IB Examiner, Paper 2 - part of an occasional series of Examiner insights

Exam season - it’s just over for another year.  Thank goodness, we can all breathe a sigh of relief.  Yes, we all.  Parents, teachers, families, students - but also the examiners.  

This year I have been an IB examiner.  Paper 2 - sat by all IB English students:  Literature, Language and Literature and (under a different title) Literature and Performance.  Paper 2, the exam where students can choose to write about any two literary texts.  Any two.  From anywhere.  For the examiner, does this mean we need to have read EVERY literary text in the world?  Thankfully not, but we do have to know the texts students choose write about - and to be honest, nowadays that is much easier with the online "interweb" of information and knowledge.  However, it did lead to a few interesting observations.

Interesting observation 1:  those who defined the terms of the question and set out their thesis through salient contextual points did really well.  It helped me to understand the aspects of the work they were going to be discussing and it meant that their argument was clear from the very start.

Interesting observation 2:  topic sentences that refocus the argument really do work.  I have banged on about them in classrooms around the world for 20 years and I will continue to do so.  They keep the student on track and they make each paragraph build on the central premise as set out in the introduction - well done.

Interesting observation 3:  exam essays that are actually regurgitated classroom essays with a few key words changed to fit the terms of the question are extremely easy to spot and will always trip themselves up.  Teachers tell you not to do this.  Listen to them!

Interesting observation 4:  timing is important - not just to finish the essay in a more interesting way than simply writing ‘The End’ (yes, someone did do that), but to leave time to proof-read the essay.  Asterisks and numbers and arrows may be slightly confusing for the reader, but we examiners then know that the candidate has gone back and crafted their argument more tightly.  We would all love to write a beautiful essay, under exam conditions, for the first time - but in reality, and this should come as no surprise, this rarely happens.  

Interesting observation 5:  whilst some of the essays you read remind you of the classics that you haven’t read for years and want to again, some introduce you to interesting sounding novels, poems and plays that you want to read and that all leads to more trips to your local bookshop.  

So, whilst I will not be that much better off in terms of monetary gain, I do have a glorious summer ahead of me reading books that I never would have found otherwise, claiming to be working when I should be helping with the washing up.

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