Use this diagnostic to find which Unit 4 topics to revisit: one short question for each of Topics 4.1 to 4.4 and two each for Topics 4.5, 4.6 and 4.7. It takes about 35 minutes and uses no notes.
These are original Marlbridge practice questions, not past exam questions. All unseen passages were written by Marlbridge for practice; the public-domain extract is from Edgar Allan Poe, “The Tell-Tale Heart” (1843). The diagnostic is not calibrated and gives no predicted score. The rubrics are a suggested Marlbridge rubric, not an official scoring guideline.
How to take it. Answer everything before you open any answer. Then follow the “If you missed this” link for each question you got wrong. The kitchen passage under Question 1 is used again for Questions 7 and 8.
Question 1 (multiple choice · 4.1)
Read this passage written by Marlbridge.
Chef Ruiz tasted every sauce at the pass and sent back any that was not exactly right. Pia, the new commis, arrived with a notebook of her grandmother’s recipes, none of them measured. “A handful,” she read aloud. “A handful of whose hand?” said Chef Ruiz.
Which statement best explains the function of the contrast between Chef Ruiz and Pia?
- (A) It shows that Pia is a poor cook and Chef Ruiz a good one.
- (B) It sets standardised precision against inherited, intuitive knowledge, creating the kitchen’s central conflict of values.
- (C) It shows that both characters dislike one another.
- (D) It describes what each character is wearing.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). Ruiz stands for exactness and a repeatable standard; Pia stands for knowledge handed down by touch. The exchange about “a handful” makes the difference a conflict of values.
- (A) The passage does not judge their skill.
- (C) Dislike is not shown; the disagreement is about method.
- (D) No clothing is mentioned.
If you missed this: Topic 4.1 study guide.
Question 2 (multiple choice · 4.2)
Read this passage written by Marlbridge.
“You needn’t have come,” said Grandfather, setting a second cup beside his own before she had taken off her coat.
Which statement best describes the complexity of the relationship?
- (A) His words reject her, but his action welcomes her.
- (B) He is angry and she is afraid.
- (C) He does not know she is coming.
- (D) They are strangers meeting for the first time.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (A). The spoken words say “you needn’t have come” while the second cup, set out before she is settled, shows he expected and wanted her.
- (B) Neither anger nor fear is shown.
- (C) The second cup shows he had prepared for her.
- (D) The familiar tone suggests a shared history.
If you missed this: Topic 4.2 study guide.
Question 3 (multiple choice · 4.3)
Read this passage written by Marlbridge.
The reading room had no clock, and the windows had been painted over in the war. Under the green lamps, afternoon and midnight were the same hour.
Which best describes the function of the setting?
- (A) It creates a timeless, enclosed mood that cuts the room off from the outside world.
- (B) It shows that the library is in a dangerous district.
- (C) It makes the reader feel excited and hopeful.
- (D) It shows that the narrator likes green.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (A). No clock, painted windows and lamps that erase time of day create a closed, suspended atmosphere.
- (B) The war refers to when the windows were painted; it does not mention danger now.
- (C) The details are stifling, not hopeful.
- (D) The colour detail adds to the lamp-lit atmosphere; it is not a preference.
If you missed this: Topic 4.3 study guide.
Question 4 (multiple choice · 4.4)
Read this Marlbridge summary. Section 1: At her father’s funeral, Gwen refuses to speak to her brother. Section 2: Twenty years earlier, the two quarrel over the sale of a boat. Section 3: Back at the funeral, her brother hands her the key to the boat shed.
What is the main effect of this order?
- (A) It hides the cause of the silence from the reader until the end.
- (B) The flashback explains the silence, so the final gesture resolves a quarrel the reader now understands.
- (C) It shows that the funeral happened twenty years ago.
- (D) It proves that Gwen is at fault.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). The flashback supplies the cause, so the key at the end has meaning.
- (A) The cause is revealed in the middle, not at the end.
- (C) The funeral is in the present; the quarrel was twenty years earlier.
- (D) The summary does not assign blame.
If you missed this: Topic 4.4 study guide.
Question 5 (multiple choice · 4.5)
Read this passage written by Marlbridge.
Left, no right, the lift is out, stairs then, four flights, why does nobody tell you, he’ll be asleep, he’s never asleep, mind the bag.
Which description fits the narration best?
