IB / A level Q&A

Energy levels are closer together at high energy levels.

First ionization energy. The convergence limit is an electron moving from the lowest energy level to the highest one which is equal to the energy required to move the first electron from a gaseous atom.

Electrons in discrete energy levels
Energy levels get closer together at higher energy levels

The emission spectrum of hydrogen contains only certain frequencies instead of continuous frequencies and those frequencies converge at higher frequencies.

Biodegradable polymers usually consist of bonds that can be hydrolysed, such as ester linkage or peptide bonds.

Polyalkene only contains a C-C bond in the main chain and the C-C bond cannot be hydrolysed.

The first step in distillation of crude oil is the oil must be heated until it is a gas. The first step in distillation of aid is the air must be cooled/compressed until it becomes a liquid.

From the nitride ion to the aluminium ion, the Ionic radius decreases. Because all of them are isoelectronic. They contain the same number of occupied electron shells and have a similar shielding effect. However, from nitrogen to aluminium, increasing atomic number to increase the effective nucleus charge. Therefore, the attraction between the nucleus to outer shell electrons increases causing a smaller radius.

To regulate the membrane fluidity, the more the cholesterol, the lower is the membrane fluidity.

To activate DNA polymerase and initiate DNA replication.

To separate the homologous chromosomes and create the haploid number of chromosomes in the daughter nuclei.

It causes the selection pressure for antibiotic resistant bacteria to survive better and reproduce.

A common question and an area that many students struggle with, ‘analysis’ means the examination of authorial choices in terms of how they create and contribute meaning within the text.

For example, in Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, when the titular character states, "Is this a dagger which I see before me," you can analyze the symbolic meaning of the dagger. The dagger is a weapon of an assassin, symbolizing Macbeth's intent and the violence he is about to commit. His vision of the dagger, and his need to grasp it, reflects his ever-growing ambition and the internal conflict he experiences as he contemplates killing King Duncan to take the throne. Here, we see how symbolism can be used to reflect Macbeth’s psychological turmoil.

Taking note of such features is what you need to include in your work to fulfill Criterion B.

Time is not your friend in the IB English Literature or IB English Language & Literature exams. However, this does not mean you cannot tackle this often overlooked, but crucial skill of time management. Below are a few strategies to aid you with your time management issues:

Plan how you will use your time carefully. While everyone is different, knowing where you need more time will help you keep track and not rush. For example, an SL Paper 1 exam which is 1 hour and 15 minutes could be planned accordingly:

• 10 mins annotating and planning
• 10 mins for introduction and conclusion
• 15 mins each for 3 body paragraphs
• 5 mins for proofreading
• Which leaves you about 5 mins in case anything goes wrong

Practice under timed conditions, without distractions. I know that essay writing is difficult and it can be hard to stay away from social media for an extended period of time, but nothing gets you ready for an exam like mimicking the real thing. Put your phone in another room, get out a pen, paper, and an analog clock and really try to focus when practicing. This will help you understand exam expectations and improve your timing.

By using these strategies, you can improve your time management and make sure you perform your best during the exam.

The ability to integrate quotations into your sentences as opposed to having to stop and create a new sentence separates the good writers from the great ones. Generally speaking, like most things in English, the best way to learn how to do this is to practice. Understanding the quote you are including early on, when thinking about your sentence structure is key, and using shorter quotations is much easier to incorporate than longer ones.

However, please keep in mind that just because it is a quotation, it does not mean it does not adhere to the rules of grammar. Remember, you can edit quotations grammatically for them to fit your sentence. Take the following example.

In The Great Gatsby, note the way Nick Caraway states ‘[he] was within and without’.

Here, the original text, written in the 1st person, states ‘I was within and without’. As such, I needed to change the first person ‘I’ to the third person ‘he’ to have it make sense grammatically. Remember, only ever change the grammar, and never the meaning.

The best way to structure an essay is to use the PEAL method. P stands for Point, E for Evidence, A for Analysis and L for Link.

In the first sentence of your paragraph you should ensure that you specify a single focus on the given question. So, if you’re given an advertisement and the guiding question reads: How has the text utilised visuals and language to convey meaning?, your paragraph should focus on a single meaning. Since you need about three body paragraphs for an essay, each paragraph should focus on a distinct idea. You should try not to have overlaps across your paragraphs. In your Point sentence you should also try your best to utilise the keywords given in the question. Hence, an ideal Point sentence may read like this: The advertisement employs visuals in order to present how the product can act as a companion during a time of loss. Here, your single clear focus is the product’s sense of companionship.

