CBSE Class 11 English Mid Term Exam 2025-26: St. Margaret School, Rohini

11th Class CBSE Board English Core (301) SET B Mid Term Examination (2025-26): St. Margaret Sr. Sec. School, Prashant Vihar, Sector 14, Rohini, Delhi-85 India

School Name:	St. Margaret Sr. Sec. School, D-BLOCK, Prashant Vihar, Sector 14, Rohini, New Delhi 110085 India
Class:	11th Standard (CBSE)
Subject:	English
Time Duration:	03 Hours
Maximum Marks:	80
Date:	~ September, 2025

General Instructions:

1. The Question Paper contains THREE sections- READING, WRITING & GRAMMAR and LITERATURE.
2. Attempt questions based on specific instructions for each part.
3. Do not exceed the prescribed word limit.

SECTION A

READING (26 Marks)

Question 01: Read the given passage and answer the question that follow. (8 marks)

[1] A recent survey was conducted among 2,000 college students and young professionals to analyse preferences for different types of jobs, including corporate roles, personal start-ups or family businesses, and service professions (example- defense, nursing, police). The study aimed to identify trends in career aspirations, the factors influencing these preferences, and their implications for workforce planning and education systems. Participants were asked to rank their preferences on a five-point scale.

[2] The study covered respondents across urban and semi-urban areas, representing diverse educational, economic, and cultural backgrounds. Researchers ensured diversity in gender, socioeconomic status, and career stages to make the findings representative of a broad spectrum of opinions. Data collection involved online questionnaires and in person interviews, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of job preferences. The data was displayed as a bar graph given below.

[3] Corporate jobs were commonly associated with financial stability, growth opportunities, and access to structured career paths. Start-ups and family businesses, on the other hand, appealed to those valuing autonomy, creativity, and the chance to work in more flexible environments. Service professions were perceived as fulfilling and prestigious, especially among individuals motivated by a sense of duty.

[4] The survey also highlighted several challenges. Geographic variations were significant, with urban respondents gravitating more toward corporate roles, while semi-urban participants showed a stronger inclination for service professions and family businesses. Respondents indicated limited mentorship opportunities and a lack of clarity about the long-term prospects of non-corporate careers as barriers influencing their decisions.

[5]The findings provide a foundation for further research into how cultural, regional, and generational influences shape career choices. Future studies could explore factors such as gender-based preferences, emerging industries, mentorship availability, and the role of technological advancements in shaping job markets. Additionally, longitudinal research could track how these preferences evolve as respondents advance in their careers. This could help educational institutions and employers develop tailored strategies to better align with the aspirations and values of young job seekers. Moreover, policies encouraging skill development and mentorship programs may bridge the gaps identified in this survey, ensuring more informed career decisions among youth.

Answer the following questions.

1. What was the main purpose of the survey conducted among 2,000 college students and young professionals?
   A. To determine the popularity of specific jobs in rural areas versus urban areas
   B. To explore patterns in career aspirations and the factors influencing them
   C. To analyse the success rate of startups and family businesses
   D. To assess the salary expectations of young professionals opting for jobs
2. Fill in the blank with the correct option from those given in brackets. The study ensured diversity in gender, socioeconomic status, and career stages to make the findings ____________ (accurate / representative / specific).
3. Fill in the blank with reference to the given bar graph chart. The profession preference for which policymakers primarily need to provide encouraging incentives is ___________.
4. Based on the bar graph, which of the following statements best reflects the correct trend in job preferences?
   A. Corporate jobs are more in the ‘Least preferred’ category than service professions.
   B. Service professions are less preferred than corporate jobs on the ‘Neutral’ scale.
   C. Service professions have a higher percentage of respondents marking them as ‘Highly Preferred’ compared to corporate jobs.
   D. Corporate jobs and service professions have an equal percentage of respondents marking them as ‘Preferred.’
5. Riya wishes to have a regular salary and defined growth in her career. Why is a corporate job better suited for her compared to joining a start-up or family business? (Ref: Paragraphs 3 & 4)
6. How might further studies in the understanding of emerging industries and technological advancements empower youth to make well-informed career decisions? (Ref: Paragraph 5)

Question 02: Read the given passage and answer the questions that follow. (10 Marks)

