What the exam asks
In Paper 2, the four general questions ask how two works present or use something inside them (a character or speaker, a place, an ending, a voice, a concern such as loss or memory); none asks how time, place or cultural norms shape meaning. Criterion B2 (comparative analysis, 5 marks) still rewards candidates who explain why two works agree or differ: their literary forms and perspectives are the first reasons to reach for, and a clause about where each work comes from can be a third. Because the course rules require you to study works in translation and works from more than one continent, you are likely to write about a translated work or to pair works from different cultures.
In Paper 1, you may encounter an unseen non-literary passage—such as a public appeal, travelogue, or charity campaign—produced in a cultural or historical moment different from your own. Criterion A (understanding and interpretation, 5 marks) tests whether you can read the text on its own terms without misinterpreting its cultural assumptions.
Core ideas
Course requirements and the Prescribed reading list
To ensure you do not read only within your own cultural bubble, the IB sets strict reading rules framed by the Prescribed reading list (PRL). The PRL is the IB’s online list of authors from many languages. It labels each author with a period (the century or centuries they lived in) and a place (the country or region they are linked to), so a school can check that its chosen works meet the rules below. The reason for the rules: reading works written in English beside works in translation, from different times and places, shows you how different languages and cultures represent the world, and why those pictures differ.
| Requirement | Standard Level (SL) | Higher Level (HL) |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum works | 4 literary works | 6 literary works |
| Works in translation | At least 1 (by a PRL author) | At least 2 (by PRL authors) |
| Works originally in English | At least 1 (by a PRL author) | At least 2 (by PRL authors) |
| Free choices | The other 2 (any author, on the PRL or not; may be in translation) | The other 2 (any author, on the PRL or not; may be in translation) |
| Time and space diversity | At least 2 periods and 2 places (as the PRL defines them) across at least 2 continents | At least 3 periods and 3 places (as the PRL defines them) across at least 2 continents |
| Literary forms | At least 2 | At least 3 |
Cultural insight vs. the single story
A “single story” (a phrase made famous by the novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie) is one account allowed to stand for a whole people. One guiding conceptual question (a question the IB sets to frame an area of study) in the Time and space area of exploration asks: To what extent do texts offer insight into another culture?