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Tips for Reading IB Books


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I think these are great tips. However, I'd like to add on about Sparknotes. I suggest not reading the analysis. It's generally more superficial than the kind of analysis IB wants. So if you get it in your brain, you're training yourself to work below IB level. It can also subconsciously stop you from thinking criticially about say, a metaphor, because hey, Sparknotes already explained it. Plus, my teacher says she reads Sparknotes for all the books we read so she can catch people relying on it to write a commentary or something.

But, if you're confused about what's going on in a book because you totally hate it or are pressed for time, summaries are a good crutch. I'm speaking from experience here; I HATED One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, but Sparknotes summaries helped me sound intelligent in class until I could get a handle on interpreting the book.

I agree that journal entries are good. First semester of English A1 HL, first year, we had to write a journal entry about every chapter of every book. It helped me get in the habit of truly analyzing early on. And it makes great material to build on for a commenary or presentation. But, with all the other IB stuff to do, it's not always practical.

I'd also like to add to pay attention to syntax, alliteration, rhythm, the way sentences look and sound. Not a lot of people focus on those things in essays and presentations, so if you do, you'll sound extra smart and get points for "close reading". It's not the kind of thing you're likely to remember afterwards, so watch out for the way the author could be using those tools to highlight the theme while you're reading.

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Useful tips! :blum:

Just two things to comment on -- firstly, that the Oxford Study Guide for Languages A1 is, in my opinion, mildly useful for the right person, but definitely not worth £20. I'd advise anybody to check it out before buying it (if possible) to see if it's something they think would help them instead of doing what I did and just buying it with the belief it would shed useful light on something :) I was hoping for some advice about WL essay formats in it and I don't think I ever read it after buying it and having a quick flick through! So check before getting it, in case it turns out to be a bit of a dud relative to what you were looking for.

Secondly that I'd also suggest you know exactly what the book is for before you read it, because it'll change a lot about how you treat the book. For instance, if it's for the Oral Presentation you're going to give to the class, the fact is that you study at least 4 books (for HL anyway, fewer for SL) and will only ever use one. So instantly you know that you're basically looking for a single theme which interests you within the text (and one of your own choice, because you get to pick your topic!) and also that if the whole thing doesn't grab you, it's not necessarily worth your time provided you reckon one of the other texts for this section will grab you.

If it's for the Oral Commentary, this is a different kettle of fish and you should know absolutely everything and anything about it, from the timeline to a good knowledge of each of the characters, even the minor ones. If somebody gave you an unknown extract, you should be able to place it with reasonable accuracy within the context of the plot. So you'd be well advised to even perhaps go to the extreme of making notes on each chapter as you do them so you don't have to re-read ALL of your novels/whatever to review them right before your exam (bad experience, trust me :no:).

Texts for the exam, just know themes, characters, beginnings/endings, setting, stage directions (if there are any), author's style, pick out some important quotes as you go along and generally you want to have a reasonably good general knowledge of the book, but mostly just a lot of knowledge about themes. Like the Oral Commentary, you have to know all of your texts very well, and can't drop any (unlike the Oral Presentation).

Books for your WL tasks, concentrate on themes, setting and characters in Book 1 and once you've figured out what's similar in Book 2 (i.e. what you can write a comparative essay about), settle on the theme you like best and want to compare and look mostly at that. It's safe to gloss over the rest to some extent.

I think how well you go through the novels/texts is really important for A1. If your teacher is excellent at picking out the right things and guiding you through analysing the books in lessons, A1 becomes extremely simple. If they take you down the garden path and fail to concentrate on the important bits, you end up in a real pickle!

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I think these are great tips. However, I'd like to add on about Sparknotes. I suggest not reading the analysis. It's generally more superficial than the kind of analysis IB wants. So if you get it in your brain, you're training yourself to work below IB level. It can also subconsciously stop you from thinking criticially about say, a metaphor, because hey, Sparknotes already explained it. Plus, my teacher says she reads Sparknotes for all the books we read so she can catch people relying on it to write a commentary or something.

But, if you're confused about what's going on in a book because you totally hate it or are pressed for time, summaries are a good crutch. I'm speaking from experience here; I HATED One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, but Sparknotes summaries helped me sound intelligent in class until I could get a handle on interpreting the book.

I agree that journal entries are good. First semester of English A1 HL, first year, we had to write a journal entry about every chapter of every book. It helped me get in the habit of truly analyzing early on. And it makes great material to build on for a commenary or presentation. But, with all the other IB stuff to do, it's not always practical.

I'd also like to add to pay attention to syntax, alliteration, rhythm, the way sentences look and sound. Not a lot of people focus on those things in essays and presentations, so if you do, you'll sound extra smart and get points for "close reading". It's not the kind of thing you're likely to remember afterwards, so watch out for the way the author could be using those tools to highlight the theme while you're reading.

I agree! one day in the life of ivan denisovich is terrible!

how did you even get through the book!?

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Dr. Polaris- I also have trouble with analyzing on my own. For me reading the book out loud helps. Talking with peers lets you have discussion about the book leading to analysis, so try to notice the things you would tell others about and look at your perception of the story from a different angle. Be the devil's advocate and ask why for example you think a certain character is cruel, and how its possible that another person could get a different stance from the same text.

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at my school that would have no point, as when we start talking about a book, each person has to prepare one chapter [or 2,3, depending on how long is the book] and then describe what happens there and explain all symbols etc. Therefore after doing all the book this way, chapter by chapter, we're kind of discouraged to reading the books or making any notes ;)

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These are good tips and I wish I wouldve seen them earlier in the year. I sort of blew off Madame Bovary and didnt read it completely, so now I'm going to have to go back a re-read it. Also, annotations of important quotes and plot elements really help with the test.

Edited by James Byrne
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Still not started my IB, but for the IGCSE our teacher gave us a worksheet with the mnemonic CATSDRIFT.

It can be used to analyze a text and to cover all the key points like Content, aim, theme, syntax etc. It usually fetches a few extra marks in the IGCSE, and I was told it is also used extensively while analyzing ib texts.

The worksheet is here:

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One thing I've found useful while reading the books was taking notes in the book or highlighting different motifs along the story line- that is, if the book is yours. It really helps when you read it over to see what your first impression was and what you notice through further examination. And the color marking makes the text all the more attractive and makes recurring elements way easier to identify and make sense of in the plot.

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