ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE PAPER 2

[usernamed]

At my school we did:

The Crucible by Arthur Miller(play)

The Tempest by Shakespeare (play)

The Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez(novella/short novel)

 

Okay so I noticed that paper 2 is split up into sections based on type of work you have studied, like theres play, poetry and then prose: novel and short story.

 

Our teacher said we should write about all the three works we have studied. However, after looking at some of the previous past paper questions, I'm starting to think that this is going to be a bit unrealistic. I mean considering the time frame for the exam and whatnot and especially if I want to go discuss the question in sufficient depth.

And also another issue is the fact that we did two plays...

So the only thing I can see myself doing is actually comparing The Crucible and the The Tempest to each other? Which is obviously a possibility

But I already written quite a few notes comparing the crucible and the chronicle.

Would it actually be possible for me to compare two different text types? Like a novel(The Chronicle of a Death foretold) and a play(The crucible) in the exam? Because this is actually what I did in my mock exam, and so did everyone else in our class, and our teacher did not raise any concerns regarding this.

So I was wondering whether it would actually be okay to do that?

 

Also has anyone actually compared three works in their exam?

 

 

[thecsstudent]

In the new English Lang and Lit syllabus the questions aren't separated according to the type of the work, there is just a list of questions, you choose one and you answer it. So it is definitely possible to write about 2 different text types. Also, according to the instructions you have to use at least two of the works so using two is fine. 

[IB`NOT`ez]

The main requirement is that you have to compare at least 2 works in your Paper 2 exam, so you don't need to do more than that.

Having red 3 different texts will give you more options as to which of the 6 prompts you think you'll be able to answer better. Furthermore, comparing different text types shouldn't be a concern, although you may need to make a point of it at some point. 

I don't know anyone who's compared 3 different texts in their Paper 2 exam, although my Oxford textbook for English has an exemplar Paper 2 in which the writer compared 3 different texts in regards to the universal theme of death -- the examiner gave him a score of 19/25, which probably isn't what you might want to be going for considering your predicted score for English LaL HL.

Personally I'd stick with comparing 2 different text types only in most cases, it'll allow you to go deeper into details and examples, as well as their purposes & effects, which makes it more likely for you to score higher on the stylistic devices criterion. However, there may be less you can talk about in terms of contextual influence etc., possibly making it slightly harder to get full marks on Criterion A: Knowledge & Understanding of the texts. Still, I can't say I have experiences aplenty in doing Paper 2s for English LaL HL -- but its all what I have thought about in retrospect.

[usernamed]

On April 16, 2016 at 7:22 PM, IB`ez said:

The main requirement is that you have to compare at least 2 works in your Paper 2 exam, so you don't need to do more than that.

Having red 3 different texts will give you more options as to which of the 6 prompts you think you'll be able to answer better. Furthermore, comparing different text types shouldn't be a concern, although you may need to make a point of it at some point. 

I don't know anyone who's compared 3 different texts in their Paper 2 exam, although my Oxford textbook for English has an exemplar Paper 2 in which the writer compared 3 different texts in regards to the universal theme of death -- the examiner gave him a score of 19/25, which probably isn't what you might want to be going for considering your predicted score for English LaL HL.

Personally I'd stick with comparing 2 different text types only in most cases, it'll allow you to go deeper into details and examples, as well as their purposes & effects, which makes it more likely for you to score higher on the stylistic devices criterion. However, there may be less you can talk about in terms of contextual influence etc., possibly making it slightly harder to get full marks on Criterion A: Knowledge & Understanding of the texts. Still, I can't say I have experiences aplenty in doing Paper 2s for English LaL HL -- but its all what I have thought about in retrospect.

Yeah. I'm definitely more of an in depth analysis type of person, and would like to have enough time to actually finish the exam. Idk if that would be realistic if I did 3 texts, considering that it isn't easy with just 2. 

Thankyou for your insight. I'm probably just going to stick to comparing 2 to be fairly honest.

What did the person miss out marks on?

and is a 19/25 a 6? Or a 7? It seems like a good score to be fairly honest(?). 

..

[IB`NOT`ez]

10 hours ago, Nadsxo2 said:

Yeah. I'm definitely more of an in depth analysis type of person, and would like to have enough time to actually finish the exam. Idk if that would be realistic if I did 3 texts, considering that it isn't easy with just 2. 

Thankyou for your insight. I'm probably just going to stick to comparing 2 to be fairly honest.

What did the person miss out marks on?

and is a 19/25 a 6? Or a 7? It seems like a good score to be fairly honest(?). 

..

It was an exemplar Paper 2 HL -- from the Cambridge English Lang. Lit Textbook for the IB -- in answer to the following prompt: "How has one of the universal themes, for example love, murder, ambition or jealousy, been treated similarly or differently by writers in different cultures and in different times"?

The student did a comparative analysis on Macbeth, The Stranger and The Collector in regards towards the universal theme of murder and death. He received the following scores (I'll add the examiner's comments for the Criterion he lost marks on):

Criterion A (Knowledge & Understanding): 5/5

Criterion B (Response to the Question): 3/5 (The examiner's comment: "The focus of the essay remains on the title question for the most part, but ignores the aspect of different cultures. Is there something typically French in the portrayal of Meursault, compared to Fowle's portrayal of the British Clegg? While this is a difficult question to answer, it remains part of the exam question and is expected of the student.")

Criterion C (Understanding of the use and effects of stylistic features): 3/5 (The examiner's comment: "The student identifies and compares the use of stylistic features very well. The tone of Meursault and Clegg is matter-of-fact, and the use of first person, stream of consciousness narration is prevalent in the novels. However, what is the effect of these on the audience? Why did the authors choose these points of view for these stories about murder? These are questions that could receive more attention.")

Criterion D (Organization & Development): 4/5 (The examiner's comment: "...illustrations are integrated effectively well, such as the quotations from Macbeth after a statement about the thoughts of the murderer. THere coudl have been mroe examples like these for The Collector and The Stranger. The structure could have been a little more coherent with better use of linking words and clauses as well.")

Criterion E Language: 4/5 (The examiner's comment: Essay is free of grammatical errors, however the student could have taken more risks with more difficult sentence structures. Many sentences are fragmented and choppy, needing to be connected to other ideas.")

Total marks: 5 + 3 + 3 + 4 +4 = 19/25 = 76% = 6/7. 

According to my teacher and several Paper 2 grade boundaries I've seen online, the minimum mark for a 7 is 20/25. That said, getting a 19 is wholly fine and as you've pointed out, it really is a good score considering the harsh demands of the task altogether. Nevertheless according to the worldwide English Lang. Lit HL grade boundaries released by the IBO over the past several years, you need somewhere between 80-82% (in total from all your Written Tasks, Paper 1 & Paper 2, IOCs & FOA) to get a 7 as your final grade. That said, Paper 2 really does seem difficult to pull off even at least 20/25 (80%), so I'd suggest trying to bump up your grades elsewhere in FOAs, Written Tasks & IOCs to make up for what may not unlikely be a lower grade on Paper 2.

 

[Amina Huseynli]

Strangely enough, I got the same grade - 19/25. 

I really felt better when I've seen I'm not the only one who get this score. 

I also think that it is a good grade for the first attempt. Hope it will be much better in the near future. (There is no harm of being optimistic)

[eternallyapril]

In my class, we have read two novels and one graphic novel for paper 2. I think that it's completely fine to compare two different text types, I would just make sure to distinguish between their different structures.

As for comparing three texts, our teacher warned us not to do this as you would not have enough time to properly analyse each text. I'd stick to the two works that you know the most/work best for the question.