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Differences between English A2 and B


kuc

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Hey guys, I couldn't really fing that anywhere... What is the difference between English A2 and English B? In my school, we have to do English A2, but all of my classmates say it's way too hard and we want to switch it to English B, but... No one really knows how A2 is different from B. Can you help us a little bit? :)

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English A2 no longer exists, so you're either talking about English A: Literature or English A: Literature and Language.

Essentially, English A courses are designed for native speakers. English B is designed for somebody who's only been learning English for around 12-24 months. That's the difference :P One you are analysing literature and competence in English is assumed, the other one they're still checking to see if you know how to use the verbs properly. English A2 did used to be somewhere in the middle of these two extremes, but it's since been scrapped. The closest option to English A2, assuming you are quite a competent english speaker, would be English A: Literature and Language.

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The answer to that is that a lot of people cheat :P Plenty of very fluent people take B languages. However they're not technically meant for you lot who can actually speak very well! English B is taken by a lot of people who shouldn't be eligible for it but their teachers want better grades and students want easier courses so it happens.

I did Spanish B, but only studied Spanish for 2 years beforehand :yes: Thing is, so many relatively fluent people 'cheat' by taking B Languages, especially in English, that it begins to seem normal. If your school is happy to overlook it, then why not.

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Well, in my school there is German SL -not ab initio, so it must be B I assume - and it's for people who studied German before but are not very fluent. Though we don't have english A, just B HL so everybody takes it and the exams, though seem pretty easy, aren't nothing imo, we need to read some books (including shakespeare, due to my teacher's obsession) and write a big essay on it. I would've never decided to go to IB to study in English if I had known English just for 2 years before ;d

On the other hand, I know that in Arabic countries or in Sweden and probably in most countries the teaching method is different and let's say 12 years old children can speak English quite fluently. It doesn't happen often in Poland I would say so maybe that's the reason I was surprised by those "12-24 months" you've mentioned. For example I started to actually speak English after at least 7 years of studying it. And I still have troubles when it comes to talking to classmates but that's a different story, I guess. :)

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Oh, I just reminded myself that my English B course is based on books preparing to CAE and CPE exams. I don't think that's the level you have after a year of learning, is it?

Although maybe these 12 month are meant to be an intense studying or even moving to an English speaking country, something lke this..

Sorry for writing that much about one topic, sorry if you find it boring but I really can't stop thinking abt it haha

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