How to Approach the IB MYP Language and Literature e-Assessment

The MYP (Middle Years Programme) Language and Literature course is worlds apart from the comprehension-heavy, close-ended question patterns you might have been answering before entering the International Baccalaureate. Therefore, understanding and getting used to the whole process might need some time if you are transitioning from another curriculum or even from PYP (Primary Years Programme), which is the preceding IB programme for elementary school that puts the same focus on holistic learning and student leadership as in the MYP. All the skills that you will garner throughout the 5-years course will culminate in the MYP e-Assessment taken in May or November of your final MYP year (MYP5). The MYP e-Assessment is an on-screen examination undertaken by thousands of IB schools over the world, marking the overall course content and knowledge gained over the whole programme. It is assessed by external examiners and offers students to earn a formal, internationally recognized certificate if they meet the success criteria. 

Like any other MYP subject, Language and Literature has four criterias: A: Analyzing, B: Organizing, C: Producing Text, and D: Using Language. Since we are focusing on success for the e-Assessment, for the purposes of this article, let us view the criteria for the end of Year 5 first. These four criteria will be assessed across all of the three tasks  in the e-Assessment: the compare and contrast, producing literary text and non-literary text, and marks are allotted to these criteria based on the tasks, upon which your final grade depends. In this article, I will guide you through the four criteria for this subject and provide tips, so you can achieve your fullest potential! 

Criterion A: Analyzing 

The IB MYP Language and Literature guide states, under criterion A: 

At the end of year 5, students should be able to: 

1. analyse the content, context, language, structure, technique and style of text(s) and the relationship among texts
2. analyse the effects of the creator’s choices on an audience
3. justify opinions and ideas, using examples, explanations and terminology iv. evaluate similarities and differences by connecting features across and within genres and texts. 

One of the core aims of the Language and Literature course is to strengthen the student’s critical and analytical thinking. This is assessed through examining how perceptive an answer is, and how an opinion is presented and then justified using relevant examples and explanations. Whenever a text is provided, an examinee is expected to read and identify the connotative meaning behind it. A 7-8 level response “provides perceptive analysis of the content, context, language, structure, technique, style of text(s) and the relationship among texts”. While this may be challenging at the beginning of the course, it is important that you keep reading or viewing literary content that is presented to you through your coursework and beyond it. This helps you strengthen your literacy and analytical thinking, making you more prone to identifying themes and aspects in a text that you might have missed before. A common mistake students make is stating their opinion and leaving it at that. Even if what you have stated brings out an important aspect of the text, a 7-8 response “gives detailed justification of opinions and ideas with a range of examples, and thorough explanations; uses accurate terminology”. Thus, missing out on the justification part might cost you quite a lot of marks. 

You can easily make sure you have not missed out on any strand of the criteria by building your answers through the PEE (Point-Evidence-Explanation) format. You have probably heard your English teacher say this a million times, but it is repeated for a reason. The Point-Evidence-Explanation structure ensures that you provide the “perceptive analysis”,  then provide “a range of examples”, and give “detailed justification” of the analysis or opinion. 

Another important strand in Criterion A is “perceptively analyses the effects of the creator’s choices on an audience”. It is not only enough that you present your opinion, but you also have to justify why the author or the creator made the choices that they did. For example, you are analyzing an excerpt from Chicken Little, and you make the perceptive analysis that “The cause of anxiety amongst all the animals was that they were scared the sky was falling, as Chicken Little had been screaming to everyone.” Then, you would also have to mention that “The author used this anxiety in symbolizing that people are easily prone to believing what causes them worry, as emotions are infectious- highlighting the mob mentality present in all humans.” 

Criterion B: Organizing

This is probably the easiest criterion to score well in, and is the only criterion assessed across all the tasks in the e-Assessment. Most students lose marks in this due to poor time management – when they realize that they have little time left and start to lose their heads and throw organizational structures out of the window. The guide states that: 

At the end of year 5, students should be able to: 

1. employ organizational structures that serve the context and intention
2. organize opinions and ideas in a sustained, coherent and logical manner
3. use referencing and formatting tools to create a presentation style suitable to the context and intention.

