Exam practice

Higher Level
Paper 1 Writing
Choose one task. Use the appropriate text type from the options below the task
you choose. Write 450–600 words.

1 You have just seen a theatre performance that you feel contained important
ideas on a particular aspect of society. Write a text about what you saw,
what you thought was important and how theatre helps us understand
society.

Dialogue Opinion column Journal entry

2 Your school is thinking of banning all phone use during the school day and
all access to social media sites on school computers. Students have
different opinions on this proposal. Write a text where you express these
different opinions, highlighting the advantages and disadvantages to this
proposal.

Debate script Interview Newspaper article

3 You and the students at your school have been reading about and
discussing privacy and data protection. You feel that not enough people in
your school community understand the importance of data protection laws.
Write a text that informs people about the importance of this topic.

Blog Speech Argumentative essay

English B for the IB Diploma © McGowan, Owen and Deupree 2019 1

Paper 2 Listening comprehension
Text A
Listen to an excerpt (between 9:36 and 13:26) from this interview with a
journalist who wrote a book on the famous Broadway musical composers,
Rodgers and Hammersmith: www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?
storyId=614469172

1 Look at the statements. Five of them are true. Write the letters in the boxes
provided.

A Rodgers said he ‘put pen to paper’, then he’d walk around and think about
what he wrote.
B Rodgers liked to work in his Manhattan apartment.
C When Rodgers writes, he said, he finds it helpful to have the lyric and the
situation in the play.
D The interview with the journalist takes place in the 1970s.
E ‘Bali Ha’i’ from South Pacific is about a 5-minute lunch.
F Decca Records recorded the original cast and orchestrations from
Oklahoma!.
G Rodgers is known for writing lyrics very quickly.
H Hammerstein’s writing habits were extremely unpredictable.
I Hammerstein would mail his lyrics over to Rodgers.
J The songs from Oklahoma! are still in the Top 40 of today.

English B for the IB Diploma © McGowan, Owen and Deupree 2019 2

Text B
You will hear an excerpt (between 0:13 and 4:28) of an interview with a
professor on the effects of social media on journalism:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfQmH-MBrzc

Answer the following questions.

2 Where does the professor teach?

3 In what two ways has social media changed journalism?

4 What is one lesson professor Spiker tries to teach today’s journalism

students?

5 How was marketing different in the past for journalists?

Tick the correct answer.

6 Why does professor Spiker say social media has turned journalism into ‘a
two-way street'?

a Because they are creating competition.

b Because they are no longer broadcasters of news.

c Because they are finding out how an audience is reacting to

information.

English B for the IB Diploma © McGowan, Owen and Deupree 2019 3

7 How is everyone ‘potentially… a journalist’?

a Everyone is on the scene with their smartphone.

b Everyone writes like a journalist.

c Everyone contributes to stories today.

8 Where is breaking news coming from these days?

a Television

b The web

c Social media

9 What hasn’t social media changed in journalism?

a Journalists’ tricks

b Journalists’ values

c Journalists’ tools

10 What has changed in journalism as far as branding is concerned?

a In the past, news organizations didn’t have a brand.

b Today, individual reporters are the brand.

c In the past, journalists weren’t known.

English B for the IB Diploma © McGowan, Owen and Deupree 2019 4

Text C
You will hear a TED Talk on using data to improve research in medicine:
www.ted.com/talks/anders_ynnerman_visualizing_the_medical_data_explosion/
transcript#t-305923

Match the beginning of the sentence on the left with its correct ending on the
right.

11 It takes about 30 seconds A which is small.

12 That would correspond to B get 24,000 images out of a

about 50 megabytes of data, body.

13 What we need to do is to C and that would correspond

figure out to one terabyte of data

14 just assume that we will be D to go through the whole

collecting data during five machine.
seconds
E a way of looking at the
15 we can, just in a few seconds, things we do want to look
at.

Use between three and five words to complete each of the sentences below.

16 I will start by posing a little bit of a challenge:

______________________________ dealing with data.

17 Let’s go back ______________________________ and see what

happened back then.

18 She’s only two years old, ______________________________.

19 What’s inside _____________________________ is what enables me to

do the things that I’m doing with the medical data.