After you’ve written this sentence you then need to provide evidence to support the claim that you’ve just made. This is the E section of the PEAL method. When quoting make sure that you put down just as much as you need to prove your point. Including parts that you’re not going to expand on or sections that are irrelevant will just cause confusion to the examiner. Once you’ve quoted, you now need to extract the specific words from the phrase/sentence that you will expand on. This will lead you to the A part of the PEAL method, which is the analysis section.

For the analysis you need to really contemplate the connotations of the words and phrases that you’ve extracted. Ask yourself questions like why has the writer used this word or this visual over any others they could have included? Think about how this word makes you feel, what emotions, scenarios it ties back too. Explain this, then link back to your main point. This is the L section of your PEAL paragraph.

Boiling happens at a specific temperature, while evaporation happens over a range of temperatures.
Evaporation is a surface process, while boiling happens throughout the liquid.

Separation: touching
Arrangement: regular
Motion: vibrate

High melting point and high boiling point.
Good electrical conductivity when aqueous or molten.

Transition metal forms colored ions
They have variable oxidation states so can act as catalysts.

Because iron is more reactive than copper, the more reactive metal will displace the less reactive metal ion in the ionic compound in a displacement reaction.

There is no net force acting on an object.

The object is uniformly accelerating.

This is the process of transferring energy mechanically.

This is the sum of kinetic energy of the particles due to random motion and the potential energy of the particles due to intermolecular forces.

The particles are motionless.

Energy levels are closer together at high energy levels.

First ionization energy. The convergence limit is an electron moving from the lowest energy level to the highest one which is equal to the energy required to move the first electron from a gaseous atom.

Electrons in discrete energy levels
Energy levels get closer together at higher energy levels

The emission spectrum of hydrogen contains only certain frequencies instead of continuous frequencies and those frequencies converge at higher frequencies.

• Electrons transfer between higher energy levels to lower energy levels.
• Electron transitions into first energy level causes UV series
• Electron transitions into second energy level causes visible series
• Electron transitions into third energy level causes infrared series

The Ionic radius of nitrogen is greater than the atomic radius due to increased repulsion between electrons.

A metal that has stable ions that contain the incomplete d shells.

Water donates a lone electron pair to vanadium ions through the formation of a dative covalent bond.

The absorption of wavelengths will increase because Chloride ions are a weaker ligand than water, so there is a smaller energy gap between split d-orbitals.

Two O atoms of the ethanedioate ions can provide two electron pairs to form two coordinate bonds with the metal ion.

The oxides of period 3 are changed from basic to acidic through amphoteric.

Transition metals contain the partially filled d-orbitals. When ligands bind into the transition metal, it causes d-d splitting. When electrons transit to a higher energy level, visible Light which is equal to the energy difference is absorbed. The color observed is the complementary color.

Transition metals contain the partially filled d-orbitals. Color depends upon the energy difference between the split d-orbitals. The split d-orbitals depend on variable oxidation states, different ligands, and different numbers of ligands.

Across period 3, all atoms have the same number of occupied electron shells and similar shielding effects. However, there is an increasing number of protons causing the increase in effective nuclear charge. Therefore, the attraction between the nucleus and outer shell electrons increases and creates the energy needed to remove the first electron from the atoms.

P₄O₁₀ (s) + 6 H₂O —-> 4 H₃PO₄

Molecules have more than one possible position for the multiple bonds.

In the dinitrogen monoxide molecules, sigma bonds from N to N and from N to O while Pi bonds from N to N. Delocalized pi bond extends over the oxygen and both nitrogens.

Giant lattice structures and electrostatic attraction between Magnesium ions and oxide ions.

Electrostatic attraction between a lattice of metal ions and delocalized electrons.

Vanadium has a smaller ionic radius than titanium leading to stronger metallic bonding. Therefore, more energy is required to break the metallic bond in vanadium.

Titanium atoms are of different sizes to aluminum atoms to prevent layers from sliding over each other.

In ozone, a lone pair of p orbital of the O atom overlaps with pi electrons from a double bond. Therefore, both O-O bonds have equal bond length and equal bond energy.

Oxygen is an element in the standard conditions.

Tin(II) ion has the same charger as well as a similar ionic radius to the Strontium ion.

Ethanoic acid is weak acid while hydrochloric acid is strong acid. Energy is used to ionize weak acids before a reaction with NaOH can occur.

The frequency(pre-exponential) factor, A, is indicative of the frequency of collisions and the probability that collisions have proper orientations.

