ISC EXAMINATION (Specimen)

ENGLISH LANGUAGE — Paper 1

Class XI

Time: 3 Hours Maximum Marks: 100

Answers to this Paper must be written on the paper provided separately.
You will not be allowed to write during the first 15 minutes. This time is to be spent reading the question paper.
This paper consists of four sections. Attempt all four sections.

SECTION A — COMPOSITION
1. Write a composition of approximately 450–500 words on any ONE of the following: [20]
(a) Narrative: 'It was the one decision I never thought I would make.' Continue the story from this point.
(b) Descriptive: Describe an old, abandoned house that the local children believe is haunted, capturing
its atmosphere in vivid detail.
(c) Story Writing: Write an original story titled 'The Last Train Home'.
(d) Argumentative: 'Artificial Intelligence will do more good than harm to society.' Discuss this
statement, presenting arguments for and against.

SECTION B — DIRECTED WRITING

2. Attempt ANY ONE of the following in about 300–350 words: [20]
(a) Book Review: Write a review of a book you have recently read, commenting on its theme,
characters, style, and your overall assessment of its merit.
OR
(b) Film Review: Write a review of a film you have watched, evaluating its plot, direction, performances,
and the impact it had on you as a viewer.

SECTION C — PROPOSAL WRITING

3. Read the situation given below and write a proposal in about 300 words: [20]
Your school is planning to set up a community service initiative to support an underprivileged section of
society nearby. As the Secretary of the Social Service League, draft a proposal to be submitted to the
Principal, outlining the aim, plan of action, resources required, and expected outcomes of the initiative.

SECTION D — GRAMMAR AND COMPREHENSION

4. Grammar: Attempt the following as directed: [20]
(a) Rewrite the following sentences after filling in the blanks with appropriate words/forms: (5)
(b) Combine the following pairs of sentences using the connector indicated in brackets: (5)
(c) Rewrite the following sentences according to the instructions given, making changes only where
necessary: (5)
(d) Use the following idiomatic expressions in sentences of your own: (5)
5. Comprehension: Read the passage given below carefully and answer the questions that follow:
[20]
There is a particular kind of confidence that comes not from knowing the answer, but from being
unafraid of not knowing it. I noticed this most clearly during a year I spent shadowing emergency room
doctors as part of a research project on decision-making under pressure. What struck me was not how
much these doctors knew — though they knew a great deal — but how comfortable they were saying,
out loud, in front of patients and colleagues alike, 'I don't know yet, but here is how we will find out.'
This stood in sharp contrast to a pattern I had observed for years in classrooms and boardrooms alike:
the reflexive performance of certainty, even when certainty had not been earned. Students guess
confidently rather than admit confusion. Executives announce strategies with unwavering conviction
even when the underlying data is thin. Somewhere along the way, many of us absorbed the lesson that
hesitation reads as weakness, and that the appearance of sureness matters more than its substance.
The emergency room doctors had clearly absorbed a different lesson, likely beaten into them by the
stakes of their profession: that the appearance of certainty, when unearned, gets people killed. A doctor
who guesses confidently rather than ordering the right test is far more dangerous than one who pauses
to say 'I'm not certain, let's check.' Over time, this seemed to produce a culture where admitting
uncertainty was not just tolerated but expected, almost a mark of competence rather than its absence.
What was perhaps most interesting was how this affected the doctors' relationships with their patients.
Far from undermining trust, the willingness to say 'I don't know, but here's the plan' appeared to build it.
Patients seemed to sense, correctly, that a doctor honest about the limits of their current knowledge
was more trustworthy than one who pretended to omniscience, precisely because the next thing that
doctor told them was more likely to be reliable.
It is tempting to conclude that we should all simply be more comfortable with uncertainty, but the lesson
is more specific than that. The doctors were not vague or wishy-washy; uncertainty was always paired
with a clear next step. The phrase was never simply 'I don't know' — it was always 'I don't know yet,
and here is exactly how we are going to find out.' That second half, I have come to think, is the part
most of us forget to say.
(i) Answer the following questions briefly in your own words:
1. What did the writer find most striking about the emergency room doctors' behaviour?
2. Contrast the 'reflexive performance of certainty' described in classrooms and boardrooms with the
doctors' approach.
3. Why does the writer suggest that unearned certainty is especially dangerous in the medical
profession?
4. How did the doctors' willingness to admit uncertainty affect their patients' trust, and why might this be
the case?
5. What is the 'second half' of the phrase that the writer believes most people forget to say, and why
does it matter?
(ii) Give the meaning of the following words/phrases as used in the passage:
1. 'reflexive' (paragraph 2)
2. 'omniscience' (paragraph 4)
3. 'wishy-washy' (paragraph 5)
4. 'unwavering' (paragraph 2)
(iii) In not more than 80 words, summarise the passage. Suggest a suitable title.

— END OF PAPER 1 —