IB Diploma Programme Language B – Paper 2: listening and reading comprehension Study Guide

This study guide teaches the skills behind Paper 2 (receptive skills) in IB Diploma Programme Language B, at SL and HL. It is aligned to the assessment model in the IB Language B subject brief and to its objective “Understand, analyse and reflect upon a range of written, audio, visual and audio-visual texts”. 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 and were written for Marlbridge; each section tells you how to repeat the method in your target language.

Use it with the Paper 2 revision notes and the Paper 2 practice questions. For the whole course, see the Language B course hub and the printable Language B checklist.

What this unit covers

Skill	What you must be able to do	SL/HL
Reading the question	Find the key word, the answer type and the marks	Both
Locating evidence	Scan a text for the exact lines that answer a question	Both
Synonyms and paraphrase	Match the question’s wording to different wording in the text	Both
Inference	Work out an attitude, cause or meaning that is implied, not stated	Both
Reference words	Say what it, this, they or such refers back to	Both
Listening tactics	Predict, note, and avoid distractors while the recording plays	Both
Managing time	Budget time by marks and keep time to check	Both

Paper 2 as the brief describes it

The brief states only a few facts about this paper, and they are enough to plan your revision:

• Paper 2 tests receptive skills and has separate sections for listening and reading.
• Listening: 25 marks, 25% of the final grade. Reading: 40 marks, 25%.
• So Paper 2 carries 50% of your grade, and the two skills are weighted equally even though the raw marks differ.
• The assessment outlines for SL and HL are identical; the brief says “it is the nature of the assessment that differs”. HL students are expected to understand a wider range of language and more complex language.

The brief also says the course is organised around five prescribed themes, studied through “written, audio, visual and audio-visual texts”. This unit’s model texts come from four of them: identities, experiences, human ingenuity and social organization. Sharing the planet has its own study guide.

What the brief does not give you: the time allowed for each section, the number of texts, or the question formats. Ask your teacher for these, and practise on the official specimen and past papers your school holds. The five conceptual understandings in the brief (context, audience, purpose, meaning and variation) make good reading lenses: before answering, ask who wrote this, for whom, and why.

Question formats to practise

These are common comprehension formats. Your teacher will show you which ones appear in your language’s papers.

Format	What it tests	Key habit
Short answer	Finding a detail	Answer the question word (who, when, why) and nothing extra
True/false with justification	Checking a claim against the text	The justification must prove the verdict on its own
Multiple choice	Reading all options against the text	Rule out each wrong option with a reason
Word or phrase that means…	Synonym knowledge	Same word class, same form
Reference word	Following a text’s links	Replace the word with your answer and reread
Sentence completion or matching	Understanding sense and grammar	The ending must fit the meaning and the grammar
Note completion (listening)	Catching specific detail	Predict the word type before you hear it

Locating evidence

Most errors come from answering from memory of the text instead of from the text itself. Use four steps.

1. Underline the key words in the question, and circle the question word.
2. Think of synonyms for the key words before you look. The text will rarely use the question’s exact words.
3. Scan for those words or ideas. Check whether the questions in your paper follow the order of the text; if they do, each answer lies after the previous one.
4. Read the whole sentence and the one after it. Answers often sit one clause beyond the keyword.

Worked example (Experiences)

Original text written for Marlbridge:

My first week at the harbour café was a disaster. On Monday I dropped a tray of glasses. On Tuesday I mixed up two orders and a customer walked out. By Friday, though, Mrs Adebayo was letting me close up on my own, which she had never allowed a new worker to do.

Question: What shows that the writer had gained the owner’s trust by the end of the week? [1]

• Key words: trust, end of the week. Expect: by Friday, allowed, let.
• Scan: “By Friday” matches end of the week.
• Read on: “letting me close up on my own”.
• Answer: she let the writer close the café alone.

The dropped tray is in the same paragraph but answers a different question.

Target language: make a list of the time words in your language that match by the end, finally, at first. They are the signposts you scan for.

Synonyms and paraphrase

A synonym swaps one word for another with the same meaning (purchase for buy). A paraphrase says a whole idea in different words (she could not afford it for it was beyond her budget). Comprehension questions test both.

For “find the word that means…” tasks:

• Match the word class. If the question gives a verb, the answer is a verb.
• Match the form. Refused matches a past-tense verb, not refusal. In many target languages you must also match gender, number or verb ending, which narrows the choice quickly.
• Test it. Put your word into the question’s sentence. If the sentence breaks, the word is wrong.

Worked example (Social organization)

Original text written for Marlbridge:

The council has decided to postpone the new parking rules until spring. Residents had complained that the plan was introduced without consultation, and several shopkeepers feared they would lose customers.

