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IB Chinese A: Literature Past Papers & Drilling (Paper 1): Guided Analysis with Two Unseen Texts
TUTORZONE ORIGINAL DRILLING MOCK · IB CHINESE A: LITERATURE PAPER 1
Written to the IB Language A: Literature (first assessment 2026) format: Paper 1 is a guided literary analysis – two unseen texts of different forms, each with a guiding question, where SL writes one analysis (1 h 15 min, 20 marks) and HL writes one on each text (2 h 15 min, 40 marks), 35% of the course. Two original unseen texts (a prose passage and a modern poem) with guiding questions and model answers are given here.
What is in IB Chinese A: Literature Paper 1?
Direct answer: Paper 1 is a guided literary analysis: two unseen texts of different literary forms, each with a guiding question. SL writes one analysis (1 h 15 min, 20 marks) and HL writes one on each text (2 h 15 min, 40 marks); both are 35% of the course, closed book (first assessment 2026).
Assessment at a glance (2027)
| Component | Content | Weighting | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paper 1: guided literary analysis | Two unseen literary texts of different forms, each with a guiding question; SL writes one analysis, HL writes one on each text | SL 35% / HL 35% | SL 1 h 15 min; HL 2 h 15 min |
| Paper 2: comparative essay | One of four questions; compare and contrast two literary works in content and form; closed book, no quotations expected | SL 35% / HL 25% | 1 h 45 min |
| Individual oral (internal) | 15 min, 40 marks: one work written in the language studied and one in translation, linked to a shared global issue | SL 30% / HL 20% | 15 min |
| HL essay (HL only) | A 1,200-1,500 word essay exploring one line of inquiry into a work or a body of work | HL 20% | coursework |
SL: one analysis, 20 marks, in 1 h 15 min. HL: two analyses in 2 h 15 min, about 60 minutes each – take the text you are surer of first.
How this paper was built
This is a TutorZone original drilling mock: both unseen texts, the guiding questions and the model answers were written by our team – not IB past papers, marking references or published works.
The design follows IB Language A: Literature (first assessment 2026) Paper 1: two unseen texts of different literary forms, each with a guiding question; SL answers one, HL answers both.
Pacing
| Section | Marks | Suggested time | What to do first |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paper 1: guided literary analysis | SL 35% / HL 35% | SL: 5 min choosing and unpacking the question, 60 writing, 10 checking; HL: about 60 min per analysis, take the surer text first | name the authorial choice (perspective, structure, imagery, language, sound) and the effect it creates |
| Paper 2: comparative essay | SL 35% / HL 25% | 15 min planning the comparative line, 75 writing, 15 checking | the comparison must be explicit (criterion B2); two separate mini-essays score badly |
| Individual oral (internal) | SL 30% / HL 20% | work the original-language work in detail first, then bridge to the translated work; prepare keywords, not a script | show how the global issue is presented through specific textual detail, not generalities |
| HL essay (HL only) | HL 20% | narrow the line of inquiry to one page first, then build three levels of analysis | keep the inquiry focused; an essay that introduces the work scores poorly |
What counts as analysis rather than retelling?
Direct answer: every claim names a specific authorial choice (perspective, structure, imagery, language, sound) and what it does to the reader, supported by textual detail. “It is very moving” is not analysis.
Paper 1 mock: two unseen texts (prose + poem) with guiding questions
Each analysis is worth 20 marks; SL writes one, HL writes one on each text. Both texts were written for this paper – they are not published works or IB material.
Text 1 (prose) (20 marks)
Text 1 (written for this paper, not from any published work):
“Before every typhoon, at dusk, my father would close the windows one by one. The roller shutter sounded like someone knocking downstairs, knocking for a long time with nobody answering. We lived then on the eleventh floor of an old building, where the corridor light was always one panel short. My mother stood a candle in the mouth of a soy-sauce bottle, and by that light the damp stains on the wall looked like a map. I looked for many places on that map and always came back to the same street: after daybreak my father pulled the shutter up again, half the flood water had gone, soaked newspapers stuck to the lamp post, the print smeared into a single mass, and only the character for rain still stood upright.”
Guiding question: analyse how this passage uses narrative perspective, the arrangement of time and imagery to convey a complex feeling about the life it remembers.
Text 2 (poem) (20 marks)
Text 2 (written for this paper):
“Night School
The bell at the end of the last lesson
is thinner than the textbook.
She puts her pencil case away,
as if putting away a whole year of rain.
At the far end of the corridor someone calls her name,
she does not turn round—
the lamp at the stairhead
throws her shadow onto the wall,
and that shadow, before she does,
walks into tomorrow.”
