These are original Marlbridge practice questions, not past exam questions. Unless a source is credited, every passage and every figure was written by Marlbridge for this page and is invented for practice. The rubrics are a suggested Marlbridge rubric to help you check your work; they are not an official scoring guideline. No calculator is needed.
Question 1 (multiple choice · foundation)
Which statement best distinguishes refuting from rebutting?
- (A) Refuting demonstrates, using evidence, that a claim is invalid; rebutting offers a contrasting perspective or alternative evidence to propose that it is invalid.
- (B) Refuting accepts the claim; rebutting rejects it.
- (C) They mean exactly the same thing.
- (D) Refuting uses no evidence; rebutting uses only evidence.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (A). A refutation shows invalidity with evidence; a rebuttal proposes it through a contrasting view or alternative evidence.
- (B) describes conceding, not refuting.
- (C) They differ in method and strength.
- (D) reverses the roles of evidence.
Question 2 (multiple choice · core)
A writer says, “Opponents of the park want children to play in the street.” In fact, the opponents’ position is that the park is too expensive. What is the main problem with the writer’s response?
- (A) It is too short.
- (B) It is a strawman: it distorts the opposing claim, so it does not answer the real position.
- (C) It uses a counterexample.
- (D) It concedes too much.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). A distorted version of the opposing claim is easy to attack but proves nothing about the real position.
- (A) Length is not the issue.
- (C) No counterexample is used.
- (D) Nothing is conceded.
Question 3 (multiple choice · core)
According to the course, writers enhance their credibility when they
- (A) ignore opposing arguments.
- (B) refute, rebut or concede opposing arguments and contradictory evidence.
- (C) attack their opponents.
- (D) restate their thesis repeatedly.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). Engaging opposing arguments fairly in these ways shows command of the subject.
- (A) leaves objections unanswered.
- (C) A personal attack is not an argument.
- (D) Repetition does not engage opposing views.
Question 4 (multiple choice · core)
Opposing claim: “Cycle lanes are a waste of money because I never see anyone using them.” A writer replies: “The claim rests on one person’s observations from one street, at one time of day.” Which tool is the writer using?
- (A) A counterexample
- (B) Challenging the evidence (the sample is too small and unrepresentative)
- (C) An appeal to a higher value
- (D) An alternative explanation
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). The reply questions whether one person’s observation is adequate evidence.
- (A) No specific case where the claim fails is offered.
- (C) No value is invoked.
- (D) No other cause is proposed.
Question 5 (multiple choice · stretch)
A writer answers the claim “Uniforms reduce bullying” by saying, “Bullying is about power, not clothes, and schools without uniforms often have clear anti-bullying programmes that work.” This is best described as
- (A) a refutation, because it demonstrates with data that the claim is false.
- (B) a rebuttal, because it offers a contrasting perspective and some alternative evidence to propose that the claim is invalid.
- (C) a concession.
- (D) a strawman.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). The writer reframes the cause of bullying and mentions alternative approaches, but gives no demonstration with data.
- (A) No evidence is shown to demonstrate that the claim fails.
- (C) The writer accepts nothing of the claim.
- (D) The writer states the claim accurately and responds to it.
Question 6 (constructed response · core)
Opposing claim (written by Marlbridge): “Zoos should be closed because animals suffer in captivity.”
(a) Write a rebuttal (two to three sentences). (3 marks) (b) Write a refutation of part of the claim, using invented but plausible evidence (two to three sentences). (3 marks) (c) Explain the difference between them in your two answers. (2 marks)
Sample answer and suggested rubric
(a) Rebuttal. “The concern about welfare is serious, but closing every zoo treats all of them alike. Zoos differ enormously, and the question is how to raise standards and support those that protect endangered species, not whether to close them all.”
(b) Refutation (of the part claiming that all animals suffer). “The claim that animals in zoos always suffer is not borne out by welfare audits. In an audit of 40 accredited zoos, 34 met the standard for space, diet and health, and the rest were required to improve.” (Invented for practice.)
