IB ENGLISH
END OF YEAR EXAM
What are the details of the exam?
2 hour exam
1 question on Othello – with one short extract
1 question on Gatsby – with one short extract
I suggest 1 hour per question
· 10 minutes reading annotating extracts – underline key quotations that illustrate important points about the guide question, plot, character, theme, setting etc.
· 5 minutes planning time – organizing thoughts into a series of bullet points generally in the order you will write your answer
· 35 minutes writing the essay – include an introduction, a series of coherent analytical paragraphs followed by a brief concluding statement
· 10 minutes correcting and editing – add new points and correct spelling, grammar and syntax
What am I looking for?
· Close reading and detailed analysis – make a simple point, expand on point in detail, introduce quotation, quote and comment – identify language feature[s] in quote, identify its function and comment on the effect on reader / audience
· Overall knowledge of the characters, plot, themes, setting of the text as a whole – show awareness of events that immediately precede and immediately follow the extract. Identify the significance of details within the extract to events that precede the extract. As well as identify the significance of details within the extract that foreshadows events that follow.
· Ability to address the guide question directly – show an ability to focus on and respond to the topic identified in the guide question
What details should I include in the essay?
Comment on writing styles
· For example: descriptive writing – evoking place, objects character by using modifiers, adjectives, elemental and sensuous lexis,
· narrative writing – story telling, the gradual unfolding of events with use of flashbacks, flash forwards and present tense narratives, be aware of narrative perspectives
· dialogue – be aware of formal / informal register and accent [Americanisms], be aware of idiolects, idiomatic language
· action writing – episodes that involve crisis, dominated by verbs and adverbs
· reflective writing – internal monologues reflecting on episodes and characters, or refection on relevant abstract concepts
Comment on context
· Refer to where in the text this extract is located
· Refer to relevant episodes that lead up to this extract
· Refer where relevant to cultural, political, social issues linked to the publication of the text
· Refer where relevant to Shakespeare an or Fitzgerald’s life
Comment on character
· Refer to attitudes and motivations that prompt behaviour and speech.
· What do words, actions and other literary features reveal to us about character[s]
Comment on narrator / speaker for example consider such things as
· First or third person narrator
· Biased or trustworthy
· Limited or overall knowledge
Comment on language features
· Identify language terms – for example consider:
o Grammar – nouns – concrete / abstract / proper nouns, adjectives – superlatives and comparatives, verbs -
o Syntax - simple, compound and complex sentences as well as declaratives, interrogatives, imperatives and exclamatives
o Register – formal and informal
o Lexis – low and high frequency lexis, semantic fields, denotation and connotation Imagery - simile, metaphor, personification, symbolism
o Phonology – alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeia, rhyme
o Rhetorical devices – such as comparative / contrasting pairs, direct address, lists of three, repetition,
· What is the function of these techniques within the text
· What is the intended effect on reader / audience
Comment on setting
· How does setting contribute to themes and characters
