A few weeks ago, we alerted you to the upcoming changes to Paper 2 marking criteria. Please see this post.

There are a few things that we would like to restate, and we have a few additional points to make.

Perhaps the first thing to say is that the Paper 2 task will be essentially unchanged. In the examination, the number of questions will remain the same, and they will continue to be of a general literary nature. The text types – literary works – will not change either. Criteria C and D in the marking criteria will be entirely unchanged. The only changes will relate to criteria A and B (see below), although the skills being assessed will be the same.

As highlighted in our previous post, the changes are going to involve, for teachers, some overlap. The change to revised marking criteria is effective for first (i.e., May) exams in 2026. If you have a class of students beginning their IB Diploma now (in August/September 2024), they will be assessed using the revised criteria. If you a have a class of students one year into their studies, taking their exams next year (i.e., in 2025), they will be assessed using the original marking criteria. This will mean that two subject guides will be published on the Programme Resource Centre (PRC) until December 2025. Once two guides are apparent on the PRC, please ensure you use the correct guide for the cohort of students you are teaching.

Potentially, the changes taking place will cause a little apprehension – one more thing to keep your eye on. However, while we can only speculate about exactly why the IB have made changes to the Paper 2 assessment criteria, they reflect preliminary IB research with a range of stakeholders including teachers and examiners. At InThinking, we think the IB’s decision to change the marking criteria is a very good one. You may, of course, agree or disagree. In our view, the original marking criteria make it challenging for essays to achieve really high marks, and can be somewhat difficult to understand and work with. The changes leave the task unchanged, but seem to make it more likely that excellent essays will achieve top marks, while the criteria seem more straightforward and transparent.

In our previous blog post we underlined the fundamental change that will take place, in which criterion A will assess knowledge, understanding, and interpretation (5 marks), while criterion B will assess both analysis and evaluation of textual features and/or broader authorial choice (5 marks) and comparative analysis of textual features and/or broader authorial choices (5 marks). Thus, comparative analysis (the analysis of similarities and/or differences) is only relevant to criterion B in the revised marking criteria. The double insertion of and/or seems to be important, quite rightly permitting some organic variability in responses depending on the works being considered.

For copyright reasons we cannot reproduce the exact marking criteria, nor hint at more detail in advance of any IB publication. For the detail, you should wait for publication on the PRC. However, experienced teachers can probably infer that Paper 2 is in the process of shifting to an exam marked out of 25 rather than 30 marks. This is the case, although the overall weighting will remain the same.

Hopefully, for now, this is adequate clarification of upcoming changes to Paper 2 marking criteria. If you have questions, please ask. We always aim to respond quickly.

David and Tim