IB English A

What this covers

• Writing a Paper 1 guided analysis: reading the guiding question as a lens rather than a summary prompt, and building an argument about how an unseen text constructs meaning through structure, voice, and, for Language and Literature, layout, image, and audience positioning
• Constructing a Paper 2 comparative essay from memory: choosing two works that genuinely illuminate the chosen question, sustaining comparison across paragraphs instead of alternating summaries, and citing precisely without a text in front of you
• Preparing the Individual Oral: selecting a defensible global issue, pairing a literary extract with a non-literary text (or two literary extracts in Literature), and structuring ten minutes so both extract and wider work get real attention before the follow-up questions
• Drafting and revising the HL Essay: narrowing a line of inquiry to something arguable in 1,500 words, developing it through one work or body of work, and meeting the criterion for a formal, academic register
• Using the seven concepts — identity, culture, creativity, communication, perspective, transformation, representation — as analytical starting points rather than labels bolted onto a finished paragraph
• Reading assessment criteria descriptors closely so that Criterion B (analysis and evaluation) is addressed separately from Criterion A (knowledge, understanding and interpretation) in your writing

Where learners get stuck

Treating Paper 1 as a features hunt — listing metaphor, alliteration, and rule of three, then asserting each 'engages the reader'

Earlier coursework often rewarded correct identification of devices. IB's Criterion B asks for evaluation of how choices produce meaning for a specific audience and purpose, so an accurate list with no argument sits in the lower bands.

Confusing a global issue with a theme, so the Individual Oral becomes 'love in Text A and Text B'

The distinction is genuinely fine. A global issue must have real-world significance beyond the texts and be transnational in scope; students default to thematic vocabulary from literature classes and then struggle to explain why the issue matters outside the page.

Writing Paper 2 as two separate essays joined by a paragraph of comparison at the end

Without texts in the exam room, students fall back on rehearsed single-work material. The question demands that both works be used to answer it together, and organisation is assessed under Criterion C.

What a session looks like

A typical session starts by naming the task and the criterion you want to move on. From there it might be a timed Paper 1 opening on an unseen text, talking through what the guiding question is actually asking before you write; a rehearsal of the Individual Oral where you speak for ten minutes and then face follow-up questions; or line-by-line work on a Paper 2 body paragraph to test whether the comparison is doing analytical work. You read passages aloud or paste them in, and the discussion stays on your own set works and portfolio texts.

Helpful to know first

• Currently enrolled in IB English A: Literature or Language and Literature, SL or HL
• Access to your school's prescribed works, plus your learner portfolio entries and any non-literary body of work being studied
• Comfort writing extended essays in English and reading unfamiliar texts closely
• A copy of the assessment criteria your teacher marks against

Questions

What is the difference between IB English A Literature and Language and Literature, and can you help with both?

Literature works only with literary texts across genres and periods; Language and Literature adds non-literary texts such as advertising, speeches, journalism, and digital media, and asks how language works in those contexts. Sessions cover both, and the approach shifts accordingly — Paper 1 in Language and Literature routinely presents non-literary material with visual elements.

How do we prepare for the Individual Oral?

By choosing and testing a global issue, checking that the two extracts genuinely support it, timing a full run-through, and then practising the five minutes of follow-up questions, which students often under-prepare. Recordings are not made; you speak and get feedback on structure, balance between extract and wider work, and depth of analysis.

My child is in DP1 and has not started the exams yet. Is this useful now?

Yes. DP1 is when the learner portfolio is built and when reading habits form. Early sessions focus on close reading, keeping usable portfolio notes, and getting comfortable with the areas of exploration, so that Paper 2 and the Individual Oral are not starting from scratch in DP2.

Can you mark my HL Essay?

Sessions can give detailed feedback against the criteria and question whether the line of inquiry is arguable and adequately narrowed, but the work must be your own — the HL Essay is internally assessed and subject to academic integrity rules. Feedback is discussion and questioning, not rewriting.