These are original Marlbridge practice questions, not past exam questions. The passages were written by Marlbridge for this practice. Mark points are a suggested Marlbridge rubric, not an official scoring guideline. Multiple-choice questions have four options.
Passage G (written by Marlbridge).
On the morning of the regatta, Pell’s boat was already gone from the slip. He stood looking at the empty cradle and the ropes coiled where she had been, and he did not run, did not shout, did not call the harbourmaster.
Three weeks earlier a man from Aldwick had come down to the quay and asked the price. Pell had named it too high, in the hope of being refused, and the man had paid it without arguing, counting the notes slowly as though each might change its mind. “She’ll be well looked after,” he had said. Pell had not told his brother.
Now, at the slip, he felt for the folded notes in his coat and found that he was relieved, which was worse than grief.
Passage H (written by Marlbridge).
Each spring Odile’s grandfather sowed the same tomato seed in the same greenhouse, and each spring Odile helped, because the work was quiet and he did not ask questions. This year he handed her the seed packet and went indoors to lie down. She sowed the rows alone. By June the plants stood taller than she did, and the fruit, when it came, was split and sour. She carried the first basket to his bedside and watched him eat one whole, without comment, as if it were the best he had ever had.
Question 1 (multiple choice · core)
Passage G begins at the empty slip before explaining how the boat was sold. The most likely effect of this order is to
- (A) lead the reader to wonder why Pell reacts so calmly
- (B) show that Pell has forgotten the sale
- (C) suggest that the boat was stolen
- (D) establish that the regatta is the main subject of the story
Answer and explanation
Answer: (A). The opening shows loss without the expected reaction (“did not run, did not shout”), so the reader looks for an explanation.
- (B) is contradicted by the flashback, which shows Pell making the sale.
- (C) is a misreading; the second part shows a legitimate sale.
- (D) mistakes the setting detail for the subject. The regatta is only the morning on which the loss becomes visible.
Question 2 (multiple choice · core)
The second section of Passage G (“Three weeks earlier …”) mainly functions to
- (A) contrast Pell’s character with the man from Aldwick’s
- (B) supply the cause of the situation shown in the first section
- (C) bring the story to its resolution
- (D) introduce a second conflict between two brothers
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). The flashback explains why the slip is empty: Pell sold the boat.
- (A) makes a comparison the section does not develop.
- (C) is wrong because the resolution is the final section.
- (D) overstates “Pell had not told his brother”, which is a small detail and not a developed conflict.
Question 3 (multiple choice · stretch)
Placing the final sentence (“he was relieved, which was worse than grief”) after the flashback most directly
- (A) changes the reader’s understanding of Pell’s calm
- (B) repeats the information of the first section
- (C) shows that Pell wants to buy the boat back
- (D) makes the reader doubt that the boat was sold
Answer and explanation
Answer: (A). The calm that looked like shock or indifference is shown to be a mixture: he named a high price “in the hope of being refused”, and now feels relief he cannot approve of.
- (B) is wrong because the sentence adds a new feeling.
- (C) has no support; relief points the other way.
- (D) contradicts the flashback.
Question 4 (multiple choice · core)
In Passage H, “This year” at the start of the second sentence most directly functions to
- (A) introduce the setting of the story
- (B) mark a break from the routine established in the first sentence
- (C) show the grandfather’s anger
- (D) begin the resolution
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). The first sentence is exposition describing a repeated routine; “This year” signals that something changes.
- (A) is wrong because the setting is already given.
- (C) is unsupported; the grandfather “went indoors to lie down”, which suggests illness or tiredness.
- (D) is too early. The resolution comes at the end.
Question 5 (multiple choice · core)
Which pair of events in Passage H is linked as cause and effect?
- (A) The plants grow taller than Odile; the fruit is split
- (B) The grandfather lies down; Odile sows the rows alone
- (C) Odile carries the basket; the plants stand tall
- (D) The fruit is sour; the grandfather lies down
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). Because he goes to lie down, she has to do the sowing without him.
- (A) is a sequence of events in the same period; the text does not show the first causing the second.
- (C) reverses the order of events.
- (D) reverses cause and effect; he lies down before the fruit appears.
Question 6 (multiple choice · stretch)
By ending with the grandfather eating “one whole, without comment”, Passage H directs the reader’s attention mainly to
- (A) the quality of the tomato crop
- (B) the relationship between Odile and her grandfather
- (C) the difficulty of growing tomatoes
- (D) the weather during the growing season
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). The crop is “split and sour”, so the final act is about what the gesture means to both: he accepts what she has made as if it were the best he had had.
- (A) is the opposite of what the passage reports about the fruit.
- (C) is not emphasised; the process is covered in a few words.
- (D) is not mentioned.
Question 7 (constructed response · core)
Explain the function of the flashback in Passage G. Refer to at least two details from the second section.
Answer and explanation
Sample response. The flashback explains why Pell does not react to the empty slip. It shows that he chose to sell: he “named it too high, in the hope of being refused”, but the man “paid it without arguing”, so the loss is partly Pell’s own doing. It also shows that he hid the sale (“Pell had not told his brother”), which suggests he expected disapproval. Placed after the opening, the flashback changes his calm from shock to ambivalence.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (3 points).
| Point | Awarded for |
|---|---|
| 1 | States that the flashback explains the cause of the situation or of Pell’s reaction |
| 2 | Uses at least two accurate details from the second section |
| 3 | Explains the effect on the reader’s understanding (calm becomes ambivalence or guilt) |
Question 8 (constructed response · stretch)
Explain how the sequence of events in Passage H focuses the reader’s attention on the relationship between Odile and her grandfather.
Answer and explanation
Sample response. The exposition shows a shared routine in which Odile helps “because the work was quiet and he did not ask questions”, so the reader sees a relationship built on companionship without talk. “This year” breaks the pattern: he goes to lie down, and Odile sows alone. The next events pass quickly (June, the fruit) and the fruit is “split and sour”, which keeps the reader’s attention away from the crop. The final event, the basket carried to his bedside and the grandfather eating “one whole, without comment”, brings the routine back in a changed form: she now provides, and he accepts silently.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (4 points).
| Point | Awarded for |
|---|---|
| 1 | Identifies the established routine or relationship in the exposition |
| 2 | Identifies the change that disrupts it (“This year”, lying down) |
| 3 | Uses accurate details from the later events as evidence |
| 4 | Explains how the sequence places emphasis on the relationship, not the crop |
How did you do? If you missed Questions 1 to 3, reread “Order is a choice” in the study guide. If you missed Questions 4 to 6, reread Worked example 2 and “The parts of a plot, as a vocabulary”. Then try the checklist.