The Two-Year Architecture
Success in IB English A: Language and Literature (first assessment 2026) depends on strict text allocation and early skills integration. Because the IB enforces a no-reuse rule—meaning a literary work or non-literary body of work used in one assessment component cannot be used in any other—your two-year plan must treat your reading list as a strategic inventory.
At Standard Level (SL), you study at least 4 literary works over 150 hours. At Higher Level (HL), you study at least 6 literary works over 240 hours. Alongside these, you spend equal class time studying non-literary texts and bodies of work across the three areas of exploration (the course’s three overlapping lenses: readers, writers and texts; time and space; intertextuality: connecting texts).
| Term | Primary Focus | Assessment Milestones & Text Allocation |
|---|---|---|
| Year 1, Term 1 | Foundations: the three assessment objectives, AO1 (understanding), AO2 (analysis/evaluation) and AO3 (communication). Close reading of first literary work and initial non-literary text types. | Start the Learner Portfolio (your compulsory record of reading and responses: not marked, but the base for every assessment). Practise single-paragraph Paper 1 analyses (200–300 words). |
| Year 1, Term 2 | Visual and multimodal texts; rhetoric and persuasion; second literary work (plus third at HL). | First timed Paper 1 (1 passage, 75 min). First Paper 2 practice: a comparative paragraph on two literary works studied so far. Begin tracking global issues in your portfolio. |
| Year 1, Term 3 | Individual Oral (IO) preparation and execution (or early Year 2, depending on school schedule). | Lock in 1 literary work + 1 non-literary body of work for the IO (30% SL / 20% HL). Retire these from Paper 2 and the HL Essay. |
| Year 2, Term 1 | HL Essay drafting (HL only) and Paper 2 comparative foundations. Study remaining literary works. | HL: Lock in 1 work or body of work for the 1,200–1,500-word HL Essay (20%). Both levels: Select 3 literary works to prepare in depth for Paper 2. |
| Year 2, Term 2 | The 16-week exam run-in. Non-literary text type rotation and closed-book Paper 2 pairings. | Full timed mocks for Paper 1 (35%) and Paper 2 (35% SL / 25% HL). Finalize HL Essay submission. |