As I mentioned before, using the PEE paragraph format in the analysis tasks, especially the compare and contrast will help you easily organize your thoughts and allow cohesive development of ideas. The second most important thing in scoring well in this criterion is to answer the question based on what is wanted. For example, the e-Assessment asks students to write one literary and one non-literary text based on a provided prompt. The text demanded is also provided in the question. What is assessed is how well you stick to the conventions of that particular text, and how well you use that convention to express the prompt provided. For example, if you have been asked to write a letter, you will lose points in criterion B if you do not write the address, date, greeting and structure your paragraphs like how you would write a letter. 

It is also important to keep in mind that even though the suggested word count is 350 words in the long response questions, you do not lose marks for going over it as long as your answer is structured and coherent. 

Criterion C: Producing Text

Under Criterion C, At the end of year 5, students should be able to: 

1. produce texts that demonstrate insight, imagination and sensitivity while exploring and reflecting critically on new perspectives and ideas arising from personal engagement with the creative process 
2. make stylistic choices in terms of linguistic, literary and visual devices, demonstrating awareness of impact on an audience 
3. select relevant details and examples to develop ideas.

This is another tricky one. While Criterion B assesses the student’s adherence to the conventions of the text mentioned, Criterion C assesses how well the student answers the prompt using said convention. It is all about imagination and the development of creative and insightful ideas. If your prompt, for example, states to write a “script for a video advertisement promoting a healthy diet (s)”- it could be tempting to write about an obese child who has a lot of burgers and therefore suffers from diabetes; but this criterion judges your response based on how sophisticatedly you input the prompt in your text. A better way of presenting the healthy diet theme could be through using a metaphor. You could show thick, dirty petrol from a rundown garage being poured into a car, and then moving through traffic roughly and evenly; and then clean, purified petrol being poured into the same car, then showing the enhanced performance. Finally, you could transition to human bodies in motion, such as a student eating a banana before going onto training, or a hawker eating an apple while riding his bike. This shows engagement with the prompt beyond the surface level, indicating the breadth of your imagination. It is also helpful if you incorporate figures of speech, which you can remember through MISHAP (Metaphor, Imagery, Simile, Hyperbole, Alliteration, Personification). However, do not force them into your text. The examiner will understand that you were desperate to incorporate one if you write sentences like “He was as brave as a lion” or “her smile was a ray of sunshine”. 

Criterion D: Using Language

This one is relatively easy. The guide states: 

At the end of year 5, students should be able to: 

1. use appropriate and varied vocabulary, sentence structures and forms of expression 
2. write and speak in a register and style that serve the context and intention 
3. use correct grammar, syntax and punctuation 
4. spell (alphabetic languages), write (character languages) and pronounce with accuracy 
5. use appropriate non-verbal communication techniques.

As long as you have good sentence structures, spellings and capitalizations, you are going to score well in this criterion. I have seen a lot of students frantically memorizing fancy vocabulary words before their exams in order to sound sophisticated. While it is not recommended to use sentences like “She is happy”, it is also not advisable to write sentences like “His grandiloquent articulation of pedestrian ideas created an illusion of profundity.” It is quite obvious to the examiner when you are using big words just for the sake of it, and it strips the purpose of what you are trying to say entirely. 

Final tips 

Most people avoid their Language and Literature subjects until a couple nights before in order to favor their “harder” or more challenging subjects. However, it is not likely to fully muster IB Language and Literature in a few days; it requires practice, understanding the task requirements and grasp of the text conventions under the literary and non-literary umbrellas. Therefore, even though you do not need to spend hours dwelling on this subject, at least one practice work for each task – the compare and contrast, producing literary text and non-literary text) should be done each week. Make sure you go through the structures of varied text types, such as letters, scripts, stories, scenes, speech, etc. in order to ensure you are not startled by a random convention thrown at you during the exam. With confidence and proper understanding of the MYP criteria, you will surely succeed in securing a 7 in your Language and Literature e-Assessment!