Increasing the temperature will increase the kinetic energy, particles move fast and have high collision frequency. Also, a greater proportion of molecules have energy greater than the activation energy. Greater successful collision frequency.

At higher temperatures, rates of reactions are faster, shorten reaction time so larger percentage error in timing.

Increasing the concentration will increase the number of particles per unit volume, particles have higher collision frequency to cause greater successful collision frequency.

Decreasing the particle size will increase the total surface area, particles have more right orientation to collide and cause greater successful collision frequency.

Decreasing the particle size will increase the total surface area, particles have more right orientation to collide and cause greater successful collision frequency.

Catalysts will alternate reaction pathways with lower activation energy. This causes a greater proportion of molecules to have energy greater than the activation energy. Greater successful collision frequency.

Dynamic equilibrium is established when the rate of forward reaction equals rate of reverse reaction. As a result, the concentrations of reactants and products become and remain constant.

If a system at equilibrium is disturbed by a change in temperature, pressure, or the concentration of one the components, the system will shift its equilibrium position so as to oppose the effect of the change.

With an increase in [reactant], the equilibrium shifts to the right to decrease the [reactant] and to increase [products].

Increasing temperature will shift the equilibrium position to the endothermic side to decrease the temperature.

Catalysts do not affect the position of an equilibrium as catalysts speed up the rates of both forward and reverse reactions equally!

A species partially dissociates the proton ion.

A species can act as both a bronsted-lowry acid and a bronsted-lowry base.

Phosphorus is not commonly found in fuels and phosphorus oxides are solids that are not easily distributed in the atmosphere.

Species that have one less proton than its conjugate acid.

It will produce chlorine gas in reaction with ClO- which is toxic

In the conversion of P₄ to H₂PO₂^-, oxygen is gained,so can be oxidation while hydrogen gained, so can be reduced. The two definitions led to conflicting results.

Using inert Pt as an electrode and 1 mol dm-3 H+ as electrolyte and bubbling Hydrogen gas into the solution under 100 kpa.

X-ray crystallography shows that benzene is of hexagon planar shape and C to C bond lengths are all equal and C-C-C bond angles are all equal.

It is the minimum energy required to remove an electron from a neutral gaseous atom or molecule in its ground state.

1. All collisions are perfectly elastic (which means no energy is lost during collision.)
2. No intermolecular forces between gas molecules
3. The volume occupied by individual gas molecules is negligible

In benzene, electrons are delocalized between the six carbons while π-electrons are localized between two carbons in alkenes. Therefore, benzene has a lower electron density than alkene and induces a weaker dipole in the attacking molecule.

A sigma bond is formed by the head-on combination of the atomic orbitals where the electron density is concentrated along the bond axis. A Pi bond is formed by the lateral combination of p-orbitals whether electron density is concentrated on opposite sides of the bond axis

Hybridization is a term used to describe the mixing of atomic orbitals to generate a set of new hybrid orbitals that are equivalent.

It is an ion or molecule which can donate its lone pair electron to the metal ion center forming a dative covalent bond

It is the relative measure of an atom to attract a bonding pair of electrons in a covalent bond.

1. Organic compounds in a homologous series have similar chemical properties.
2. All members have the same suffix.
3. The successive members of a homologous series differ by a unit of CH₂
4. The physical properties of a homologous series show a trend.

Structural isomers are molecules that have the same molecular formula but different connectivities.

Biodegradable polymers usually consist of bonds that can be hydrolysed, such as ester linkage or peptide bonds.

Polyalkene only contains a C-C bond in the main chain and the C-C bond cannot be hydrolysed.

The first step in distillation of crude oil is the oil must be heated until it is a gas. The first step in distillation of aid is the air must be cooled/compressed until it becomes a liquid.

From the nitride ion to the aluminium ion, the Ionic radius decreases. Because all of them are isoelectronic. They contain the same number of occupied electron shells and have a similar shielding effect. However, from nitrogen to aluminium, increasing atomic number to increase the effective nucleus charge. Therefore, the attraction between the nucleus to outer shell electrons increases causing a smaller radius.

Giant ionic lattice.

Sodium fluoride does not conduct electricity when solid.

Sodium fluoride does conduct when in aqueous solution or molten

Because the ions cannot move in a solid and the ions are free to move when the substance is in solution / molten

The fluoride ion has a single charge and a small ionic radius, this leading to a strong attraction between the nucleus and electron cloud. So the electron cloud is difficult to distort.

Strong electrostatic attraction between cations and delocalised electrons.

