IB Diploma Programme Language A: Language and Literature – The HL Essay Practice Questions

These are original questions written for Marlbridge, for revision and practice on this content. They are not reproduced past-paper questions, and they do not replicate the exam’s exact structure, question count or mark tariffs – the IB holds copyright in its own papers. Use these alongside the official past papers available through your school or the IB store.

This practice set covers the HL essay in IB Diploma Programme Language A: Language and Literature, aligned to the IB subject brief Language A: language and literature, and draws on all three areas of exploration. It follows the current IB subject brief (first assessments for SL and HL 2021). HL only. The questions train the skills behind the essay, not a timed paper.

Learn the unit first with the HL essay study guide and the revision notes. Course links: Language and Literature hub · printable checklist.

Questions

Passage A – Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Wall-Paper” (1892), opening (public domain; (…) marks cuts)

It is very seldom that mere ordinary people like John and myself secure ancestral halls for the summer.

A colonial mansion, a hereditary estate, I would say a haunted house, and reach the height of romantic felicity—but that would be asking too much of fate!

(…)

John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage.

(…)

John is a physician, and perhaps—(I would not say it to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind)—perhaps that is one reason I do not get well faster.

You see, he does not believe I am sick!

And what can one do?

If a physician of high standing, and one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression—a slight hysterical tendency—what is one to do?

(…)

So I take phosphates or phosphites—whichever it is, and tonics, and journeys, and air, and exercise, and am absolutely forbidden to “work” until I am well again.

Passage B – campaign texts (original text written for Marlbridge; town and water board fictional)

Text 1 (poster): EVERY DROP COUNTS. Kestleford Reservoir is at 41%. Turn off the tap while you brush. Two minutes. Six litres saved. Kestleford Water Board.

Text 2 (social media post): Meet Priya, 9. She times her shower with one song. When the song ends, the water stops. What’s your shower song? Tell us below. #EveryDropCounts

Text 3 (radio advert script): SOUND: a dripping tap, slowing to silence. OLDER MAN (warm, slow): My dad used to say the river was the town’s bank account. This summer, we’re overdrawn. ANNOUNCER: Turn it off. Every drop counts. A message from Kestleford Water Board.

Passage C – a weak student paragraph on Passage A (original text written for Marlbridge)

In “The Yellow Wall-Paper” there are lots of techniques. “John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage.” This quote shows that John laughs at her. Gilman also uses repetition. The narrator is very sad and the story is about how women were treated badly in the 1800s. This shows that the story is very important and still relevant today.

1. State the length, the weighting and what the HL essay may be written on, as given in the subject brief. [3]

2. Which is the strongest line of inquiry on Passage A’s story? Justify your choice. (i) “What is ‘The Yellow Wall-Paper’ about?” (ii) “Women in the nineteenth century.” (iii) “How does Gilman use the narrator’s repeated question ‘what is one to do?’ to show a mind taught to doubt itself?” [3]

3. Identify one example of repetition in Passage A and explain its effect, using a quotation. [3]

4. Explain how the sentence beginning “John is a physician” reveals the narrator’s situation. Refer to its punctuation and word choice. [3]

5. The narrator is “absolutely forbidden to “work””. Explain how this phrase could support a line of inquiry from the Time and space area of exploration. [2]

6. Identify two features that recur across the three texts in Passage B, and explain the effect of each. [4]

7. The narrator says she would call the house “a haunted house”. Suggest a line of inquiry on the story that uses the Intertextuality area of exploration, and explain why it suits an essay on one work. [3]

8. Identify three weaknesses in Passage C. [3]

9. Rewrite the first three sentences of Passage C as an analytical opening that makes a claim and analyses the quotation. [4]

10. Correct the referencing problem in each of these student sentences.

(a) John “laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in a marriage.” [1] (b) The narrator is controlled. “John laughs at me, of course.” [1] (c) Some readers see the house as a prison. (The student took this idea from a critical essay they read online.) [1]

11. A student plans an introduction of 140 words, five body paragraphs of 280 words each and a conclusion of 130 words.

(a) Find the planned total. [1] (b) State by how many words it exceeds the maximum length. [1] (c) The student wants a total of 1,450 words by cutting the same number of words from each body paragraph. How many words should each body paragraph lose? [1]

12. Treating Passage B as a non-literary body of work, write a line of inquiry, a thesis and a three-section essay plan, showing the texts and quotations each section uses. [8]

Answers

1. 1,200–1,500 words [1]. 20% of the final grade at HL [1]. One literary work or a non-literary body of work studied in the course [1]. [3] Examiner insight: Only the brief’s own facts earn credit; unsourced “rules” add nothing.

2. (iii) is strongest [1]. It names a feature (the repeated question) and an arguable effect (self-doubt) [1]. (i) invites plot summary; (ii) is a topic with no question [1]. [3] Examiner insight: Explaining why the weaker options fail shows you know what a line of inquiry is.

3. The question “And what can one do?” returns as “what is one to do?” [1]. The narrator repeats a question she never answers, which shows her helplessness [1]. The impersonal “one” distances her from her own distress, as if it were a general rule, not her complaint [1]. [3] Examiner insight: Naming “repetition” earns nothing alone; marks go to quoted words and their effect.