1. Drishti was a young woman who had always been fascinated by the supernatural. She had read countless books and watched numerous documentaries about ghosts and otherworldly beings. So, when she heard about an abandoned hotel on the outskirts of town that was said to be haunted, she knew she had to investigate.
2. One night, Drishti decided to sneak into the dilapidated hotel with a few of her friends. As they made their way through the dark, eerie corridors, they heard strange noises and felt cold spots. They were convinced that they were not alone.
3. Suddenly, they came across a room that was different from the rest. It was filled with old, worn-down cooking equipment and strange symbols etched into the walls. Drishti felt a chill run down her spine as she entered the room. She knew that this was where the most paranormal activity occurred. As they were examining the room, they heard a loud bang coming from the hallway. They froze in fear, not knowing what was coming their way. She could hear footsteps approaching, and they knew they had to hide.
4. They quickly ducked behind some old shelves as the footsteps grew louder. The sound of breathing was getting closer and closer until finally, they saw a figure appear in the doorway. It was a man wearing a chef’s hat, with a face that was twisted in a sinister smile. Drishti and her friends have felt their blood run cold as the man approached them. They felt cold breath on their faces as he leaned in, whispering in a deep voice, “You shouldn’t be here.”
5. Drishti and her friends were frozen with fear as they stared into the chef’s eyes. But suddenly, the lights flickered on, and the figure disappeared. They looked around the room, and everything seemed normal. They had been so scared that they hadn’t realized they were in a room with faulty wiring.
6. Disappointed, they realized that their ghost hunt had been a bust. They left the hotel feeling deflated and let down. They had hoped for an exciting, spine-tingling adventure; all they got was a scary moment caused by faulty wiring. As they drove home, they couldn’t help but feel foolish for getting so worked up over nothing. They had been so convinced that they would find evidence of the paranormal that they had overlooked the simple explanation for the noises they had heard.
7. Drishti learned an important lesson that night. Sometimes, the scariest things are the ones that we create in our own minds. She realized that she didn’t need to chase after the supernatural to experience thrills and excitement. The world around her was full of mystery and wonder, and she was content to experience it without the need for ghosts and ghouls.

Answer the following.

1. How does the setting contribute to the overall mood and atmosphere of the story?
   A. It creates a sense of nostalgia.
   B. It provides a sense of false security.
   C. It adds to the suspense in the story.
   D. It presents a contrast with the real world.
2. List two ways how the disappointment that Drishti and her friends felt after their ghost hunt is analogous to the feeling of waking up from a dream. Answer in 30-40 words.
3. What is the main flaw in Drishti’s approach to investigating the haunted hotel?
   A. She was too focused on finding evidence of the paranormal.
   B. She was too skeptical and refused to believe in the possibility of ghosts.
   C. She didn’t rely too heavily on other people’s accounts of the supernatural.
   D. She didn’t take enough precautions to ensure her safety.
4. After which paragraph of the story would the following paragraph most likely be placed? They commenced walking through the hotel, Drishti’s torchlight barely illuminating the darkness around her. Suddenly, they heard a loud creaking noise behind them. Drishti whipped around, pointing her flashlight in the direction of the noise. Nothing. Shaken. They all quickened their pace.
5. Briefly explain (in 30-40 words) any two elements that classify the story as scary.
6. Substitute the underlined word in the following sentence with a word/phrase from paragraphs 4 and 6 that means the same.The sound of the footsteps outside the door left her petrified and the rasping breathing added to her horror.
   
7. What is the most significant lesson that Drishti learns from her experience in the haunted hotel?
   A. The importance of avoiding risk-taking
   B. The need to be more skeptical of the supernatural
   C. The value of evaluating your weaknesses
   D. The power of imagination to create suspense
8. Complete the following appropriately. Based on the use of the word “dilapidated” to describe the hotel in Paragraph 2, we can infer that its condition was _______________.

Question 03: Read the given passage carefully. (8 Marks)

Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassicism was born in Rome, largely due to the writings of Johann Joachim Winckelmann during the rediscovery of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Its popularity expanded throughout Europe as a generation of European art students finished their Grand Tour and returned from Italy to their home countries with newly rediscovered Greco-Roman ideals. The main Neoclassical movement coincided with the 18th-century Age of Enlightenment, and continued into the early 19th century, eventually competing with Romanticism. In architecture, the style endured throughout the 19th, 2Oth, and into the 21st century.

European Neoclassicism in the visual arts began c. 1760 in opposition to the then dominant Rococo style. Rococo architecture emphasizes grace, ornamentation and asymmetry; Neoclassical architecture is based on the principles of simplicity and symmetry, which were seen as virtues of the arts of Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece, and drawn directly from 16th-century Renaissance Classicism. Each “neo”classicism movement selects some models among the range of possible classics that are available to it, and ignores others. Between 1765 and 1830, Neoclassical proponents-writers, speakers, patrons, collectors, artists and sculptors-paid homage to an idea of the artistic generation associated with Phidias, but sculpture examples they actually embraced were more likely to be Roman copies of Hellenistic sculptures. They ignored both Archaic Greek art and the works of late antiquity. The discovery of ancient Palmyra’s “Rococo” art through engravings in Robert Wood’s The Ruins of Palmyra came as a revelation. With Greece largely unexplored and considered a dangerous territory of the Ottoman Empire, Neoclassicists’ appreciation of Greek architecture was predominantly mediated through drawings and engravings which were subtly smoothed and regularized, “corrected” and “restored” monuments of Greece, not always consciously.

a) On the basis of your reading of the above passage make notes on it using heading and subheadings Use recognizable abbreviations and a format you consider suitable. Also supply a title to it. (5)
b) Write a summary of the passage in not more than 80 words based on the notes prepared by you. (3)

SECTION B

GRAMMAR & WRITING SKILLS (23 MARKS)

Question 04:

Prepare a poster on behalf of Healthcare NGO, requesting the general public to donate medicines for a charitable cause. (50 words)

OR

Ved Public School is organizing Cultural Exhibition. Prepare a poster to invite the students and the parents of other schools.