(c) The rebuttal offers a contrasting perspective (zoos differ and the answer is to raise standards), while the refutation uses evidence (an audit) to demonstrate that part of the claim does not hold.
| Mark | What earns it |
|---|---|
| 1 | The rebuttal states the opposing claim fairly |
| 1 | The rebuttal offers a contrasting perspective or alternative evidence |
| 1 | The rebuttal links to the writer’s position |
| 1 | The refutation targets a specific part of the claim |
| 1 | The refutation uses evidence that demonstrates invalidity |
| 1 | The refutation is plausible and not a strawman |
| 1 | (c) distinguishes the two correctly |
| 1 | (c) refers to both of the student’s own answers |
Question 7 (constructed response · core)
Read the paragraph below, written by Marlbridge.
“Critics argue that the library’s Saturday opening is poor value, because it attracts only a handful of visitors. That claim rests on the count for a single Saturday in the school holidays. The library’s own logs show that term-time Saturdays average 190 visitors, and children’s borrowing on Saturdays is 40 per cent higher than on any weekday. A service is not poor value because it is quiet when its main users are on holiday.”
Explain how the writer answers the critics, and say whether it is a rebuttal or a refutation, with reasons. (6 marks)
Sample answer and suggested rubric
Sample. The writer states the critics’ claim fairly (“poor value, because it attracts only a handful of visitors”). Then the writer challenges the evidence: the claim rests on a single Saturday in the school holidays, which is unrepresentative. The writer offers alternative evidence: the logs show 190 visitors on average on term-time Saturdays, and children’s borrowing is 40 per cent higher on Saturdays than on weekdays. The final sentence challenges the reasoning: quiet in the holidays does not make the service poor value. Because the writer uses evidence to demonstrate that the critics’ claim does not hold, the passage is a refutation, not just a rebuttal.
| Mark | What earns it |
|---|---|
| 1 | Identifies the fair statement of the critics’ claim |
| 1 | Identifies the challenge to the evidence |
| 1 | Identifies the alternative evidence (the logs) |
| 1 | Identifies the challenge to the reasoning |
| 1 | Classifies the passage as a refutation |
| 1 | Justifies the classification (evidence demonstrates invalidity) |
Question 8 (constructed response · stretch)
John Stuart Mill wrote in On Liberty (1859, public domain) that the belief that truth always prevails over persecution is “one of those pleasant falsehoods which men repeat after one another till they pass into commonplaces, but which all experience refutes.”
Explain how Mill answers this belief in the sentence, and what the diction contributes. (6 marks)
Sample answer and suggested rubric
Sample. Mill states the belief he is opposing, that truth always overcomes persecution, and labels it a “commonplace” that people repeat without examination, which implies that it has never been tested. He then says that “all experience refutes” it, which claims that evidence from history demonstrates the belief to be false, and in the pages that follow he gives examples. The sentence is therefore a refutation in outline: it names the claim, rejects it and appeals to evidence. The diction contributes tone and strategy: “pleasant falsehoods” concedes that the belief is attractive, which makes his readers less defensive, and “repeat after one another” suggests habit rather than reasoned conviction, which undercuts the belief’s authority. The final word “refutes” tells the audience exactly what kind of response he is making.
| Mark | What earns it |
|---|---|
| 1 | Identifies the opposing belief |
| 1 | Identifies “commonplaces” or “repeat after one another” as undermining it |
| 1 | Identifies “all experience refutes” as an appeal to evidence |
| 1 | Classifies the move as refutation (or a refutation in outline) |
| 1 | Explains the effect of “pleasant falsehoods” |
| 1 | Links the diction to the audience or to credibility |
How did you do? If you missed Questions 1 to 5, reread “Two ways to answer an opposing claim” and “Tools for answering a claim”. If you lost marks in 6 to 8, check that you stated the opposing claim fairly and named the evidence or perspective that answers it.