IB English: Paper 2 - New Criteria

IB English Paper 2: New Criteria

The video explains changes to the IB English Paper 2 criteria for students assessed in 2026 and beyond. The presenters describe the revised criteria as a clearer way to assess the same overall task: answering the question with strong understanding, analysis, and comparison.

Criterion A: Knowledge and Understanding — 5 marks

Criterion A was previously worth 10 marks. Its revised descriptor focuses on how well candidates demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the works in relation to the question.

The presenters recommend that students:

• Keep the question central. Identify its key words and return to them throughout the essay. Staying focused also supports Criterion C.
• Use thematic understanding. Draw on the works’ major ideas and consider what each author communicates about the topic in the question.
• Consider the author’s message. Imagine the author beside you while writing: what might the author want readers to understand?
• Explore nuance and implication. Aim to interpret what is suggested between the lines, not only what is directly stated.

Sentence stems that can help express interpretive insight include:

• “The author implies that…”
• “While not stated, the author hints that…”
• “Readers can infer that…”

Criterion B: Analysis and Evaluation — 10 marks

Criterion B is divided into two five-mark subcriteria.

B1: Analysis and Evaluation of Textual Features — 5 marks

This assesses how well candidates analyze and evaluate how meaning is shaped by choices of language, techniques, style, and broader authorial choices.

The presenters advise students to:

• Identify literary features and authorial choices, then explain how they shape meaning rather than simply naming them.
• Evaluate the effects of those choices.
• Discuss a range of features instead of repeatedly relying on the same one.
• Remember that the accuracy of identifying features is assessed under Criterion D, while Criterion B1 focuses on analyzing and evaluating them.

B2: Comparative Analysis — 5 marks

This assesses how effectively candidates analyze similarities and/or differences between the works. Comparisons can address both:

• Ideas, such as themes, characters, or struggles.
• Authorial choices, such as staging, dialogue, lighting, mood, or music.

The sample comparisons in the video show how to connect an idea in one work to a different technique used in another. For example, one sentence contrasts Ibsen’s stage directions with Williams’s use of lighting to convey ideas about personal liberation and identity. Another compares how the authors portray Nora’s disillusionment and Blanche’s changing grasp on reality through different choices in dialogue, mood, and music.

The presenters suggest using clear comparative phrasing—such as “while” and “in contrast to”—so the comparison is explicit, while also explaining the significance of the ideas and techniques being compared.

Overall Takeaway

The revised criteria are presented as a streamlining of assessment rather than a change to the basic Paper 2 task. Students should stay closely tied to the question, demonstrate detailed understanding of the works, analyze how authorial choices create meaning, and make clear, meaningful comparisons.

Speakers and Sources Featured

• Andrew — presenter and co-host of the IB English Guys.
• Dave — presenter and co-host of the IB English Guys.
• Literary authors and works discussed in examples: Henrik Ibsen, A Doll’s House; Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire.