IB English A: Lang & Lit SL Revision Guide
Everything you need to revise for IB English A: Language and Literature at Standard Level — the analysis toolkit, non-literary text types, a revision timetable, and exam strategy for Paper 1 guided analysis, the Paper 2 comparative essay, and the Individual Oral.
IB English A: Lang & Lit Topics to Revise
Analysing Texts
The analysis toolkit — 22 techniques from tone, diction, and imagery to structure, register, and rhetorical appeal — and how to build a full analytical paragraph.
Non-literary Text Types
How form, purpose, and audience shape a text — advertisements, opinion pieces, speeches, blogs, infographics, and more.
Paper 1: Guided Analysis
Analysing an unseen non-literary text in response to a guiding question — moving from a writer's choice to its effect to its significance.
Paper 2 & Individual Oral
The comparative essay on two literary works, and the Individual Oral exploring a global issue across one literary and one non-literary text.
HL Essay
The HL-only 1200–1500-word exploration of a line of inquiry into one text (HL students).
English A: Lang & Lit Revision Timetable (10 Weeks)
Top English A: Lang & Lit Revision Tips
- This is a skills course — you cannot memorise it. Practise the move from a writer's choice to its effect to its significance on many short passages.
- Learn the 22-technique toolkit first so you have precise vocabulary for what a text is actually doing.
- For Paper 1, answer the guiding question — do not write a general commentary; every paragraph should serve your line of argument.
- For Paper 2, build a genuinely comparative argument across both works, not two separate summaries.
- For the Individual Oral, choose a focused global issue and prepare strong evidence from one literary and one non-literary text.
- HL adds the HL essay — a sustained, formal exploration of one text; plan a clear line of inquiry before you write.