Aluminium produces 3 electrons per ion to form Al³⁺

When metal connects to a potential difference, the delocalised electrons flow. layers of ions slide over each other without breaking the metallic bond.

Thermal stability increases down Group 2, since the ionic radius increases and polarizing power of cations decreases while the charge remains the same. N−O breaks less easily.

In dry ether, since LiAlH₄ is very reactive and reacts with water.

During the reduction process, LiAlH₄ act as a nucleophile to attack the carbon atom in the C=O bond, which has a positive dipole.

However, in the alkene C=C bond is non-polar, with high electron density between the C=C bond, nucleophiles are repelled by π electrons of the C=C bond.

V⁵⁺ ion is very small and highly charged, i.e., it has high charge density, so it would polarise two water molecules, causing the O-H bond to break and lose hydrogen ions.

Phenol is more reactive than benzene since the lone pair of electrons on the oxygen is delocalised into the conjugated pi system of the benzene ring., which increases the electron density of the benzene ring, making it more available for electrophilic attack.

Mn²⁺ has five d electrons, making a half-filled 3d sublevel, so is more stable than Mn³⁺, the equilibrium favours the right-hand side(reduction side), making the potential more positive. Fe²⁺ has six d electrons so is less stable than Fe3+, and equilibrium favours the left-hand side (oxidation side), making the potential less positive.

Atoms with the same atomic number and different mass numbers.

A beam of high-energy electrons strikes the gaseous bromine molecule, knocking off an electron.

Equation :Br₂+ e^-->Br₂⁺+2e^-

It is the strong electrostatic attraction between the shared pair of electrons of the covalent bond and the nuclei of the silicon atom and the oxygen atom.

Similarities: both molecules contain a σ-bond, and orbitals show an end-on overlap pattern.

Difference: carbon dioxide contains a sideways overlap of orbitals, forming a π–bond with the oxygen atom.

There are two sets of bonding electrons and no lone pairs about the carbon atom, which are arranged to minimise repulsion, resulting in a linear shape, a bond angle of 180°

The carbon atom is slightly positive δ+ and the oxygen atom slightly negative δ−, because oxygen is more electronegative than carbon.

Isotopes have the same electronic configuration, which means they have the same chemical reactivity.

Mg has more delocalised electrons while its ion is smaller than Na⁺ but with higher charge. Overall the charge density of Mg²⁺ ion is higher than that of Na⁺， leading to greater attraction between the delocalised electrons and the Mg²⁺ ions.

Moving across the period there is an increase in the number of protons number, the electrons are in the same shell, so there is a greater attraction between the nucleus and electrons, and more energy is needed to remove the outermost electron.

• Electron configuration for oxygen: 1s22s22p4
• Electron configuration for nitrogen: 1s22s22p3
• When removing the outermost electron, the electron is being removed from a 2p orbital that is paired from oxygen, less energy is needed to remove a paired electron due to the repulsion between the electrons.
• The electron is being removed from a 2p orbital that is unpaired for nitrogen, more energy is needed to remove an unpaired electron.

• The successive ionization energy has a general increase because the electrons that are being removed are getting closer to the nucleus, the ion is becoming increasingly more positive as well, and greater energy is needed to remove the electrons.
• There is a big jump between 5th-6th ionisation energies as the 6th electron is removed from a new shell
• There is a jump between 3rd - 4th ionisation energies as the 4th electron is removed from a new subshell (2s)

The rate of reaction will be slower for 1-chlorobutane since C‒Cl has a higher bond enthalpy. Besides, 1-chlorobutane is a primary halogenoalkane while 2-bromo-2- methylpropane is a tertiary halogenoalkane.

It should be a black solid since the boiling point of group 7 elements increases down the group due to increasing molar mass and van der Waal forces.

• With cold water: Cl₂ + H₂O ⇌ HCl + HOCl
• With cold, dilute aqueous alkali: Cl₂ + 2NaOH → NaClO + NaCl + H₂O
• With hot, concentrated aqueous alkali: 3Cl₂ + 6NaOH → NaClO₃ + 5NaCl + 3H₂O
• all of these reactions are disproportionation reactions because chlorine is both oxidised and reduced chlorine oxidised to +1, +1 and +5 for reaction with water, cold dilute alkali and hot conc alkali correspondingly.

Oxides of nitrogen react with water vapour in the atmosphere, leading to the formation of acid rain.

Catalyst decreases the activation energy required, more particles have the energy required for the reaction to take place and increases the number of successful collisions per unit time.

