Plan an argument, not a catalogue

A point is an interpretive claim developed through evidence and analysis. Naming a technique isn't enough. “The writer uses repetition” identifies a choice without explaining what it contributes to the passage.

First, establish the literal situation: who speaks, what happens, and what changes. Ask what the passage suggests beyond those facts. Connect that interpretation to specific choices of language, form or structure in your plan.

The guiding question gives you a technical or formal focus. If it asks how setting conveys a character’s unease, use your paragraphs to explain different aspects or stages of that relationship. Don't treat setting, character and unease as unrelated topics. The guide permits an alternative technical or formal focus, but your response must still have a clear centre.

Build a point from evidence

The sequence in the figure helps you turn an observation into an argument: Claim → Evidence → Technique → Effect → Link to meaning. Use it as a planning scaffold, not a compulsory sentence order. Several moves can fit into one sentence.

• Claim: state specifically what the passage conveys.
• Evidence: choose a short quotation or precise textual reference that supports your assertion.
• Technique: identify the relevant choice accurately; don't reach for an impressive label.
• Effect: explain what the choice makes noticeable, how it changes the pace, or what it encourages the reader to infer.
• Link to meaning: explain why that effect matters to your interpretation and chosen focus.

Evidence needs to do more than illustrate a topic. A closed door may establish that the setting is enclosed. Where the writer places that detail, how they describe it or how often it recurs may explain how enclosure becomes threatening. Analyse what the writer does with it.

A point in practice

Invented practice passage: a prose-fiction extract follows a daughter waiting outside her father’s study. The early sentences describe the corridor at length. Sentences shorten as footsteps approach, and the final sentence leaves her intended explanation unspoken.

Invented guiding question: How does the writer use pacing to convey the daughter’s apprehension?

You could plan a point like this:

Claim: As the father approaches, prolonged anticipation turns into immediate pressure. Evidence: The extended corridor description gives way to short sentences recording approaching footsteps. Technique and effect: The contraction in sentence length accelerates the narration, narrowing attention from the surroundings to the anticipated encounter. Link to meaning: Her final silence gives that acceleration its significance: the meeting she has been preparing for appears to overwhelm her ability to speak.

This analysis goes beyond saying that short sentences create tension. It locates the change and explains the contrast, connecting pacing to the daughter’s loss of control. To evaluate a choice, explain its significance rather than praise it as “effective”.

Arrange paragraphs so the interpretation develops

Order your points so that the relationship between them becomes clear. You might follow a passage’s movement from reassurance to uncertainty, or begin with an apparently confident voice before examining details that undermine its authority. Textual order works well when the sequence itself matters. It shouldn't become a line-by-line retelling.

For the invented passage, the argument could move from prolonged waiting through accelerated approach to unresolved silence. Each paragraph would develop the same interpretation by explaining a different stage. Those planning headings are more useful than “imagery”, “syntax” and “ending”: they already express an argument.

Build the introduction around your central interpretation and focus. In the conclusion, draw together what the passage’s development reveals instead of listing the techniques again. The guide specifies no compulsory paragraph count. Let the passage and your argument determine the structure.

What the criteria require of a plan

Before drafting, put each paragraph’s claim beside its evidence. Revise one of them if the evidence doesn't support the claim. If two claims say essentially the same thing, combine them or establish a meaningful distinction.

Know the task you are allocating time to

Paper 1 gives you two previously unseen passages from different literary forms, each with a guiding question. Either passage may be a complete work or an extract. The possible forms are prose fiction, prose non-fiction, drama and poetry.

At SL, you have 75 minutes to analyse one passage, for 20 marks. HL gives you 135 minutes to write a separate analysis of each passage, for 40 marks overall. The same four criteria apply to every response, worth 5 marks each. At both levels, Paper 1 contributes 35% of the final result.

If you're taking SL, compare the passages briefly before choosing. Look for one that allows you to build a convincing interpretation and explain the relevant choices; familiarity with a form isn't enough on its own. At HL, you must respond to both passages. You are not being asked to compare them with each other.

Divide the time into purposeful stages

The guide sets the total duration but does not prescribe how many minutes to spend on each activity. Treat the allocation below as a teacher-proposed starting point, not an IB requirement. The table separates Read and plan, Write and Review to prevent drafting from taking over the entire session.

For SL, set aside 15 minutes to read and plan, then 55 minutes to write. Leave 5 minutes to review. For HL, allow 25 minutes for reading and planning across both responses and 100 minutes for writing, with 10 minutes left for reviewing. These allocations total 75 minutes and 135 minutes respectively.

Teacher-proposed Paper 1 time allocation, not an IB requirement.

At HL, you could split this into 12 minutes planning, 50 minutes writing and 5 minutes reviewing the first response. Follow that with 13 minutes planning, 50 minutes writing and 5 minutes reviewing the second. The two blocks total 67 minutes and 68 minutes. Protect the second block. Any extra time spent on the first answer comes out of the time available for an equally weighted response.

Read and plan

On the first reading, establish the situation and voice, and follow the passage's overall movement. Read again with the guiding question's focus in mind, selecting details that illuminate it. Look beyond conspicuous individual devices: notice contrasts and changes, and pay attention to endings.

Write a provisional central interpretation. Then sketch a brief sequence of paragraph claims, attaching evidence to each. A useful plan records decisions; it isn't a miniature essay. Polishing an introduction in your planning notes uses time without moving the response forward.

Keep your claims within what the passage supports. You don't need to reconstruct the work around an extract or invent contextual information. If a detail remains ambiguous, make sure the strength of your claim matches the evidence.

Write and review

Let the plan guide your drafting, but change it if close analysis leads to a stronger reading. Spend time developing the most revealing evidence rather than gathering more examples of the same point. A short reference that you explain fully can contribute more than a long quotation followed by a general comment.

Save the review period for changes that matter. Does your interpretation remain consistent with the passage? Check that each paragraph explains how a choice shapes meaning and that the argument stays focused. Then correct unclear expression or inaccurate terminology, along with any errors in quotations or references. Reviewing should improve the reasoning as well as the grammar.

Adjust the allocation through practice

The learner portfolio is not directly assessed. Use it to keep your first responses to unfamiliar passages and to try guiding questions of your own. Record practice across all four literary forms. By comparing successive responses, you can identify where you lose time—whether in reading, planning, drafting or revision—and which analytical skills need more work.

After a timed practice, record the minutes you actually spent at each stage alongside the response you produced. Use that evidence to adjust your next allocation, while still leaving time for a purposeful plan and a final review.