Languages A2, B and Ab Initio
Discussion on Languages A2, B and Ab Initio. There is a separate subforum for Language A1!
1,222 topics in this forum
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I'm really struggling with my options for IB languages. I decided not long ago to take Chinese A1 HL as my first language next year, and take English A2 SL as i want to go to a very good uni in UK. But yesterday ive been told that my English A2 option is clashing with my other option, Music. I was really upset about that,i have to change music into something else. I was going to do music at HL because im quite capable of getting very good grades in music, possibly a 6 or 7,but now because of English A2, i have to give it up. Im also going to do eco and chinese a1 and HL but if i have to give up music then i'll probably need to do english A2 at HL. Now my english teacher t…
Last reply by ShineeLikeMe, -
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Hey guys!!! I lost the sheet my teacher gave me about how to write the rationale. Does any one know?? Thanks
Last reply by IB France!, -
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At my school, we have to take 5 years of a language before we may take the IB test. That seems odd to me, because it is SL, and most SL courses are only 1 year. How long is a normal amount of time to take a language before taking the IB test?
Last reply by Patel108, -
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Hello all, our school's IB coordinator visited our Spanish class and told us there is the possibility of taking the Spanish B SL exam a year early. I am torn on whether I should do this because it would alleviate some pressure from me next year or possibly allow me to take Further Maths SL. However, it costs around $100 extra if I end up retaking the exam, though I guess it would be valuable practice. I am shooting for a 6 or 7, which I suppose I am not likely to achieve after one year of the course. I have taken Spanish for five years and have gotten A's in it every single semester and I think I'm fairly competent. Should I take the exam this year?
Last reply by adletaY, -
Spanish B SL
by avp- 0 replies
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Hi! Does anyone know where you can get good vocab from for all the topics, because the text books seem to be quite limited. Thanks!
Last reply by avp, -
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Hey! I´m taking the A2 English exam in three weeks, and I really want a good grade in English. I did quite well on the internal assessments. Do you have any writing guideline that assures me a good grade? thanks!
Last reply by Mahuta ♥, -
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I was wondering, since I have heard that Mandarin B HL is mostly taken by fluent students, what is the likelihood of actually getting a 7 in it? E.g. To what level of proficiency is sufficient for a 7? I am so not fluent in speaking that I think I'll fall down because of it.
Last reply by I`m Potato, -
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I just found out today that my individual oral in English A2 HL is in three weeks. I'm very put off right now; we did one practice session back in the early days of IB1, and since then there's been nothing. (In addition to which, the novels we're having are the longest, most boring ones, plus we read them first so uggh I haven't read them in over a year. Yes, I've been stupid enough not to use my holidays for reading.) Anyway, I have a few questions! - The A2 guide says that "The candidate’s commentary/analysis would normally be expected to last for half of the time allotted." Does this mean that I should talk for 7-8 minutes only? - It also says something about setting t…
Last reply by 12santiago3, -
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I don't know if this is anyone else's ab initio class but in mine, one of the students knows the language really well (almost fluently) and i think it is a disadvantage to others who do not know the langauge and actually deserve to be in ab initio. Tell me if this prevalent in other classes around the world
Last reply by nikkiwilde, -
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Hiya. Sorry if this is breaking the rules, but I'm one of the first IB students at my college and my Italian class are panicking about our exams. We've got a new teacher and everything, but we're still screwed because we don't know the structure of the IB language exams. We had mocks in July with the A-level students, but we were given a GCSE paper because we're the ab initio group. I just want to know what the language exams are like- I know we have to be prepared for speaking, listening, reading and writing- and I need to know what to expect. Thank you! HGB
Last reply by Sublime Sunshine, -
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Hey, I was thinking about writing a job application letter by black women in the 1960s but i am stuck with the idea and it doesnt come. Does anyone have any suggestions for a cultural option in proefessional or poetic communication? thanks
Last reply by ibmusicgirl, -
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Hey guys, right now, I'm taking spanish in high school, but was wondering if I could take the ib korean B SL exam rather than the ib spanish exam. Is this possible?
