IB English Lit HL study guide
IB English Lit HL · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
IB English Literature HL is the higher-level literature course in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, assessed through external examinations and internally assessed coursework rather than a single test. It suits students who read widely, enjoy close reading, and want to build sustained arguments about how texts make meaning. The IB English Lit HL study guide has 7 sections and about 2,370 words.
01Readers, writers and texts: how literary meaning is made
This area of exploration - Readers, writers and texts - asks how literary meaning is produced in the transaction between a writer's choices, a text's forms and a reader's context. It underpins every assessment: Paper 1 on unseen texts, Paper 2 comparison, the HL essay and the individual oral.
343 words, about 2 min02Time and space: context, history and reception
Time and space examines how literary works are situated - in the historical moment of their production, in the world they represent, and in the contexts of their reception, including yours. The exam tests whether you can use context as evidence for interpretation rather than as decoration or a substitute for close reading.
339 words, about 2 min03Intertextuality: the dialogue between texts
Intertextuality studies the dialogue between texts: how works echo, revise, parody, translate or answer earlier ones, and how genre conventions travel across periods. The exam rewards analysis of what a later text does with an earlier one, not detection of allusions for their own sake.
321 words, about 2 min04Paper 1: guided literary analysis of unseen texts
Paper 1 is a guided literary analysis of unseen texts: at HL, 2 hours 15 minutes, two texts of different literary forms (typically one poem and one prose passage), each analysed in a separate response. It is worth 35% of the final grade and 20 marks, assessed on understanding and interpretation, analysis and evaluation, focus and organisation, and language.
329 words, about 2 min05Paper 2: the comparative literary essay
Paper 2 is a comparative essay written under timed conditions: 1 hour 45 minutes, answering one of four questions and comparing two works you have studied. It is worth 25% of the final grade and 25 marks, with a criterion dedicated to comparison.
333 words, about 2 min06The HL Essay: sustained independent critical writing
The HL essay is an externally assessed formal essay of 1,200–1,500 words, worth 20% of the HL grade, on a line of inquiry you develop from a work or works studied. It is marked out of 20 on knowledge, understanding and interpretation; analysis and evaluation; focus, organisation and development; and language.
349 words, about 2 min07The individual oral: a global issue through two works
The individual oral is internally assessed: a 10-minute presentation followed by 5 minutes of teacher questions, worth 20% of the HL grade and 40 marks. You explore one global issue through two works studied, using an extract of no more than 40 lines from one of them.
356 words, about 2 min