IGCSE English 0500: Selecting Evidence. Rooftop Beekeeping Passage

Read the passage, then answer the questions that follow.

On the flat roof of Whitmore House, a converted warehouse in the city centre, six wooden hives sit in two neat rows, screened from the wind by a low trellis of climbing beans. Priya Anand, who runs the building's residents' association, started the project eighteen months ago after noticing that the tomato plants in the shared roof garden were producing fewer fruit each summer. She reasoned that without enough pollinators nearby, flowers were simply not being fertilised. A local beekeeping charity donated two starter colonies and ran a single afternoon workshop for interested residents, and from there the project grew largely through trial and error.

The first winter nearly ended it. Priya had not realised how much a colony's stores could be depleted by a mild spell in December, when bees leave the hive to forage but find almost nothing in flower; one colony starved within a fortnight. She has since learned to check honey reserves by lifting the back of the hive rather than opening it, judging weight by feel, and to leave a fondant block wedged above the frames whenever the forecast turns unseasonably warm. The second winter, all six colonies survived.

Yields have crept up more slowly than residents hoped (the roof produced eleven jars of honey last year, sold at the autumn fair to cover the charity's ongoing support visits) but Priya insists the real measure of success is elsewhere. The courgette plants two floors below, on a terrace she cannot even see from the hives, fruited for the first time in three years, and she is certain the bees are responsible.

(a) Using details from the first paragraph, explain why Priya decided to introduce beehives to the roof. Support your answer with a short quotation. [3]

(b) Using your own words as far as possible, and one embedded quotation, explain what problem the beekeeping project faced in its first winter and how Priya solved it. [3]

Assessment focus

This question tests selection (finding the detail that actually answers the question, not just any true fact from the paragraph) and use of evidence (quoting precisely and embedding the quotation smoothly inside the candidate’s own sentence, rather than dropping it in unexplained).

Part (a): Selecting the reason

The paragraph gives one clear chain of reasoning, and a strong answer states it as a chain rather than a single isolated fact:

Priya noticed a problem: the roof garden’s tomatoes “were producing fewer fruit each summer.”
She diagnosed a cause: “without enough pollinators nearby, flowers were simply not being fertilised.”
Conclusion (implied, and creditable if stated in the candidate’s own words): more pollinators, i.e. bees, should mean better fruiting.

Mark scheme for (a), up to 3 marks:

1 mark for identifying the observed problem (fewer tomatoes fruiting).
1 mark for identifying Priya’s reasoning (lack of pollinators / flowers not fertilised).
1 mark for a short, accurate quotation used as supporting evidence (either phrase above, correctly quoted).

A response that only says “she wanted more bees” without linking this to the tomato problem and without a quotation would score at most 1.

Part (b): Selecting and using evidence about the winter problem

The problem and the solution are both stated later in paragraph 2, and candidates must select both halves, put them mainly into their own words, and integrate exactly one short quotation into their own explanation, for example:

During an unusually mild December, foraging bees found hardly any flowers to feed from, so one colony’s stores ran out completely before the month was over. Priya now avoids a repeat by judging a hive’s remaining honey just by lifting the back of it and feeling the weight, rather than opening it up, and by wedging a fondant block above the frames whenever warm weather is forecast, because bees “find almost nothing in flower” even during a mild spell that tempts them out to forage.

Mark scheme for (b), up to 3 marks:

1 mark for correctly explaining the problem, in the candidate’s own words (bees foraging in a mild spell find hardly any flowers, so a colony’s stores ran out).
1 mark for correctly explaining the solution, in the candidate’s own words (checking weight by lifting the hive instead of opening it; adding a fondant block in warm weather).
1 mark for a response that stays mainly in the candidate’s own words and embeds exactly one short, accurate quotation grammatically inside a sentence (not tacked on at the end, and not one of several quotations strung together).

Common pitfalls specific to this text

Candidates often quote the whole sentence “one colony starved within a fortnight” as if the length were what earns credit; a shorter, more precisely chosen phrase (or none at all, if the candidate’s own words are accurate) can earn the same mark.
Some candidates confuse the two winters. Crediting the second winter’s success (“all six colonies survived”) as if it were the problem, rather than reading carefully for which winter the question is about.