English A SL vs HL

[turtle turtle]

After getting bad marks on my semester exams for the commentary and comparative, i've been reconsidering English HL...

 

1/ Is English different to other subjects in that we're doing year 12 work right from year 11 and it's expected you do badly in year 11 because unlike maths, you don't have tests on topics that progressively become harder

 

2/ Is HL much harder than SL or not? I've heard from some that it's an 'easy' HL?

 

THanks!

[Emmi]

1. This is school-dependent. When I was in IB we did our Part 1 (works in translation) and 4 (school's choice) works in IB1, and Part 2 (detailed study, used for the IOC) and 3 (groups of works, used for Paper 2) in IB2. I'd expect most people would improve as the course went on and they got better at analyzing literature.

 

2. HL is only "harder" in the sense that you're marked a little more harshly because more is expected of you, and you will read an additional book or two, but that is the only difference. It's not like being in SL chemistry versus HL chemistry when the HL content is a lot more difficult and includes a lot more information. Hence why some people refer to it as an "easy" HL - the jump in difficulty/workload really isn't there.

[Blackcurrant]

It's probably best (considering there is little difference between the levels, as Emmi points out) that you just persevere.  

 

You have to find out what is preventing you from doing better. Then practice 

 

Will your teacher sit down and give you in -depth feedback? Mine did ... but only a few times, and was almost always busy (or claimed to be) - which is why I had to seek elsewhere ... and got what I wanted. I was lucky in that way. 

 

Some teachers are really dedicated and will spend time with you on a weekly basis till you get it. You'll have to ask her/him and see what she'll do. The main thing is that you get someone to spell out to you what exactly you need to do to improve.  

Edited June 15, 2015 by Blackcurrant