English B for the IB Diploma © McGowan, Owen and Deupree 2019 5

20 For a few hundred bucks ______________________________ and put

them into your computer.

Paper 2 Reading comprehension

Text A

English B for the IB Diploma © McGowan, Owen and Deupree 2019 6

 Robotic Toy ‘Leka’ Designed for Kids with Autism
By Mindy Weisberger,

Meet Leka, a rolling robot that can be programmed to engage with

children that have developmental disabilities.
The rolling robot BB-8 captivated moviegoers as it helped save the day in the 2016
film ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ – though even the most die-hard fan would
admit that we aren’t likely to see a real-world robot quite like that in the near future.
However, there’s another spherical, programmable, rolling robot currently in
development that’s capable of doing important work to engage children with special
needs, particularly children on the autism spectrum.
Described by its designers as ‘a robotic companion,’ the roly-poly Leka robot is
shaped like a ball, has an endearing ‘face’ that changes expressions, and uses sound,
light and colors to interact with users through customizable games that improve
cognitive and motor skills. Caregivers and educators can program the toy to guide
children with developmental disabilities through a range of activities, helping them
to improve communication and learn to connect with their environment and with
others around them.
For children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), connecting with others and
interpreting social cues can be enormously challenging. ASD describes a collection
of neurodevelopmental disorders relating to communication difficulties and
characterized by repetitive behaviors, according to the National Institutes of Health
(NIH).

English B for the IB Diploma © McGowan, Owen and Deupree 2019 7

 ASD typically manifests in infancy or early childhood and occurs across ethnic
groups, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that it
affects approximately 1 in 68 children. Its causes are unknown, though genetics,
parental age and exposure to certain pesticides and pharmaceuticals have been
suspected to increase a baby’s risk of being born with ASD.

To determine how interactive technology might help children with ASD and other
developmental disabilities, Leka’s creators worked closely with educators, parents
and children to determine their needs, researching in particular the role that robotics
could play.
And during the course of their research, they discovered that children on the autism
spectrum respond especially well to robots, according to Leka CEO and co-founder
Ladislas de Toldi. For those working with children who have ASD, repetition and
predictability are important, de Toldi told Live Science.
‘To see progress, they are required to do the same thing for a long time,’ de Toldi
said. ‘Always doing the same thing can be hard for a parent or caregiver – but Leka
will do the same thing every single time.’
By reliably performing the same actions over and over, a robotic companion like
Leka provides the child with a sense of safety, de Toldi explained.
Leka senses and responds to a child’s participation in games like color identification,
picture matching or hide-and-seek, controlled via Bluetooth and programmed
through an app available for iOS and Android. During gameplay, Leka supplies
positive images and sounds – for instance, showing a smiling face or emitting
laughter – to reward progress and encourage confidence.
The customizability of the games allows caregivers to adjust the level of stimulation
to suit the individual by adding or removing lights, colors or sound displays. Each
game has settings that track a child’s progress over time, and difficulty levels can be
increased as the child progresses. Meanwhile, handling the spherical Leka provides
children with a uniquely tactile interactive experience that they can’t get from a
touch screen.
‘It’s a new way to get kids engaged and motivated,’ de Toldi said.

Mindy Weisberger, Robotic Toy 'Leka' Designed for Kids with Autism, May 13, 2016, © 2019 Live Science
www.livescience.com/54741-leka-robot-for-autistic-kids.html

English B for the IB Diploma © McGowan, Owen and Deupree 2019 8

Tick the correct answer.
1 Why did the author refer to the robot in the Star Wars film?

a Because moviegoers liked it.

b Because nothing like it will be created in the future.

c Because it is similar to one being developed for children.

d Because it was a ‘robotic companion’.

2 Which word does ‘interact’ most nearly mean as it is used in paragraph 3?

a Like

b Communicate

c Copy

d Understand

3 Which of the following is not a possible cause for ASD?

a Ethnicity

b Parental age

c Pharmaceuticals

d Genetics

4 What is it easier for Leka to do than a parent, according to de Toldi?

a Repeat activities

b Be a caregiver

c Be a companion

d Play games

English B for the IB Diploma © McGowan, Owen and Deupree 2019 9

5 How does Leka make a child feel confident?

a By making a child feel safe.

b By removing lights or colours.

c By responding with positive images during games.

d By tracking their progress over time.

