Your brother who has just entered boarding school has written a letter to you complaining about the difficulty he has adjusting to life there. Write a reply, advising and encouraging him.

Write an article suitable for publication in a national newspaper on the effects of drug abuse on the youth.

As the president of your youth club, write a letter to your District Chief Executive requesting for two basic amenities and stating why they are urgently required.

As the Senior Prefect of your school, write a speech to be presented to the Parent-Teacher Association on the need for the Association to provide facilities for extra-curricular activities for the students.

Write a story ending with the statement: At that moment, I wished I had been more serious with my studies.

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions on it.

John was certainly not cheerful. This was not his first interview with a prospective employer. Ever since taking his B.A. Degree, he had knocked on many doors unsuccessfully. Either there was no vacancy or he was not the man for the job. What hope had he of ever getting one? And he was poor and getting poorer. His father had died long ago. But for an uncle, he would not have been able to study for his degree. Now the two of them - mother and son - were alone in the world. His mother's sight was failing, needle-work had placed too great a strain on it. Even if she were able to turn out as good and as much work as she used to do before, it did not mean much in wages. He must secure a job at any rate.

After another three weeks of disappointment and frustration, he came across an old schoolmate who told him that there was an advert on the college notice board for the position of driver, a receptionist and a labourer. His schoolmate, however made it clear that he was not going to apply for such jobs.

Away from his friend, John decided to apply for one of the jobs. Back home, he wrote application letters for all three positions and submitted them at the security post as stipulated. A week later, he received an invitation letter to appear for an interview the following Saturday. It was for the position of labourer.

On that fateful morning, he took his bath, dressed up and said goodbye to his mother. In the waiting room, he met other applicants for the interview, which had been slated for 9.00 am. After three hours, nobody appeared to interview them. Some of the applicants got impatient and started making sarcastic remarks about the interview panel. At 12.30 pm everyone, except John, had left. At exactly 1.00 pm, two gentlemen and a lady entered the waiting room and John immediately got up and greeted them. They responded and walked into a room adjacent to the waiting room. A few minutes later, the lady called John in. The man in the middle, who John later discovered to be the Managing Director of the company, skimmed through the document before him. Then he looked up and said, 'Because of the character in you, you have been offered the position of Assistant Secretary in this company and you should report for work tomorrow, at 8.00 am. Good luck'.

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions on it.

Our children are our heritage. For those who are interested in building family business that last for generations, children are a vital link to the next generation. It is crucial that we determine upfront what the vision of our family is and our vision of success. If a family knows where it is going, it will take steps to actualize its vision. If the children are not carried along in the family vision, they may pull down whatever the parents are building. Success without a successor is ultimately failure.

In this age of materialism, it is important for us parents to adopt new methods to update ourselves in training our children, rather than holding on to the same old ways of our own parents. For instance, gone are the days when parents merely admonished their children to get good grades in order to get good jobs. This is no longer enough as many graduates go back home to depend on their parents due to the high rate of unemployment which has hit the country like a deadly virus. As a result of this, it is pertinent to teach our children to be financially independent. A child who has poor money management skills will be reduced to living from hand to mouth and will sometimes fall back on the parents for survival, even if he or she has a good job.

Nowadays, employees can no longer afford to consume all their income and hope to depend on their pension benefits because in the current circumstances, these benefits may not adequately support them in retirement. Even companies that still maintain benefit plans are feeling the heat. It is important therefore that parents teach their children how to save and invest rather than leave their financial future to people they do not know and market forces they cannot control.

In the same vein, children have to be taught how to hold tight their purse no matter how enticing the advertisement of a product may be. Although in practical terms man's want are unlimited, children who are conscious of their spending, in the long run, become financially stronger than those who spend frivolously.

Parents should not also turn their children into mere consumers by giving them the impression that all they own or work for, will eventually be passed on to them. For example, they should not pamper their children by building houses for them, taking care of their families or taking up their day to day financial responsibilities. In homes where this has been the case, children have been known to grow up lacking any initiative of their own and contentedly waiting to inherit their parent's wealth and businesses. In many cases, such inherited businesses go to ruin.

Children should be taught how to be financially disciplined because for parents who are struggling financially, supporting adult children becomes a drain on their finance.