[CullenLoverX]

I've heard it's nearly impossible, and I'm an A/A* in GCSE English atm, so how would I find it?

[Dan_G]

it's not nearly impossible.. it's relatively easy if you're good at english so long as you can anaylse poetry and read and understand all the novels on your course. relatively impossible for a maths student, maybe

[schnargle]

According to the IBO's published statistics, 3% of everyone who sat the English A1 HL exam last year got a 7: http://www.ibo.org/facts/statbulleti...alBulletin.pdf

Even if the actual literary analysis is easy for you, in practice hardly anyone gets a 7. It's luck more than anything, I think - having the right questions/passages come up in the exam.

[jc_bach]

practice more on doing exam questions, be familiar with ur works (part 3) for paper 2 and the most important: practice ur skills on tackling unseen commentaries.

[kaydenbrownjr]

Its like 70% luck, 30% skill.....

[CrazyPyramid]

I seeemed to get a few 7s when we did practice exams and I didn't struggle that much, but there does seem to be a lot of luck involved with it unfortunately. I will be pleasently surprised if I get one in the actual exam when the results come out. 6 is still a very good grade though and if you're doing that well at GCSE, then you should be fine for getting that at least.

[fizzicsfiend]

It is not a question of difficulty, but luck. I have come to despise HL english because the assessment criteria is so subjective; how well you do is more-or-less completely dependent on the mood of your examiner at the time your paper is marked.

I did HL English for IB1 but have dropped it for next year for two reasons. First, because it's my 4th higher, I don't need for university and it's eating up my time unnecessarily. Second, because even though I'm predicted a 7, statistically it's just not going to happen (my school got one 7 last year).

[trm90]

It's luck, yeah. Even if you find your exam paper easy, your examiner could have been PMSing at the time and decided your writing style was absolute ********.

In my class of 18 people last year, I think 3 or 4 of us got 7s... but the funny thing is that only one of the students that got a 7 was actually predicted it. The other students who were predicted 7s ended up with 6s.

It's strange.

[NJHL]

(Original post by Dan_G)
it's not nearly impossible.. it's relatively easy if you're good at english so long as you can anaylse poetry and read and understand all the novels on your course. relatively impossible for a maths student, maybe

dan mate will we regret that statement next monday?

[super-emily]

ask me on Monday

[ragnar_jonsson]

Oh lordy, are we all aspiring to get a 7 in english? haha

[kiwiigrad09]

Damn....I was.

But I pwnt the internals so hopefully I will get a 7. I really don't think its that hard (will have to get back to you on monday just in case )

[CocoPop]

3% gettings 7s. This is why I sometimes wonder how great life would be if I were taking A Levels.

[super-emily]

Well, I didn't get a 7. So damn hard says I! In my school over 100 people took IB, and only 1 (not me) got a 7. So. And its a grammar school, so our IBC is completely shocked!

[E_D_B]

I just got a 7! It's not as hard as other subjects, I'd say.

[Dan_G]

(Original post by NJHL)
dan mate will we regret that statement next monday?

not regretting it anymore niv

HELLS YEAH

let's take mr wayman out for a drink

[Harris]

It's impossible...your schools mark too easily.

I go to the #1 school in Canada and last year there were 3 predicted 7's out of around 125 kids.

1 got into Harvard, 1 Cambridge, 1 St. Andrews.

[Aloysius]

(Original post by CullenLoverX)
I've heard it's nearly impossible, and I'm an A/A* in GCSE English atm, so how would I find it?

English HL IB is like any HL subject, it's going to be hard. If you are currently A/A* in GCSE English, you have a head start over what I and many friends had.

Schnargle mentioned only 3% got a 7. True, but then 30,572 students did English A1 HL, so that means just less than 1000 got a 7. In other words, do you feel you can make that top 1000? Don't think about how tens of thousands of other people in the world did. Think of how you can do. If you enjoy english and work hard, there's no reason you can't do well.

Of note here, do you enjoy Coursework? In IB English, ~50% of you mark is coursework. It's also in a combination of essays and presentations, so you need to be familiar with both.

So is it hard? Yes. Is it impossible? There's nearly 1000 people who got 7s last year, so no. Just work hard and enjoy it and you'll get there.

[schnargle]

(Original post by Aloysius)
Schnargle mentioned only 3% got a 7. True, but then 30,572 students did English A1 HL, so that means just less than 1000 got a 7. In other words, do you feel you can make that top 1000? Don't think about how tens of thousands of other people in the world did. Think of how you can do. If you enjoy english and work hard, there's no reason you can't do well.

Of note here, do you enjoy Coursework? In IB English, ~50% of you mark is coursework. It's also in a combination of essays and presentations, so you need to be familiar with both.

So is it hard? Yes. Is it impossible? There's nearly 1000 people who got 7s last year, so no. Just work hard and enjoy it and you'll get there.

Fair point there. I ended up with a 6 (and got A* at GCSE English Lit) so I'm a bit disappointed, but my oral coursework may have brought that grade down because I was nervous, repeated myself much too much and cut off too early, and so probably didn't get the grade I wanted. I would have liked to have been part of that 1000 though.

[NJHL]

(Original post by Dan_G)
not regretting it anymore niv

HELLS YEAH

let's take mr wayman out for a drink

dammit let's ******* do it. oh man i am so HAPPY. you've got to reapply.