These are original Marlbridge practice questions, not past exam questions. Works referred to are public domain (author and date given); the prompt, the weak paragraph, the sample answers and the rubrics were written by Marlbridge. Mark points are a suggested Marlbridge rubric, not an official scoring guideline. Questions 1 to 6 are multiple choice; Questions 7 and 8 are written responses. Allow about 50 minutes. No calculator is needed.
Questions 1 to 8 refer to this prompt, written by Marlbridge.
Secrets can shape the lives of characters who never learn them as well as of those who keep them. Choose a novel or play in which a secret, kept or revealed, contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole. Write an essay analysing how the secret contributes to that meaning.
Questions 1, 2, 4, 6 and 8 use Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations (1861) as the chosen work. In it, Pip’s fortune comes from a source he does not know until Chapter 39, when the convict Magwitch reveals himself as his benefactor.
Question 1 (multiple choice · foundation)
Which of the following is the best thesis for an essay on Great Expectations?
- (A) “Dickens uses a secret to create suspense and symbolism.”
- (B) “Secrets shape the meaning of Great Expectations as a whole.”
- (C) “In Great Expectations, there is a secret that Pip does not know until Chapter 39.”
- (D) “By hiding the source of Pip’s fortune until Chapter 39, Dickens makes the secret a test of Pip’s values: because his sense of his own refinement rests on a secret he would have despised, the revelation turns the novel from a story of social rise into an argument that worth lies in loyalty, not in rank.”
Answer and explanation
Answer: (D). It is a defensible interpretation of the whole work, names what the secret does (tests Pip’s values, changes the novel’s shape) and implies a line of reasoning.
- (A) names features (“suspense and symbolism”) without a claim about meaning.
- (B) restates the prompt.
- (C) summarises a plot fact.
Question 2 (multiple choice · core)
Which sequence forms the best line of reasoning for the thesis in Question 1(D)?
- (A) 1. The novel begins in a graveyard. 2. Pip goes to London. 3. Pip returns home.
- (B) 1. Pip builds his refinement on the assumption that Miss Havisham is his benefactor. 2. The revelation of Magwitch forces him to measure his gentility against the man who paid for it. 3. Pip’s later care for Magwitch shows the values the secret exposed. 4. The secret of Estella’s parentage shows that other fortunes and loyalties rest on hidden origins.
- (C) 1. Secrets are exciting. 2. People like secrets. 3. Dickens liked secrets.
- (D) 1. The novel has a convict. 2. The novel has a lawyer. 3. The novel has a lady in a wedding dress.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). Each claim advances the thesis in a logical order: assumption, revelation, consequence, extension.
- (A) lists events, not claims.
- (C) offers generalities unrelated to the text.
- (D) lists characters, with no argument.
Question 3 (multiple choice · core)
In the exam, you will not have the text. You remember that Pip is horrified by Magwitch in Chapter 39, but you cannot recall the exact words. What is the best way to use this as evidence?
- (A) Write “something happens in the middle”.
- (B) Skip evidence and state only your opinion.
- (C) Invent a plausible quotation and present it as exact.
- (D) Describe it precisely, for example, “Pip’s physical revulsion when the convict from the marshes reveals himself as his benefactor”, and explain how it supports your claim.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (D). Precise description of a scene is acceptable evidence. Never invent a quotation.
- (A) is too vague to count as evidence.
- (B) leaves the claim unsupported.
- (C) risks inaccuracy and misleads the reader.
Question 4 (multiple choice · core)
A student writes: “Magwitch tells Pip that he has been his benefactor.” A second student writes: “Magwitch’s announcement reverses Pip’s assumption about his fortune and forces him to see that his refinement was paid for by the man he despises.” Why is the second sentence stronger?
- (A) It explains what the event does (reverses an assumption, exposes a contradiction in Pip’s values), instead of repeating what happens.
- (B) It uses a more difficult word.
- (C) It avoids mentioning Pip.
- (D) It is longer.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (A). The first sentence is summary; the second is commentary, linking the event to the thesis about values.
- (B) is not what makes a sentence stronger.
- (C) is false; both mention Pip.
- (D) confuses length with quality.
Question 5 (multiple choice · core)
Which choice of work is best suited to this prompt?
- (A) A book you read once, years ago, and half remember.