4. The dashes and brackets interrupt the sentence, so her criticism of John is delayed and hedged [1]. The aside contrasts “a living soul” with “dead paper”: the page is her only safe listener [1]. The repeated “perhaps” shows she can only suggest, not state, that his treatment is part of the problem [1]. [3] Examiner insight: Punctuation is a feature too; explain what the interruption does to the meaning.

5. The quotation marks around “work” suggest her writing is not treated as real work by those who forbid it [1]. A line of inquiry could ask how a reader today, who may see the enforced rest as the cause of her decline, reads this differently from the 1890s medical view of “nervous” illness [1]. [2] Examiner insight: Context earns credit only when it changes how a specific phrase is read.

6. The slogan “Every drop counts” (and #EveryDropCounts) recurs in all three texts [1]; it ties them into one recognisable, memorable campaign [1]. Small, personal units of time and water recur: “Two minutes. Six litres saved.” and “one song” [1]; these turn a town-wide shortage into a household habit that feels achievable [1]. [4] Examiner insight: For a body of work, track each feature across the texts, not one text at a time.

7. For example: “How does Gilman borrow the conventions of the haunted-house story and turn them towards an ordinary marriage?” [1]. It asks how the work bends a genre convention: the “haunted house” she jokes about becomes a home where the threat is her husband’s control [1]. It suits one work because it studies how this story uses conventions; comparing two works belongs in Paper 2 [1]. [3] Examiner insight: A line of inquiry that drifts into comparing two works has left the task.

8. The opening makes no claim linked to a line of inquiry [1]. The quotation is dropped in as its own sentence and then paraphrased, not analysed [1]. “Repetition” is named with no example or effect, and the context and final claims are general and unsupported [1]. [3] Examiner insight: Precise diagnosis (“paraphrased, not analysed”) beats “not detailed enough”.

9. Model: Gilman shows how the narrator has learned to excuse the way she is dismissed. She reports that “John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage.” The phrase “of course” makes mockery sound routine, and the impersonal “one expects” turns a private hurt into a general rule she must accept. Indicative points: a claim [1]; the quotation embedded [1]; analysis of specific words (“of course”, “one expects”) [1]; the effect explained [1]. [4] Examiner insight: A longer paraphrase of the same quotation is still description; analyse words.

10. (a) The quotation is inaccurate: the story says “in marriage”, not “in a marriage”. Copy it exactly [1]. (b) The quotation is dropped. Embed it: The narrator treats mockery as routine: “John laughs at me, of course,” she writes, as if it needs no comment. [1] (c) A paraphrased idea still needs a citation to the critic and source, and a works cited entry [1]. [3] Examiner insight: One misquoted word can change the meaning you analyse.

11. (a) 140 + 5 × 280 + 130 = 1,670 words [1]. (b) 1,670 − 1,500 = 170 words over [1]. (c) 1,670 − 1,450 = 220 words to cut; 220 ÷ 5 = 44 words per body paragraph [1]. [3] Examiner insight: Budget before drafting, then cut summary and repetition, never analysis.

12. Indicative model plan: Line of inquiry: How does the Kestleford campaign turn a public shortage into a private household habit? [1] Thesis: by shrinking the problem to personal units, using ordinary voices and framing waste as overspending, the campaign makes saving water feel like personal responsibility [1]. Section 1, scale: “Two minutes. Six litres saved.” (Text 1) and “one song” (Text 2) make the shortage personal and measurable [1]. Section 2, voices: Priya, 9 (Text 2) and the OLDER MAN (Text 3) front the message ahead of the water board, so the message feels like neighbourly advice [1]. Section 3, money: “counts”, “bank account” and “overdrawn” (Text 3) frame waste as careless spending [1]. Each section uses evidence from more than one text [1]. Quotations are short, exact and cited by text number [1]. Conclusion answers the line of inquiry and evaluates what the framing leaves out, such as the institution’s own role [1]. [8] Indicative only: the real HL essay is marked holistically against the IB assessment criteria, not point by point. Examiner insight: Strong plans organise sections by idea across the texts; one section per text produces three separate descriptions.

Where marks are usually lost

• Writing about a topic (“water”, “marriage”) instead of answering a focused line of inquiry.
• Naming “repetition” or “metaphor” without quoting words and explaining their effect.
• Dropping quotations in as separate sentences rather than embedding them.
• Misquoting, even by one word.
• Treating a body of work text by text instead of tracking features across it.
• Using a critic’s idea without a citation because it was paraphrased.
• Drafting with no word budget, then cutting analysis to fit.

Next steps

• Review the HL essay revision notes.
• Re-read the worked examples in the HL essay study guide.
• Go to the Language and Literature course hub.
• Tick off skills on the printable checklist.
• Try all free 10-minute diagnostics.
• Book a free trial class.

Official syllabus

International Baccalaureate Organization, Diploma Programme Subject Brief, Language A: language and literature, first assessments for SL and HL 2021 (2019).