These are original Marlbridge practice questions, not past exam questions. Passages marked “written by Marlbridge” are original; the lines from Shakespeare’s Macbeth (about 1606) are in the public domain. The mark points are a suggested Marlbridge rubric to help you check your own work, not an official scoring guideline. Allow about 45 minutes.
Question 1 (multiple choice · foundation)
Passage written by Marlbridge.
Sir Anselm declared before the company that he cared nothing for titles. That evening he signed the letter to the bishop, “Sir Anselm Wray, Baronet, of Wray Court, Chairman of the Bench.”
The details most strongly suggest that Sir Anselm
- (A) professes humility but is in fact attached to his rank.
- (B) forgot his own title while writing.
- (C) wishes to be honest with the bishop.
- (D) dislikes the bishop.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (A). His public statement, “cared nothing for titles”, is contradicted by his writing out every title he holds. The gap is between professed and actual values.
- (B) cannot be right: he writes the full title with care.
- (C) is not supported. Honesty with the bishop is not mentioned, and the details concern his vanity.
- (D) has no textual basis; the bishop is simply the recipient.
Question 2 (multiple choice · core)
In Macbeth, before the murder of Duncan, Macbeth reasons in private, “If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well / It were done quickly.” He then goes on to commit the murder. Which statement best describes the effect of the contrast between his reasoning and his action?
- (A) It shows that Macbeth never had any doubts.
- (B) It shows that Macbeth is a character without any private thoughts.
- (C) It proves that Lady Macbeth is the only guilty person.
- (D) It reveals a tension between conscience and ambition, and makes the murder a choice that the audience understands as costly.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (D). His soliloquy shows that he weighs the consequences and the duties of a host and kinsman; his later action shows that ambition and pressure win. The gap between private reasoning and action creates complexity and a sense of cost.
- (A) is contradicted by the soliloquy, which is full of doubt.
- (B) is the opposite of what a soliloquy does.
- (C) is unsupported: the play shows Macbeth’s own responsibility, and the question asks about his reasoning and action.
Question 3 (multiple choice · core)
Passage written by Marlbridge.
At the graveside Mr Voss spoke steadily of his brother’s goodness. Afterwards, alone in the study, he found he had read the same line of the will eleven times.
Which interpretation is best supported?
- (A) Mr Voss did not love his brother.
- (B) Mr Voss’s public composure covers a private disturbance.
- (C) Mr Voss cannot read well.
- (D) Mr Voss is reading the will for legal advice.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). “Spoke steadily” (public) is set against reading the same line “eleven times” (private), which suggests that he is distracted or troubled.
- (A) goes further than the evidence. The distress could come from grief, guilt or anxiety about the will.
- (C) misreads the detail: repeated reading signals disturbance, not poor literacy.
- (D) is an unsupported plot guess and does not explain the contrast.
Question 4 (multiple choice · core)
Scene written by Marlbridge.
LADY ELSPETH: I will not receive her. (She grips the arm of her chair. A moment later, to the maid:) You may lay tea for two.
The stage direction and the second line most clearly
- (A) undercut her stated refusal and suggest that she is more willing, or more anxious, than she says.
- (B) support Lady Elspeth’s refusal.
- (C) show that the maid is disobedient.
- (D) prove that the visitor has already arrived.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (A). She grips the chair, a sign of tension, and then orders tea for two, an act of hospitality that contradicts “I will not receive her”.
- (B) is the opposite of what the action does.
- (C) is unsupported: the maid is receiving an instruction.
- (D) is not stated. The tea for two implies a plan to receive someone, not that she is already there.
Question 5 (multiple choice · core)
A student reading a novel writes, “Daniel is kind in Chapter 3 and cruel in Chapter 9, so the author is inconsistent and I cannot interpret him.” What is the best advice?
- (A) Ignore Chapter 9, because it is less representative.
- (B) Conclude that Daniel is simply a villain.
- (C) Treat the inconsistency as evidence to explain: look for the tension, such as competing values or pressure, that links the two chapters.
- (D) Stop analysing characters whose behaviour varies.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (C). Inconsistent behaviour is often a deliberate source of complexity. The task is to explain what pressure, value or motive connects both behaviours.
- (A) discards evidence, which weakens any interpretation.
- (B) picks one chapter and ignores the other; it is a label, not an analysis.
- (D) misunderstands the task: complexity is exactly what exam questions ask students to analyse.
Question 6 (multiple choice · stretch)
Setting written by Marlbridge. Marian tells her cousin that honesty is the first duty of a family, then slips a letter from the post into her sleeve without opening it. Which is the strongest statement of function?
