13Plus-level Practice Paper 1
Non-Fiction
Reading Section: 45 marks available.
Writing Section: 25 marks available.
70 marks available in total.
You are advised to read through the source in its entirety first, and then refer back to it when
necessary as you answer the questions.
Be sure to plan your longer answers, especially in the writing section.
Also make sure you leave time to proofread your answers.
This is the intellectual property of Ross Turner Academics
© Ross Turner 2023 | www.rossturneracademics.com
, READING SECTION
Source
Read the passage below, and then answer questions 1-6.
Parachuting into a New Hobby – A Magazine Article
1 Ask most people what their favourite sports or hobbies are, and pretty soon you’ll have
2 compiled a healthy list of readers, gardeners, joggers, gamers, photographers – you name it,
3 people do it. But one hobby that probably won’t make the top ten is my new favourite pastime.
4 Since taking up parachuting, I’ve lost count of the number of people who have said to
5 me: ‘Why on earth would I jump out of a perfectly serviceable airplane?’ Well, my answer to
6 you, dear naysayers, is because it’s brilliant. Bonkers, I’ll admit, but beyond a doubt brilliant.
7 It’s like riding a rollercoaster. But better, bigger, faster. Scarier.
8 But, unlike the clunk clunk of a small rollercoaster cart being dragged up metal tracks
9 by a linked chain as thick as your arm, you go up in a tiny plane. Rising slowly, you fly big
10 wide circles, gaining altitude with each round. It gives you plenty of time to look out of the
11 window and examine the ground, further and further below you. It gives you plenty of time to
12 think about exactly how much air there is between you and the dirt. It gives you plenty of time
13 to realise it’s too late to change your mind now.
14 And, unlike the expensive rollercoasters at Disney or Alton Towers or Blackpool, each
15 one dedicated to the next Marvel superhero or cartoon character, where you pay £100 for a day
16 pass, parachuting clubs aren’t flush with cash. More often than not, they only have one tiny
17 plane that makes all the flights, held together with thick black tape and guts.
18 Soon – it always feels too soon – the red light goes off, the green light comes on, and
19 someone opens the side door. And there’s the ground, only it isn’t there; it’s thousands of feet
20 below, divided into farmers’ fields and forests and cities like a patchwork quilt, nothing like
21 being 40,000 feet in the air in a jumbo jet.
22 Then you’re in the door.
23 Perching on the edge with your feet dangling over the edge, hanging out in nothingness.
24 It’s fast.
25 It’s loud.
26 It’s scary.
27 It’s unbelievable.
28 Next time you’re in a tall building, or maybe crossing a high bridge, just think about all
29 that thick space beneath you. There’s so much of it. So much of nothing.
30 You’re in the door.
31 Someone shouts, ‘Look up!’
32 You look up.
33 They shout, ‘Go!
34 You push away like you’re Superman, throwing the plane across the sky. It soars off
35 into the distance and you’re falling and there’s nothing and you try to keep your arms steady
36 and you try to stop your legs from flailing and then suddenly you’re wrenched back like
This is the intellectual property of Ross Turner Academics
© Ross Turner 2023 | www.rossturneracademics.com
Non-Fiction
Reading Section: 45 marks available.
Writing Section: 25 marks available.
70 marks available in total.
You are advised to read through the source in its entirety first, and then refer back to it when
necessary as you answer the questions.
Be sure to plan your longer answers, especially in the writing section.
Also make sure you leave time to proofread your answers.
This is the intellectual property of Ross Turner Academics
© Ross Turner 2023 | www.rossturneracademics.com
, READING SECTION
Source
Read the passage below, and then answer questions 1-6.
Parachuting into a New Hobby – A Magazine Article
1 Ask most people what their favourite sports or hobbies are, and pretty soon you’ll have
2 compiled a healthy list of readers, gardeners, joggers, gamers, photographers – you name it,
3 people do it. But one hobby that probably won’t make the top ten is my new favourite pastime.
4 Since taking up parachuting, I’ve lost count of the number of people who have said to
5 me: ‘Why on earth would I jump out of a perfectly serviceable airplane?’ Well, my answer to
6 you, dear naysayers, is because it’s brilliant. Bonkers, I’ll admit, but beyond a doubt brilliant.
7 It’s like riding a rollercoaster. But better, bigger, faster. Scarier.
8 But, unlike the clunk clunk of a small rollercoaster cart being dragged up metal tracks
9 by a linked chain as thick as your arm, you go up in a tiny plane. Rising slowly, you fly big
10 wide circles, gaining altitude with each round. It gives you plenty of time to look out of the
11 window and examine the ground, further and further below you. It gives you plenty of time to
12 think about exactly how much air there is between you and the dirt. It gives you plenty of time
13 to realise it’s too late to change your mind now.
14 And, unlike the expensive rollercoasters at Disney or Alton Towers or Blackpool, each
15 one dedicated to the next Marvel superhero or cartoon character, where you pay £100 for a day
16 pass, parachuting clubs aren’t flush with cash. More often than not, they only have one tiny
17 plane that makes all the flights, held together with thick black tape and guts.
18 Soon – it always feels too soon – the red light goes off, the green light comes on, and
19 someone opens the side door. And there’s the ground, only it isn’t there; it’s thousands of feet
20 below, divided into farmers’ fields and forests and cities like a patchwork quilt, nothing like
21 being 40,000 feet in the air in a jumbo jet.
22 Then you’re in the door.
23 Perching on the edge with your feet dangling over the edge, hanging out in nothingness.
24 It’s fast.
25 It’s loud.
26 It’s scary.
27 It’s unbelievable.
28 Next time you’re in a tall building, or maybe crossing a high bridge, just think about all
29 that thick space beneath you. There’s so much of it. So much of nothing.
30 You’re in the door.
31 Someone shouts, ‘Look up!’
32 You look up.
33 They shout, ‘Go!
34 You push away like you’re Superman, throwing the plane across the sky. It soars off
35 into the distance and you’re falling and there’s nothing and you try to keep your arms steady
36 and you try to stop your legs from flailing and then suddenly you’re wrenched back like
This is the intellectual property of Ross Turner Academics
© Ross Turner 2023 | www.rossturneracademics.com
