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Answers (1)
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Read the following narrative and answer the questions which follow.
(Solved)
Read the following narrative and answer the questions which follow.
There was a great famine in the land where Obunde and his wife, Oswera, lived with their nine children. The
only creatures who had some food were the ogres and before they would part with their food, they demanded a lot
of things.
One day, Oswera went to one Ogre’s home and asked him for some food, for by then her children were almost
dying of hunger.
‘I have no more food except sweet potatoes, the ogre told her.
‘I shall be happy to have the potatoes. We have nothing, not a grain of food at my house and the children are
starving. Please let me have some and I shall repay you after the harvest.
‘No, if you want food you must exchange with something right now. Will you give me one of your children
in exchange for my potatoes? Oswera hesitated, her children were dear to her, but then they would die without
food.
‘Yes, I shall let you have one of them for his meal, if only you could let us have some potatoes,’ Oswera
answered. Then she took a big basket full of potatoes and told the ogre the exact time he could go to her home to
collect one of her children for a meal.
Oswera thought hard and she decided she would not give a single one of her children to the ogre for a meal.
She therefore cut young banana stalks and cooked them nicely.
When the ogre came, she gave them to him and the beast greedily went away satisfied. Soon the potatoes
were finished and she had to go to the ogre again.
Oswera and Obunde, her husband kept on cooking banana stalks for the ogre each time he came for one of
their children, until one day, she had no more banana stalks to cook for the animal.
“You have now eaten all my children, yet we still need the potatoes. What shall we give your now?” Oswera
asked in despair.
‘Then I shall come for you and your husband,’ the ogre replied angrily as he helped Oswera to load her basket
of potatoes on her head.
‘Yes come tomorrow at the usual time in the afternoon and get me. I shall have cooked myself for you,”
Oswera said calmly.
The following day the ogre went promptly as Oswera had told him and he found the home almost deserted.
He looked everywhere but a part from Obunde there was no trace of anybody.
Then he looked at the usual place and found a huge bowl of a big meal Oswera had cooked for him. The ogre
did not realize they had prepared a dog instead of Oswera. When he had eaten the ogre told Obunde he would
come for him the following day. Obunde got very worried and that night he could not sleep. The following day
he started crying:
Ah Oswera my wife, how did you cook yourself and how shall I cook myself for the ogre?” He sat down in
the dust of his compound and wept. Oswera became very annoyed with her husband.
You, you stupid, foolish man! Why sit and cry there all day long? How do you think I cooked myself? Take
one of the dogs and quickly prepare it for the ogre!’
Very quickly Obunde got up, caught, killed and prepared a dog for the ogre. Then he joined his wife and
children in a huge hollow part of a tree in his compound where they had hidden.
That day the ogre knew he was going to have his last meal of juicy human flesh. Being a generous and
unselfish ogre, he brought many of his fellow ogres. They were going to have a feat.
Suddenly as they were eating, they heard a man singing very happily. No they could not believe it! It was
Obunde singing! And he was boasting of how he had cheated the ogre.
The greedy ogre ate banana stalks
Not my family;
The greedy ogre ate a dog
Not Obunde Magoro!
The greedy ogre ate banana stalks
Not my family;
Now come and get Obunde,
His children and wife.
Obunde sang the words and the ogres got very angry. The first ogre rushed into the hollow of the tree, but
Oswera had heated a long piece of iron until it was white. She pushed the iron into the ogre’s mouth. The beast
fell down dead. The next one rushed into the hollow and Oswera killed him in the same way. In this way she
killed all the ogres and saved her husband and all their children.
My story ends there.
Questions
(a) Whom do you consider to be the hero in this story and why?
(b) In your own words, describe the setting of this story.
(c) Compare Obunde and the ogre as they are presented in this story.
(d) What is the role of the song in this story?
(e) Describe the character of Oswera, the wife as seen in this story.
(f) Other than the song, identify and illustrate one other feature of style used in the story.
(g) (a) Explain the moral teaching of this story.
(b) Use an appropriate proverb to summarize this lesson.
(h) List down three characteristics of the above genre.
(i) If you were to collect the above, what methods of data collection would you use?
Date posted:
June 7, 2019
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Answers (1)
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Fill in the blank spaces, with the most appropriate word.
(Solved)
Fill in the blank spaces, with the most appropriate word.
Sister Stefani (1) _______________ sent to serve with other nuns at Gikondi Parish as a nurse. She (2)
______________herself to caring for the sick. It is said by (3) ___________ of her contemporaries that many
were the (4) _____________ that she spent entire days (5) ________________ eating so as to serve her many
patients. Because of this loving service (6) ____________ dedication, the people of that (7) _____________
nicknamed her as 'Nyaatha' which means 'a merciful person.'
