IB oral practice: IO, TOK-style questions and command terms
Practise the parts of the IB that you have to say out loud. Set a 10-minute timer for an individual oral run-through, answer teacher-style follow-up questions in a minute each, or argue a TOK-style knowledge question. Your browser reads each question aloud and records your answer on your device only, so you can listen back with an IB-style checklist.
Our own practice questions, not taken from IB papers or guides. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the International Baccalaureate. Your teacher's guidance and the subject guide come first.
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The individual oral in one paragraph
In the current Language A courses (literature, and language and literature), the IO is generally a 15-minute oral: around 10 minutes in which you examine how a global issue is presented in an extract from one work or text and one from another, then around 5 minutes of questions from your teacher. It's internally assessed. The exact rules and criteria are in your teacher's copy of the subject guide; the IB's public course pages are on ibo.org.
Question sets
IO practice: global issue run-through (set 10 minutes)
- Introduce your global issue in one or two sentences, then say why these two works or texts show it in different ways.
- Run through your whole oral: your first extract, your second extract, then what the comparison shows about the global issue.
- Spend two minutes on just one extract: choose three precise details and explain how each shapes the reader's view of your global issue.
- Explain how the authors' choices of form (poem, novel, play, advert, speech) change how the global issue reaches the audience.
- Talk about the context of each work: how might a reader in a different time or place see your global issue differently?
- Give your conclusion: what do the two works, taken together, suggest about the global issue that neither shows alone?
IO: teacher-style follow-up questions (1 minute each)
- You mentioned a key image earlier. Can you say more about why the writer chose it?
- Is there a different way to read your first extract that would weaken your argument?
- How does the rest of the work, beyond your extract, support what you said?
- Why did you pair these two works rather than others you've studied?
- Which of your two works presents the global issue more convincingly, and why?
- How would a reader who disagrees with the writer's view respond to this extract?
- Can you give a precise quotation that supports that point?
- What did you notice about the ending of the work that connects to your global issue?
TOK-style knowledge questions (argue both sides)
General knowledge questions for practising TOK-style reasoning out loud. For your essay, use your teacher's copy of the prescribed titles and our TOK May 2027 question deck.
- Can we know something that we cannot put into words? Use one example from an area of knowledge.
- Is a widely agreed belief more likely to be true than a belief held by one expert?
- Does knowing how a piece of knowledge was produced change how much you should trust it?
- Can an area of knowledge make progress if it never discards old ideas?
- Should knowledge that could cause harm be withheld? Who should decide?
- Is it possible to be objective about your own culture?
- How do the methods of the natural sciences and of history differ in what counts as evidence?
- Does technology change what it means to "know" something, or only how quickly we can look it up?
Exam revision out loud: command terms (any IB subject)
IB exams are written, but saying an answer out loud first is a quick way to find out whether you can actually do what the command term asks.
- Pick a topic you're revising. "Explain" it: give the reasons or causes, not just a description.
- Pick a key idea from your course and "evaluate" it: strengths, limitations, and your judgement.
- "To what extent" is your most-studied theory or model useful? Give both sides and a conclusion.
- "Compare and contrast" two cases, texts or examples from your course.
- "Discuss" a debate in your subject: give the main positions and the evidence for each.
- Pick a diagram, graph or experiment from your course and "analyse" it out loud.
- "Justify" a decision or interpretation from your course with evidence.
- Say what each command term (describe, explain, analyse, evaluate) would need for the same topic.
A 3-day IO routine
- Day 1: one full 10-minute run-through, recorded. Listen back with the checklist and note the two weakest moments.
- Day 2: five follow-up questions, one minute each. Then re-record only the weakest section from day 1.
- Day 3: a fresh full run-through without notes. Compare it with day 1.
Spacing the practice over separate days usually makes it stick better than one long evening (Cepeda et al., 2006). For written exams, combine this with blurting and the exam countdown. More for IB students: IB students and AI: TOK, EE and IA.
Sources (checked Oct 2026): IB: Language A literature · IB: AI in learning, teaching and assessment. Ask Poppy facts are from the current app (version 1.8.3) and its App Store listing. US prices; they vary by country and platform. Spot something out of date? Email [email protected].
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Questions
How long is the IB English individual oral?
In the current IB Language A courses, the individual oral is generally 15 minutes: about 10 minutes of you speaking about a global issue in two works or texts, then about 5 minutes of questions from your teacher. Check the details in your teacher's copy of the subject guide, as rules can change.
Can I use AI to prepare for my IO?
Follow your school's and the IB's academic integrity rules. Practising speaking and being questioned is a normal part of preparation; anything AI writes for you is not your own work. These questions don't give you content: they make you say your own analysis out loud.
Are these real IB questions?
No. All questions here are our own practice prompts in a general IB style. They are not taken from IB papers or the subject guide, and we are not affiliated with or endorsed by the International Baccalaureate.
How should I practise the IO with this tool?
Set the answer time to 10 minutes and the set to IO practice. Record your full oral once, listen back with the checklist, then switch to "teacher follow-up questions" with a 1-minute limit to practise the last five minutes.