What we work on
- Paper 1 — guided literary analysis. Reading an unseen passage under pressure: finding a line of argument quickly, choosing which features actually repay discussion, and writing to time.
- Paper 2 — comparative essay. Building a genuine comparison rather than two essays side by side, and holding a thesis across the whole answer.
- The Individual Oral. Choosing a global issue that can be sustained for ten minutes, selecting extracts that give you something to say, and speaking without reading aloud from notes.
- The HL Essay. Narrowing a question until it is answerable in 1,500 words, and sustaining formal academic register throughout.
- Close reading as a habit. Annotating a text so that the notes are usable a term later, which is what separates confident candidates from well-read ones.
Why an examiner makes a difference
Assessment criteria are published, but knowing what a marker actually rewards is a different matter. Anna-Vibeke has been an IB examiner and workshop leader in English Literature, has trained teachers in British schools, and served as deputy head of IB at King's College School, Wimbledon.
That means feedback framed in the language of the criteria, and a clear answer to the question students most want answered: what is standing between this essay and the next band.
Extended Essay supervision
The Extended Essay is a 4,000-word independent research paper, submitted in one subject — not to be confused with the 1,500-word HL Essay written for Language A. Students often come having chosen a question far too broad to answer in the space, or a text with almost no critical writing available on it.
Support covers the parts that decide the grade: narrowing the research question until it is genuinely arguable, finding and reading secondary criticism, structuring the argument across 4,000 words, and preparing for the reflection sessions and the viva voce with the school supervisor. Most students want a handful of sessions at the planning stage and a further one or two before the final draft.
How lessons run
Lessons are one-to-one, either online or face-to-face in the Öresund region. A first consultation establishes what the student can already do and what needs to be achieved. From there the route is tailored — whether the aim is significant progress in one term or steady work across the two years of the Diploma.
Where appropriate, homework is assigned between lessons, and parents receive feedback in an agreed format: what we covered, what progress was made, and what comes next.
Who this suits
Students following the IB Diploma at HL or SL, in international schools in Sweden, Denmark, the UK or anywhere the lessons can be held online. It also suits confident readers aiming for a 7 who have stopped improving on their own, and students who write well but cannot yet do it to time.