Paper 1 Nature of the exam, aims and objectives

Paper 1: Productive skills—writing

Aims and objectives

The aim of paper 1 is to assess the ability to communicate in writing for a variety of purposes.

Nature of the exam

This assessment component consists of two written tasks (Task A and Task B)

It is based on the five themes.

It is externally set and externally assessed.

The length of Task A and Task B is 70-150 words, in response to one of the three options provided for each task.

Each task addresses a variety of audiences, contexts and purposes.

Students can choose between three options, each based on a different theme from the syllabus.

One of the two tasks will require the production of a personal text.

The other task will require the production of a professional or mass media text.

Assessment criteria

You can find the assessment criteria for Paper 1 in the Language ab-initio Guide, First assessment 2020, IB Publishing Ltd, The Hague, February 2018.