These are original Marlbridge practice questions, not past exam questions. All passages are written by Marlbridge for this resource; the school and survey details are invented. The rubrics are a suggested Marlbridge rubric, not an official scoring guideline. Allow about 45 minutes.
Question 1 (multiple choice · core)
Read this body paragraph (Marlbridge passage). Sentences are numbered for reference.
(1) School gardens teach students to see food as something that takes time. (2) At Ashgrove Primary, pupils plant beans in April and wait eleven weeks before the first pods are ready. (3) During that wait, teachers report, children ask when lunch will taste different and why the leaves yellow in a dry week. (4) These questions show the garden doing what a worksheet cannot: connecting an ordinary meal to a process that asks for patience and attention. (5) The garden thus supports the broader case that schools should teach by doing.
Which choice correctly describes the sentences?
- (A) Sentence 1 is evidence; sentences 2 and 3 are claims; sentence 4 is a conclusion.
- (B) Sentence 1 is the claim; sentences 2 and 3 are evidence; sentence 4 is commentary; sentence 5 links the paragraph to the larger argument.
- (C) Sentences 1 and 2 are both claims; sentences 3 and 4 are commentary; sentence 5 is evidence.
- (D) Sentences 1 to 3 are evidence; sentences 4 and 5 are commentary.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). Sentence 1 states the point to be proved. Sentences 2 and 3 give specific details a reader could check. Sentence 4 explains what the details show. Sentence 5 connects the paragraph to the essay’s larger claim.
- (A) Sentence 1 is not evidence, as it makes a general statement that needs support.
- (C) Sentence 5 does not provide evidence; it links to a larger claim.
- (D) Sentence 1 is not evidence; it is the paragraph’s claim.
Question 2 (multiple choice · core)
A writer argues that a city should plant more trees along its main roads and offers this evidence: “On a July afternoon, the pavement under a tree measured 12 degrees cooler than the pavement in the sun.” Which sentence is best as commentary?
- (A) This is a fact about trees.
- (B) The difference shows that shade makes a street usable at the hour when people most need to walk, which is why trees do more than decorate.
- (C) Many cities have trees.
- (D) The temperature was measured in July.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). It explains what the evidence means (shade makes walking possible at a hot hour) and links it to the claim (trees do more than decorate).
- (A) restates the evidence as a general label and explains nothing.
- (C) is a general statement unrelated to the evidence.
- (D) repeats a detail of the evidence without commentary.
Question 3 (multiple choice · core)
The thesis of an essay is: “A school should start later, because teenagers’ sleep patterns, safety on early roads and attention in class all depend on it.” Which topic sentence best links a body paragraph to the thesis?
- (A) Schools have many timetables.
- (B) Teenagers’ body clocks shift later during adolescence, so an early start asks them to learn when they are least alert.
- (C) The first bell rings at 8:00.
- (D) Some people prefer mornings.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). It makes a claim that needs support and develops the first reason in the thesis (sleep patterns and attention).
- (A) is too general to serve as a claim.
- (C) is a fact, not a claim, and does not link to a reason.
- (D) is vague and does not relate to the thesis’s reasons.
Question 4 (multiple choice · core)
A student’s paragraph argues that homework should be limited. It gives three facts about how long students spend on homework and ends: “These facts are important.” Which revision would most improve the paragraph’s contribution to the argument?
- (A) Add two more facts about homework.
- (B) Replace the final sentence with commentary explaining what the figures show about the strain on students’ evenings and how this supports the call for limits.
- (C) Move the final sentence to the beginning.
- (D) Delete the facts and keep the last sentence.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). The paragraph lacks commentary; a sentence that explains the facts and links to the claim fixes the real problem.
- (A) More evidence without commentary repeats the weakness.
- (C) Moving an empty sentence does not make it useful.
- (D) Deleting the evidence leaves a claim with no support.
Question 5 (multiple choice · foundation)
What is a line of reasoning?
- (A) The order in which a writer lists topics
- (B) The progression of claims, each supported, by which a writer moves toward the thesis
- (C) A line of text in a quotation
- (D) A summary of the introduction
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). A line of reasoning is the sequence of connected claims that supports the thesis.
- (A) A list of topics lacks the connections between claims.
- (C) is a different meaning of “line”.
- (D) A summary of the introduction is not an account of how the argument proceeds.
