I’ve taught European Baccalaureate English students for many years in an international school environment, helping students prepare for both L2 and L2 Advanced exams. Here are some of my exam insights.

On the outside, the European Baccalaureate looks quite similar to other international English curricula, and indeed it often gets mistaken for the International Baccalaureate because of their similar names. In fact, their history is quite different, and has led to the European Baccalaureate exam being highly specialised, with skills assessed that are not necessarily required for other modes of study. 

In this article I’ll explain:

• how to pass the European Baccalaureate English exam

• its structure and marking criteria

• the oral exam, which inspires fear but really shouldn’t

As with all exams, the key point to remember is: there is a common formula examiners are looking for, and if you find a way to tailor what you have learned so that it fits that formula, you will be rewarded with a great result.

I will be discussing the English L2 and L2 Advanced (L2A) exam, which have commonalities, but are fundamentally different subjects and exams. 

If you’re preparing for the European Baccalaureate English exam, you’ll want expert help to get you to the highest grades, because achieving the best marks seems like a tricky achievement until you realise there is a formula that the best candidates follow. Book a free 45-minute diagnostic session with me, and I’ll show you how to master the exam.

What is the European Baccalaureate English exam?

The European Baccalaureate English exam is an exam designed to test the level of English of students of school-leaving age, focusing on reading, writing, and understanding literature, with attached oral exams to assess listening and speaking.

How the European Baccalaureate is assessed (written & oral)

L2:

• Reading Comprehension

• Written Production

• Understanding Literature

• Oral 

In the L2 exam, the three sections of the written exam begin with Reading Comprehension, where the candidate is given a piece of non-fiction reading and asked to use the text to answer a number of fill-in-the-gaps or multiple-choice questions in an answer booklet. 

The second section is Written Production, where candidates will have to write either an essay, a letter, an email, or a student-centred blog post about one of a number of topics it is expected young people will have an opinion on. 

The third and final section of the exam is Understanding Literature - in this section, there is a choice of two questions related to either the theme and core text studied in S6 (the penultimate year) or S7 (the final year). Students must demonstrate knowledge of not only the set text, but at least one other piece of literature studied in class, in order to access the highest marks for this section.

L2A: 

• Reading Comprehension

• Written Production: Textual Analysis

• Written Production: Literature

• Oral

The L2 Advanced exam is similar in substance, but with some key changes. Reading Comprehension is similar, again with an answer booklet. Written Production is split into two parts, Written Production (Textual Analysis) and Written Production (Literature).

Textual Analysis involves an unseen extract from a literary text (unlikely to be one studied in class), with three questions which are to be answered purely on the basis of the candidate’s view of the narrative and writing style of the extract - any prior knowledge of parts of the novel not used in the extract will not count towards the mark.

Literature is an extended literature essay, longer than the L2 essay, concerning the singular theme that will be studied from S6 to S7, and the set text plus other texts studied in class.

What examiners are actually looking for

You might really like the styles of certain authors you’ve read, but the nice thing about the European School English exam is that it doesn’t require you to emulate them - just to understand them. There is, in fact, a particular style that examiners are looking for from your writing.

If you can write in a factual, authoritative way about the topic you’re given in Written Production or about your literary sources, you will be looked upon as someone who can be trusted. Remember - I’ve been an examiner, the same as every other European Baccalaureate teacher has. We don’t know whose paper we’re marking, and so what we’re looking for isn’t a wall-to-wall bravura show of skill, it’s a reasoned, coherent, and clearly well-planned piece of work.

Common mistakes in the European Baccalaureate English exam

• Misreading questions

• Failing to check every page prior to starting the exam

• Making avoidable spelling/punctuation/grammar errors (yes, they get penalised)

• Not coming into the Literature section with more than one text and not knowing any key quotes

The most avoidable error in the EB English exam is leaving cheap points on the table in the Reading Comprehension section. This section feels like the easiest - and most of the time it is - but even if the article is an easy read, you can guarantee there will be one or two comprehension questions phrased in a tricky way, or requiring an answer that appears to be “yes” but is actually “no”. Equally, there are some questions in the L2 version of the Comprehension booklet where you need to not only say if something is true, but find the quote in the text that supports the answer. Find the wrong quote or no quote, and you may miss out on BOTH marks. It sounds unfair, but the best way to beat the system is to not sacrifice small marks by not reading both the text and the questions properly.

Even so, you really need to watch out in the Written Production section of the L2 exam - most of the time it’s a straightforward blog post, but sometimes there are specific instructions, such as what content to include, what register and tone to use, and if it’s an email or letter, who to address it to. 

L2 Advanced common errors

In the L2 Advanced European Bacc English paper, the above applies, although the biggest pitfall by far is not devoting sufficient time to the Written Production: Literature paper; it makes up 50% of your marks for the written paper, so I always tell candidates to reserve about 50% of their time for it. Going in with knowledge of at least two additional texts on top of the set text (as opposed to one for the L2 paper) will help ensure you get the marks you deserve. Make sure you revise the main text plus at least two other texts (this may include films, plays, or poems used in class), with key quotes to explain points you’re going to make. 

How do you know what quotes to include? Well, you already know the theme. If the theme is ‘Regret’, make sure you remember a quote from the set text about a character’s regret. You can use that to answer any of the fairly narrow band of questions you might receive on that theme.

European Baccalaureate oral exam

A lot of students pick English for the oral because they back their fluency in the language, and they want a “banker” paper, as opposed to something like Maths or Chemistry where they feel there may be more difficulty. In actual fact, the L2 and L2 Advanced European Baccalaureate orals are pretty tough, unless you get to know the format of the paper (always two parts, the first on which you’ll get to prepare, the second of which is a more general conversation). 

Although many students say “you can’t revise for the oral”, this just isn’t true in L2A, even if there may be a little more truth in L2. The revision you do on the literary set texts will help you in part two, when the examiners (usually your teacher and an external person) have printed questions, but can ask you anything they like, within reason.

How to improve your European Baccalaureate score

The European Baccalaureate English paper for L2 and L2A, in spite of appearing to be quite a centralised English exam, varies hugely due to teachers all across Europe providing exam questions for the “bank”, from which final papers are created. Due to teachers making mock papers, the kind of exam you see going into the finals might vary hugely, as may the quality of tuition.

All this means that to gain an edge in the EB English exam, you need a guide who has got students from many year groups and backgrounds through May and June with excellent grades. This is where expert guidance can make a real difference. Book a free diagnostic session to find out how I can help.

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