Find the word that means “delay”. Word class: verb, base form. Candidates in the text: decided (past tense, wrong meaning), postpone (base form, means delay). Answer: postpone.

Explain in your own words why residents objected. [1] The text says “introduced without consultation”. A paraphrase: nobody asked them before the plan was made. Copying shows you found the line; restating shows you understood it.

Target language: keep a two-column synonym bank for each theme. For social organization, pairs might be rule / regulation, resident / inhabitant, complain / object, written in your target language.

Inference

Inference means working out what the writer implies. It is not guessing. Every inference needs a chain of three links:

Quotation      ->  what it says literally  ->  what it implies
"I nodded and      she agreed on the          she is hiding
 kept smiling"     surface                    disagreement or discomfort

If you cannot point to the words that support an inference, you have invented it.

Worked example (Identities)

Original text written for Marlbridge:

At home I am Sami. At school I am Samuel, because that is what the register says, and after two years I have stopped correcting anyone. My grandmother still calls me by the name she chose, the one no form has ever had room for.

What does the writer suggest about how official systems treat his identity? [2]

• Evidence: “that is what the register says”; “no form has ever had room for”.
• Literal: a list at school and forms use a different name.
• Inference: official systems leave no space for his real name [1], and he has given up resisting, shown by “stopped correcting anyone” [1].

A weaker answer says “he has two names”. That is true, but it is literal, not an inference about official systems.

Watch for tone words. Still, even, only, finally and supposedly change attitude. “My grandmother still calls me” shows loyalty to the old name; remove still and the loyalty goes.

Reference words

Writers avoid repetition with words such as it, this, they, these, such and the latter. A reference question asks what one of them points back to.

• Look before the word, usually in the same or the previous sentence.
• Find a noun or idea that agrees with it (a plural for they).
• Replace the word with your answer and reread. If the meaning holds, you are right.

In the Social organization text above, they in “they would lose customers” refers to several shopkeepers, not the residents. In many target languages, gender and number agreement make this easier: use the endings to rule candidates out.

Listening tactics

Listening differs from reading in one way: you cannot scan back. So the work moves to before the recording starts.

Before: read every question. Underline the question words. Predict the answer type: a number, a place, a feeling, a reason. Predict likely words in the target language.

During: write short notes, not sentences. Use symbols (↑ rise, ↓ fall, → leads to, ✗ not). Answer in the order you hear; if you miss one, move on and return to it later.

Distractors: speakers correct themselves, give two numbers, or mention an option only to reject it. Listen for the words that signal a change of mind.

Worked example (Human ingenuity)

Original transcript written for Marlbridge:

INTERVIEWER: When did the first version work?

ARJUN: We thought we’d have it running in March, but the battery kept failing, so it was actually May before it lasted a full day.

When did the device first work for a whole day? The recording mentions March first, but “we thought” and “but” signal that March was a plan, not a result. Answer: May.

Target language: collect the words that signal correction in your language (the equivalents of actually, in fact, no, sorry, rather) and listen for them in every recording you practise with.

Managing time

Marks tell you how much each question is worth. Budget time in proportion.

minutes per mark = (time allowed - checking time) / marks

Suppose you set yourself a 50-minute practice on a 40-mark reading set and keep 5 minutes to check:

(50 - 5) / 40 = 1.125 minutes per mark
4-mark question: 4 x 1.125 = 4.5 minutes

Use your teacher’s real timings for your level once you have them. Three rules help:

• Do not stall. If an answer will not come after twice its budget, mark it and move on.
• Read the questions before the text. You then read with a purpose.
• Leave nothing blank. A reasoned attempt can earn a mark; a blank cannot.

Practising in your target language

The English models show the method; you are examined in your target language. Take short target-language texts on each theme, write one question per format above, and swap with a classmate. For listening, replay a recording first without the script, then with it, marking what you missed.

The theme guides give vocabulary and text ideas for identities, experiences and human ingenuity.

Common errors

• Answering with the most striking line in the paragraph rather than the line the question asks for.
• Copying a long chunk that contains the answer and a wrong detail as well.
• Giving a synonym in the wrong form (a noun for a verb, a plural for a singular).
• Stating a literal fact when the question asks what something suggests.
• Supporting a true/false verdict with a quotation that does not prove it.
• Writing down the first number heard in a recording before the speaker corrects it.
• Spending a quarter of the time on a 1-mark question.

Where next

• Revise with the Paper 2 revision notes.
• Test yourself with the Paper 2 practice questions.
• See the whole exam in the exam preparation guide and the assessment revision notes.
• Course overview: syllabus guide and subject guide.

Official syllabus

International Baccalaureate Organization, Diploma Programme Subject Brief, Language B, first assessment 2020 (2018). Paper 2 facts are taken from its assessment model; the themes from its content outline.