The rate equation of a reaction is rate=k[BrO₃^- ][Br^- ] [H⁺ ]²

Because there are 4 particles in the rate equation in the equation, but the collisions with more than 2 particles are unlikely.

Acidic: reversible reaction, low yield

Alkaline: irreversible reaction, higher yield compared with the acidic condition, however, needs an extra protonation step to obtain the carboxylic acid.

∆Stotal=∆Ssystem+∆Ssurroundings

∆Stotal decreases because ∆Ssystem and ΔH do not change with temperature, therefore ∆Ssurroundings must decrease, this is because ∆Ssurroundings = -ΔH/T , so as T increases -ΔH/T becomes less positive because ΔH is exothermic.

• The mixture contains a large amount of both ammonium ions and ammonia
• Added H⁺ reacts with ammonia to form ammonium ions: NH₃+H⁺->NH₄⁺
• Ammonia reacts with water to produce OH^- ions:NH₃+H₂O->NH₄⁺+OH^-
• Ratio of ammonium ions to ammonia hardly changes.

The shape is linear, with 180° bond angle, as there are 2 pairs of bonding electrons and no lone pairs around central Ag⁺, which adopt a position to minimise repulsion between electron pairs / bonds

Silver ion has a full d-subshell， so there are no d-d transitions of electrons, and no light has been absorbed.

Beryllium has a higher charge density，Beryllium ion is more polarizing, so the beryllium-chlorine bond has a higher degree of covalency.

Some silicon atoms of mass 28 lose two electrons/have a charge of 2⁺

Sillicon has a giant covalent structure, which means all of its atoms are joined together by covalent bonds, these bonds are very strong and need lots of energy to break, therefore, it has a high melting point and is resistant to heat.

There are no free electrons within the silicon dioxide structure, so the charge cannot be carried, which makes it an insulator.

For the aluminium atom, the first electron is removed from the 3p orbital.

For the magnesium atom , the first electron is removed from the 3s orbital.

P electron is shielded by the s electrons so it requires less energy to be removed.

Delocalised electrons in the aluminium metallic bonding can move and carry charges

Aluminium has low density, also ductile so it can be drawn into wires.

The mixture is fractionally distilled and the distillate condensed at a suitable temperature is collected

Advantage: energy produced during the procedure can be used to generate electricity or heat locally.

Disadvantage: toxic gas may be produced.

Carbon monoxide may be produced due to insufficient oxygen supply, which is toxic and combines with haemoglobin, causing suffocation.

X‑ray diffraction showed that all C-C bonds are the same length in benzene, in Kekulé structure the C=C bonds would be shorter than the C-C bonds.

E‑hexa‑1,3‑diene is more stable than E‑hexa‑1,4‑diene since the two double bonds are close to each other, and some delocalization of pi-bonds occurs.

Transition metals have variable oxidation states, which means they can be easily oxidized and reduced back to their original oxidation state, donate and accept electrons from other species.

Monodentate: forms a sone dative bond.

Ligand: a species with a lone pair of electrons that can form a dative bond to a central transition metal ion.

To regulate the membrane fluidity, the more the cholesterol, the lower is the membrane fluidity.

To activate DNA polymerase and initiate DNA replication.

To separate the homologous chromosomes and create the haploid number of chromosomes in the daughter nuclei.

It causes the selection pressure for antibiotic resistant bacteria to survive better and reproduce.

Type I: For gas exchange Type II: Production of surfactant

Active transport of sodium and potassium ions via Na⁺ K⁺ pump (ATPase).

The coupling reaction of proton and electron movement to bring about the ATP synthesis.

Monoclonal antibodies produced by hybridoma cells against HCG.

The base sequence of two alleles.

CVS is performed earlier in pregnancy but has more risk of miscarriage than amniocentesis.

• Carbon fixation of ribulose bisphosphate and formation of glycerate-3-phosphate
• Reduction of glycerate-3-phosphate to triose phosphate (using ATP and reduced NADP)
• Regeneration of ribulose bisphosphate from triose phosphate (using ATP)

Method of plant cloning using a plant tissue under a sterile and controlled environment.

It is secreted by the embryo to stimulate progesterone secretion by the ovary during early pregnancy.

Autosomal dominant.

X-linked recessive.

It is because the sex chromosome for male is XY, therefore male only require to inherit the genetic disease by acquiring one diseased allele from parent (X from mother and Y from male). While for females, if it is X-linked recessive disease, they need to inherit the disease by receiving both recessive diseased alleles from both parents.