Match the beginning of the sentence on the left with its correct ending on the
right.

A closely with educators,

parents and children.
6 Leka is a rolling robot
B that track a child’s progress
over time.

7 The toy can C Leka can be like a friend.

D that allows the child to

make adjustments.
8 Leka’s creators worked
E capable of doing important
work to engage children.
9 By performing the same acts
over and over F Leka provides the child with
a sense of safety.

G guide children through a

10 Each game has settings range of activities.

H create motivation to try new

games.

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11 Which word in paragraph one means ‘admirer’?

12 Which word means ‘especially’ in paragraph 2?

13 Which word means ‘difficult’ in paragraph 4?

14 How many children are affected by ASD?

15 How is Leka controlled to respond to children’s participation in games?

English B for the IB Diploma © McGowan, Owen and Deupree 2019 11

Text B

Ditch The Billboard: Why Social Media Advertising Is More Effective

If you’re still relying exclusively on traditional advertising to market your

company’s products and services, you’re missing out on a something big. Social
media marketing presents a huge opportunity to reach more consumers at a lower
cost. Not only will you reach more consumers, you are able to target the right ones.
At Kingston Webworks, we’re passionate about helping local business thrive by
making sure their message makes it to the right audience. By moving your
advertising away from traditional methods to social media, you can generate a better
return on investment. That’s not to say traditional advertising isn’t effective but
social media advertising can lead to more customers, more sales, and more profit.
Better Opportunities To Nurture Leads
Social media advertising is a much more effective way to nurture leads and
transform prospective customers into loyal ones. This is because social media allows
you to engage and interact with consumers unlike any other advertising platform. By
establishing a two-way relationship between your company and a consumer, you’re
establishing trust which can then present lucrative opportunities.
Social media marketing also allows you to establish your company as an industry
thought leader. Rather than just publishing ads for your products and services, you
can promote things like blogs and free downloadable content. Advertising free
material like blogs, whitepapers, and E-Books provides people with valuable
information and establishes a relationship with your brand. Using an inbound
marketing approach like this is beneficial to your business because you can generate
interest among consumers and then sell them on why they should do business with
your company.

English B for the IB Diploma © McGowan, Owen and Deupree 2019 12

This is something you can’t really do with traditional media. If I see a billboard or
commercial for a product I like, I have to go to that store to purchase it. With social
media advertising, as soon as I see an ad I can click on it to learn more.
Having this ability is a great way to help nurture leads and move them through your
sales funnel.
Save Money Online
Not only does social media present better opportunities to nurture leads, it’s also way
cheaper. Now assuming that with traditional and social media there are additional
costs and time spent to create, develop, and print materials that are relatively similar.
Let’s look at what the cost to reach people is.
According to LinkedIn, you will spend about $57 on direct mail advertising to reach
1000 people. On social media, you can spend $3 to reach that same audience.
You might be wondering how the prices can vary so much. What it comes down to is
it’s just faster and more convenient to advertise online. In just a few clicks you can
have your ad broadcasted out to people. With more traditional print methods like
newspapers, they have to be physically delivered to the consumer which takes time
and has costs for people to do that. With television and radio, there are also spikes
when more consumers are engaged so these companies inflate their prices.
Even if your social media advertising only brings in the same number of sales as
your traditional methods, you’ll still be saving money compared to what that
billboard ad would have cost you.
Media Consumption
It should come as no surprise but more and more people are using technology than
ever before. Mobile usage has skyrocketed and changed the digital landscape
completely. PAYFORT, a company that looks at online usage has said that the
average consumer spends around 6 hours online every day. Of those 6 hours, mobile
usage represents 43% of that. Those numbers also represent a wide age range of
consumers. Not surprisingly, their data saw an increase in consumption time as age
decreases. If the key demographic of your business is 16–24 for example, you need
to be online.
When you compare those numbers to television consumption, you should be
convinced for sure. According to the same study by PAYFORT, average television
consumption is around 2 hours a day. That makes sense though, as streaming
services like Netflix have increased in popularity and more people choose to watch
their favorite television shows online.
When you compare those numbers to television consumption, you should be
convinced for sure. According to the same study by PAYFORT, average television
consumption is around 2 hours a day. That makes sense though, as streaming
services like Netflix have increased in popularity and more people choose to watch
their favorite television shows online.

