IB Chinese A: Language and Literature Paper 2 Drill Guide: Unpacking, Thesis and Interleaving

Thesis first, then the comparison

Paper 2 tests whether you can hold two works under one thesis, not whether you can introduce two books in turn. Begin by unpacking the question: restate its key concept in your own words, then ask how each work handles it. Fix a thesis next, one sentence saying that the two works treat the idea differently yet arrive at a shared conclusion. Choose evidence last, two or three moments per work, few and exact. Interleave the comparison rather than finishing one work before starting the other, since a separated structure reads as two summaries and the examiner sees no comparison at all.

1 h 45 min, 25 marks: 15 minutes planning (comparative line plus three points), 75 writing, 15 checking; criteria A, B1, B2, C and D are worth 5 marks each.

Subject-specific weighting for this timetable: Weeks 1-3: unpacking only, one past question a day, three minutes to restate the key concept and list how each work handles it. Weeks 4-6: thesis sentences, three different positions on the same question, then a judgement on which one evidence can carry. Weeks 7-9: full essays under time with interleaving enforced, every paragraph touching both works, checked afterwards for sections that finish one work first. Weeks 10-12: unseen questions marked against the descriptors, rewriting paragraphs where thesis and evidence part company.

Three columns: the question and the works involved, noting whether it asked for conceptual comparison, analysis of technique or evaluation; whether the loss came from a misread question, a hollow thesis, parallel description instead of comparison, or evidence detached from the claim; the repair, naming the thesis sentence to rewrite or the paragraph to convert from description into comparison. Three losses of one kind takes the next week on that stage.

The question style and descriptors have been stable, but set works and requirements are updated with course revisions and public papers are limited, so practice should follow the current set works and descriptors, with older questions used for unpacking and structure only.

Is this page a mock paper or a drilling guide?
This is the IB Chinese A: Language and Literature Paper 2 drilling guide: assessment structure, drill order, a 12-week timetable, pacing, common mark losses and the error-log method. For questions with answers, use the IB Chinese A: Language and Literature Paper 2 mock papers linked under Related.

By topic or by year first?
By topic. Eight to ten years of the same topic back to back is what exposes repeating errors; going straight to whole papers just repeats the same batch under time pressure.

How should the error log be written?
Do not copy out questions. Per error record four things: question reference, which step failed (concept, wording, calculation), what the mark scheme requires, and the correct action next time.

How should time be split between the two works?
By paragraph, not by work. Handling both in every paragraph evens the time out, whereas finishing one first usually leaves the second with a few rushed lines. Write the thesis and paragraph order before starting, then move paragraph by paragraph.

How accurately must quotations be memorised?
Key words and images need to be exact; longer lines can be partly quoted as long as the sense is unchanged. Five or six short, forceful quotations per work, each with a known function in an argument, beat long passages learned by heart and never used.

Related: IB Chinese A: Language and Literature Paper 1 mock · IB Chinese A: Literature Paper 2 mock · IB Chinese B Paper 1 and Paper 2 reading mock · practice area