Modern Drama
Waiting for Godot • Major Barbara • Dr. Waha Sawwas • 4th Year, Aleppo University
⚠ Read this first — this examiner keeps the sentence and moves the blank
Comparing the four photographed papers side by side shows something that changes how you should revise. Dr. Waha does not write new questions each year. She writes one question and then reuses it with a single word altered — and when that word changes, the correct answer changes with it. Memorising letters is worthless here. Memorising the pair is decisive.
| The stem, with the moving word | One paper | Another paper |
|---|---|---|
| When was Godot ______ (in French)? | WRITTEN → 1947–49 | PERFORMED → 1953 |
| When was Major Barbara first ______? | PERFORMED → 1905 | PUBLISHED → 1907 |
| When Estragon slept the ______ time… | FIRST → woke him | LAST → let him sleep |
| What does Estragon ask ______ for? | VLADIMIR → a carrot | POZZO → chicken bones |
| Who ______ the habit of confession? | ENCOURAGED → all of the above | CRITICISED → a single name |
And she moves the options, not just the stem. “What is the greatest of evils?” is keyed Poverty when poverty is offered and None of the above when it is not. “Cusins sells his soul for…” has been keyed three different ways from the same three words. On this paper, “None of the above” and “All of the above” are real answers — so read every option before you answer from memory.
Unique to this course: two papers sometimes key the same question with the same options differently — Undershaft's character type, and who asked for a job at the shelter. Those items are flagged ⚠ throughout, with the defensible answer argued.
✅ The newest paper proves the method — and vindicates one of our corrections. On Second Semester 2026, Form 1, Q10 asks Vladimir's first reaction when Pozzo offers to sell Lucky. An older paper omitted “He protests” and keyed None of the above; this paper prints it, and the answer moves onto it. And Q11 — does the Boy meet Lucky and Pozzo in person? — is keyed No, never, exactly the correction we made against the older grid. Note: this paper carries no printed answer grid, so every key in that section is reasoned from the text and the reasoning is shown.
★ Start here
Waiting for Godot
Major Barbara
How to use this in the last week
- Day 1. Read Both Plays, bilingual straight through. Two hours, and no plot question can catch you again.
- Day 2. The All Previous Exams bank with the recurrence filter on ★★ On 2+ papers. That is the fixed pool she draws from. Get it to 100%.
- Day 3. Both Godot banks, filter on High. Pay particular attention to the date questions and the Joyce/Proust pair.
- Day 4. Both Major Barbara banks. The preface supplies more printed items than the play itself — do not skip it.
- Day 5. The ⚠ Key disputed filter across every bank. Twenty items, and knowing why they are disputed will save you marks on the questions around them.
- Day 6. The whole exam bank again, untimed, reading every trick note.
- The night before. The Cheat Sheet, printed. Nothing else.