English B for the IB Diploma © McGowan, Owen and Deupree 2019 13

 Now even though the data has shown that people are engaged more with the internet
than television, you might be wondering where they’re spending their time. Spoiler
Alert! It’s on social media. Research has shown that as social media networks
continue to grow, social media usage now accounts for 1 out of every 3 minutes
spent online. Think about that. If the average consumer spends 6 hours online every
day, 2 of those are on social media. That’s a huge marketing and advertising
opportunity for brands.
Reach The Right Consumers
One of the biggest differences between social media and traditional advertising is the
audience. With traditional media like a bus ad or a television commercial, you don’t
really know who exactly is seeing your ad. A media sales rep will tell you that your
ad will be viewed by 20,000+ people a day but that really doesn’t mean anything. If
you sell snowboards and 80% of the people that see your ad don’t snowboard, you’re
wasting your money.
With social media advertising, you can target the ideal consumer for your business.
Advertising on Facebook is one of the most effective ways to make sure your ad is
seen by your target audience. Facebook ads allow you to filter your audience around
location, age, gender, and language. If you want to get even more specific you can
filter it down to things like relationship status and interests. If your ideal customer is
a female in Kingston, age 16–30 who is interested in snowboarding; Facebook ads
can target them.
It’s not just Facebook though, social media sites like Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn,
Pinterest, and more all offer advertising opportunities to target a specific type of
consumer. Within each of these channels are different kinds of ads for you to
publish.
Receive Measurable Results
Arguably one of the best parts about social media advertising is receiving
measurable results. This means you can see data in real time and take immediate
action, discover trends, and realign campaigns if you have to.
If you use traditional advertising and it doesn’t produce many leads, you’re left
wondering why it didn’t work. The analytics and data you get from social media ads
can show you why your ad wasn’t effective. Maybe the ad generated a lot of clicks
but people left soon after they got to a landing page. This tells you there was
something on the page that didn’t work well.
This kind of insight and data just can’t be determined through traditional ads (unless
you want to stop everyone that drives by your billboard and ask them to complete a
survey).
Data is one of the most important resources a marketer can have. It’s essentially a
report card for your ad. If something isn’t working, the analytics and insights you
can get from your social media ads allow you to readjust campaigns and turn a failed
ad into a success.

Ditch The Billboard: Why Social Media Advertising Is More Effective, Kingston Webworks © 2019
https://www.kingstonwebworks.com/social-media-advertising/

English B for the IB Diploma © McGowan, Owen and Deupree 2019 14

16 Tick each of the following statements that are true according to the article
above.

A Radio advertisements costs less than magazine advertisements.

B Social media advertising will reach a wider audience but at a

greater cost.

C Promoting blogs and E-books in ads builds a relationship

between consumers and a brand.

D Because Netflix has increased TV popularity, advertisers are

targeting television viewers as well.

E Social media allows you to target an audience based on

relationship status and interests.

F LinkedIn spends $57 on direct mail advertising to reach 1000

people.

G Data from social media marketing can tell a company why their
ads weren’t successful.

H People spend 33% of their time on social media when they are
online.

I Mobile usage represents half of the time people spend online.

What are the following words referring to in the text?

17 ones (paragraph 1)

18 this (paragraph 4)

19 it (paragraph 5, sentence 2)

20 they (paragraph 9)

21 their (paragraph 11)

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Answer the following questions.
22 Which form of advertising only costs companies $3 to reach 1000 people?

23 Why do print material advertisements take time to reach people?

24 If a media sales rep tells you your ad will be seen by 20,000+ people, why
‘doesn’t that mean anything?’

25 What does ‘generate’ mean as it is used in paragraph 2?

26 What does ‘skyrocketed’ mean as it is used in paragraph 11?

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