According to the document that missionaries kept in Gikondi Parish, there was an (8) ______________ of
plague and Sister Stefani (9) ________________the disease as she was treating one of her patients. Other nuns
had requested her not to attend to the patient to avoid being (10) ______________.
Date posted:
June 7, 2019
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Answers (1)
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Using the words in brackets, complete the following sentences with the most appropriate phrasal verb.
(Solved)
Using the words in brackets, complete the following sentences with the most appropriate phrasal verb.
(i) I was _______by his childish behaviour during the academic parade. (take).
(ii) The new students could not ____________ their way to the dormitory. (make)
Date posted:
June 7, 2019
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Answers (1)
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A flea and a fly flew up in a flue.
Said the flea, 'Let us fly!'
Said the fly, 'Let us flee.'
So they flew through a flaw...
(Solved)
A flea and a fly flew up in a flue.
Said the flea, 'Let us fly!'
Said the fly, 'Let us flee.'
So they flew through a flaw in the flue.
(i) Identify the genre above.
(ii) Identify and illustrate the dominant sound pattern in the genre above.
Date posted:
June 7, 2019
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Answers (1)
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Rewrite the following sentences according to the instructions given.
(Solved)
Rewrite the following sentences according to the instructions given.
(i) Is there life after death or not? This is a question which man has been asking himself for a very long
time.
(Rewrite beginning: The question of ……… Do not use the word question twice).
(ii) I don’t think you should go out this afternoon.
(Rewrite beginning: I’d rather…………..)
(iii) After a new principal was appointed, results began to improve.
(Rewrite beginning: Subsequent………….)
Date posted:
May 28, 2019
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Answers (1)
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Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow:
(Solved)
Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow:
We are often advised to be confident; confidence comes when we feel passionately about what we perform, what
we have achieved, and what we can offer.
Lack of confidence can hinder a lot of things, ranging from how you get ahead in your career to the number of
skills you are able to acquire. It is a determining factor in the way you direct your career. Confidence is conveyed
from inner to the outer through the words you speak and the posture you assume. Building confidence is not a one
day affair. Neither does it take other people to build your confidence.
I remember an interview I once conducted for secretaries, and the memory of one woman is intact. She
stammered from the point she entered the office to the moment she left. Thinking that it was interview jitters, we
called her again, based on her technical qualifications rather than her presentation. She presented the same
problem. We settled on a different candidate because confidence was a key qualification for the job which
involved dealing with clients and colleagues.
Not many entry-level and first-time job seekers are coached or tutored on how to gain more self-confidence.
Instead, we tell them to “attend a few events, meet more people, and get the hang of it.” That is not the right
approach. Often, by the time you “get the hang of it,” you will have probably ruined a few chances, stepped on a
few toes, and generally spoilt a few opportunities. Confidence starts from within, which means working with
yourself to find an effective method on your capabilities.
Having had quite some experience interviewing and being interviewed, I have developed three sure-fire ways that
not only help me before an interview, but improve my general self-confidence. You must start with one as you
progress and eventually build your own self-confidence.
I have learnt that confidence begins with pushing yourself towards positive attitude. Before an interview, I tell
myself that I am capable of great things, great performance, and that the interview is only a little chat I must have
to get the job. Not only do I talk myself into entering the interview room, but I also talk myself into achieving
success, whether or not I need the job. About 90 percent of the time, I have been successful in interviews.
Doubting oneself only leads to criticizing oneself, which plants deep roots that can be almost impossible to weed
out. My mentor always used to say, “You are what you think you are.”
Secondly, beginning with one small step rather than giant leaps will ensure that you tackle interviews and first
jobs with a lot of self-confidence. There are two ways to go through this.
The first one has to do with something that you like doing, such as writing a song. However, this should not be
just any song but a new one created out of your love for music. My personal pre-interview confidence boost is to
cook something that I have never tried before. This boosts my self-confidence to new levels. After achieving that
particular goal, you must pat yourself on the back.
The third step to building confidence involves holding onto that little surge of confidence. Once you have tackled
what you have previously found to be difficult, then the next step would be to focus on building your self
confidence a lot further.
Ensure that this becomes not only a monthly confidence boost, but a daily one because, as we are all programmed,
we must build our self-confidence habitually to maintain it. Routines have been known to help anybody to
acquire and maintain confidence
(a) What is confidence according to the passage?
(b) How is confidence conveyed?
(c) What suggestions are given to first-time job seekers to help them in gaining more self-confidence?
(d) What does the writer identify as the major hindrance to confidence?
(e) According to the writer what two key qualifications were they looking for in the interview for secretaries.
(f) Identify the three ways the writer mentions that help before an interview and improve in self confidence.
(g) In not more than 50 words write what the writer has been doing to achieve success in interviews.
Rough copy
Fair copy
(h) Explain the meaning of the following words as used in the passage.
(a) Surge:
(b) Interview jitter.
(c) Habitually
Date posted:
May 28, 2019
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Answers (1)