The written European Baccalaureate paper in Language 2: five papers under double correction
What the written examination samples
The written L2 examination is made up of five papers (tasks) that together test comprehension, language control and production. Expect the sequence to move from receptive to productive work: listening comprehension, reading comprehension, language in use (gap-fill, transformation, rephrasing), and one or two extended writing tasks. The balance is published each year in the Baccalaureate examination guidelines, so check the current year's document rather than relying on a previous cohort's memory.
Conditions and conventions
- Timed and closed-book; dictionaries and reference materials are not normally permitted.
- Answer in the target language, in the space provided, and follow the rubric: it fixes the text type (article, letter, essay, report), the audience and the word limit.
- Where the rubric asks for answers in your own words, copying long stretches of the source text scores nothing.
How double correction works
Every script is marked independently by two correctors against the same marking scheme. Where the marks agree, or differ only slightly, the average is retained; where they diverge beyond the set tolerance, the paper goes to a third corrector or to the jury, whose decision stands. Two consequences follow. Your structure and handwriting must be legible to a stranger, because nothing can be explained in person. And marks are earned against criteria rather than a marker's mood: explicit topic sentences, clear linkers and a stated position read well to both correctors.
Worked example
Task: an article for the school magazine, 200–250 words, arguing a position. Grid: task achievement /10, organisation /5, range /5, accuracy /5. The script answers the question but drifts off-task in the final paragraph and contains three basic agreement errors. Corrector A: 7+3+3+3 = 16/25. Corrector B: 8+4+4+3 = 19/25. A three-point gap (12%) is beyond tolerance, so a third correction is required; that marker gives 17/25 and the reconciled mark settles near 17/25. The off-task drift cost marks twice, because both markers noticed it.
Traps
- Writing the essay first and running out of time on the comprehension papers.
- Overshooting the word limit by a hundred words: length earns nothing and errors accumulate.
- Reproducing a memorised essay that does not fit the task - task achievement collapses.
- Leaving language-in-use items blank; there is no penalty for a wrong answer, only for an empty line.