These are original Marlbridge practice questions, not past exam questions. Any passage not credited to a named public-domain author was written by Marlbridge for practice; quotations from named authors are public-domain texts quoted briefly. The rubrics are a suggested Marlbridge rubric to help you check your own work; they are not an official scoring guideline. There is no calculator. Try each question before opening its answer.
Question 1 (multiple choice · foundation)
A writer proposing a new safety crossing tells a council: “All of us on this council want children to reach school unharmed.” This sentence is best described as
- (A) a concession to an opponent
- (B) an appeal to common ground
- (C) a statistic
- (D) an anecdote
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). It begins from a value the writer assumes the whole audience shares, which makes agreement on the later proposal easier.
- (A) is wrong: a concession would grant a point to an opposing view.
- (C) is wrong: it contains no numbers.
- (D) is wrong: it tells no story.
Question 2 (multiple choice · foundation)
Which statement best describes a value held by an audience of parents?
- (A) The school was built in 1962.
- (B) Bus services run on weekdays.
- (C) The council meets on Tuesdays.
- (D) Their children’s safety matters more than convenience.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (D). A value is something the audience cares about or treats as right.
- (A) is wrong: a fact about the building.
- (B) is wrong: a fact about services.
- (C) is wrong: a fact about a schedule.
Question 3 (multiple choice · core)
A speaker addressing worried residents says: “You are right to ask what this will cost. I would ask the same.” The most accurate description of the effect is that it
- (A) answers an anticipated concern while building shared ground with the audience
- (B) shows the speaker’s lack of confidence
- (C) introduces a new claim
- (D) changes the subject
Answer and explanation
Answer: (A). The speaker recognises the audience’s concern and aligns with it, which builds trust before the argument.
- (B) is wrong: conceding a reasonable concern is not lack of confidence.
- (C) is wrong: no new claim is introduced.
- (D) is wrong: it stays on the cost issue.
Question 4 (multiple choice · core)
A writer wishes to persuade sceptical local business owners that a pedestrian street would increase sales. Which evidence best suits their beliefs and needs?
- (A) A personal story about how pleasant the writer found a pedestrian street
- (B) A poem about city streets
- (C) A report of sales figures before and after pedestrianisation in three comparable towns
- (D) A list of famous people who like walking
Answer and explanation
Answer: (C). Business owners need a case about sales, so comparable figures speak directly to their need and to what they treat as reliable.
- (A) is wrong: it is pleasant but it does not address sales.
- (B) is wrong: the form does not meet the audience’s need for evidence.
- (D) is wrong: it is irrelevant to sales.
Question 5 (multiple choice · core)
Lincoln said in 1861: “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies.” Which audience feature does the sentence most directly address?
- (A) Its financial needs
- (B) Its age
- (C) Its shared bonds and history, which Lincoln hoped it still valued
- (D) Its technical expertise
Answer and explanation
Answer: (C). The sentence appeals to common ground, the idea of friendship among people with a shared past.
- (A) is wrong: no finances are mentioned.
- (B) is wrong: age is not addressed.
- (D) is wrong: no expertise is referred to.
Question 6 (constructed response · core)
Read this extract, written by Marlbridge.
Governors, I know that the budget is tight and that every request on your desk is a good one. I am not asking for money that could be spent on teaching. The shelter I propose would be paid for from the parents’ association fund, and the governors would need to give only their permission and their name.
Explain how the writer shows an understanding of the governors’ needs and values. Use two details from the extract.
Answer and explanation
Model answer. The writer recognises the governors’ need to spend carefully: “the budget is tight and every request on your desk is a good one” shows the governors face competing demands. The writer then answers the likely objection that the shelter would take money from teaching by saying the cost comes from the parents’ association fund, so the governors’ value of protecting teaching is respected. The request is also reduced to “permission and their name”, which makes agreement easy.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (5 points)
| Points | What earns it |
|---|---|
| 1 | Identifies a need (to budget carefully) with a detail from the text. |
| 1 | Identifies a value or belief (teaching comes first) with a detail from the text. |
| 1 | Explains how a specific choice answers that need or value. |
| 1 | Explains the effect on the audience (reduced resistance, easier agreement). |
| 1 | Quotes or refers closely to two details. |
Question 7 (constructed response · core)
You are writing to a group of local shopkeepers to persuade them to support a weekly market on the car park. Complete an audience analysis by giving one belief, one value and one need they might hold, and for each, state one choice you would make in your letter.
Answer and explanation
Model answer. Belief: foot traffic increases sales; choice: cite figures on how markets in comparable towns raised footfall. Value: fairness to established traders who pay rent all year; choice: propose that existing shops get priority for market stalls or a reduced fee. Need: protection from the market taking their customers; choice: schedule the market on a quiet weekday morning and show on a map that it brings visitors past their doors.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (5 points)
| Points | What earns it |
|---|---|
| 1 | A plausible belief with a matching choice. |
| 1 | A plausible value with a matching choice. |
| 1 | A plausible need with a matching choice. |
| 1 | Each choice is specific and linked clearly to its lens. |
| 1 | No lens is left as a vague label (for example, ‘they are adults’). |
Accept any plausible beliefs, values and needs if each choice is tied to its lens.
Question 8 (constructed response · stretch)
In 1861 Lincoln told the people of the seceded states: “I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists.” Explain how this sentence shows an understanding of the audience’s needs and how it prepares the ground for the rest of the address.
Answer and explanation
Model answer. Lincoln knows many Southern listeners feared his election meant federal interference with slavery in their states, so the sentence meets their need for reassurance directly and names the fear plainly. Its wording (“directly or indirectly”) closes loopholes the audience might suspect. By clearing away the fear first, he can move on to his central claim, that the Union is perpetual and that secession is not lawful, with an audience that has been shown he is not their enemy. The reassurance is a strategic opening to the main argument.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (5 points)
| Points | What earns it |
|---|---|
| 1 | Identifies the audience’s fear or need accurately. |
| 1 | Explains how the sentence responds to it. |
| 1 | Comments on specific wording (for example, ‘directly or indirectly’). |
| 1 | Explains how the sentence prepares the ground for the claim that follows. |
| 1 | Writes about the choice as strategic, not only as a label. |
How did you do?
Count the multiple-choice questions you got right and compare your written answers with the rubric points. For anything you missed, reread the matching section of the study guide, then tick off the topic checklist.