What the exam asks
Every candidate answers the exact same fixed prompt. In our words, it asks you to:
examine how a global issue you choose is presented, through both content and form, in one literary work and one non-literary body of work from your course.
Your oral is audio-recorded, marked out of 40 by your teacher, and moderated by the IB from the recording (the IB listens to a sample of recordings to check the teacher’s marking, and may adjust marks). Once the oral has been held at its scheduled time, it cannot be redone. You bring only clean, unannotated copies of your two extracts (up to 40 lines each) and the official IB outline form with a maximum of 10 short bullet points.
Core ideas
How the oral is marked (40 marks)
The markscheme has four criteria, worth 10 marks each, awarded in two-mark bands (1–2, 3–4, 5–6, 7–8, 9–10). Both the 10-minute speech and the 5-minute discussion count towards every criterion.
| Criterion | Focus (10 marks each) | What reaches the 9–10 top band |
|---|---|---|
| A: Knowledge, understanding and interpretation | AO1: How well you know the extracts and the wider work/body of work, and how persuasively you interpret the global issue in them. | Persuasive interpretation of the global issue; excellent knowledge of both extracts and both wider texts, with precise links between them. |
| B: Analysis and evaluation | AO2: How you explain and judge (evaluate) the creators’ choices of content and form in relation to the global issue. | Thorough, nuanced analysis and evaluation of how specific literary and non-literary features shape the presentation of the global issue. |
| C: Focus and organization | AO3: Structure, balance and cohesion across the 10 minutes. | Sustained focus on the global issue; balanced treatment of both extracts and both wider texts; logical, cohesive progression. |
| D: Language | AO3: Clarity, accuracy, vocabulary, and spoken register. | Precise, varied, accurate language; formal spoken register, tone and rhetorical delivery that actively enhance the presentation. |
Structuring the 10 minutes for balance
Criterion C rewards balance: roughly equal attention to both texts, each covered through its extract and its wider work or body of work. A simple way to plan this is to split your time across four quadrants: Literary Extract, Wider Literary Work, Non-Literary Extract, and Wider Body of Work. One clear structure is the sequential block method (an integrated structure that moves between the two texts also works, if the balance holds):
| Time | Section | Exact job |
|---|---|---|
| 0:00–1:00 | Introduction | Name the global issue precisely, introduce the literary work and non-literary body of work (stating its authorship/campaign), and state a comparative thesis on how and why each presents the issue. |
| 1:00–3:00 | Literary extract | Analyse 3–4 specific authorial choices (form, voice, imagery, staging) in the extract (up to 40 lines), quoting line numbers and evaluating how they frame the global issue. |
| 3:00–5:00 | Wider literary work | Zoom out to 2–3 other moments, structural arcs or other poems/stories (if a collection) in the whole work to show how the extract fits the author’s overarching treatment of the issue. |
| 5:00–7:00 | Non-literary extract | Transition comparatively. Analyse 3–4 specific text-type conventions (camera angle, layout, colour, rhetoric) in the non-literary extract and evaluate their effect on the target audience. |
| 7:00–9:00 | Wider body of work | Zoom out to 2–3 other texts from the same body of work (other ads in the campaign, other columns by the writer, other scenes in the film) to show consistent or shifting patterns. |
| 9:00–10:00 | Conclusion | Synthesize how the differing forms, purposes and contexts of the literary and non-literary texts shape the reader’s understanding of the global issue. |