These are original Marlbridge practice questions, not past exam questions. The poems 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.
Poem W (written by Marlbridge), “Two Photographs”.
In the first, we are all squinting into a sun
that has since moved on, my father’s hand
raised like a man about to be sworn in.
In the second the light is softer. We are older,
or the photographer is better, and nobody
is looking at the camera. Look: a child
has turned to see what her mother sees,
which is, just outside the frame, the one
who is not in either photograph.
Poem X (written by Marlbridge), “Interview”.
The questions were sensible: where I saw myself,
what I would bring to the role. I said the right things
in the right order, like a child laying a table.
Yet all the while the window behind them
held a pigeon walking the ledge,
unhurried, with nowhere it was required to be,
and I envied it with a force that surprised me.
Question 1 (multiple choice · core)
In Poem W, what is most directly contrasted between the first and second photographs?
- (A) Where the people direct their attention
- (B) The number of people in each photograph
- (C) The town in which each was taken
- (D) The age of the photographer
Answer and explanation
Answer: (A). In the first, everyone is squinting towards the camera; in the second “nobody / is looking at the camera”.
- (B) is not stated.
- (C) is not mentioned.
- (D) is only a possibility the speaker raises (“or the photographer is better”), not a contrast the poem develops.
Question 2 (multiple choice · core)
The phrase “In the second” most directly functions as
- (A) a word that signals a juxtaposition of two moments
- (B) a change of speaker
- (C) a question to the reader
- (D) a quotation from the photographer
Answer and explanation
Answer: (A). It marks the move from one photograph to another so that they can be compared.
- (B) is wrong because the same speaker continues.
- (C) and (D) are not supported by the text.
Question 3 (multiple choice · stretch)
The colon after “Look” in “Look: a child / has turned to see what her mother sees” most strongly
- (A) directs the reader’s attention to a detail that changes the picture
- (B) ends the poem
- (C) begins a list of the photographs
- (D) shows that the speaker is angry
Answer and explanation
Answer: (A). The imperative “Look” and the colon point the reader to what the speaker wants us to notice, which leads to the turn of the poem.
- (B) is wrong; the poem continues for several lines.
- (C) is wrong; no list follows.
- (D) is unsupported; the tone is quiet and observant.
Question 4 (multiple choice · stretch)
The last two lines contrast what is in the photographs with “the one / who is not in either photograph”. The effect of this contrast is mainly to
- (A) make the absent person the most present subject of the poem
- (B) show that the photographs were never taken
- (C) suggest that the mother did not want to appear
- (D) criticise the photographer
Answer and explanation
Answer: (A). The poem places the absent person at the end, outside the frame, so that the viewer’s attention goes where the photographs cannot.
- (B) is contradicted by the description of the photographs.
- (C) is unsupported; the absent person is not identified.
- (D) is unsupported.
Question 5 (multiple choice · core)
In Poem X, the word “Yet” at the start of the fourth line most directly
- (A) signals a shift from the interview to the window and the speaker’s inner feeling
- (B) shows that the interviewers are angry
- (C) introduces a second speaker
- (D) ends the speaker’s answers
Answer and explanation
Answer: (A). After the composed answers, “Yet” turns to the pigeon and to what the speaker feels.
- (B) is wrong because the interviewers are described only as sensible.
- (C) is wrong because the speaker is the same.
- (D) is unsupported; the speaker’s answers have already been reported.
Question 6 (multiple choice · core)
The simile “like a child laying a table” most directly conveys that the speaker’s answers were
- (A) carefully arranged and rehearsed
- (B) angry and disorderly
- (C) humorous and unplanned
- (D) silent
Answer and explanation
Answer: (A). Laying a table involves placing things in order, and “the right things / in the right order” matches that.
- (B) and (C) contradict the orderly image.
- (D) is wrong because the speaker “said” things.
Question 7 (multiple choice · stretch)
The contrast between the speaker and the pigeon is best described as
- (A) controlled performance against free, unhurried existence
- (B) youth against old age
- (C) a quarrel between two people
- (D) a comparison of two buildings
Answer and explanation
Answer: (A). The speaker performs “the right things”; the pigeon has “nowhere it was required to be”.
- (B) has no support.
- (C) is wrong because the pigeon is not a person.
- (D) is not mentioned.
Question 8 (constructed response · core)
Explain the contrast between the first three lines and the last four lines of Poem X, naming the signal of the shift.
Answer and explanation
Sample response. The first lines present the speaker as controlled: she says “the right things / in the right order, like a child laying a table”. The word “Yet” signals a shift, after which the focus moves to the window and the pigeon, “unhurried, with nowhere it was required to be”. The speaker’s envy “with a force that surprised me” contrasts with the earlier calm, showing that the composed performance hides a longing for freedom.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (3 points).
| Point | Awarded for |
|---|---|
| 1 | Identifies the contrast (controlled performance against envy of freedom) |
| 2 | Names the signal (“Yet”, and optionally the change of focus) |
| 3 | Uses accurate details from both sides to explain what the contrast reveals |
Question 9 (constructed response · stretch)
Explain how Poem W uses juxtaposition to convey absence. Refer to at least three details.
Answer and explanation
Sample response. The poem places two photographs side by side. In the first, everyone is “squinting into a sun”, so attention is on the camera; in the second “nobody / is looking at the camera”, which turns attention elsewhere. The speaker then points to a child who “has turned to see what her mother sees”, leading the reader’s gaze beyond the frame to “the one / who is not in either photograph”. The juxtaposition of the looking in the first photograph and the looking away in the second leads to what neither can show, so the absence becomes the real subject.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (4 points).
| Point | Awarded for |
|---|---|
| 1 | Identifies the juxtaposition of the two photographs |
| 2 | Identifies the change in where people look |
| 3 | Uses at least three accurate details, including the final image |
| 4 | Explains that the contrast makes absence the focus |
How did you do? If you missed Questions 1 to 4, reread “What can be contrasted” in the study guide. If you missed Questions 5 to 7, reread “How a shift is signalled” and Worked example 2. Then check the checklist.