IB Diploma Programme Language B – Paper 1: productive skills and text types 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 writing skills behind Paper 1 of IB Diploma Programme Language B: register, audience, purpose and text-type conventions, at SL and HL, across all five prescribed themes. It follows the IB Language B subject brief for first assessment 2020, which remains the examined course until the new syllabus is first assessed in May 2029, so it applies to the 2026, 2027 and 2028 sessions. The model texts are in English; repeat each task in your target language.

Learn the skills first with the Paper 1 study guide and the revision notes. Course links: Language B hub · printable checklist.

Questions

1. Using the subject brief, state: the kind of skills Paper 1 assesses; how many writing tasks you choose from and how many you complete; and the paper’s weighting and total marks. [3]

2. Name the five conceptual understandings the brief lists for Language B. [2]

Passage A — personal blog post (original text written for Marlbridge)

Week six: I actually ran!

Hi again, everyone! If you’ve been following this blog since January, you’ll know that I used to think running was a punishment. Well, guess what? On Saturday I ran five kilometres without stopping. Five! My legs felt like jelly afterwards, but honestly, I’ve never been so proud of myself.

The secret? I stopped comparing myself to my sister, who runs marathons. I went at my own pace, with my own playlist, and I didn’t care who overtook me.

So here’s my question for you: what’s the one thing you swore you’d never do, and then did? Tell me in the comments!

3. Identify the text type of Passage A, its audience and its main purpose. Support each with evidence from the passage. [3]

4. Identify three features of informal register in Passage A. Give a short quotation for each. [3]

Passage B — formal letter (original text written for Marlbridge)

This letter contains one sentence whose register does not fit the text type.

Dear Ms Ferreira,

I am writing to apply for the position of summer assistant at the Kestrel Lane Museum, which I saw advertised on your website last week.

I am in my final year at school, where I study history and two languages. Last summer I volunteered at a local festival, greeting visitors and answering their questions in three languages. This taught me to remain calm and polite when many people need help at once.

I would be grateful if you could tell me whether the position includes any training, and whether weekend work is required. Anyway, drop me a line whenever!

Yours sincerely,

Priya Nair

5. Identify four conventions of a formal letter in Passage B, with evidence for each. [4]

6. Quote the sentence whose register does not fit, explain why, and rewrite it in a suitable register. [3]

Passage C — news article (original text written for Marlbridge)

Car park becomes weekend market in Tallow Bay

Traders and shoppers welcome first Saturday opening

By a staff reporter

A town-centre car park in Tallow Bay was closed to cars last Saturday and filled instead with forty market stalls selling local food, crafts and second-hand books.

The council agreed to the six-month trial in March after several shops on the high street closed. “People had stopped coming into town,” said stall-holder Amina Rowe, who sells bread. “Today I sold out by eleven.”

Not everyone is convinced. Some residents say parking is now harder to find. The council will review the trial in October.

7. Identify the text type of Passage C and two of its conventions, with evidence. [3]

8. Explain how the writer of Passage C keeps a neutral, balanced register for a wide audience. [2]

9. For each task, name a suitable text type and the register you would use.

(a) Tell a friend abroad how your family celebrated a festival. [1] (b) Persuade other students at a school assembly to join a new debating club. [1] (c) Inform the head of school of the results of a student survey on the canteen, with recommendations. [1] (d) Give your verdict on a new community sports centre for a local news website. [1]

10. Read this original task, written for Marlbridge:

Your town council is asking young people for ideas on how to use an empty building in the town centre. Write to the council proposing one use for the building, explaining how it would benefit young people and the wider community.

Identify your role, the reader, the purpose, the text type and the content points you must cover. [5]

11. Plan a response to the task in Question 10 as an HL candidate. Give a paragraph plan and a model opening paragraph. [8]

Answers

1. Productive skills [1]. One writing task from a choice of three [1]. 25% of the final grade, marked out of 30 [1]. [3] Examiner insight: Facts about the paper must match the brief exactly; “choose two of three” or a wrong weighting earns nothing.

2. Any three of context, audience, purpose, meaning, variation [1]; all five [1]. [2] Examiner insight: These concepts are the vocabulary for explaining writing choices; “audience” and “purpose” are not the same thing, so do not merge them.

3. Blog post: a title and “If you’ve been following this blog” [1]. Audience: the writer’s regular followers, addressed as “Hi again, everyone!” [1]. Purpose: to share a personal achievement and encourage readers to reply: “Tell me in the comments!” [1] [3] Examiner insight: A precise audience (“regular followers of a personal blog”) is stronger than “people on the internet”; tie each claim to a quotation.

