Picture this. You walk into the exam room and the invigilator reads out the instructions you have heard many times before. Your stress is either ok or through the roof, but you trust in your abilities – of cramming 300 vocabularies the night before – and stare at the mumble-jumble of foreign language before you.

Everything seems great and you understand most of the text’s requirements. You have a pretty good idea of which writing prompt you will choose. But then it strikes you: the three text types stare blankly back at you just as you stare blankly back at it. Neither of you know what the other wants. Who are you even writing too? What tone do you use? How long have you known this imaginary friend of yours with whom you spent a slightly unrealistic but very globally-mined experience?

Fear no more because you probably came here before your final exam (right?). Below are some tips and tricks to pick the text type of your next writing prompt with examples too. Remember, ‘practice makes improvement’ so be sure to confirm your choices with your teachers, tutors or friends. Everyone can learn, the question is HOW.

J’s Approach to Picking Text Type

• Audience: Consider who is your audience. Is it a person, an organisation, or yourself?
• Requirements: What does the text want you to write about? What is the context of the prompt?
• Elements: Consider the elements of each text type. Through the process of elimination, you will be left with 1-2 ‘appropriate’ text types.

Firstly, let’s understand the importance of text type and the difference between an “appropriate” and “recommended” text types. Your choice of text type affects Criterion C: Conceptual understanding.

An “appropriate text type” is one which is suitable to represent the requirements of the task. Often only one to two of the three provided writing prompts will be an “appropriate text type”. (IB, 2018)

A “recommended text type” is the text type that is the most suitable text type to represent the requirements of the task and is often the text type the IB expects you to choose. The “recommended text type” is also an “appropriate text type”.

Notes regarding which text types are “appropriate” and/or “recommended” will be provided to markers in the markscheme. Note that it is still possible to achieve full marks in criterion C by choosing the “appropriate” but not “recommended” text type should you address all other requirements excellently (but this is up to the marker’s discretion).