Practice Articles, Op-Eds & Interviews with authentic IB English Lang & Lit (Old) exam questions for both SL and HL students. This question bank mirrors Paper 1, 2, 3 structure, covering key topics like textual analysis, language and identity, and perspectives and contexts. Get instant solutions, detailed explanations, and build exam confidence with questions in the style of IB examiners.
Paper
Level
Question 1
SL & HLPaper 1
1.[20]
How does the writer’s use of language and structure shape meaning in the text?
Question 2
SL & HLPaper 1
1.[20]
How does the author use language and structural features to emphasize a serious issue?
Question 3
SL & HLPaper 1
1.[20]
How are ideas and perspectives conveyed about AI and human interaction in this text?
Question 4
SL & HLPaper 1
1.[20]
How does the author use language and argumentation to highlight a social injustice?
Question 5
SL & HLPaper 1
1.[20]
How do the author’s choices shape the message and impact of this opinion piece?
Question 6
SL & HLPaper 1
1.[20]
How does the author use language and structural features to shape the reader’s understanding of the earthquake’s broader impact?
Question 7
SL & HLPaper 1
1.[20]
How does the writer use persuasive language and visual elements to appeal to the target audience?
Question 8
SL & HLPaper 1
The following text is an article from Reuters published on October 9th, 2024 titled: "US considers breakup of Google in landmark search case."
1.[4]
Explain how the article use loaded language and legal jargon to emphasize the gravity of the DOJ’s proposed breakup of Google
2.[4]
How does the article’s structure contribute to its persuasive tone, particularly in how it positions Google’s defense against the DOJ’s claims?
3.[4]
How does the use of numerical data in the article serve to enhance its objectivity while also supporting the DOJ’s case?
4.[4]
Analyze the article’s use of contrast between Google’s portrayal of its success and the DOJ’s characterization of its monopoly. How does this rhetorical device serve the article’s purpose?
5.[4]
How does the article’s use of metaphor and figurative language help to simplify and communicate the complexity of antitrust issues to a general audience?
6.[20]
Using your responses to the questions above, create a bullet point outline to respond to the guiding question: How does the Reuters article use language techniques and structure to convey the significance of the DOJ’s case against Google?
Question 9
SL & HLPaper 1
This op-ed was published on March 17, 2024 in the Huntington News, an independent student newspaper at the Northeastern University. The author, Lily Cooper, is a member of the Huntington News staff.
1.[4]
How does the text use hyperbole to emphasize the media circus surrounding Taylor Swift’s NFL appearances?
2.[4]
Analyze how the author employs juxtaposition to contrast Taylor Swift’s influence with the male-dominated NFL culture.
3.[4]
Explore how the text uses statistics to support its argument about the changing demographics of the NFL audience?
4.[4]
Examine how the text uses irony to critique the conspiracy theories surrounding Taylor Swift’s relationship with Travis Kelce.
5.[4]
Explain how the text uses anecdotal evidence to personalize the issue of gender and sports?
6.[20]
Using your responses to the questions above, create a bullet point outline to respond to the guiding question: How does the op-ed use rhetorical devices and language techniques to critique the reaction to Taylor Swift’s presence in the NFL?
Question 10
SL & HLPaper 1
The following is an excerpt from an interview between Anderson Cooper and Prince Harry for the release of his memoir, Spare. Explore how the interview uses tone and imagery to deliver the core message.
Anderson Cooper (00:58):
You write about a contentious meeting you had with him in 2021. You said, “I looked at Willy, really looked at him, maybe for the first time since we were boys. I took it all in: His familiar scowl, which had always been his default in dealings with me. His alarming baldness, more advanced than my own. His famous resemblance to Mummy, which was fading with time, with age.” That’s pretty cutting.
Prince Harry (01:18):
I don’t see it as cutting at all. My brother and I love each other. I love him deeply. There has been a lot of pain between the two of us, especially the last six years. None of anything that I’ve written and anything I’ve included is ever intended to hurt my family, but it does give a full picture of the situation as we were growing up, and also squashes this idea that somehow my wife was the one that destroyed the relationship between these two brothers.
Anderson Cooper (01:53):
I think so many people around the world watched you and your brother grow up, and feel like you two were inseparable. And yet in reading the book, you have lived separate lives from the time your mom died. Even when you were in the same school, in high school-
Prince Harry (02:11):
Sibling rivalry.
