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A Happy New Year to all followers of this English B website! In professional terms, a significant event of 2020 will be the first assessment under the new system specified by the 2018 Subject Guide. Over the last few months, I have been working quite hard studying the new assessment procedures, in two particular ways - in September, I attended a meeting of Senior Examiners at IB Cardiff, which was tasked with exploring how the new marking criteria are to be applied; and for this website, I have been producing a whole range of new pages to cover the innovations in Paper 1 Writing, paper 2 Listening Comprehension, and the Oral Interview. In more detail…

It is evident that the new assessment system is simpler and clearer than the old, out-gone system. When the old system was first applied in 2013, there were a number of unfamiliar elements which posed questions – remember the Written Assignment, for instance, or the Section B personal response? Those were interesting and quite imaginative ideas, but expectations were rather undefined, and this caused insecurity. The new system for 2020 is, perhaps, less imaginative, but it is clearer – it is ‘minimalist’: it assesses all significant areas of language, in the most economical ways.

So, here are observations and practical tips based on my studies of recent months:

Paper 1 writing – The marking criteria work pretty well in my opinion, based on experience in Cardiff, and on marking samples for the website. Criterion A & Criterion B are close derivations from the old criteria, and are easy enough to apply. Criterion C: Conceptual understanding is slightly different to the old Criterion C, but the mark will largely be defined by whether the students can choose the appropriate optional text type. Advise students that the ‘right choice’ is largely common sense – i.e. which text type will communicate best with the specified audience. (See page  Writing samples, marked , and the subordinate pages with marked samples.)

Paper 2 comprehension, especially listening – This is the only genuinely new element, and so will cause some nerves, both for the teachers administering the exam, and for the students handling the questions on the day. For teachers, consult the page  Listening questions  which also gives instructions of how to find the important IB document ‘Language acquisition listening comprehension examinations user guide’. For the students, advise them that the questions follow the sequence of the text (basically), and so they should just follow step by step as the recording plays. You can also give them practice just before the exam by using the range of sample exercises subordinate to the Listening questions page mentioned above. Note also that I have published a second full scale listening exam for HL (see page  Listening exam #2  ).

The Oral Interview – This is not much different from the former oral procedure. In essence, advise the students to think carefully about the stimulus (whether the HL extract or the SL image), and then prepare notes to form an organized presentation. After giving the presentation, they then simply have to respond to your questions and carry on a conversation as normal. Having said all that, there are indeed new elements to emphasise:

**At HL , the key phrase in Criterion B1 relating to the presentation is “make use” – which means that students should refer to and/or quote from the extract to support whatever argument(s) they decide to present (see page HL Crit.B1 'make use' )

**At SL, the key phrase is “draws on” -which means students should point out and interpret details of the image to support whatever argument(s) they choose to present (see page SL Crit.B1 'draw on'). In addition, it is vital that they mention links between the image and the target anglophone culture. Both the above points mean that the images you select have to (a) be sufficiently complex to provide details which need explaining / interpreting; and (b) be able to be linked to some aspect of class discussions about the target culture.

I hope that I have conveyed that the new assessment system is not particularly intimidating, especially if you give the kind of advice that I have suggested. Anyway, I wish you not just a happy new year, but also a Happy May Exams!