How to do well in IB English HL?

Question

I struggle with English literature a lot, I wonder how do I improve?

Answer 1

Hi Julie,

I think a lot of people struggle with literature because no teacher ever suggests that they ask the simple question: "Why did the author bother to write this thing? Why didn't they write recipes instead, or become a doctor or something?" The answer is almost certainly some version of the same thing: they wanted to represent a certain kind of experience to you so that you could share in and empathize with it.

Historians, philosophers, political commentators and many others write non-fiction to persuade you that this or that is true. Novels, plays, and poetry are much more about helping you think through what it is like to be, say, a smart bored woman in eighteenth-century England (read Jane Austen!) or a young prince filled with anger, doubt and a sense of powerlessness (read Hamlet!) or part of a desperately poor family in the American Dust Bowl (read Grapes of Wrath!) Literature courses are (or should be) about helping you see exactly how the author went about trying to pull off that bit of magic. Hence questions like: Why do we care about this character? What bits of oddness in the language make them come alive to us? Where's the tension that keeps us reading? (And a thousand others.)

My advice: think of authors as your friends. They want to share something strange and new with you: they are offering you a gift that they have labored over. Sometimes it's hard to get the wrapping off - especially when the wrapping is hundreds of years old! But sometimes (not always) the gift inside is so beautiful that it'll leave you grinning for weeks.

Keep reading. Don't feel guilty about not enjoying or not getting a lot of it. Sometimes a single phrase in a book that makes you go "Wow, cool, I'd never have thought to put it that way" can be worth a whole day's reading.

All the best - Richard

Answer 2

I took IB HL English, and I did really well. Here are my best tips to the best you can:

1. Always be reading. If you are ahead for the homework, reread the chapter(s) if possible. The more you read something, the clearer it becomes. You can also pick up on more information and subtext than you initially did the first time through.
2. Be prepared for in class discussions. The books and other readings you do will be apart of the exam. The more knowledge and information you have the better. Also take notes in these discussions, while you won't be able to use them in the exam, they make for great study materials.
3. Annotate or take notes as much as possible. I bought my books, which allowed me to write all over them. I initially did not like doing that because I love books too much, but it helps a lot to be able to reference the text and your thoughts at the same time. You can also annotate with sticky notes. I did that when I borrowed books from the library. I then turned those annotations into detailed notes, which helped with papers and exams.
4. Always keep track of quotes that even remotely appear to be important. This will save you time when having to find quotes, and will help you with paraphrasing for the IB exam, since the books are not allowed in for the exam.
5. Have confidence. There is no wrong answer when it comes to an analysis, as long as you can defend it. Your point of view might be something that no one ever thought of before, and that's great! You have to be able to defend it with quotes and context.

Answer 3

Active reading is the key to some of the most challenging texts. English (British) writers tend to have a wordier writing style. In other words, they may take a simple, one sentence concept and stretch it into several pages of description. I would say for this style to pause and reflect on what you have just read. Make notes in a notebook or annotate if you are able to. Vocabulary would also be something to write down.

Other elements I would make note of would include:

1. Quotes
2. Plot/Theme/Setting details
3. Character details
4. Questions you may still have after reading

For many texts, there are often also reading questions posted online that you can use to help guide your reading if you feel truly lost. The more you read works written in this style, the easier it does become. I remember when I first started reading Shakespeare, for example, it was difficult. After reading several of his plays over the years, it did become much easier.

Keep working at it! :)