A common question and an area that many students struggle with, ‘analysis’ means the examination of authorial choices in terms of how they create and contribute meaning within the text.

For example, in Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, when the titular character states, "Is this a dagger which I see before me," you can analyze the symbolic meaning of the dagger. The dagger is a weapon of an assassin, symbolizing Macbeth's intent and the violence he is about to commit. His vision of the dagger, and his need to grasp it, reflects his ever-growing ambition and the internal conflict he experiences as he contemplates killing King Duncan to take the throne. Here, we see how symbolism can be used to reflect Macbeth’s psychological turmoil.

Taking note of such features is what you need to include in your work to fulfill Criterion B.

Time is not your friend in the IB English Literature or IB English Language & Literature exams. However, this does not mean you cannot tackle this often overlooked, but crucial skill of time management. Below are a few strategies to aid you with your time management issues:

Plan how you will use your time carefully. While everyone is different, knowing where you need more time will help you keep track and not rush. For example, an SL Paper 1 exam which is 1 hour and 15 minutes could be planned accordingly:

• 10 mins annotating and planning
• 10 mins for introduction and conclusion
• 15 mins each for 3 body paragraphs
• 5 mins for proofreading
• Which leaves you about 5 mins in case anything goes wrong

Practice under timed conditions, without distractions. I know that essay writing is difficult and it can be hard to stay away from social media for an extended period of time, but nothing gets you ready for an exam like mimicking the real thing. Put your phone in another room, get out a pen, paper, and an analog clock and really try to focus when practicing. This will help you understand exam expectations and improve your timing.

By using these strategies, you can improve your time management and make sure you perform your best during the exam.

The ability to integrate quotations into your sentences as opposed to having to stop and create a new sentence separates the good writers from the great ones. Generally speaking, like most things in English, the best way to learn how to do this is to practice. Understanding the quote you are including early on, when thinking about your sentence structure is key, and using shorter quotations is much easier to incorporate than longer ones.

However, please keep in mind that just because it is a quotation, it does not mean it does not adhere to the rules of grammar. Remember, you can edit quotations grammatically for them to fit your sentence. Take the following example.

In The Great Gatsby, note the way Nick Caraway states ‘[he] was within and without’.

Here, the original text, written in the 1st person, states ‘I was within and without’. As such, I needed to change the first person ‘I’ to the third person ‘he’ to have it make sense grammatically. Remember, only ever change the grammar, and never the meaning.

The best way to structure an essay is to use the PEAL method. P stands for Point, E for Evidence, A for Analysis and L for Link.

In the first sentence of your paragraph you should ensure that you specify a single focus on the given question. So, if you’re given an advertisement and the guiding question reads: How has the text utilised visuals and language to convey meaning?, your paragraph should focus on a single meaning. Since you need about three body paragraphs for an essay, each paragraph should focus on a distinct idea. You should try not to have overlaps across your paragraphs. In your Point sentence you should also try your best to utilise the keywords given in the question. Hence, an ideal Point sentence may read like this: The advertisement employs visuals in order to present how the product can act as a companion during a time of loss. Here, your single clear focus is the product’s sense of companionship.

After you’ve written this sentence you then need to provide evidence to support the claim that you’ve just made. This is the E section of the PEAL method. When quoting make sure that you put down just as much as you need to prove your point. Including parts that you’re not going to expand on or sections that are irrelevant will just cause confusion to the examiner. Once you’ve quoted, you now need to extract the specific words from the phrase/sentence that you will expand on. This will lead you to the A part of the PEAL method, which is the analysis section.

For the analysis you need to really contemplate the connotations of the words and phrases that you’ve extracted. Ask yourself questions like why has the writer used this word or this visual over any others they could have included? Think about how this word makes you feel, what emotions, scenarios it ties back too. Explain this, then link back to your main point. This is the L section of your PEAL paragraph.

Repeating ideas within a paragraph is completely normal. Considering that your paragraph needs to be based on one distinct idea that you will specify in the topic sentence, you do need to continuously link back to this idea. However, this does not mean that you can repeat the same words, you should in fact try your best to use varied vocabulary to get a high mark for Criterion D. In such cases opt for synonyms and also switch around your sentences structures. Don’t start every sentence with ‘this’. Sometimes use a complex sentence, other times a compound sentence, sometimes start with ‘this’, other times reiterate the idea you’re expanding on.

