Paper 1 tips

[ShineeLikeMe 121]

Ya hi. This is really effing late. My laptop is having issues so I had to get it fixed. Please don't hate me forever. Anywho I'll just explain to yall the format of the paper then give you some of the normal question formats that will be on the test. Mkay.Ready? Let's go!

The Format Yall

Ok so the paper 1 is divided into 4 different texts: A, B, C, and D. Each of these texts have their own set of questions and prompts. This paper tests two things: Your ability to respond to text based question and a written response to a text. The texts will be all in the language that you have taken and will be chosen externally. You have no say whatsoever in what they pick. Sorry. Although if you get lucky, one of the papers might have a ton of vocabulary from something you've studied already. So you win! But that's lots of luck so just be prepared. By reading the rest of this guide :*.

Some Question Formats

Ok yes I know. You all take different language B's. But in my experience a lot of the language paper 1's use the same questions. Sooooooo I'll cover what I think is pretty overarching and how to study for them. OR rather...how to BS them...cus let's be honest we don't know what to study for.

Multiple Choice

This one is always in a paper 1. Each text (minus text D) will always have at least one multiple choice in it. If you can figure this out you're guaranteed at least one point on that text :DDDDD. Alright, so the multiple choice is almost always directly within the text or paraphrasing a section of the text. The multiple choice could ask you to choose the best option that summarizes a certain paragraph in the text, or choose from a list of things that are most relevant to the paragraph in question. I know this is a little vague but before I get clearance from some higher ups I'm not going to go around posting specific examples. Unless you PM me and ask for them because then I'll explain them to you all you want.

A really good tip for the multiple choice that works about 60% of the time. Read the longest answer first. A lot of the times its the right one.

Matching

Sometimes the matching is really easy while others it's a brutal pain in the tuchkis ( did I spell that right?). But the format of this is usually very straight forward. On the left side of the page you are given a list of words from the text with a blank box on the side of the word as well as the line number to the right. To the right of the page is a different set of words that is not within the text. Your directions are to match the words on the left with the words from the right. I find this to be somewhat challenging as you have to know what the words on the left AND right side means in order to match them. Ok after typing that I feel really stupid but I do find it hard.

Another type of matching could be "Fill in the letters of the events that occurred within the passage". Here they give you blank boxes on the left and phrases on the right. You are to select the ones on the right that best match up with the passage. Sometimes it must be in order and other times the order does not matter. READ THE DIRECTIONS TO DETERMINE WHICH.

Some very useful tips for matching. The most important thing is to use context clues. Fine the word in the passage and read the sentence it is in, it may help you find the connotation of the word. Another important thing to do if you don't know the words on the right is to use root words. Some words branch off of other words so you can find root meanings and even get connotations from them. Remember don't panic if you don't know a word or what a phrase means. Just relax, take some deep karmic breaths and try again. Sometimes words pop out of nowhere at you and you reach epiphanies and want to scream during a test. Just don't L).

Fill in the blanks of the passage

I freaking hate this part of the test. HAATEEEEE IT!!! Me le choca. While reading the passage you'll come across some blanks in the form of some numbers. These numbers in the passage correspond to the number of the question. For each question you are required to select, from a word bank, which answer best fits within that blank. You think having a word bank is easy don't you? Ya no. The blanks are usually for transition words which are always so vague. Some of the answers sound like they can fill more than one blank and then some of them sound like they don't fill a blank at all.

The only tip I have for this is to brush up on your transitions. Memorize all of the ones you can because come test time its a nerve wracking section. Thankfully the max I've ever seen was 5 of them. Get through it and you'll be home free.

Short response

Self explanatory, you get a question you respond to it using text. The only I have to say for this is try not to use uber long quotes to cover your butt. Be sure of one good sentence and quote up to one sentence. Don't be paranoid and quote 2 words either that won't do.

True or False

Oh THIS is always fun (hear the sarcasm?). You get boxes to chek true or false then if its true you have to back it up with text from the passage or if its false you have to say how its false and then back it up with text from the passage.

It's just straight up text quoting. Make sure you don't quote the wrong thing. Do your best to understand the phrase and don't over think it.

Extended Response

This part is the only question in text D. It's basically a mini paper 2 where they have you respond to a prompt using quotes from the passage you just read. And....you only get 100 words...For more formatting information on essay responses please refer to my other guide on paper 2.

Tips tips tips. Quote lots. You can't misquote here. I've never seen them dock points for quoting too much. But if you don't cover all the points on the markscheme you won't get as many points as you can get. Formatting is like half the score and the other half is quoting.

[space reserved for future additions to tips. which there will be. promise]

Questions about the guide or want some examples? PM me.

[jess1ca 15]

For the short answer we have quote the text? Or can we just base it on the text?

[vilankz 1]

Thanks for the guide, it's really helpful

Just putting it out there, though, that for Problem D I think it might be different for some languages. I'm taking HL Japanese B, and on all of the practice tests I've taken it always says "you cannot copy/quote directly from the text" in the instructions. :X

[jess1ca 15]

Thanks for the guide, it's really helpful

Just putting it out there, though, that for Problem D I think it might be different for some languages. I'm taking HL Japanese B, and on all of the practice tests I've taken it always says "you cannot copy/quote directly from the text" in the instructions. :X

If I remember correctly (too lazy to check), mine says do not copy long excerpts from the text... I'm doing French B SL... although our teacher told us to do the HL exams for practise, so that the actual thing will be a breeze. Hopefully.

