PAPER 1 GUIDANCE + STRUCTURE

Paper 1 Time Management advice:

HL: time 2hrs 15 mins= 140 mins including the reading time.
For each text you should give 70 mins (70+70=140 mins)
This time is further divided= 20 + 47 (20 mins for reading, annotating and planning –
a rough outline should be ready; 45 mins to write a well-rounded response)- I have
deliberately left 3 mins for revision time here.

Similar time division for 2nd text. In total you have 6 mins of revision time to ensure
the correction of syntactical, grammatical, spelling errors

SL: 1 hr 15 mins= 80 mins (including the reading time)

20 for planning (20 mins for reading, annotating, and planning – a rough outline
should be ready + 55 for writing the response + 5 minutes for revising to ensure the
correction of syntactical, grammatical, spelling errors.

ADVICE FOR HL:

✓ IT IS A VERY GOOD IDEA TO WRITE THE TIME WELL IN ADVANCE FOR
BETTER FOCUS. EG: IF THE PAPER BEGINS AT 9 AM, YOU MUST WRITE 10:10
AM TO REMIND YOURSELF THAT THE RESPONSE TO THE FIRST TEXT MUST
BE ROUNDED OFF BY THEN INCLUDING THE REVISION.THIS MAY CONTAIN
FURTHER TIME DIVISIONS EG: PLANNING MUST END BY 9:20.

✓ Once you have written a response for Text 1, all your attention should be
invested in 2nd text. Don’t worry about the 1st text. Make sure you give your
best for the second.

General Guidance

✓ Ensure that you use a thoroughly formal and academic register throughout the
essay response.
✓ Ensure that the use of language ought to be varied and elevated. The use of
synonyms, use anastrophe, varied use of sentence structures. Ensure that you
make interesting and sensible use of adjectives.
✓ Avoid the use of personal pronouns e.g.: I, we, us
✓ Make sure that you use the author’s last name while addressing him/her/they.
Do not use the author’s first name. E.g., you must use Satrapi and not Marjane.
✓ Avoid sweeping generalizations
✓ Ensure that the analysis is not general:
Eg, the use of alliteration grabs the reader’s attention
The use of simile effectively compares.
The use of visual narrative makes the readers think.

1|Page Facilitator: Ms Lata Verma

 Paper 1 Structure
Introduction
Hook
Text Type
Purpose: Primary & Secondary
Audience: Primary & Secondary
Why do you say the text is intended
towards a certain audience?
Thesis statement (well containing a road
map)
Ensure you address a minimum of 4
authorial choices in your thesis and the
subsequent body paragraphs

Body Paragraph 1 (PEEL)

Point (must stem from the road map
provided earlier)
Evidence: 2- 3 (ensure that the phrases
chosen should be less than 4 words)
Elaborate- use the evidence to create a
connection between point and the
authorial choices
Reader’s response + intended
audience’s possible response to the
authorial choice.
Link – to the point and the thesis
statement

Subsequent Body paragraphs take the

same shape
For a well-rounded essay, I suggest min 4
body paragraphs (coinciding with the
authorial choice)

Conclusion: Reiterate the points using

the words from the thesis statement
+
If certain, an oppositional reading of the
text.

2|Page Facilitator: Ms Lata Verma