These are original Marlbridge practice questions, not past exam questions. Every unseen passage was written by Marlbridge for practice. The public-domain extracts are from Edgar Allan Poe, “The Tell-Tale Heart” (1843), and Kate Chopin, “The Story of an Hour” (1894). The marks in the rubrics are a suggested Marlbridge rubric, not an official scoring guideline. Answer every question before opening its answer.
Question 1 (multiple choice · foundation)
Read this passage written by Marlbridge.
The window of the post office was already smashed when Pavel arrived. Three days earlier, at this same counter, he had told the clerk that nothing in this town ever changed.
How does the order of events affect the reader?
- (A) It hides the fact that a window was smashed.
- (B) It opens with an outcome and then looks back, creating curiosity about what changed.
- (C) It shows the events in strict chronological order.
- (D) It makes the reader sure that Pavel broke the window.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). The smashed window is shown first and a past remark follows. The order raises the question of what changed in three days and sets his claim (“nothing ever changed”) against what the reader has just seen.
- (A) The window is stated first, so it is not hidden.
- (C) The second sentence goes back three days, so the order is not strictly chronological.
- (D) Nothing says who broke it.
Question 2 (multiple choice · core)
In Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” (1843), the narrator says: “I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him.” What contrast does this create?
- (A) Between the old man and the police
- (B) Between outward kindness and a hidden murderous plan
- (C) Between night and day
- (D) Between the narrator’s youth and age
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). His kindness is a mask; the contrast emphasises deception and the narrator’s self-satisfaction.
- (A) The police have not yet appeared in this sentence.
- (C) The sentence is about behaviour, not time of day.
- (D) Age is not mentioned.
Question 3 (multiple choice · core)
Read this passage written by Marlbridge.
Lucia checked the door twice before bed. Years earlier, in another house, a night had come when she had not, and she did not think of that night now except when her hand touched the cold bolt.
What does the plot order (a present habit, then a past event, then back to the present) mainly do?
- (A) It makes the reader forget the earlier house.
- (B) It explains the habit by a past event the character prefers not to face.
- (C) It shows that Lucia lives in two houses.
- (D) It argues that doors should be locked.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). The habit is seen first, the cause is hinted at second, and the last clause returns to the touch of the bolt, showing the memory is present even when not named.
- (A) The earlier house is evoked, not forgotten.
- (C) “Another house” describes a different past home, not a second present one.
- (D) The passage is about a character, not a recommendation.
Question 4 (multiple choice · core)
In Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” (1894), which sequence of events is correct for the first half of the story?
- (A) Husband walks in; Louise is told of the death; Louise says “free”; she goes to her room.
- (B) Louise is told of the death; she weeps; she goes to her room alone; she begins to whisper “free”.
- (C) Louise whispers “free”; she is told of the death; she weeps; the husband returns.
- (D) Louise goes to her room; the news is delivered; she weeps; she whispers “free”.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). Josephine tells her; she weeps “at once, with sudden, wild abandonment”; she goes away to her room alone; later she says “free, free, free!”.
- (A) places the husband’s return first; he returns at the end.
- (C) reverses the news and the whisper.
- (D) puts her going to her room before the news.
Question 5 (multiple choice · stretch)
Which statement about a contrast is best?
- (A) “The two sisters are different, which is a contrast.”
- (B) “The sister who sits still and the sister who paces show two attitudes to waiting, patience against dread.”
- (C) “One sister is older.”
- (D) “Contrast means two characters who dislike each other.”
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). It names the trait on each side (still, pacing) and the values or attitudes they represent.
- (A) says only that they differ.
- (C) gives a fact with no contrast of values.
- (D) confuses contrast with enmity.
Question 6 (short answer · core)
Read this passage written by Marlbridge.
At the funeral Odalys told everyone the weather was lovely, and handed round the sandwiches herself. It was only afterwards, washing the plates, that she put her hands flat on the draining board and did not move for a long time.
Identify a contrast and explain what trait or value each side emphasises. (4 points)
Answer and explanation
A strong answer: The contrast is between Odalys’s public composure (talking about the weather, handing round sandwiches) and her private grief (hands flat, still for a long time). The public behaviour emphasises duty, hospitality and control; the private moment shows how much that control costs. The order, public then private, delays the grief until she is alone, so the reader sees what the guests do not.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (4 points).
| Point | Awarded for |
|---|---|
| 1 | Identifies the contrast (public composure against private grief) |
| 2 | Evidence for the public side |
| 3 | Evidence for the private side |
| 4 | Explains what trait or value each emphasises, or what the order adds |
Question 7 (short answer · core)
Read this passage written by Marlbridge.
The Borrowed Coat. Hassan wore Karim’s coat to the interview. [Section 1.] Two years before, when they were boys, Karim had worn Hassan’s coat to a wedding, and Hassan had not asked for it back for a month. [Section 2.] Karim was waiting outside when the interview ended. “How did it go?” “It fits,” said Hassan, and gave him back the coat. [Section 3.]
(a) Describe the order of the sections. (1 point) (b) Explain what the order adds and what is contrasted. (3 points)
Answer and explanation
(a) Present (the interview), then a flashback to two years before, then the present again.
(b) The flashback shows an earlier, reversed lending, so the reader understands the coat as a sign of mutual generosity before the final scene. The contrast is between the earlier occasion, when Hassan was the lender, and now, when he is the borrower; it emphasises a friendship in which each takes turns to be helped. “It fits” works both as an answer about the interview and as a sign that Hassan has the right place.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (4 points).
| Point | Awarded for |
|---|---|
| 1 | Describes the order (present, flashback, present) |
| 2 | Explains what the flashback adds |
| 3 | Identifies the contrast (lender and borrower, then and now) |
| 4 | Explains what trait or value it emphasises (generosity, mutual care) |
Question 8 (short answer · stretch)
Write one paragraph (about 120 words) on how Poe orders the climax of “The Tell-Tale Heart” (1843) and what contrast it builds. Use one accurate quotation from the officers’ visit.
Answer and explanation
Sample response (written by Marlbridge). Poe saves the narrator’s collapse until the officers’ visit, so that long control is broken in a few lines. Before that, he is “singularly at ease” and brings chairs into the room. The sentence “the noise steadily increased” then repeats as he talks “more quickly—more vehemently”, until he shrieks “tear up the planks!” The order sets confident calm against frantic confession, which emphasises that his claim to sanity cannot survive his own conscience. The late placement of the sound makes the confession feel inevitable.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (4 points).
| Point | Awarded for |
|---|---|
| 1 | A claim about how the climax is ordered |
| 2 | An accurate quotation |
| 3 | A named contrast (calm against frenzy) |
| 4 | Commentary on what the order or contrast emphasises (self-deception, conscience) |
How did you do?
Count your correct multiple-choice answers (out of 5) and your rubric points (out of 12). If you missed questions 1 to 5, reread “A method: sequence, shift, contrast, effect” in the study guide. If your written scores were low, redo Question 6 in four sentences, one per step. Then try the checklist.