Every literary piece is influenced by the social structure in which it is written. This includes factors such as the political climate, the religion prevalent at the time, the customs and traditions of the society, certain impending threats. Of course, some do more social commentary than others. While for some books the social commentary aspect might not be at the forefront, all the books that your teacher will choose for you during your IBDP studies will have social commentary that drives the characters and the plot, as the exam board specifically asks for books that are of high literary value. A common book is ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ by Tennessee Williams which brings to the foreground social issues of the 1940s during which the book was written such as women’s inferior status within the post-war American society, the dangers of not complying to social gender norms, the demise of the aristocracy after the Second World War. Throughout the play Williams is critical of the patriarchal structure’s treatment of women and the upper classes treatment of the lower class segment of American society.

The best way to approach an unseen exam is to start annotating as soon as you start reading the text. Pick out literary devices, words that you feel have deeper connotations, visuals that are striking, focus on aspects such as colour, font size, font type and think about why the writer/illustrator may have used these techniques. What larger ideas do they convey? Once you’ve found that an idea recurs throughout the piece, you can jot it down as the idea of one of your paragraphs. Your paragraphs will focus on sub ideas that express the main idea of a text. So, in a given advertisement a tobacco company may be trying to sell its product. This is the main aim, the main idea of the advertisement. However, you need sub-ideas to form your body paragraphs. How are they trying to sell the product? In which ways are they trying to promote their product? This will form the basis of your body paragraphs.

To do well in an English exam you cannot just glance over notes, you instead need to maintain a steady streak of essay writing. In English, practice makes perfect. Writing an essay a week will ensure that you are honing your analysis and writing skills. If possible also show your essay to a teacher, a friend, a tutor and ask for feedback. Take the feedback into consideration when writing your next essay and ask for more. Compare your two essays’ feedbacks and see what you’ve improved on and what can be improved.

The same four criterias are relevant to all the components of the IBDP English exams.

For Criterion A: Knowledge and Understanding you need to demonstrate an understanding of the literal meaning of the text, what is it about? who is it targeting why was it written?

For Criterion B: Analysis and Evaluation you need to demonstrate an in-depth understanding of the text. What I mean by this is that you need to do close language analysis and think about why the writer may have opted for these specific word choices. This is also the criteria that showcase your literary techniques knowledge. To get a good grade in this criteria you need to ask yourself: What are the connotations of the words in this quotation? Do any of the words ignite any emotions in me as a reader? Why may the writer have chosen to use these words?

For Criterion C: Focus and Organisation you need make sure that you structure your essays clearly. All essays for all components of the IBDP follow the same structure (although of course, the amount you write for each component will differ in accordance with the time limit). This is a PEE or PEA structure. PEE is short for Point, Evidence, and Explanation and PEA is short for Point, Evidence, and Analysis. In essence, they both mean the same thing. When structuring a Paper 1 essay you need to ensure to pay attention to the guiding question. Pinpoint the keyword in the question, then think about three different ways in which you can explore that specific keyword. These three different ways will be the subject matter of each of your body paragraphs. They will constitute the P (point) section of a paragraph. Then, to prove the point that you've presented in your P (point sentence), which is also known as your topic sentence, you need to pick our two pieces of evidence from the text. After the topic sentence you will quote a segment of the text, and then in the next sentence analyze it. This is the A section of a PEA-style paragraph. When analyzing you need to make sure that you think about the connotations of the words in the quotes you use. Ask yourself, how do these connotations prove the point I've made in my topic sentence? Do any of these words in my quote ignite a certain emotion in me? How does this emotion I get prove my point? Why does this quote in particular prove my point? In your analysis, if you've acknowledged all these questions, this means that you have a good analysis. Then present another piece of evidence and repeat the process. Most importantly ensure that the subject matter of each of your paragraphs is distinct. Lastly, make sure to not pick out quotes that don't lend themselves to deep analysis. The quotes that you chose as evidence need to have words that create a feeling in the reader and also they need to be packed with techniques, diction, and punctuation you can expand on.

For Criterion D: Language you need to make sure that you use correct grammar, spelling and tone. The tone that you should be using is formal. Hence, try and stay away from contractions and slang. The most common grammar errors students make are subject-verb agreement problems and run-on sentences.

It is important that you write essays for the different components frequently, as it is easy to get rusty with your writing if you give a break. Don’t forget practice makes perfect. Try and get feedback from your teacher and your peers.

For the Individual Oral, HL essay, and Paper 2 components of the exam make sure to read the books from cover to cover, really focusing on character development, themes, and setting. Don’t just read a summary online. You really need to engage with the books to understand them properly. Find quotes that reflect each stage of character development, theme, and setting and engage with them by doing close language analysis.