Anderson Cooper (02:12):
… your brother told you, “Pretend we don’t know each other.”
Prince Harry (02:15):
Yeah. And at the time, it hurt. I couldn’t make sense of it. I was like, “What do you mean? We’re now at the same school. I haven’t seen you for ages. Now we get to hang out together.” He’s like, “No, no, no. When we’re at school, we don’t know each other.” And I took that personally. But yes, you’re absolutely right. You hit the nail on the head. We had a very similar traumatic experience, and then we dealt with it two very different ways.
Anderson Cooper (02:37):
William tried to talk to you occasionally about your mom, but as a child you couldn’t respond.
Prince Harry (02:44):
For me, it was never a case of, “I don’t want to talk about it with you.” I just don’t know how to talk about it.
Anderson Cooper (02:50):
How to talk about it.
Prince Harry (02:51):
I never, ever thought that maybe talking about it with my brother or with anybody else at that point would be therapeutic.
Anderson Cooper (02:59):
In August, 1997, Harry and William were vacationing in Scotland with their father. Harry was 12, William 15. They were asleep at Balmoral Castle on August 31, when Harry was awakened by his father, who told him his mother had been in a car crash in Paris. In the book you write, he says, “They tried, darling boy. I’m afraid she didn’t make it.” “These phrases remained in my mind like darts on a board,” you say. Did you cry?
Prince Harry (03:30):
No. No. Never shed a single tear, at that point. I was in shock. You’re 12 years old, sort of 7:00, 7:30 in the morning, early. Your father comes in, sits on your bed, puts his hand on your knee, and tells you there’s been an accident. I couldn’t believe.
Anderson Cooper (03:49):
And you write in the book that, “Pa didn’t hug me. He wasn’t great at showing emotions under normal circumstances, but his hand did fall once more on my knee, and he said, ‘It’s going to be okay.'” But after that, nothing was okay for a long time.
Prince Harry (04:02):
No, nothing was okay.
Anderson Cooper (04:04):
Harry says his memories of the next few days are fragmented, but he does remember this: Greeting mourners outside Kensington Palace in London the day before his mother’s funeral.
(04:15)
When you see those videos now, what do you think?
Prince Harry (04:18):
I think it’s bizarre, because I see William and me smiling. I remember the guilt that I felt.
Anderson Cooper (04:27):
Guilt about-
Prince Harry (04:28):
The fact that the people that we were meeting were showing more emotion than we were showing. Maybe more emotion than we even felt.
Anderson Cooper (04:38):
They were crying, but you weren’t.
Prince Harry (04:40):
There was a lot of tears, and I talk about how wet people’s hands were, and I couldn’t understand it at first.
Anderson Cooper (04:44):
Their hands were wet from crying.
Prince Harry (04:44):
Their hands were wet from wiping their own tears away.
(04:48)
I do remember one of the strangest parts to it was taking flowers from people, and then placing those flowers with the rest of them, as if I was some sort of middle person for their grief, and that really stood out for me.
Anderson Cooper (05:04):
The funeral, on a cool September morning, was watched by as many as two and a half billion people around the world. Perhaps the most indelible image, Prince Harry and his brother walking behind their mother’s casket on its way to Westminster Abbey.
(05:19)
What do you remember about that walk?
Prince Harry (05:21):
How quiet it was. I remember the occasional wail and screaming of someone. I remember the horse hooves on the road, the bridles of the horses, the gun carriage, the wheels, the occasional gravel stone underneath your shoe, but mainly the silence.
1.[4]
How does repetition in Prince Harry's speech about his brother emphasize the emotional distance between them?
2.[4]
How does the interview use sensory imagery to evoke the emotional weight of Princess Diana’s funeral?
3.[4]
How does the interviewer, Anderson Cooper, use open-ended questions to encourage Prince Harry to reflect on his emotional experiences?
4.[4]
How does Prince Harry use metaphor when discussing his role at the funeral to convey his internal conflict?
5.[4]
How does Prince Harry’s tone shift throughout the interview, and how does this contribute to the overall emotional impact?
6.[20]
Using your responses to the questions above, create a bullet point outline to respond to the guiding question: How does Prince Harry use language and rhetorical devices to communicate his personal struggles in the interview?