The Language B HL/SL/ab initio Assessment is made up of four parts:
The Individual Oral (25% of the assessment score)
Paper 1 of the written exam - the writing portion (25% of the assessment score)
Paper 2 (part 1) of the written exam - the reading portion (25% of the assessment score)
Paper 2 (part 2) of the written exam - the listening portion (25% of the assessment score)
The Individual Oral
The IO is slightly different for each different level of language (HL, SL, and ab initio SL). The documents linked below help you know what to expect of the IO. The first document is one that I (Phelps) wrote to help you understand how the IO is carried out. The second document is another that I (Phelps) created and formatted, but ultimately just copy-pasted from the IB Guide, since it is the official rubric.
HL Individual Oral Assessment Details and Timeline HL Rubric
SL Individual Oral Assessment Details and Timeline SL Rubric
ab initio SL Individual Oral Assessment Details and Timeline ab initio SL Rubric
But in essence, the IO is similar at all three levels. You start out with some time (15ish minutes, varies per level) to prepare a presentation based on a stimulus you're given. You then give a short presentation about the stimulus. After that the teacher will ask you questions about your presentation for a little while. Finally, you'll talk to the teacher about one of the themes in the class for the last chunk of time. It might seen scary, but most students find it to be borderline fun (as far as assessments go, anyway).
The five "themes" that you should have learned about in class are:
Identities
Experiences
Human Ingenuity
Social Organization
Sharing the Planet
Paper 1 - The Writing Exam
SL and HL students are given THREE writing prompts each with THREE text types. You pick ONE of those prompts, then pick the best text type to respond to that prompt and write SL (250-400 words) or HL (450-600 words).
French HL Sample Spanish HL Sample
French SL Sample Spanish SL Sample Italian SL Sample
ab initio SL students write TWO short responses (70-150 words each). For each of these, you're given THREE writing prompts and each of them has THREE text types. You'll pick ONE of the prompts, pick the best text type to respond to that prompt. The sample papers below will help you see what this looks like in practice:
French ab initio Sample Spanish ab initio Sample Italian ab initio Sample
For this paper, it's valauble for you to know what the Text Types are that can be asked about. Here are links to the possible text types in the three languages we offer:
French Text Type Options Spanish Text Type Options Italian Text Type Options
Paper 2 (part 1) The Reading Exam
SL and HL students are given a TEXT BOOKLET with sample texts. The questions in the question book are all about what students have READ in the text booklet. Questions are matching or multiple choice or short answer.
French HL Sample Text Booklet Sample Question Booklet
French SL Sample Sample Text Booklet Sample Question Booklet
French ab initio Sample Text Booklet Sample Question Booklet
Spanish HL Sample Text Booklet Sample Question Booklet
Spanish SL Sample Text Booklet Sample Question Booklet
Spanish ab initio Sample Text Booklet Sample Question Booklet
[I haven't been able to find samples of the reading comprehension exams for Italian. I'm still working on it! -phelps ]
Italian SL Sample Sample Text Booklet Sample Question Booklet
Italian ab initio Sample Text Booklet Sample Question Booklet
Paper 2 (part 2) The Listening Exam
SL and HL students listen to three separate audio texts. Each text will be played twice with think time in between them.
There is a question book with questions about what you hear in the audio excerpts.
French HL Sample (Audio File) Spanish HL Sample (Audio File)
French SL Sample (Audio File) Spanish SL Sample (Audio File) Italian SL Sample (Audio File)
French ab initio Sample (Audio File) Spanish ab initio Sample (Audio File) Italian ab initio Sample (Audio File)