Last reply by Abu, -
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Hi! I'm new here, but I have a question about self-studying languages. I happen to be very good at learning languages, and I pick up on them very fast. But I don't like my IB Chemistry SL class because I am not very good at it, so I feel like I am not going to do very well on my test. My school has a very limited selection on IB classes, so it's very hard for me to pick a "pathway" I want to do, since there's only art, music, and double sciences. So instead of taking the class/test, I wanted to know more about self-studying languages instead. I know that it has to be at SL, which is perfect for me, since I'm trying to replace another SL class. I'm thinking about either se…
Last reply by kennywuzhereee, -
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Last year I was part of our 13 people class of IB students. That class is the first time class of IB students at our school, and the only language we could take is Mandain ab initio. Now that wouldn't be bad but we discovered how screwed we are for that classes, and have all given up hope. Our teacher is from china, but we discovered we learn absolutely nothing from her, our schedual works so that every other week we have chinese or theatre and we get nothing done in Chinese. The juniors this year asked us if they will learn anything or how to pass, we told them its on themselves to learn, though we lost hope in our class. How do you think you are with your class? Do you…
Last reply by Emmi, -
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Hey guys, I'm in spanish classses right now, but can I take another ib exam my senior year instead for my second language? Please help.
Last reply by -PakistaN-, -
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What's the real difference between them? Is Ab a mix of A and B? which one's harder?
Last reply by dessskris, -
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Hello there! So I'm not very good at learning foreign languages. I'm kind of worried about Spanish Ab initio (Which I am taking next year). How hard/intensive is this going to be?
Last reply by Danika, -
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Hello, I'm doing IB in Germany.. so the school wanted me to take German mandatory. So I am taking German B SL as extra certificate. It was very fine in the first year, but not it's 2nd year, with new teacher, I'm afraid to fail this German course. Since now it's 2nd year, I can't go down to ab initio German. My question is that: 'What happens if I fail my extra certificate German course? Do I fail IB or it doesn't matter?' I'm quite nervous with this.
Last reply by Cynthia, -
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Hey i have choose on my IB program arabic A2 SL and i got some questions which could help me have an idea on the course 1. iam a fluent arabic speaker but havnt wrote in arabic in a long time like 4 to 5 yrs but i can perfectly read arabic. Will it be tough for me to take Arabic A2 since it invloves essay writting which i never did ( only wrote a paragraph maximum)? 2. How many secions are there in the exam and wat are they specificly? Open to any productive response or adive from anyone arabic or non-arabic speakers.
Last reply by IB>mindf**k, -
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I can manage both but I will probably get a 7 in B and will put more effort if I choose a2. Does famous universities like cambridge want a2 in the IB? I think of dealing with my other HLs and my science SLs instead of putting all my energy in a2. I can easily boost my diploma grade in B What do you think?
