Author: Iván Gándara
Hi there! I’m Iván Gándara, and I’m an M25 student from the SEK International Schools in Spain. Although I love biomedical science and had a strong academic focus in the biosanitary track, my favourite subject through the IBPD was Spanish A: Language and Literature HL. – I really enjoyed the process of reading and critically thinking about my own arguments and ideas, different perspectives in literature and the different applications of literary devices. I know Spanish A is not very known across the globe, and I want every pre-IB student to know this opportunity is available for their Category 1 subject, and that any current IB candidate studying Spanish A to benefit from my experiences.
Assessments at a Glance
Spanish A has three major assessments: Paper 1, Paper 2 and the Individual Oral (IA). If you are an HL student, you also get to do the HL essay which I will be covering here. This table breaks down the number of hours you have to dedicate to each assessment as well as the weight of the assessment in terms of your final grade (IBO, 2025).
| Assessment | Time (hours) | Weight of final grade (%) | ||
| SL | HL | SL | HL | |
| Paper 1: Guided textual analysis | 1.25 | 2.25 | 35 | 35 |
| Paper 2: Comparative essay | 1.75 | 1.75 | 35 | 25 |
| HL essay | Varies depending on how much time you choose to put into it | NA | 20 | |
| Individual Oral | 30 | 20 | ||
Paper 1: Guided textual analysis
When studying for Paper 1, it is crucial to take care of two key aspects: text types and language. From my personal experience, the best way to approach this section is to start by identifying the text format one is reading, as well as outlining their key features. This especially helps in criteria A (Understanding and Interpretation) and criteria B (Analysis and Evaluation). That is the reason why making a list of all the texts one encounters during all the IB preparation is a great way of studying for this paper; for instance, if you find that the exam text is an “article”, you can list its features (e.g. headline, byline, semi-formal tone, images). From the examiner’s point of view, if they see that a candidate develops their paper using the text’s features as their base, mentioning all those key and specific terms while explaining them in the context of the exam, they would be more likely to award top marks for those criteria.
On the other hand, language is the other aspect that you need to take care of. At the end of the day, Language and Literature A is the highest language level you can take within the IBDP. Hence, spelling mistakes are not tolerated in this subject. Therefore, it is really important to have a separate notebook for writing those little misspellings one is prone to during their exam preparation, so making the same error twice is avoided. Also, one must make their vocabulary more sophisticated; that is, general verbs such as “hacer” and “tener” or general words such as “este” or “cosa” should not be used. They should be changed to more specific and in-context words (e.g. “hacer un movimiento” is quite imprecise, “ejecutar un movimiento” should be used instead).
Paper 2: Comparative essay
In Paper 2, the most important aspect to consider, apart from the obvious and above-mentioned language correction, is author devices. Because of this, it is really key to have a good understanding of how the different authors use literary devices in their works, as examiners are expecting candidates to integrate them into their paper. When studying both of the literary texts you will use in the exam, it is crucial that you take notes about different devices and tools authors use to delve into a topic. For example, when I was reading Crónica de una muerte anunciada and Romancero Gitano, I tried to select a theme they had in common (e.g. death) and write down which literary devices the authors used to convey it – Maybe they both used metaphors and antithesis, but the first text also used irony to talk about death while Lorca used symbolisms in the second text. Building that list including both similarities and differences in devices regarding a particular theme will be the basis of your exam, as you will have the tools to face any question the exam presents. That way, top marks for all criteria will be assured for you!
Higher Level (HL) Essay
The most important tip one could give you for writing the HL essay is, paradoxically, not writing. When I started the process of building up the essay, the key thing I did was giving myself 2-3 weeks only to come up with the question I was going to write about. At the end of the day, the topic you choose will be the basis of the HL essay, so having a specific and interesting topic makes the majority of the work one has to do a lot easier. From that point, a lot of candidates will start writing immediately, but the best thing to do is take more time, in my case 1-2 months, for building references and ideas. Since you probably will know little about the topic you have thought of, it is important to put up a strong bibliography for when the writing phase comes, as you will then have lots of information to support your own arguments.
It is also fundamental to brainstorm your own ideas: thinking about how to develop each point of your essay, which quotes you will use to back up your ideas, establishing links and conclusions between each point, etc. And, the most important aspect when in the planning stage is having some time to think about the structure: in which order will you develop each idea, what content will you include in each section (introduction, main body and conclusion). Finally, and with all those powerful tools the writing process begins. Here, it is very recommended to write consistently in short time blocks (not trying to write the entire essay in two days), to take care of language correction and to reference in the right style (i.e. APA). It is normal to feel frustrated with your own words at this stage because you feel you are not expressing your ideas in the right way. No worries, it is perfectly normal! If you have this feeling, just give yourself a break, and come back another time when you feel more “fresh”!
Individual oral
For the Individual Oral, apart from all the tips from the previous sections, the most important aspect to take care of is the selection of texts. When you have come up with a global issue (again, similar to coming up with a research question for the HL essay, is best to have many weeks to think about it and to build a good base to work on rather than choosing the first one that comes to mind), you have to be very precise in the extracts you select. That is, when thinking about your literary text, remember that you only have 40 lines to choose from, and you have to devote around 5 minutes of your presentation to it (both the extract and the book). So, try to choose an extract that centrally revolves around your global issue (maybe even offering different perspectives about it) which provides enough content for you to feel at ease when talking about it.
Synonymously, it is important to have a good non-literary corpus. I recommend that each of the texts composing it has a different point about your global issue, so your discussions are more coherent, critical and enriching. If one does not select their texts wisely, they will feel very frustrated and overwhelmed during the IO, as they will have the feeling that they do not have enough content to cover the 10-minute monologue or that their presentation is plain and vague. Moreover, it is very important to practice (remember, practice makes perfect!) the monologue again and again, so you really feel secure about your IO. I also recommend you to record yourself, so you can then see if your time distribution, language correction and ideas development was appropriate and in which areas you need to improve. Lastly, for the 5-minute question period of your IO, just relax and try to really hear the question, because we tend to just jump into giving an answer when we haven’t understood well what the examiner is looking for. In order to give the best answer, you should completely process the question first.
Conclusion
Spanish A: Language and Literature HL can be very overwhelming as it has lots of assessment components with a high difficulty level. But nonetheless, with the right amount of work and consistency, I am sure you will be able to get the highest grades possible. The key to success is to just keep going and never give up!