These are original Marlbridge practice questions, not past exam questions. Passages marked “Marlbridge passage” were written for this resource; quotations from historical texts are from public-domain sources with author, title and year. All figures are invented for the exercises. The rubrics are a suggested Marlbridge rubric, not an official scoring guideline. Allow about 45 minutes.
Question 1 (multiple choice · core)
Read this passage (Marlbridge passage).
Rivers and canals both carry boats, but they fail in opposite seasons. A river floods when the snow melts, closing its banks to traffic; a canal, fed by a controlled supply, stays level then but may run dry in a hot summer. A town that depends on one for trade therefore needs the other as a back-up.
What is the category of comparison?
- (A) The cost of building each waterway
- (B) The season in which each waterway stops working
- (C) The kinds of boats each carries
- (D) The beauty of each landscape
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). The two waterways are compared on when they fail: spring for the river, summer for the canal. The conclusion (a town needs both) is drawn from that contrast.
- (A) Cost is never mentioned.
- (C) The first sentence says both carry boats, which is a similarity, not the category the contrast is built on.
- (D) Beauty is not mentioned.
Question 2 (multiple choice · core)
Which pair of statements compares like categories?
- (A) “Option A costs £40 a month; Option B is popular with students.”
- (B) “Option A costs £40 a month; Option B costs £55 a month.”
- (C) “Option A is cheap; Option B has a friendly website.”
- (D) “Option A is fast; Option B has a long contract.”
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). Both options are measured on monthly cost.
- (A) compares cost with popularity.
- (C) compares price with design.
- (D) compares speed with contract length.
Question 3 (multiple choice · core)
A writer comparing two cities uses this outline: Paragraph 1, City A: climate, cost, transport. Paragraph 2, City B: climate, cost, transport. How is the comparison organised?
- (A) Point by point, because each paragraph compares both cities on a single category
- (B) By block, because each paragraph covers one city in full using the same categories in the same order
- (C) Chronologically, because it moves from climate to transport
- (D) By definition, because it classifies each city
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). Each paragraph is a block for one object. The writer keeps the same categories in the same order, which helps the reader compare them.
- (A) would put both cities in each paragraph (climate, then cost, then transport).
- (C) The order of the categories is not a chronology.
- (D) The outline compares; it does not define or classify.
Question 4 (multiple choice · core)
The novel A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens, 1859) opens with a series of paired statements, beginning: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…” What is the main effect of arranging the statements in contrasting pairs?
- (A) It shows that the period was entirely good.
- (B) It presents the era as one of extremes existing side by side, and the parallel structure makes the opposites vivid.
- (C) It lists events in the order in which they happened.
- (D) It defines the words “best” and “worst”.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). The repeated pattern “it was the… it was the…” sets opposites next to each other, so the reader sees a period of contradictions.
- (A) The pairs include “worst” and “foolishness”, so the period is not entirely good.
- (C) The statements are not events.
- (D) The sentence uses the words; it does not define them.
Question 5 (multiple choice · foundation)
Which statement about comparison-contrast is most accurate?
- (A) A comparison is complete once it has listed the differences between two things.
- (B) A comparison develops an idea by examining similarities and/or differences within a category, and it should lead to a claim.
- (C) A comparison may mix categories as long as both objects are interesting.
- (D) A comparison can only be organised point by point.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). The method examines similarities and/or differences in a chosen category and serves a claim.
- (A) A list of differences needs commentary on what they show.
- (C) Like categories are required.
- (D) Block organisation is also a valid way to organise.
Question 6 (constructed response · core)
A student wrote (Marlbridge passage): “Electric cars cost about £30,000, whereas petrol cars have bigger engines. Electric cars are quiet, but petrol cars are available everywhere.” Explain what is wrong with this comparison and rewrite it so that it compares like categories.
Answer and explanation
What is wrong. Each pair of statements shifts category: the first compares price (electric) with engine size (petrol); the second compares noise (electric) with availability (petrol). The reader cannot judge which car is better on any single feature.
Sample rewrite (Marlbridge). On price, an electric car at about £30,000 costs more than a comparable petrol car at about £24,000 (invented figures). On noise, the electric car is quieter, whereas the petrol engine is audible at low speeds. On fuel availability, petrol is sold at far more stations, while charging points are still fewer, which is why the electric car’s lower noise comes with a trade-off.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (4 points).
| Point | Award it when the response… |
|---|---|
| 1 | Identifies that categories shift within the pairs |
| 1 | Gives a specific example from the passage |
| 1 | Rewrites so that each category is applied to both objects |
| 1 | Ends with a claim or conclusion about what the comparison shows |
Question 7 (constructed response · core)
Here is a table of invented data about two ways for a school to cut paper use.
| Category | Option A: switch to tablets | Option B: print double-sided |
|---|---|---|
| Cost in the first year | £12,000 | £800 |
| Paper saved per year | 90% | 45% |
| Staff training time | 6 hours per teacher | 1 hour per teacher |
Write a comparison paragraph of four to six sentences, using point-by-point organisation, that argues for one option. Name each category you compare and end by stating what the comparison shows.
Answer and explanation
Sample response (Marlbridge, arguing for Option B).
On cost, double-sided printing wins decisively: £800 in the first year against £12,000 for tablets. On paper saved, tablets are better, at 90% against 45%, but the extra saving of 45 percentage points comes at fifteen times the cost. On training, the contrast is again clear: one hour per teacher against six. Set side by side, the options show that Option B captures nearly half the saving for a fraction of the money and effort, so a school with a limited budget should print double-sided now and consider tablets later.
(£12,000 ÷ £800 = 15, so “fifteen times”.)
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (5 points).
| Point | Award it when the response… |
|---|---|
| 1 | Compares both options on each named category (like categories) |
| 1 | Uses point-by-point organisation |
| 1 | Uses the data accurately, including any calculation |
| 1 | Acknowledges the strength of the other option on at least one category |
| 1 | Ends with a claim that follows from the comparison |
An answer that argues for Option A is acceptable if it handles cost fairly and justifies the choice.
Question 8 (constructed response · stretch)
Read this passage (Marlbridge passage).
We tend to think of a map and a story as opposites: one is exact, the other imagined. But both leave things out so that we can find our way. A map omits the colour of every house to show the route; a story omits most of a day to show what mattered. In each case, the omission is the craft.
Explain how the writer uses comparison to develop the argument.
Answer and explanation
Sample response. The writer begins with a commonly held contrast (map as exact, story as imagined) and then reverses it by identifying a shared category: what each form omits. By pairing “A map omits the colour of every house” with “a story omits most of a day”, the writer applies the same feature to each object in parallel grammar. The comparison supports the claim in the last sentence, that “the omission is the craft”, because it shows selection to be central to both forms, not a flaw in either.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (4 points).
| Point | Award it when the response… |
|---|---|
| 1 | Identifies the objects (map and story) |
| 1 | Identifies the category of comparison (omission or selection) |
| 1 | Explains that the writer turns an assumed contrast into a similarity |
| 1 | Links the comparison to the passage’s final claim |
How did you do?
- If you missed questions 1 to 3, revisit “Categories and like categories” and “Two ways to organise” in the study guide.
- If you missed questions 4, 5 or 8, review “Comparison in a published text” and Worked example 2.
- If you missed questions 6 or 7, review Worked example 1.
- Then tick off the checklist and revise with the revision notes.