Last reply by Bishup, -
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Hi people, i need help with choosing whether to choose English A2 hl/sl apparently i cant find any resource or past papers on this level and so i was hoping if i could find any info. if you have past papers that you would like to share, thatll be greatly appreciated, thanks all, cindy
Last reply by Mahuta ♥, -
Hi, I will study the IB next year and want to take Mandain ab initio. Anyone here who has studyed this language so far? Is it very difficult? thanks
Last reply by MinaDoan, -
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Hello... First time posting in the languages section, so sorry if this or something similar has been posted. At the end of the summer term, my Italian teacher left and now there are 5 Italian ab initio students without a teacher. The Italian embassy are still trying to find one, we started back at college last week and our first Italian lesson is meant to be this coming Thursday. We were told to revise all of the Italian we'd learned last year and use some websites. We're going to follow this advice, but we need some sources and something to help us get a little further ahead and learn a bit more. We've been reading Italian literature and watching films in Italian, but t…
Last reply by Bishup, -
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Hey Guys, Well I've just started IB and I'm about 5 weeks into the course. I'm currently taking Spanish ab initio as my B language but I'm finding it reasonable difficult because of the pace we're going and the amount of vocabulary we have to learn in a short period of time. The language that is my parent's first language is Tamil. I know how to speak the language almost fluently but I have absolutely no knowledge of reading or writing it. My parents are trying to convince me to do Tamil B as a self-study subject instead of spanish ab initio (because they want me to have a good knowledge of the subject). I'm pretty sure this is possible because student learn chinese B at…
Last reply by Daedalus, -
Hey guys Even though I'm not doing Spanish for my IB, I'm learning this language. I know that in order to learn language it is important to use it, and I think reading in Spanish would be good idea. Well, it's not always easy to find a book or they might be expensive, and I found a page where you can find almost 200 books in Spanish Here it is : http://www.formarse.com.ar/libros_gratis/libros_gratis.htm Also I know one nice page which can help you with your vocabular and grammar http://www.ver-taal.com/ This site is also helpfull in learning http://smart.fm/ Hope it will come usefull Also if someone would know a french site you could read books I would be very grateful…
Last reply by xbookgirlx, -
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Hello Everyone! I am new here . I will start doing IB in a few days and I will apply mainly to Ivy League Universities for Literature or Philosophy or Law. So my question is about English: Currently I have chosen English A2 HL, but over the summer I was wondering whether it'd be better for me to change from A2 to A1 HL. I mean do Ivy League Universities prefer English A1 rather than English A2? If I get A1, how much harder is it going to be than A2? Is it easier to score a 7 in A1 or A2 and how much easier? I speak and write in English pretty well, and I LOVE Litearature (that is the main reason why I want to change it ). Please reply as soon as possible!!! I desperatel…
Last reply by MinaDoan, -
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Hi guys, My parents and I decided to do Diploma IB after I got accepted into an IB school (just established in 2008). I personally still consider about this TT because I heard someone told that it's not very good to be in a new IB school :-( Anw, what should i choose? Draft: Vietnamese / English English HL / French ab.intio Economic / Psychology Maths HL + Computer Science Physic HL Chemistry HL I think I will do better in Vietnamese although it means I have to self-taught. Anw, should I choose English?? (I studied English for 3 years until now and in Australia, the schools have English instruction!!) Please give me some ideas on the first 3 subjects :-) thanks.
Last reply by MinaDoan, -
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Are universities looking down on ab initio? If no then why would anyone take B? I'm already taking 2 A1 languages, do you think it will matter if I take ab initio instead of B?
Last reply by Daedalus, -
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Hi, I am a little bit confused I am supposed to do my cultural option about racism but I missed the class in which the teacher explained and she won't do it again My literary option was done in diary entries and a friend told me now I couldn't do anything with poetic communication but I don't know what that means, what type of work can I do? please help
Last reply by twister, -
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Does anyone know what sort of grade I'd want to have at GCSE to do well (5-6 points maybe) at French B SL? Languages are my weakest area, but I'm looking at a high C or low B in French GCSE and if I don't take it at IB, I'd have to do German or Italian AB which I don't think are useful for me...
Last reply by Strummer, -
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Hello everyone! I am a second year IB student, getting prepared to finish up my internal assessments and study hard for the external assessments this coming May! Unfortunately, I feel like I have wasted the past year in IB, studying a subject in which I have no interest. For my group six elective, I chose to study Psychology HL because although I love art and music, they weren't as interesting to take as Psychology. Unfortunately, the same soon occurred to psychology. I went to China during the summer to study Chinese with a university nearby, sponsored by the Hanban (all expenses paid ), and I fell in love with Mandarin Chinese. I actually spend all of my free time study…
Last reply by Tilia, -
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Hey all, Im taking Math HL Physics HL Economics HL English A1 SL ITGS SL French B SL Next year. i got 6's for most of my subjects last year, especially math physics eco, english, but the one subject i was never bothered to study or do HW for is french. so atm my knowledge is pretty good but not as good as it should be, the problem is i still need to do an entry test to fully prove im capable of taking it. , since i got a 3 for it last year. the problem wasnt that i sucked, its that i was getting lowish grades at the beginning of last year because i didnt really care (we did myp), and towards the end when my teacher said it threatened my chance of getting into french this…
Last reply by nk., -
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hey can anyone tell me ideally how long should we be speaking in the first part of the individual oral? like there are three parts right? is it a must to memorise your speech?
