IB Diploma Programme Language A: Language and Literature

Component-based qualification

Not all of these figures come from International Baccalaureate documents: Paper 2 is shown as 25 marks from a change for the May 2026 exams reported by a teacher resource site (thinkib.net); the IB's own guide (first assessment 2021) prints 30 marks. The other mark totals match that IB guide.

Source: official International Baccalaureate specification, verified 2026-09-05. Both tiers modeled in full, for the current course as revised for May 2026 examinations onward – distinct from Language A: Literature, which has its own entry. This subject underwent a genuine, IB-announced revision to its Paper 2 marking criteria effective from the May 2026 exam session: Paper 2's total fell from 30 to 25 marks (its first criterion narrowed from 10 to 5 marks, with the remaining marks redistributed across two new sub-criteria), while every other component's structure, duration and weighting was independently confirmed unchanged. Paper 1, the HL Essay and the Individual Oral mark totals and durations/weighting are read directly from the official public subject brief; the revised Paper 2 total is read from a specialist IB-teacher-authored resource that explains the criterion-by-criterion change in detail, corroborated by a current IB World School's own library research guide for this exact course (citing the official 2026 guide and Teacher Support Material by name, and independently confirming the course's three areas of exploration are unchanged from the prior syllabus). Standard Level sits one guided analysis at Paper 1 and Higher Level sits two; Paper 2 is a comparative essay on two studied literary works, common to both tiers; the Individual Oral (40 marks, both tiers) is internally assessed and externally moderated; the HL Essay (20 marks, Higher Level only, 1,200-1,500 words) is externally assessed written coursework.