- (A) A distant, objective summary in the third person
- (B) Stream of consciousness: one mind’s thoughts as a continuous, associative flow
- (C) A narrator addressing the reader directly
- (D) A formal, balanced narration with long sentences
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). The loose punctuation, self-correction (“no right”) and unconnected worries imitate thought.
- (A) There is no outside voice.
- (C) No one is addressed.
- (D) The sentence is a loose chain, not balanced.
If you missed this: Topic 4.5 study guide.
Question 6 (short answer · 4.5)
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.” Explain what this sentence reveals about the narrator’s perspective and tone. (3 points)
Answer and explanation
Sample response. The first-person narrator is proud of his deception: he presents the week of kindness as evidence of his cleverness, with no sign of remorse. The contrast between “kinder” and “killed” is delivered in a tone of calm self-satisfaction, so the sentence reveals a perspective in which his own plan matters more than the old man’s trust.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (3 points).
| Point | Awarded for |
|---|---|
| 1 | Identifies the narrator’s perspective (pride in deceit, self-justification) |
| 2 | Names the tone (calm, proud, chilling) |
| 3 | Uses a word or the contrast (“kinder” / “killed”) to support it |
If you missed this: Topic 4.5 study guide, Worked example 1.
Question 7 (multiple choice · 4.6)
For the kitchen passage in Question 1, which is the most defensible thesis?
- (A) The passage is about a chef and a new cook.
- (B) By setting Chef Ruiz’s insistence on measure against Pia’s “handful”, the passage suggests that precision and inherited judgment are two kinds of knowledge, not one right and one wrong.
- (C) The writer uses dialogue.
- (D) Chef Ruiz is the head of the kitchen.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). It states an interpretation with a reason and can be defended with evidence.
- (A) and (D) are summary.
- (C) names a device and makes no claim.
If you missed this: Topic 4.6 study guide.
Question 8 (short answer · 4.6)
Write a thesis for the kitchen passage in Question 1 and a two-step line of reasoning. (3 points)
Answer and explanation
Sample response. Thesis: The passage suggests that Chef Ruiz’s exactness and Pia’s inherited method are two forms of care for food, and that the conflict between them lies in how each defines trust. Line of reasoning: (1) Ruiz’s tasting and sending back show a value of consistency that a kitchen’s reputation relies on. (2) Pia’s unmeasured recipes and his question “A handful of whose hand?” show how his standard cannot easily include knowledge that is passed down by touch.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (3 points).
| Point | Awarded for |
|---|---|
| 1 | A defensible thesis (not a summary) |
| 2 | A first claim, logically connected to the thesis |
| 3 | A second claim that builds on the first, not a repeat |
If you missed this: Topic 4.6 study guide, Worked example 1.
Question 9 (multiple choice · 4.7)
Which sentence uses evidence and a transition most effectively for the claim “Ruiz’s standard excludes Pia’s knowledge”?
- (A) “Ruiz speaks. Pia reads. There is a recipe.”
- (B) “When Pia reads ‘A handful,’ Ruiz replies ‘A handful of whose hand?’, so his question treats her grandmother’s measure as no measure at all.”
- (C) “The writer uses dialogue, which is a good technique.”
- (D) “Pia has a notebook, and Ruiz has a pass.”
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). It quotes short phrases, builds them into a sentence, uses “so” to show cause and comments on what they imply.
- (A) lists facts with no link.
- (C) names a device without evidence.
- (D) joins two details with “and” without a claim.
If you missed this: Topic 4.7 study guide.
Question 10 (short answer · 4.7)
Revise this paragraph so that it has a topic sentence, uses one short quotation and links its sentences. Keep it under 70 words. (3 points)
Ruiz is strict. He sends sauces back. Pia has recipes. They are not measured. This shows they are different.
Answer and explanation
Sample response. Ruiz’s authority depends on measure, and Pia’s knowledge depends on touch. He sends back any sauce “not exactly right”, while she reads from recipes that say only “A handful”. Their methods therefore meet at a point where neither standard can speak for the other.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (3 points).
| Point | Awarded for |
|---|---|
| 1 | A topic sentence that makes a claim |
| 2 | An accurate, short quotation built into a sentence |
| 3 | A transition (such as “while”, “therefore”) and a concluding link |
If you missed this: Topic 4.7 study guide, Worked example 2.
Where to go next
Tally which topics you missed and read those guides first. When you are ready, work through the Unit 4 mixed review.