- (A) By pairing Marian’s praise of honesty with her concealment of the letter, the author shows a gap between professed and private values, which creates suspense about what she fears and whether she will be found out.
- (B) Marian hides a letter.
- (C) Marian is a hypocrite.
- (D) Marian is a bad person who should be avoided.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (A). It names the tension, says what it shows (a gap between values and fear) and says what it does for the work (suspense).
- (B) restates the action without interpretation.
- (C) is only a label with no explanation.
- (D) is a moral judgement; it does not use the text to explain function.
Question 7 (written response · core)
Passage written by Marlbridge.
Mr Ince told his daughters that a gentleman never speaks of money. He spoke of nothing else through the whole of supper, though always in the tone of a man regretting that he must. When the cloth was drawn he went, candle in hand, to the strong-room door and tried the lock twice.
Write a paragraph of about 120 to 150 words explaining how Mr Ince’s speech and actions reveal complexity. Use at least two short quotations.
Answer and explanation
Model response. The narrator exposes a gap between what Mr Ince professes and what he does. He tells his daughters “that a gentleman never speaks of money”, yet “he spoke of nothing else through the whole of supper”. The rider, “in the tone of a man regretting that he must”, shows him excusing himself, which suggests that he knows the contradiction. His final action, trying “the lock twice”, reveals the private truth: his anxiety about money is physical and repeated, even compulsive. The pattern of a refined principle, a confession in the form of excuses and a nervous check on the lock builds a character whose gentility covers fear, and it invites the reader to wonder what has put him in that fear.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (6 points).
| Point | What earns it |
|---|---|
| 1 | States the professed value (a gentleman never speaks of money) with a quotation |
| 2 | Identifies the contradicting action (speaks of nothing else) with a quotation |
| 3 | Uses the tone detail (“regretting that he must”) as evidence of self-justification |
| 4 | Uses the private action (the strong-room lock) as evidence of the true concern |
| 5 | Names the tension (gentility against anxiety about money) and what it shows about his values or fears |
| 6 | Explains function: sympathy, irony or suspense in the novel |
Question 8 (written response · core)
Scene written by Marlbridge.
MARGERY holds a letter over the fire.
MARGERY: I promised him I would burn it. (She lets go of one corner; the letter hangs by the other.) And I always keep my word. (She stays like this a moment longer than she should.)
In three or four sentences, explain what the stage directions add to Margery’s words and why that makes her a complex character.
Answer and explanation
Model response. Margery’s words claim a firm commitment, “I always keep my word”, but the stage directions show her hesitating: she lets go of one corner only and holds the letter “a moment longer than she should”. The action undercuts her declaration and suggests that she is tempted to keep the letter, or afraid of what burning it will mean. The competing values are loyalty to a promise and a need to preserve the letter, and the unresolved gesture creates suspense and presents her as a person divided against herself.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (4 points).
| Point | What earns it |
|---|---|
| 1 | Notes the firmness of her spoken words with a quotation |
| 2 | Notes the hesitation in the stage directions with a quotation or specific detail |
| 3 | Names the tension (promise against reluctance to destroy the letter) |
| 4 | Explains the effect: suspense or a divided, complex character |
Question 9 (written response · stretch)
Choose a longer work you know well, or use Macbeth. Complete the six steps of the method: professed, actual, private, gap, meaning, function. Then write one sentence that could serve as the claim of a paragraph.
Answer and explanation
Model response (Macbeth).
- Professed: Macbeth is a loyal general and kinsman; in public he presents himself as Duncan’s faithful servant.
- Actual: He kills the king in his own house.
- Private: His soliloquy “If it were done when ’tis done” lists reasons not to act: he is Duncan’s host, kinsman and subject.
- Gap: Public loyalty against private ambition, with his conscience losing.
- Meaning: His values are divided; he knows what is right and acts otherwise, which makes his crime a failure of will as much as of desire.
- Function: It makes him sympathetic enough to be tragic, and it makes the audience watch the consequences.
- Claim sentence: “By giving Macbeth a private reasoning that argues against the very act he commits, Shakespeare presents the murder as a betrayal of his own conscience and so makes the play’s tragedy one of self-division.”
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (4 points). One point each for a precise professed-versus-actual contrast with evidence; a private-thought detail; a named tension and what it shows; a claim sentence that states function. Any well-supported choice of work earns credit.
How did you do?
- 8 to 9 correct or well-supported answers: Move on to the Topic 6.3 study guide.
- 5 to 7: Re-read the six-step method in the study guide and redo the written questions.
- 4 or fewer: Work through both worked examples again, then use the revision notes and checklist to find the weak spots.