Question 6 (constructed response · core)
Read this paragraph (Marlbridge passage). The writer’s thesis is that a town should allow food trucks in its main square.
Food trucks help the town. In the neighbouring town, 14 new food trucks opened last year. Local residents say there is more to do in the evenings.
Add two or three sentences of commentary to make the paragraph complete. Your commentary should explain what the evidence suggests, qualify it if appropriate and link back to the thesis.
Answer and explanation
Sample response (Marlbridge).
The opening of 14 trucks in a single year suggests there was a demand that restaurants alone were not meeting, and residents’ comments suggest that the trucks changed how people used the town after dark. A neighbouring town is not this one, so the claim should be modest: the evidence shows that trucks can draw evening activity, not that they will do so here. That is the reason to try them in the main square, where an evening crowd would also help the existing shops.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (4 points).
| Point | Award it when the response… |
|---|---|
| 1 | Explains what the evidence suggests (demand, evening activity) |
| 1 | Connects the evidence to the claim (“help the town”) with a reason |
| 1 | Qualifies or limits the evidence appropriately (another town) |
| 1 | Links back to the thesis (main square) |
Commentary that only says “This shows food trucks are good” earns no points beyond the first.
Question 7 (constructed response · core)
Read this short argument (Marlbridge passage).
Paragraph 1. Many people believe that a library’s job is to hold books. But a building that only stores books can be replaced by a website; what a library can offer that no website can is a place.
Paragraph 2. That place matters most to people who have none of their own: a student without a quiet room, a jobseeker without internet, an older resident who wants company. For each of them, the library is the only public room open without payment.
Paragraph 3. Cities that cut library hours therefore take away the most from the people with the least, and the saving is a false one, because the costs return in other services.
Describe the line of reasoning and explain whether it supports the argument’s thesis that libraries should be protected from cuts.
Answer and explanation
Sample response. The argument begins by challenging the view that a library is only a store of books and by redefining its value as a place. It then shows who needs that place most, three people without a room, internet or company. Finally, it draws the consequence for policy: cutting hours takes most from the people with least, and the savings are false. Each paragraph prepares for the next, and the final paragraph reaches the thesis, so the line of reasoning supports the claim that libraries should be protected.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (4 points).
| Point | Award it when the response… |
|---|---|
| 1 | Accurately states the claim of paragraph 1 (a library’s value is as a place) |
| 1 | Accurately states the claim of paragraph 2 (who needs it most) |
| 1 | Accurately states the claim of paragraph 3 (cuts harm those people; false saving) |
| 1 | Explains how the sequence supports the thesis |
Question 8 (constructed response · stretch)
Write a body paragraph of five to seven sentences for this thesis: A school should give students a quiet room at lunchtime, because the room would help students who find the canteen overwhelming, give clubs a place to meet and reduce arguments in the corridors. Your paragraph should develop only the first reason (students who find the canteen overwhelming). Include a claim, specific evidence (you may invent plausible details), commentary and a sentence that links to the thesis.
Answer and explanation
Sample response (Marlbridge; the details are invented).
A quiet lunchtime room would help students who find the canteen overwhelming. In a survey of one year group at the school, 31 of 120 students said they often skipped lunch because the dining hall was too loud and crowded. For those students, the problem is not appetite but the space: the same hour that restores most students leaves them more tired for afternoon lessons. A quiet room would not remove the noise of the canteen, but it would give those students somewhere to eat in peace, which is the first step in treating lunch as part of the school day rather than a break from it. The room is therefore a response to a need the current timetable ignores, and it is the first reason the school should open it.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (5 points).
| Point | Award it when the response… |
|---|---|
| 1 | Opens with a claim tied to the first reason in the thesis |
| 1 | Gives specific, plausible evidence |
| 1 | Provides commentary that explains the evidence (not only repeats it) |
| 1 | Stays on one main idea |
| 1 | Ends with a sentence that links to the thesis or advances the argument |
How did you do?
- If you missed questions 1 to 3, revisit “From thesis to paragraphs” and “Commentary: where the thinking happens” in the study guide.
- If you missed questions 4 or 6, review Worked example 1.
- If you missed questions 5 or 7, review “Line of reasoning” and Worked example 2.
- Then tick off the checklist and revise with the revision notes.