Question 05:

Many students feel directionless after Class XII. There is a need for career counselling session for them. With this concern, write a speech to be delivered in the morning assembly in 150-200 words. You are Parag / Pragati.

Question 06:

You are Anshu / Anita. You have secured 95 percent marks in English. Your English teacher has persuaded you to share the secret or your success with your schoolmates. You decide to deliver a speech ‘English is an extremely scoring subject’ in the morning assembly. Write the speech in about 150-200 words.

Question 07: Do the following as directed:

1. Rewrite using the correct form of the verbs in brackets.
   Robert Lee Frost was an American poet. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech, Frost frequently ___________ (write) rural life in New England in the early 20th century, __________  (use) them to examine complex social and philosophical themes. Frost is the only poet ___________ (receive) four Pulitzer Prizes for poetry.
2. The following passage has not been edited. There is an error in each line against which a numeral is given. Write the incorrect word and the correction. Remember to underline the word that you have supplied.
   (a) Three Men in a Boat from Jerome K. Jerome is about
   (b) three friends or a dog rowing their way along the
   (c) Thames toward Oxford. The human character on
   (d) a boat are George, Harris, and the author, Jerome.
   (e) The dog, Montmorency, was a fox terrier. The three
   (f) young man consider themselves capable outdoorsell
   (g) though they had trouble with simple outdoor survival
   (h) skills. Setting up an tent flummoxes them.
3. Rearrange the following words to make meaningful sentences.
   a) achieved/ hard / success / dedication / and / by / only / work / is
   b) examination / preparation / confidence / brings / thorough / in/ the
   c) pollution / increasing / a / problem/ global /becoming / is

SECTION C

ENGLISH CORE (31 MARKS)

Question 08: (1) Read the following extract. and answer the questions that follow:

“Because you are the best daddy in the whole world – and the best captain,” my son replied
“Not today, Jon, I’m afraid.”
“Why, vou must be,” said Sue in a matter-of-fact voice. “You found the island. ”
“What!” I shouted
“It’s out there in front of us,” they chorused, “as big as a battleship.”

1. What does Jonathan’s statement, “Because you are the best daddy in the whole world – and the best captain,” reveal about his perspective?
2. Why did the children chorusing “It’s out there in front of us” surprise the narrator?
   (a) He thought they were playing a joke.
   (b) He believed the island would appear much smaller.
   (c) He assumed the island would be further away.
   (d) He had lost hope of finding the island.
3. Complete the following suitably.

The sighting of the Amsterdam brought immense relief to the narrator because—————-.

Question 08 (II):

Archaeology has changed substantially in the intervening decades, focusing less on treasure and more on the fascinating details of life and intriguing mysteries of death. It also uses more sophisticated tools, including medical technology. In 1968, more than 40 years after Carter’s discovery, an anatomy professor X-rayed the mummy and revealed a startling fact: beneath the resin that cakes his chest, his breast-bone and front ribs are missing. Today diagnostic imaging can be done with computed tomography, or CT, by which hundreds of X-rays in cross section are put together like slices of bread to create a three-dimensional virtual body.

1. How has the focus of archaeology evolved over the decades?
2. What does the missing breastbone and ribs suggest about King Tut’s mummy?
   (a) They were intentionally removed during the embalming process
   (b) The resin hardened and caused structural damage
   (C) There might have been an injury or unnatural cause of death
   (d) The mummy was incomplete due to ancient looting

3. The analogy of “slices of bread” is appropriate for describing CT scans because

Question 09 (I): Read the following extract, and answer the questions that follow.

Then sleek as a lizard, and alert, and abrupt,
She enters the thickness, and a machine starts up
Of chitterings, and a tremor of wings, and trillings –
The whole tree trembles and thrills.
It is the engine of her family.

1. What does the comparison of the goldfinch to a lizard suggest?
   (a) Her movements are smooth and quick.
   (b) She is camouflaged and blends with the tree.
   (c) She is aggressive and predatory.
   (d) She is slow and deliberate.
2. Select the word that will not Complete the sentence appropriately: The comparison of the bird’s movements to a lizard highlights its ______________.
   (a) alertness
   (b) fluidity
   (c) hesitation
   (d) abruptness
3. Complete the following suitably:
   The phrase “a machine starts up” symbolizes  _______________.