Guiding question: analyse how this poem uses imagery, sound and the turn at the end to write a moment of leaving and moving on.
Should I read the guiding question first or the text first?
Direct answer: read the guiding question first so it sets your angle, then read the text and mark three to five usable details. Each paragraph should contain one technique, its effect and the detail that shows it.
Model answers and marking points (guided literary analysis)
Question 1
Model answer points (20 marks): (1) Perspective: the child’s eye does the looking, but the closing generalisation (“always came back to the same street”) is an adult looking back, so two time-layers speak at once and intimacy sits beside distance. (2) Time: the typhoon frame (before it comes – after daybreak) encloses a whole childhood through the insertion “we lived then…”, compressing years into one night; the same storm every year makes repetition itself the shape of memory. (3) Imagery in layers: the shutter like an unanswered knock puts the family outside the door; candlelight turning damp into a map is imaginative escape; the smeared newspaper that keeps only the character for rain “standing upright” shows the mind keeping not the prettiest thing but the most stubborn. (4) Language: short clauses, coordination, concrete verbs; the personified last clause is where the feeling lands. Criterion B wants technique and effect paired: retelling, or naming techniques without effects, earns no analysis marks.
Question 2
Model answer points (20 marks): (1) Imagery: the bell being “thinner than the textbook” displaces touch to write the lightness of finishing; “a whole year of rain” makes the pencil case a soaked year of living, so putting it away is putting a year away. (2) Sound: short lines and the break at “she does not turn round—” hold the pause; the line-break in “her shadow / before she does” delays the verb and stages arrival-before-arrival. (3) The turn: the first half closes things (the lesson ends, belongings are packed), the second half moves forward; her name is called and she does not turn, so the leaving is hers. (4) The ending: the shadow entering tomorrow first stretches time, and the lamp that makes the shadow keeps light and darkness in one place, so the wish to go and the reluctance stay side by side. Poetry answers must handle form (line breaks, pauses, sound); paraphrasing the poem into prose loses criterion B marks.
What are the two unseen texts in this mock?
Direct answer: an original prose passage (family, an old building and a changing city) and an original modern poem (leaving school and moving on), each with a guiding question and model answer. Both were written by TutorZone, not published works or IB material.
Where these marks are usually lost
| Mistake | What it looks like | What it costs | Instead |
|---|---|---|---|
| Retelling instead of analysing | Two-thirds of the response summarises the text, with one closing line about how moving it is | Almost all of criterion B is lost and criterion A stays literal | Every paragraph carries at least one technique-effect-detail set |
| Quotation with no work done | A line is quoted, but nothing is said about how it is written or what it does | The quotation decorates rather than analyses | Follow every quotation with what the choice makes the reader do |
| Ignoring the guiding question | Writing a personal response instead of answering the question | Criterion C (focus) falls away; good writing still scores low | Copy the key words of the guiding question and answer them paragraph by paragraph |
| Losing the clock | SL spends 90 minutes on one analysis; HL over-writes the first and has 30 minutes for the second | The gap between the two responses widens and the total drops | About 60 minutes each; start with the text you are surer of |
How to use this paper
First sit: read the guiding question before the text, mark three to five usable details, and finish one analysis in 60 minutes (SL).
Mark it: check every paragraph for an explicit technique-and-effect pairing, and cut sentences that only retell.
Second sit: three to seven days later do the other text; HL must write both, and compare how the time went.
What should I do after this paper?
Direct answer: log every paragraph that retold instead of analysing; three to seven days later do the other text (HL must do both); then drill the Paper 2 comparative essay (1 h 45 min, 25 marks).
FAQ
Is this an IB past paper?
No. Both texts, the guiding questions and the model answers were written by TutorZone; nothing is taken from an IB past paper, a marking reference or a published work.
How many analyses are written in Paper 1?
SL chooses one of the two unseen texts and writes one guided analysis (1 h 15 min, 20 marks); HL writes one analysis on each text (2 h 15 min, 40 marks).
Will the unseen texts be classical Chinese?
The official paper draws its unseen texts from different literary forms; prose and poetry are both common. This paper uses an original prose passage and an original modern poem; add classical texts from your own syllabus for further practice.
Official references
| Resource | What to check |
|---|---|
| IB Studies in Language and Literature course page | Confirm the Paper 1 / Paper 2 structure and weightings |
| IB English A: Language and Literature Paper 1 mock (same subject group, in English) | The English-language version of the same course’s Paper 1 |
| practice area | Original mock papers and drilling guides across subjects |
Related: IB Chinese A: Literature Paper 2 mock · IB Chinese A: Language and Literature Paper 1 mock · IB English A: Language and Literature Paper 1 mock · practice area
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