The IBDP aims to educate students holistically by developing their abilities in literary analysis from the author’s cultural, social and historical perspectives. In preparation for the 2023 Exams, NTK’s English language specialists analysed the recent IBDP Exam trends and provided some valuable insights.
IBDP English A Language and Literature Paper 1
Recent exams had students write commentaries on unseen non-literary texts, including opinion editorials, comic strips, blogs, infographics, and online websites. Students are expected to analyse and evaluate the following five features:
- Literary devices (tone, rhetorical questions, enumeration)
- Stylistic devices (colour scheme, icons, images)
- Structural devices (subheadings, paragraph length, hyperlinks)
- Conventions (whether the text conforms to or deviates from conventions)
- Assumptions (assumptions the author makes about the target audience)
Our suggestions:
- Identify the text type, audience, and purpose. Get a sense of the author’s intention in the text, and lead into considering the author’s purpose.
- Analyse three major components (of the five listed above) to form the backbone of the three body paragraphs.
- Use the guiding question to help facilitate this process. It provides more open-ended support that calls our attention to key details without being prescriptive.
IBDP English A Language and Literature Paper 2
A new syllabus was implemented in Paper 2, students are expected to write a comparative essay on two literary works studied in the programme.
Our suggestions:
- Decide early on which two literary works pair best in terms of character, conflict, theme, and plot lines.
- Keep detailed notes on each chapter, as Paper 2 expects students to go in depth.
- Memorise key quotes to reference and support your analysis.
IBDP English A Experts
English Language Specialists
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