Question 2: Model Answer (Edexcel IGCSE English Language A)

'I was very wet and cold. By now I was walking through the territory of the Hewa tribe, and met people telling me I couldn't go on.'

Unbeknown to Benedict, a violet feud was raging between the Paiela tribe and Hewa people. Then, hampered by torrential rain, he began to recognise signs of malaria, which he's had five times before.

'Every night I made a shelter out of palm leaves, but each night there was a terrible tropical storm which tore through my palm leaves and left me completely soaked through. I was spending four hours each night trying to repair the shelter in the mud.'

When he did sleep, biting centipedes and poisonous spiders the size of fists crawled around his sleeping bag.

But he said the worst peril was electrical storms that sent whole trees crashing down 'like a hammer' at night - pulverising everything in their path.

Model answer:

The difficulties Benedict Allen faced on his return journey included suffering from wet weather which made him very cold, as well as extremely heavy rain which further slowed his progress. [Marking comment] He recognised that he was beginning to experience the symptoms of malaria, and every night he would make a shelter which was then demolished by violent storms, so he had to spend up to four hours each night re-building it, meaning he got very little sleep. [Marking comment] His sleep was also disturbed by insects crawling around his shelter, and electrical storms would cause trees to come down causing extensive damage to his surroundings. [Marking comment]