Please note! This task is not part of the original format of the centralised examination. However, it has been designed to help you prepare more effectively for the writing section of the examination.
In the writing part of the exam you will have to choose one task, respectively, Task A or Task B. You will have a chance to take a look on both tasks and decide which one you prefer. Now to help you get prepared for this part of the exam, study Task A and answer multiple choice questions. This will enable you to feel more confident about writing an essay in a real exam.
Task A
Task A
You are reading Great Expectations by Charles Dickens and you have come across this passage that you think would be of interest to other readers.
Write an essay in which you:
Write an essay in which you:
- introduce what you consider to be the main issue raised in the passage,
- justify why this issue is relevant to readers today,
- summarise your key points and suggest who would particularly benefit from reading this passage.
You should summarise, paraphrase or quote from the text to support your arguments.
Write your answer in 300–350 words. You have 80 minutes to complete the task.
Write your answer in 300–350 words. You have 80 minutes to complete the task.
Putting on the best clothes I had, I went into town as early as I could hope to find the shops open, and presented myself before Mr. Trabb, the tailor, called me in to him.
“Well!” said Mr. Trabb, “How are you, and what can I do for you?”
“Mr. Trabb,” said I, “it’s an unpleasant thing to have to mention, because it looks like boasting; but I have come into a handsome property.”
A change passed over Mr. Trabb. He got up from the bedside, exclaiming, “Lord bless my soul!”
“I am going up to my guardian in London,” said I, casually drawing some guineas out of my pocket and looking at them; “and I want a fashionable suit of clothes to go in. I wish to pay for them,” I added – otherwise I thought he might only pretend to make them, “with ready money.”
“My dear sir,” said Mr. Trabb, as he respectfully bent his body, “don’t hurt me by mentioning that. May I venture to congratulate you? Would you do me the favour of stepping into the shop?”
Mr. Trabb’s boy was the most audacious boy in all that country-side. When I had entered he was sweeping the shop, and he had sweetened his labours by sweeping over me. He was still sweeping when I came out into the shop with Mr. Trabb, and he knocked the broom against all possible corners and obstacles, to express (as I understood it) equality with any blacksmith, alive or dead.
“Hold that noise,” said Mr. Trabb, with the greatest sternness, “or I’ll knock your head off! – Do me the favour to be seated, sir. Now, this,” said Mr. Trabb, taking down a roll of cloth, and tiding it out in a flowing manner over the counter, preparatory to getting his hand under it to show the gloss, “is a very sweet article.
I can recommend it for your purpose, sir, because it really is extra super. But you shall see some others.
Give me Number Four, you!” (To the boy, and with a dreadfully severe stare).
[…]
I selected the materials for a suit, with the assistance of Mr. Trabb’s judgment, and re-entered the parlour to be measured. So, Mr. Trabb measured and calculated me in the parlour, as if I were an estate and he the finest species of surveyor, and gave himself such a world of trouble that I felt that no suit of clothes could possibly remunerate him for his pains. […] I saw [the boy] collapse as his master rubbed me out with his hands, and my first decided experience of the stupendous power of money was, that it had morally laid upon his back Trabb’s boy.
After this memorable event, I went to the hatter’s, and the bootmaker’s, and the hosier’s, and felt rather like Mother Hubbard’s dog whose outfit required the services of so many trades. It was not necessary to explain everywhere that I had come into a handsome property; but whenever I said anything to that effect, it followed that the officiating tradesman ceased to have his attention diverted through the window by the High Street, and concentrated his mind upon me.
(From Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)
“Well!” said Mr. Trabb, “How are you, and what can I do for you?”
“Mr. Trabb,” said I, “it’s an unpleasant thing to have to mention, because it looks like boasting; but I have come into a handsome property.”
A change passed over Mr. Trabb. He got up from the bedside, exclaiming, “Lord bless my soul!”
“I am going up to my guardian in London,” said I, casually drawing some guineas out of my pocket and looking at them; “and I want a fashionable suit of clothes to go in. I wish to pay for them,” I added – otherwise I thought he might only pretend to make them, “with ready money.”
“My dear sir,” said Mr. Trabb, as he respectfully bent his body, “don’t hurt me by mentioning that. May I venture to congratulate you? Would you do me the favour of stepping into the shop?”
Mr. Trabb’s boy was the most audacious boy in all that country-side. When I had entered he was sweeping the shop, and he had sweetened his labours by sweeping over me. He was still sweeping when I came out into the shop with Mr. Trabb, and he knocked the broom against all possible corners and obstacles, to express (as I understood it) equality with any blacksmith, alive or dead.
“Hold that noise,” said Mr. Trabb, with the greatest sternness, “or I’ll knock your head off! – Do me the favour to be seated, sir. Now, this,” said Mr. Trabb, taking down a roll of cloth, and tiding it out in a flowing manner over the counter, preparatory to getting his hand under it to show the gloss, “is a very sweet article.
I can recommend it for your purpose, sir, because it really is extra super. But you shall see some others.
Give me Number Four, you!” (To the boy, and with a dreadfully severe stare).
[…]
I selected the materials for a suit, with the assistance of Mr. Trabb’s judgment, and re-entered the parlour to be measured. So, Mr. Trabb measured and calculated me in the parlour, as if I were an estate and he the finest species of surveyor, and gave himself such a world of trouble that I felt that no suit of clothes could possibly remunerate him for his pains. […] I saw [the boy] collapse as his master rubbed me out with his hands, and my first decided experience of the stupendous power of money was, that it had morally laid upon his back Trabb’s boy.
After this memorable event, I went to the hatter’s, and the bootmaker’s, and the hosier’s, and felt rather like Mother Hubbard’s dog whose outfit required the services of so many trades. It was not necessary to explain everywhere that I had come into a handsome property; but whenever I said anything to that effect, it followed that the officiating tradesman ceased to have his attention diverted through the window by the High Street, and concentrated his mind upon me.
(From Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)
1. How could Pip's deliberate display of money be interpreted in an essay examining the relationship between wealth and personal identity?
2. Which thesis statement would provide the strongest foundation for an essay examining the passage's relevance to contemporary society?
3. Which approach would most effectively demonstrate critical analysis rather than simple description in an essay about Dickens's portrayal of social status?
4. Which approach would demonstrate the most nuanced understanding of Pip's changing relationship with wealth?
Atsauce:
https://www.viaa.gov.lv. Centralizētais eksāmens par vispārējās vidējās izglītības apguvi angļu valodā (augstākais mācību satura apguves līmenis), 2026
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