Last reply by missbrokensmile, -
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I am about to attend the IB-programme this fall, and I'm wondering whether or not it is possible to do an ab initio language self taught or does this only apply for A1 languages? Thanks in advance.
Last reply by Summer Glau, -
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hey guys, I was just wondering if anyone here has some German SL papers from 2002, with mark schemes (or just mark schemes). I have a lot of papers but not the ones I am looking for. German SL Papers (including mark schemes) Reading (Text Handling) Tasks and Writing: 2001 May and November Papers 2002 May Papers 2003 May and November Papers 2005 May Papers German HL Papers (including Mark Scheme) Reading (Text Handling) Tasks and Writing: 2001 May and November Papers 2002 May Papers 2003 May and November Papers 2004 May Papers 2005 May Papers 2006 May Papers Add me on facebook if you have papers to trade. I also have a lot of other papers from other subjects so if you want…
Last reply by Buklau, -
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I'll keep this as short as possible. I'm starting out in a new school that does the IB programme and I originally chose Spanish as my second language course. I did this since I have lived in Spain for 9 years ( I've now moved) and I speak the language fluently and write well too. I've always gone to English school's so its not like I was ever taught in Spanish, I just picked up the language (even if I did study it as a SECOND language in school). One of the teachers at my new school says that I am too proficient to do the Spanish Language B option and therefore would want to sort out another arrangement. However, this was only her opinion and I'm awaiting feedback from v…
Last reply by Sandwich, -
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What can I do to improve my French, and better prepare myself for the 2nd year of IB French SL? I am hoping to achieve a 6, basically what can I do during the summer that will enable me to achieve this?
Last reply by Summer Glau, -
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So right now I'm doing A1 English SL and French ab Initio (In grade 11 now), and I just found out that people take A1 in their mother tongue. I'm Korean and I've been living in Australia for the past 5-6 years and I'm okay with english (I get 16/20 for my practise commentaries) but I still prefer Korean to English. So I was considering self teaching Korean A1 SL (Since there's no qualified teachers around)and doing A2 English SL at school. But....Do Ivy League look down on people who choose to do A1 in their 1st language? I mean...you really need to be fluent in english to get in to the Ivy League. Right? I don't know what to do ........It would be really good if they jus…
Last reply by kingdomx, -
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So my language exam (Japanese ab initio) is coming up in a few weeks. I was just wondering what's everyone's best way of revising a language? Like vocab and grammar, etc. I find with vocab, it really needs to stick. So I've posted little post-it-notes all around my house with different vocab on, so I can gradually learn them!!
Last reply by kingdomx, -
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I just looked at a few Cantonese B and Mandarin B past papers, and they're the same (at least for the examination years I looked at)! Generally speaking, written Cantonese is the same as written Mandarin, so I was looking at the Cantonese papers, hoping for an extra source of past papers, but they're the same. So I guess, are the papers actually different? And if not, why the differentiation? I mean, why not just have a broad title of "Chinese B"? And okay, I know speaking-wise, Mandarin and Cantonese are completely different, but then so, why not write different papers? Also, does anyone know of any good resources for Mandarin B HL? Or perhaps places where I could find m…
Last reply by kingdomx, -
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i'm thinking about taking french ab sl which i have absolutly no experience in or chinese b sl which i spoke since i was born so i think it should be pretty easy for me. but the thing is, chinese is offered off campus so that means i have to take 5 hours off my weekend time to go to this chinese school. which one should i choose, if i take 5 hours off each week , would i be way too busy in my senior year with all the workload coming down? Should i just stick with french and hope for the best? which one? i need your opinions now !!!