4. Any three, each with a quotation. Chatty, direct address: “Well, guess what?” [1] A one-word sentence or fragment: “Five!” or “The secret?” [1] Contractions: “you’ll”, “I’ve” [1] Also accept an informal simile (“felt like jelly”) or a conversational filler (“honestly”). [3] Examiner insight: “It is informal because it uses informal language” is circular; name the feature, then quote it.

5. Any four, each with evidence. Formal salutation with title and surname: “Dear Ms Ferreira,” [1] Purpose stated in the first sentence: “I am writing to apply for the position” [1] Polite conditional request: “I would be grateful if you could” [1] Formal closing formula with full name: “Yours sincerely,” and “Priya Nair” [1] Also accept: context for writing (“which I saw advertised on your website”); one point per paragraph (purpose, experience, questions). [4] Examiner insight: Layout features such as salutation and closing count, but strong answers also notice how paragraphs are organised by function.

6. “Anyway, drop me a line whenever!” [1]. It is informal and casual (a filler word, a slang phrase, an exclamation) in a letter to an employer the writer does not know [1]. Rewrite, for example: “I look forward to hearing from you.” [1] [3] Examiner insight: One informal line in a closing paragraph undoes the effect of a well-pitched letter; the rewrite must fit the text type, not just remove the slang.

7. News article [1]. Any two conventions with evidence. Headline: “Car park becomes weekend market in Tallow Bay” [1] Byline: “By a staff reporter” [1] Also accept: a subheading in italics; an opening sentence giving what, where and when (“last Saturday”); a quotation from a named person (“said stall-holder Amina Rowe”). [3] Examiner insight: A convention earns credit only with evidence; naming “headline” without quoting or locating it is not enough.

8. It reports a view from both sides: a trader’s success (“Today I sold out by eleven”) and residents’ complaints about parking (“Not everyone is convinced”) [1]. The reporter uses the third person and gives no personal opinion, ending on a fact (“The council will review the trial in October”) [1]. [2] Examiner insight: “Balanced” needs evidence of both sides; a single quotation proves only one.

9. (a) Personal email or letter, informal [1] (b) Speech, neutral to semi-formal, addressing peers [1] (c) Report, formal or neutral and impersonal [1] (d) Review, neutral and evaluative [1] Examiner insight: The text type and the register must both fit; a report written in chatty register is still wrong.

10. Role: a young resident of the town [1]. Reader: the town council, an official body [1]. Purpose: to propose one use and persuade the council it is worth doing [1]. Text type: a formal letter (or a proposal, if that is how your teacher’s list names it), in formal register [1]. Content points: one use for the building; benefits for young people; benefits for the wider community [1]. [5] Examiner insight: The task has two benefits to cover; plans that list only benefits for young people miss half the content the task asks for.

11. Indicative points. The real Paper 1 is marked holistically against the IB criteria, not point by point. Formal salutation and a first sentence stating purpose [1]. One clear proposal named early, such as a youth study and arts centre [1]. A paragraph on benefits for young people, with a specific example (quiet study space in exam season) [1]. A paragraph on benefits for the wider community (evening classes for adults, events that bring visitors to nearby shops) [1]. An objection anticipated and answered, such as running costs, met with volunteers or shared use [1]. Complex structures in control: conditionals, concession, the passive [1]. Formal register held throughout, with a polite request for action [1]. A formal closing formula and name [1]. [8]

Model opening (original text written for Marlbridge): “Dear Councillors, I am writing in response to your request for ideas about the empty building on Market Street. I propose that it should become a youth study and arts centre. Although some may argue that the town cannot afford the running costs, I believe a centre of this kind would pay for itself, both for young people and for the wider community.”

Examiner insight: At HL, weighing an objection is what shows higher-order thinking; a list of benefits with no counterargument reads as description.

Where marks are usually lost

• Naming a convention without a quotation or a location in the text.
• Circular explanations of register (“informal because it is informal”).
• Missing the one sentence that breaks register, or rewriting it in a register that still does not fit.
• Choosing a text type that fits the topic but not the reader.
• Covering one content point from a task and forgetting the second.
• Merging audience and purpose into one vague answer.
• At HL, describing a plan without weighing it or answering an objection.
• In extended writing, conventions at the start that vanish by the end.

Next steps

• Recap with the Paper 1 revision notes.
• Reread the Paper 1 study guide, with its worked examples.
• See the exam preparation guide for the whole exam.
• Browse the Language B course hub.
• Tick off the printable checklist.
• Try all free 10-minute diagnostics.
• Book a free trial class.

Official syllabus

International Baccalaureate Organization, Diploma Programme Subject Brief, Language B, first assessment 2020 (2018). The Paper 1 facts and conceptual understandings used here come from it. All passages and tasks are original texts written for Marlbridge.