Question 09 (II):

Eternal I rise impalpable out of the land and the bottomless sea,
Upward to heaven, whence, vaguely form’d, altogether changed, and yet the same,
I descend to lave the droughts, atomies, dust-layers of the globe,
And all that in them without me were seeds only, latent, unborn:

1. How does the rain describe itself in the line “altogether changed, and yet the same”?
   (a) The rain changes form but retains its essence.
   (b) The rain becomes something entirely different.
   (c) The rain stops existing after transformation.
   (d) The rain cannot be recognized after changing.
2. Complete the following suitably:
   The rain helping seeds that are “latent, unborn” signifies ____________.
3. What role does the rain play when it “descends to lave the droughts, atomies, dust layers”?
   (a) It destroys seeds.
   (b) It purifies and revitalizes the earth.
   (c) It evaporates into the atmosphere
   (d) It creates storms.

Question 10 (I): Read the following extract, and answer the questions that follow. (4)

I followed the girl along the passage. An old-fashioned iron Hanukkah candle-holder hung
next to a mirror. We never used it because it was much more cumbersome than a single
candlestick.

Won’t you sit down?” asked the not know. I found myself in the living-room and I went inside past her. I stopped, horrified. was in a room I knew and did not know I found myself in the
midst of things I did want to see again but which oppressed me in the strange
atmosphere. Or because of the tasteless way everything was arranged, because of the ugly
furniture of the muggy smell that hung there, I don’t know, but I scarcely dared to look
around me. The girl moved a chair. I sat down and stared at the woolen table-cloth. I rubbed
it. My fingers grew warm from rubbing. I followed the lines of the pattern. Somewhere on the
edge there should be a burn mark that had never been repaired.

1. Why did the narrator feel uncomfortable in the living room?
2. Complete the following suitably. The narrator’s reaction to the living room shows that familiar objects can become unsettling when ________________.
3. What is the significance of the narrator noticing the burn mark on the tablecloth?
   (a) It shows that the tablecloth was well cared for by Mrs. Dorling.
   (b) It indicates that the tablecloth is new and unfamiliar.
   (c) It reminds the narrator of a specific memory from her past.
   (d) It highlights the narrator’s attention to details in the room.
4. The girl’s invitation to the narrator to sit down shows that she is
   (a) unaware of the narrator’s emotional connection to the objects.
   (b) intentionally making the narrator feel uncomfortable.
   (c) trying to make the narrator leave quickly.
   (d) proud of the items in the room.

OR

Question 10 (II):

Good morning, son of my friends, he said. What is the name of your horse? My Heart, my cousin Mourad said in Armenian, A lovely mame, John Byro said, for a lovely horse. I could swear It is the horse that was stolen from me many weeks ago. May I look into his mouth?

Of course, Mourad said. The farmer looked into the mouth of the horse. Tooth for Tooth, he said. I would swear it is my horse if I didn’t know your parents. The fame of your ramily for honesty is well kn m Yet the horse is the twin of my horse. A suspicious man Would believe his eyes instead of his heart. Good day, my young friends. Good day, John Byro, my cousin Mourad said. Farly the following morning we took the horse to John Byro’s Vineyard and put it in the barn.

1. Why does John Byro not accuse the boys of stealing the horse, even though he recognises it?
2. Select the correct option from those given in brackets to fill in the blank.
   John Byro’s statement, “A suspicious man would believe his eyes instead of his heart”, shows that he values  ____________ (honesty / suspicion) more than appearances.
3. What is the meaning of tooth for tooth?
4. Complete the following suitably.
   Mourad naming the horse “My Heart” indicates _______________.

Question 11: Answer any two of the following questions in 40-50 words.

1. What is the significance of the phrase “altogether changed, and yet the same”?
2. What does the poet mean by “terribly transient feet”?
3. Describe the changing relationship between the author and his grandmother. Did their feelings towards each other change?
4. How does the narrator’s reflection on Suzanne’s and Jonathan’s actions highlight the strength of family bonds?

Question 12: Answer any one of the following questions in 40-50 words.

1. Why do you think the narrator did not wait to confront Mrs. Dorling during her second visit?
2. What is the significance of the green cardigan in the story?

Question 13: Answer any one of the following questions in 120-150 words.

1. Imagine you visited King Tut’s tomb. Write a diary entry describing your experience and emotion.
2. How does the story reflect the theme of tradition versus modernity? (The Portrait of a Lady)

Question 14: Answer any one of the following questions in 120-150 words.

1. How do the boys’ actions reflect the conflict between personal desires and moral values?
2. Discuss the significance of the title “The Address”. Why is appropriate for the story?