This survival guide splits IB English Paper 2 preparation into three simple parts:
- 🤓 Understanding your texts
- 📖 Planning and brainstorming
- ✍️ Writing comparative analysis
How to use this guide
Read this text in order and follow the exercises, particularly those in Part 1.
- Part 1 explains the levels of understanding you need to attain for Paper 2, and lists a set of 'missions' to pass each level.
- Next, Part 2 explains how to structure your comparative essay, and how to plan and brainstorm something insightful within just 20 minutes of exam time.
- Finally, Part 3 explains in detail how to write strong comparative analysis.
Completing Part 1 to a good standard will take at least a week, so keep referring to the missions in Part 1 to improve your level of understanding.
Refer to Parts 2 and 3 when you practise past exam questions to guide you through the process of planning and writing the essay.
How to learn from the examples
Each school teaches a different set of texts for IB English Paper 2, so it's impossible to provide in-depth examples for every scenario. Instead, this Survival Guide uses three texts in its examples to demonstrate general strategies. These strategies are applicable to any text, whether it be a poem, novel or play.
The three examples texts we'll be using are Pygmalion by Bernard Shaw, The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, and The Crucible by Arthur Miller.
You don't need to know anything about these texts to benefit from the examples. After reading through the examples, consciously apply the same strategies to your own set of Paper 2 texts.