These are original Marlbridge practice questions, not past exam questions. The extracts 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.
Extract 3E (written by Marlbridge), from an invented novel.
In Carrow, the mill whistle set the day. At six it called the spinners from their beds along Tanner Row, where each house shared a wall with the next and a coughing child could be heard three doors down. At half past, the whistle called the overseers, who lived on the hill and came down it slowly, with their gloves on. The chapel stood exactly between, and its bell, which rang for neither group, was rung by a man who belonged to both and was welcome in neither. On Sundays the two streets met in its pews, in order, the hill to the front.
Extract 3F (written by Marlbridge), stage directions from an invented play.
A basement kitchen. One small window at street level shows only passing feet. A table is laid for six; there are five chairs. Over the sixth place hangs a man’s coat on a hook, at the height where a head would be.
Question 1 (multiple choice · core)
“The mill whistle set the day.” This detail most directly conveys that in Carrow
- (A) time is organised by the owners’ industry
- (B) the town is very quiet
- (C) people sleep late
- (D) the mill has closed
Answer and explanation
Answer: (A). A whistle that calls spinners and then overseers shows that the working day is governed by the mill.
- (B) contradicts the noise of the whistle.
- (C) contradicts “At six it called the spinners from their beds”.
- (D) contradicts the whistle’s activity.
Question 2 (multiple choice · core)
“Each house shared a wall with the next and a coughing child could be heard three doors down” most directly conveys
- (A) crowded conditions with little privacy
- (B) a prosperous district
- (C) a countryside of scattered farms
- (D) a place where children are rarely ill
Answer and explanation
Answer: (A). Shared walls and sounds carrying “three doors down” show people living close together.
- (B) is contradicted by the sense of crowding and illness.
- (C) is contradicted by the terraced street.
- (D) is contradicted by the coughing.
Question 3 (multiple choice · stretch)
The overseers “came down [the hill] slowly, with their gloves on.” This detail most directly suggests that the overseers
- (A) keep a distance from the world of the spinners
- (B) are cold because of the weather only
- (C) are in a hurry
- (D) enjoy visiting the spinners’ homes
Answer and explanation
Answer: (A). The slow descent and the gloves show reluctance to touch or mix with the world below, which marks a social distance between the groups.
- (B) ignores that the detail is attached to a class of people and is placed in a passage about status.
- (C) contradicts “slowly”.
- (D) contradicts the reluctance conveyed by the gloves.
Question 4 (multiple choice · stretch)
The chapel’s bell “was rung by a man who belonged to both and was welcome in neither.” This detail most directly suggests that
- (A) the chapel unites the two groups completely
- (B) the place that stands between the groups does not remove the division, and the man who links them is left without a home in either
- (C) the bell is broken
- (D) the man is the owner of the mill
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). The chapel is “exactly between”, but its bell-ringer’s position shows that bridging the division is lonely: he belongs to both and is welcome in neither.
- (A) is contradicted by the man’s position.
- (C) is not suggested.
- (D) is not supported.
Question 5 (multiple choice · core)
“On Sundays the two streets met in its pews, in order, the hill to the front.” The final detail most directly conveys that
- (A) the chapel reinforces the social hierarchy of the town
- (B) the chapel is empty on Sundays
- (C) the spinners are favoured in the seating
- (D) the two groups are friends
Answer and explanation
Answer: (A). The groups meet “in order”, with the hill at the front, so the community’s rank is repeated in its worship.
- (B) contradicts “met in its pews”.
- (C) reverses the order.
- (D) is contradicted by the ordered seating.
Question 6 (multiple choice · stretch)
Taken together, the details of Extract 3E most strongly suggest that the setting makes likely a conflict between
- (A) the town and the weather
- (B) the spinners and the people who control the mill
- (C) two chapels
- (D) a mother and a child
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). The whistle, the hill and the street, the gloves and the ordered pews all set the workers and the overseers apart and unequal.
- (A) is not supported; the weather is not described.
- (C) is wrong; there is one chapel.
- (D) is not mentioned.
Question 7 (multiple choice · core)
In Extract 3F, the sixth place laid at the table, with “a man’s coat on a hook, at the height where a head would be”, most directly conveys
- (A) the presence of an absent person felt in the room
- (B) that the room is warm
- (C) that the guests have arrived
- (D) that the coat is for sale
Answer and explanation
Answer: (A). The coat stands in for a person at the empty sixth place, with a place laid but no chair. The setting is arranged to make an absence visible.
- (B) is not suggested.
- (C) is contradicted by “five chairs”.
- (D) has no support.
Question 8 (constructed response · core)
Explain how two details in Extract 3E convey the social divisions of Carrow.
Answer and explanation
Sample response. The two groups are separated by geography and by timing. The spinners live “along Tanner Row”, where “each house shared a wall with the next”, while the overseers “lived on the hill” and are called by the whistle thirty minutes later. The chapel, which should be a shared place, keeps the order: the two streets sit “in order, the hill to the front”. Both details show a community in which position decides where people live, when they are called and where they sit.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (3 points).
| Point | Awarded for |
|---|---|
| 1 | Identifies a social division (workers and overseers, street and hill) |
| 2 | Uses two accurate details |
| 3 | Explains how the details convey the division (position, timing, seating) |
Question 9 (constructed response · stretch)
Explain how the stage directions in Extract 3F create a setting that suggests an absent character and a mood. Refer to at least three details.
Answer and explanation
Sample response. The basement kitchen, with one “small window at street level” that “shows only passing feet”, presents a place cut off from the world above, where the only view is of people going by. The table “laid for six” with only “five chairs” sets an expectation of a sixth person who is not there, and the coat that hangs “at the height where a head would be” makes the absence visible as a presence. The mood is one of waiting and loss: the room is arranged for someone who has not come, or who will not come back.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (4 points).
| Point | Awarded for |
|---|---|
| 1 | Identifies a mood (waiting, loss, confinement) |
| 2 | Uses at least three accurate details from the stage directions |
| 3 | Explains how the details suggest an absent character (table, chair, coat) |
| 4 | Links the setting to its effect on the audience or characters |
How did you do? If you missed Questions 1 to 3, reread “Reading setting in a longer work” in the study guide. If you missed Questions 4 to 6, reread Worked example 2. If you missed Question 7 or 9, reread “Setting in drama”. Then check the checklist.