[adletaY 12]

For Section B (Text D), you don't have to (maybe shouldn't?) quote the text, you are sort of supposed to rephrases all of the points from the text that help you answer the task, but I almost always write my support verbatim. Usually, IB has a list of 6-8 points of support that you should include,each of which merits 1 point. The other 2-4 points are reserved for tone/register and the correct format. For example, if you have to write an email you have to have "To," "From," "Subject," maybe the date, or else they will dock you points. The most important part is getting in those points from the text, but making sure you remember you have a convincing tone and the correct elements of the task are crucial to earning top marks.

By the way, I try to use this trick where if I think I wrote too much on a short answer or true/false justification, I slap some parentheses around the part that I think may be unnecessary. Not sure if this works with the real IB test, but hopefully it will work out if I have to do it . That part seems quite luck based since the examiner can't tell if you put too much because you have no clue and are guessing, or because you think the whole phrase supports your answer.

Edited May 14, 2011 by adletaY

[jess1ca 15]

Does it matter how complex your grammar is or how many idioms you use... etc?

[adletaY 12]

Does it matter how complex your grammar is or how many idioms you use... etc?

No!

The greatest thing on Section B on Paper 1 is that grammar and other language stuff is NOT assessed.

So, as long as your language doesn't prevent the examiner from understanding what you are trying to say, mistakes in this area will not cost you.

This task really just assesses how well you understood the text and how well you incorporate the elements of the task (letter, diary, poster, article, etc.) and how convincing your tone/register is.

[Drake Glau 438]

Does it matter how complex your grammar is or how many idioms you use... etc?

No!

The greatest thing on Section B on Paper 1 is that grammar and other language stuff is NOT assessed.

So, as long as your language doesn't prevent the examiner from understanding what you are trying to say, mistakes in this area will not cost you.

This task really just assesses how well you understood the text and how well you incorporate the elements of the task (letter, diary, poster, article, etc.) and how convincing your tone/register is.

This is true, grammar doesn't matter. Some questions can literally be answered with one word and sometimes even ask for only one word. I've seen a few markschemes and even though the line looks like they want a full sentence chances are they want as little as a 2-3 word phrase

[Drake Glau 438]

Does it matter how complex your grammar is or how many idioms you use... etc?

No!

The greatest thing on Section B on Paper 1 is that grammar and other language stuff is NOT assessed.

So, as long as your language doesn't prevent the examiner from understanding what you are trying to say, mistakes in this area will not cost you.

This task really just assesses how well you understood the text and how well you incorporate the elements of the task (letter, diary, poster, article, etc.) and how convincing your tone/register is.

Oh really! Yay! I was worried about section B... on the practice exams I wasted so much time trying to squeeze in every tense and idiom and pronoun I could think of... haha

Do that for paper2

[Frannypp 0]

So.... someone earlier mentioned letters, and that is what my teacher is making us do. (its due tomorrow, so i doubt anyone will be able to help in time, but for future reference) what is the format the IB is looking for in letters? Or is my teacher just overly picky?

[Emmi 1,396]

So.... someone earlier mentioned letters, and that is what my teacher is making us do. (its due tomorrow, so i doubt anyone will be able to help in time, but for future reference) what is the format the IB is looking for in letters? Or is my teacher just overly picky?

It depends on what the task is and whether the tone is formal or informal. If it's a formal tone like to a person in a company or person you wouldn't know personally make it look like a business letter with block formatting and formal language. If it's a letter to a friend/family member you can just pretend you're writing a letter to a friend and be informal. Just make it look like the one you need.

[jessplease 0]

i cannot express how much i love you right now!

my language b exam (French standard level) is the class i'm absolutely the least prepared for. however, it's my last exam and it's tomorrow, so i'm hoping it goes decently well. i honestly think it will be harder, for me, than HL maths. i just want it to be over!!

thanks again!

[Cramcramcram 0]

THanks very much!

[yomanyomo 3]

Hey guys, I'm a sophomore going into the IBDP this coming year. I'm half swiss but I'm not fluent in French cause I never lived there.

I started learning French from scratch 2 and a half year ago. I'm taking HL French B next year and I'd like to know if its difficult for someone who's been learning French for 2 years?

I really love languages, and I'm good at it. I've been learning english for 2 years as well. However, I got a 6/7 in French in 10th grade, Pre-IB.

[Guest HayashiEsme]

Out of curiosity: How much leeway do they give Language B answers in essays and such? I haven't begun my IB yet, but surely they can give us more leniency than a Language A subject?

[TykeDragon 364]

Thanks for the Paper 1 tips, paper 1 is probably the hardest part of my diploma! I can get 9 in the individual oral, 21 in paper 2... but paper 1 its a struggle to get 50%. However, and especially to anybody doing Japanese/Chinese who will understand, it's because we are taught virtually none of the characters that appear in the texts!! At least with other languages you can sound them and see similarities etc, whereas staring at a kanji you don't know just leaves you feeling blank and confused! Isn't there supposed to be a list or something, even if its like 500 kanji, that need to be known as only they can appear in paper 1? Because at this point, it feels absolutely ridiculous and unreasonable that I need to be getting nearly 35/40 on a paper where 20/40 is most realistic in order to get a 7. >

[jebsjebs 0]

I think that starting from May 2013, there will be 5 texts on paper 1.

[susanne 91]

I think that starting from May 2013, there will be 5 texts on paper 1.

what.....that's ridiculous. having to do 4 of them is bad enough.

[turtle turtle 18]

Thanks very much, basically what I was looking for. For me, the French exam is very vague and it feels nice to get some structure

[turtle turtle 18]

And how do we know what topic the comprehension will be centred around?