For the Paper 2 exam create template essays for questions. In these template essays ensure that you pick your quotes wisely (they should be packed with several techniques that you can expand upon). Then, see if you can use these quotes for multiple essay questions. This way you can memorize which words you'll be expanding on and how you will be analyzing each of the important words in the quote. In the real exam, since you will not have the opportunity to know which questions will come up beforehand, you will have to slightly tweak your phrasing to fit the question, but you can still use the quotes that you used for your template essays and remember how you were going to explore each word.

Boiling happens at a specific temperature, while evaporation happens over a range of temperatures.
Evaporation is a surface process, while boiling happens throughout the liquid.

Separation: touching
Arrangement: regular
Motion: vibrate

High melting point and high boiling point.
Good electrical conductivity when aqueous or molten.

Transition metal forms colored ions
They have variable oxidation states so can act as catalysts.

Because iron is more reactive than copper, the more reactive metal will displace the less reactive metal ion in the ionic compound in a displacement reaction.

Electrolysis the copper sulfate, oxygen is produced from the anode and copper is produced from the cathode.

Acid: proton donor
Strong acid: an acid that is completely dissociated in aqueous solution.

No more fizzing
The solid stopped dissolving

To make sure all acid is used up and the reaction goes to completion.

A solution that can hold no more solute at the specified temperature.

The zinc compound: zinc oxide or zinc hydroxide.
The reason why it doesn’t work for barium sulfate: barium sulfate is insoluble.

Sodium hydroxide: yellow
Sulfuric acid: orange/red

The concentration of HCl decreases with time, so there are fewer particle collides per unit volume, less effective collision, and slower rate.

The minimum energy that colliding particles must have to react.

Higher temperature leads to more energy in particles, so they move faster, more frequent collisions between particles happen and a greater percentage of collisions have energy greater than the activation energy. Increasing the effective collision frequency to increase the rate.

Contain the same functional group
differs from one member to the next by a –CH2– unit
their physical properties increase with increasing carbon number, for example, increasing trend in boiling points and melting points.
similar chemical properties because they have the same functional group.

Test: bromine water or aqueous bromine
Result: changes from brown to colorless

Organic compound: diol
Type of polymerization: condensation polymerization.

It has two more protons than electrons, while protons carry a positive charge and electrons carry a negative charge.

Sodium forms Na⁺ cations and delocalised electrons, the metallic bonding is essentially the attraction between those positive ions and electrons.

Mobile delocalized electrons within the metal lattice carry and transfer charges.

It is Ionic bonding, when sodium chloride melts, the ions, which are charged particles start moving and carrying charges.

Conditions: 450 °C, 1-2 atmosphere pressure, V₂O₅ as catalyst.
Equation: 2SO₂+O₂⇌2SO₃

the rate of the forward reaction equals the rate of the reverse reaction.
concentrations of reactants and products are constant.

Below 300°C: the reaction rate will be too slow since the temperature is too low, less frequent collision.
Above 300°C: The yield of ethanoic acid is too low since the reaction shifts to the endothermic side with increasing temperature, which is the left-hand side for this reaction.

Condensation.

The powder has a larger surface area than lumps, so there are more collisions of particles per unit time for powder.

Solid stopped dissolving and NaCl solid remains in the solution.

Caesium hydroxide

Solid

Dissolving

precipitation

When bond breaks, energy is absorbed, when bond forms energy is released. So when the energy of making bonds > breaking bonds, the reaction is exothermic.

Lower the activation energy, create an alternative pathway, and increase the reaction rate.

Malleability

Particles slide over each other.

Copper is a metal with low reactivity compared to transition metals.

Hydrogen gas.

7< pH ⩽ 14, since potassium reacts with water to form KOH, which is a strong base, so it should have a pH range between 7-14.

450 °C , 200 atm

Glucose.

Lowering the temperature lowers the solubility of the solute, then a solid crystal would form in the solution and be filtered out.

At a solid state, ions are fixed in the lattice but start moving when at a liquid state, only mobile particles with charges can carry and transfer the electricity.

Galvanizing

The formation of rust requires the presence of water and oxygen, zinc coating prevents water and oxygen from reaching iron.

Since zinc is more reactive than iron, when a zinc block connects to iron, it gets oxidized instead of iron, this is called sacrificial protection.

Hydrocarbon.

When two reactants react, only one product is formed without any by-products.

Condition: presence of an acid, for example, sulfuric acid.
Type of chemical change: oxidation.

Water.