- (B) The most famous book you can name, whether or not it contains a secret.
- (C) A novel in which a secret is established early, shapes characters’ choices throughout, and is revealed late with consequences for the ending.
- (D) A play in which a secret appears in one short scene and has no further effect.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (C). A secret that runs through the work and changes the ending gives varied evidence for a whole-work argument.
- (A) is risky: you must know the work well enough to give accurate evidence.
- (B) ignores the requirement that the work fit the prompt.
- (D) provides too little to sustain the argument.
Question 6 (multiple choice · stretch)
Which sentence best shows sophistication in an essay on Great Expectations?
- (A) “Although Pip’s change seems to reject the class values the secret exposed, the novel does not let him return to simplicity: his loyalty to Magwitch ends up costing him the fortune that had underwritten his place, which complicates any claim that the novel simply prefers loyalty to rank.”
- (B) “Dickens wrote in the nineteenth century.”
- (C) “Many readers have different opinions.”
- (D) “The novel is about secrets and is very good.”
Answer and explanation
Answer: (A). It develops a tension (the novel’s preference for loyalty is complicated by the cost) and links it to the thesis.
- (B) offers context with no explanation of its relevance.
- (C) acknowledges differing opinions without developing any.
- (D) is vague.
Question 7 (written response · core)
Choose a novel or play you know well (it may be Great Expectations or another). Write a thesis (one or two sentences) and three claims forming a line of reasoning for the prompt above.
Answer and explanation
Sample response (written by Marlbridge), using Great Expectations.
Thesis: “Dickens hides the source of Pip’s fortune so that its revelation tests the values on which Pip has built his identity, turning a story of social rise into an argument that worth lies in loyalty and not in rank.”
Claims:
- Pip’s assumption that Miss Havisham is his benefactor lets him build an identity of refinement without examining its source.
- Magwitch’s revelation forces Pip to measure his gentility against the man whose labour and gratitude paid for it.
- Pip’s later care for Magwitch, and the loss of his fortune, show the values that the secret exposed.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (4 points)
| Point | What earns it |
|---|---|
| 1 | A specific work and a defensible thesis that responds to the prompt. |
| 2 | A thesis that says what the secret contributes to the work’s meaning. |
| 3 | Claims that are distinct, arguable and tied to evidence the student knows. |
| 4 | Claims ordered so that together they defend the thesis. |
Question 8 (written response · stretch)
Here is a weak paragraph about Great Expectations.
In Chapter 39, Magwitch comes to see Pip and tells him that he is the one who has been giving him money. Pip is shocked. This is an important part of the book and a good use of a secret by Dickens.
Rewrite it as a strong body paragraph (about 130 to 150 words) with a claim, specific evidence, commentary and a link to a thesis.
Answer and explanation
What was wrong. It summarises, uses vague evaluation (“important”, “good”), offers no specific evidence or explanation, and does not link to a thesis.
Sample response (written by Marlbridge). The revelation of the secret in Chapter 39 reverses the assumption on which Pip has built his life. Pip has imagined that Miss Havisham is his patron, so he has understood his rise as a romance of refinement. When Magwitch announces, “I’ve made a gentleman on you!”, the secret becomes a verdict on that identity: Pip is “borne down” by the truth, and his revulsion at the convict shows how far his gentility depends on contempt. The secret also forces him to confront the labour behind his comfort, since Magwitch has “worked hard” so that Pip may be “above work”. The scene therefore supports the thesis that Dickens uses the hidden source of Pip’s fortune to test his values, and that the test begins when the secret is told.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (4 points)
| Point | What earns it |
|---|---|
| 1 | Opens with a claim that advances a line of reasoning. |
| 2 | Uses specific, accurate evidence (a quotation or a precise description). |
| 3 | Commentary explains how the evidence supports the claim. |
| 4 | Links the paragraph to the thesis about the whole work. |
How did you do?
- Questions 1 to 6 correct: move to the 9.7 study guide.
- Missed 1 or 4: reread “A defensible thesis about a whole work” in the study guide.
- Missed 2 or 5: practise splitting a thesis into three claims and choosing works with enough evidence.
- Missed 3: list, for two works you know, five scenes you could describe precisely.
- Missed 6: practise writing one sentence that develops a tension without losing your thesis.
- Written responses below 3 points: rewrite after checking each row of the rubric in the guide.