These are original Marlbridge practice questions, not past exam questions. All passages are written by Marlbridge for this resource. The rubrics are a suggested Marlbridge rubric, not an official scoring guideline. Allow about 45 minutes.
Question 1 (multiple choice · core)
Read the opening of an essay (Marlbridge passage).
Our canteen sells forty items and prices them as if the busiest hour were the only hour. The school should adopt a staggered lunch, because it would shorten queues, give clubs a quiet room at midday and give the kitchen time to cook rather than reheat. Each of these gains follows from one change: not a longer lunch, but a lunch that no longer happens all at once.
Which statement best identifies the thesis and what it signals?
- (A) The first sentence is the thesis; it signals that the essay will be chronological.
- (B) The second sentence is the thesis; it previews three gains in order: queues, clubs and the kitchen.
- (C) The final sentence is the thesis; it signals a comparison between two schools.
- (D) There is no thesis; the passage only announces what the essay will discuss.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). The second sentence states a position (adopt a staggered lunch) and signals three reasons in sequence. The third sentence gives the unifying idea behind them.
- (A) The first sentence is context, not a claim about what should be done, and nothing signals chronology.
- (C) No other school is mentioned.
- (D) The passage makes a clear claim; it does not say “this essay will discuss”.
Question 2 (multiple choice · core)
Which thesis best previews a line of reasoning for an argument about whether museums should be free?
- (A) This essay will examine museums, ticket prices and visitors.
- (B) Museums are interesting places that many people visit.
- (C) Museums should be free, because ticket prices narrow who walks through the door, a shop and café can replace the lost income, and a public collection belongs to the public.
- (D) Free museums and ticket prices are related in several ways.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (C). It takes a position and gives three reasons the reader can test, in a sequence the body can follow.
- (A) announces topics with no claim.
- (B) is a statement of fact, not a debatable claim.
- (D) is a vague statement of relation; it does not say what the relation is.
Question 3 (multiple choice · foundation)
Which of the following is an announcement rather than a thesis?
- (A) Public parks reduce stress because they give people a place to rest without spending money.
- (B) In this essay I will discuss how parks affect people.
- (C) A town without parks pays for the lack in hospital visits and quiet streets.
- (D) Parks are most valuable to those who have no garden of their own.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). It describes the writer’s task and takes no position. The other three make claims that someone could dispute.
- (A) states a claim with a reason.
- (C) states a claim with a consequence.
- (D) states a debatable claim about who benefits.
Question 4 (multiple choice · core)
A draft thesis reads: “Homework is bad for students.” Which revision most clearly signals the line of reasoning?
- (A) Homework is bad for students, and I will explain why.
- (B) Homework should be limited to thirty minutes a night, because beyond that point it cuts into sleep, crowds out reading for pleasure and rewards speed over understanding.
- (C) Homework, sleep and reading.
- (D) There are many problems with homework.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). It states a specific position and three reasons in an order the reader can follow.
- (A) adds an announcement (“I will explain why”) but no reasons.
- (C) is a list of nouns with no claim.
- (D) is vague; it does not state which problems or what should be done.
Question 5 (multiple choice · foundation)
Which statement about previewing a line of reasoning in a thesis is most accurate?
- (A) A thesis must list every point and every piece of evidence that will appear in the essay.
- (B) A thesis may preview the line of reasoning, but it does not have to list points, aspects to analyse or specific evidence.
- (C) A thesis that previews reasoning cannot be changed once the introduction is written.
- (D) A preview is only appropriate in essays that compare two things.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). A preview is optional and need not list everything.
- (A) overstates the requirement; listing every point would turn the thesis into a table of contents.
- (C) is false; the writer can and should revise the thesis if the body develops differently.
- (D) is false; previews can be used in any kind of argument or analysis.
Question 6 (constructed response · core)
A student plans an argument that schools should require every student to study a second language. The line of reasoning is: (1) colleges and employers value it; (2) it lets students read writing in its original form; (3) it builds the habit of persistence. Write a one- or two-sentence thesis that previews this reasoning and requires defence. Then explain in one sentence why your thesis is not merely an announcement.
Answer and explanation
Sample response (Marlbridge). Schools should require every student to study a second language, because the requirement opens doors in college and work, lets students read other writers in their own words and teaches the persistence that no single subject can. This is not an announcement because it takes a position that could be disputed and states reasons that the body must prove.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (4 points).
| Point | Award it when the response… |
|---|---|
| 1 | States a clear, defensible claim about what schools should do |
| 1 | Includes all three planned reasons, or a justified selection of them |
| 1 | Presents the reasons in an order that signals structure (parallel or sequenced) |
| 1 | Explains why the thesis is a claim rather than an announcement |
Do not award the second or third point for a list of topics without a connecting claim.
Question 7 (constructed response · core)
Read this excerpt from a principal’s address to graduating students (Marlbridge passage).
Four years ago you arrived with a map of this building and no idea where anything was. You leave with something better: you know who to ask. That is what this school was for. So when you walk out of the doors tonight, do not take the building with you. Take the asking.
Write a thesis for a rhetorical analysis of this passage that previews the line of reasoning of your analysis (the movement of the speech and its effect on the audience).
Answer and explanation
Sample thesis (Marlbridge). By moving from a shared memory of being lost to a redefinition of what a school gives, and then to a simple imperative, the principal turns graduates’ nostalgia for the building into a commitment to keep asking for help, which makes the speech’s advice feel like a continuation of their own experience.
Why it works. It names the stages of the passage (memory, redefinition, imperative), says what the stages do (turn nostalgia into commitment) and ties this to the purpose.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (4 points).
| Point | Award it when the response… |
|---|---|
| 1 | Takes a position about the principal’s strategy and its effect |
| 1 | Identifies at least two stages of the passage accurately |
| 1 | Links the stages to the audience and purpose (not just devices) |
| 1 | Avoids a bare list of device names (“the principal uses repetition and imperatives”) |
A thesis that only lists devices earns at most the second point.
Question 8 (constructed response · stretch)
A student wrote this thesis: “Town libraries should keep late evening hours, because they give students a place to study, give adults a place to apply for jobs and give lonely residents a place to belong.” The body then argues: paragraph 1, students; paragraph 2, loneliness; paragraph 3, job seekers; paragraph 4, the cost saving of using volunteers.
(a) Explain how the thesis and the body disagree. (b) Decide what to change, and write a revised thesis.
Answer and explanation
(a) Two mismatches. The body takes the second and third reasons in a different order from the thesis (loneliness before jobs), and it adds a fourth point about volunteers that the thesis does not mention, so the reader’s expectations are not met.
(b) The writer can reorder paragraphs 2 and 3 so the body follows the thesis, and either revise the thesis to include the new point or cut paragraph 4. One revised thesis: Town libraries should keep late evening hours, because they give students a place to study, give adults a place to apply for jobs and give lonely residents a place to belong, at a cost that volunteers can keep low. If the volunteer point is only a minor aside, a better choice is to attach it to the final paragraph as a response to a likely objection.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (4 points).
| Point | Award it when the response… |
|---|---|
| 1 | Notes the order mismatch |
| 1 | Notes the extra, unpreviewed point |
| 1 | Chooses a sensible fix (reorder, revise the thesis or cut) |
| 1 | Gives a revised thesis that agrees with the revised body |
How did you do?
- If you missed questions 1 or 5, revisit “What a thesis already tells the reader” and “Reading a preview” in the study guide.
- If you missed questions 2 to 4, review “Preview, announcement and list”.
- If you missed questions 6 to 8, review Worked example 1 and “Weak, better and strong theses for an analysis”.
- Then tick off the checklist and revise with the revision notes.