Last reply by kingdomx, -
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technically, i haven't really started ib yet because i'm going into 9th grade this september and starting ib so i don't really know how the world languages system works. anyways, i signed up for spanish 1(even though i wanted to learn how to speak french) because the french teachers at the high school i'm going to aren't very good teachers and people have said that spanish was easy. at the time i had no interest in learning chinese. however, i started to have second thoughts and wanted to switch to french because my best friend's sister went through ib and learned french even though the teachers were bad, and she said it was okay so my best friend signed up for french als…
Last reply by kingdomx, -
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My Japanese B individual oral is on in a few weeks and I have chosen my topic and written out what i'm going to present, but I was just wondering how important is the support material? The syllabus makes it seem like it is vitally important. My topic is 'Why do Okinawan people live for so long?' and my support material is just pictures of elderly Okinawan people working and exercising and then a picture of a goya (vegetable thing). Is this ok? Also does my topic fall into what is acceptable for a language B individual oral? My teacher has been quite vague about it.
Last reply by laryxle, -
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In need of exam preparation materials for Chinese B SL exam. Any links/uploads of past papers, practice stuff, notes etc would be really helpful. I don't even have a syllabus, am I supposed to? HELP (My teacher is allergic to the photocopy machine so I won't get much out of her). Secondly any information about the oral - whatever that is called. Discussions welcome. Thanks in advance!
Last reply by rrswong, -
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Its almost summer break, and over the break I would really like to improve my French skills. What are easy ways to help me get a better grasp of the French language? I'm not going anywhere where they speak french and I can't speak french with anyone in my family. Thank you :)
Last reply by Tilia, -
Hey guys, for you who know Japanese or who are studying it, what is the best way to start to learn? I'm doing Japanese ab initio next year and I don't know what to start thinking of doing. Should I learn Kanji and the different ways of writing, should buy I a particular book, are there any good websites and tell me at what level you're studying Japanese. It could always be interesting to see people who are studying Japanese on this forum. Thanks in advance ^-^
Last reply by melodyyy., -
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Hi! This type of post has probably been done before... Sorry if I am repeating myself. I have to do an 3 IOP's for french B SL and I am wondering if anyone has any topic ideas. Please help cause french is my crapiest subject Thanks
Last reply by I`m Potato, -
Arabic Orals
by Guest B.E.P.- 4 replies
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I've been asking MANY people about this, but they can't give me a correct/sufficient answer. So, here it is: In the Arabic orals, do we speak in Classical Arabic or in the dialect of your Arab country (or of another Arab country)? I would HATE to speak in Classical Arabic.
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Hey, I'm Chinese by nationality and I can sort of speak fluent Cantonese (a Chinese dialect which is not Mandarin). I've been taking classes outside of school (as I go to an international school) since I was young, but I've always hated them and so I'm not particularly good at them. Somehow, I got stuck at the top class for Chinese in my secondary school (I'm the worst person in my class). But none of these would be a problem if we didn't have to take a language for IB. I've talked to my school Chinese teacher about what course (A2, B; HL/SL) people in my class are allowed to take (if we choose Chinese for IB). She said it's either A1 SL, A2 SL or B HL. Thing is, although…
Last reply by Jason08, -
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hello. I'm trying to figure out what subjects I should take since I'm starting with the IB in about three months. How hard it is to study a second language at HL, especially Italian? I have to mention that I understand Italian pretty good, but I kind of suck at speaking. I could take some preparation this summer, before I start, but I don't know if I could deal with it. So, is it pretty hard, or rather doable? Thanks a lot.
Last reply by robbie,