English A Lit Exemplars

About English A Lit Coursework Exemplars

The Coursework Exemplars section gives IB students (both SL and HL) access to real, high-quality samples of IB English A Lit Internal Assessments (IA) and Extended Essays (EE). Each exemplar is carefully selected to model top-scoring work, aligned with IB assessment rubrics and showcasing what examiners expect at different achievement levels.

On this page, you'll find full-length exemplars annotated with examiner commentary, highlighting strengths, weaknesses, and specific rubric-based insights. These samples demonstrate how ideas are structured, arguments developed, and criteria met to achieve high marks.

Every exemplar is enriched with Jojo AI

About English A Lit Coursework Exemplars

how societal expectations confound those who are reconciling with grief

How does Joy Harjo use epigraphs, anecdotes, and poetry, to convey the transformation of her identity in the late 20th century memoir, Crazy Brave?

How and to what effect does Rooney use literary devices to explore differing responses to trauma?

To what extent did George Orwell use language as a tool of manipulation and control in Animal Farm and 1984?

In what ways does Jame Austen use language and characterization in pride and prejudice to show the hierarchy of women in the regency era?

To what extent do Arundhati Roy and Gabriel García Márquez portray a family's past as influential in creating generational patterns in The God of Small Things and One Hundred Years of Solitude?

How do war poets across different historical periods use imagery, symbolism, and tone to shape evolving perceptions of war, from glorification to disillusionment?

To what extent does the “Halo Effect” influence jury decision-making in criminal law cases in the United States?

The impact of immigration on how one presents themself to the surrounding environment.

To what extent does the portrayal of female characters in Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles contribute to the reader’s understanding of Greek patriarchal society?

How does Nabokov’s use of Humbert Humbert’s role as an unreliable narrator and his visual imagery depicting Dolores Haze impact the reader's view of his character in Lolita?

How do Ninh and O'Brien explore the impacts of trauma in The Sorrow of War and The Things They Carried?

How does Baldwin use Tish's narration to demonstrate the first-person perspective of injustice and racism in America?

How is symbolism used to reflect the developing autonomy of Jo March in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women and Taeko Makioka in Junichiro Tanizaki’s The Makioka Sisters?

How does Artie Speigelman utilise juxtaposition non-linear narrative and characterisation to portray the lasting effects on the survivors of the Holocaust and their families?

How and to what effect are the motifs of vulnerability, torment, and violence within an individual portrayed through the poetry of Sylvia Plath?

How does Toni Morrison's “Beloved” explore the profound impacts of slavery on the identity of African Americans through her characters?

How does Alice Walker use the presented identities and societal roles of Black female characters in The Color Purple to symbolize the development of this demographic in the novel’s publishing period?

How the systematic oppression of ethnic minorities influences their psychological condition, particularly perseverance and hope?

How Does Jane Austen Use Unconventional Relationships to Express Her Attitude Towards Love and Marriage and to Criticize the Role of Women in Pride and Prejudice?

In Beloved, how does Toni Morrison use literary devices to portray the impact of slavery on the construction and deconstruction of Sethe’s feminine identity?

How do Kendrick Lamar and Nazrul Islam explore the theme of liberation through their respective lyricism and poetry?

How Does Karunatilaka Use Postmodern Elements in "The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida" To Create a Historical Narrative of the Sri Lankan Civil War?

To what extent is the idealization of motherhood deconstructed in the books Beloved by Toni Morrison and Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami, based on its contradictions and unattainable stereotypical image?

How does Amiri Baraka employ symbolism as a vehicle to challenge perceptions of Black identity in Dutchman (1964)?

How does language reveal the social masks of the protagonists in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Luigi Pirandello’s The Late Mattia Pascal?

How, and to what effect, do Tennesee Williams and Federico Garcia Lorca convey ideas about the oppression of women in A Streetcar Named Desire and The House of Bernarda Alba, respectively?

“HowdothelyricsofKendrickLamar'salbumToPimpaButterflydepicthisjourneytowardsself-love”

Comparing and Contrasting the Methods of Exploration of Censored Themes in Contemporary Literature through the Analysis of A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini and 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak

How does Pink Floyd's The Wall explore themes of alienation, personal trauma, and societal disillusionment?

How is narrative voice used to portray the theme of infatuation in The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides?

How does Kazuo Ishiguro use narrative techniques in Never Let Me Go explore the evolution of identity and self-discovery?

How does Manjula Padmanabhan use the Prakash family in the play "Harvest" to highlight the key concept of identity and the role society has on shaping individuals?

How do Donna Tartt and Holly Jackson portray the psychological effects of guilt on their protagonists in The Secret History and As Good as Dead?

How does Sally Rooney’s novel “Normal People” explore the complexities of modern romantic relationships through narrative form?

How does Madeline Miller use syntax and diction to characterize Achilles and Patroclus through the evolving dependency in their relationship in The Song of Achilles?

In what ways do Taylor Swift’s political involvement and inclinations influence the themes, messages, and social commentary in her album Lover?

Duties or Desires: Alcott’s Discussion on Women’s Struggle in Civil War Era Society

How does the male gaze affect the way the Lisbon sisters are viewed in Jeffrey Eugenides’ The Virgin Suicides?

To what extent are the similar‬‭ correlations of diction between the romance‬ ‭ literature era and the 21st-century romance literature?

How war and political instability reshape personal identity

How do the perceptions of gender play a role in justice?

How traditional societal expectations regarding marriage negatively affect an individual's autonomy and well-being.

How and to what effect does Carol Ann Duffy employ sensory imagery in her poems Standing Female Nude and A Healthy Meal to critique authority and power structures?

How does Peter Shaffer explore the destructive ramifications of faith, ambition, and the quest for legacy in Amadeus?

How is the theme of manipulation explored through Ibsen's portrayal of Judge Brack?

How does Haruki Murakami use the foil character of Nagasawa in his 1987 coming-of-age novel Norwegian Wood to highlight societal pressures, moral decay, and existential struggles of postwar Japanese adolescents during the 1960s?

How does Sylvia Plath, through the characterisation of Esther Greenwood in The Bell Jar,explore the protagonist's internal conflict as she grapples with the restrictive societal pressures of 1950s America in her search for identity, ultimately contributing to her mental breakdown?