What literary features in this passage from Othello show the themes found throughout the play? Annotate the poem and write a 15 minute oral presentation in 20 minutes.

This question was just one of a variety that senior Jenna Balicki had to answer as a part of her Individual Oral Commentary, or IOC exam. Balicki took her IOC during the afternoon on Jan. 12. Students began taking the IOC exams shortly after returning from Winter Break.

Students who take IB English their senior year are required to take the IOC Exam as part of the requirement for the certificate in the class. The student walks into a private room supervised by a teacher. They randomly choose one of many folders that contain a passage from one of the books or poems that are a part of the IB curriculum. The student is given 20 minutes to prepare their speaking part. They then give a 15-minute oral presentation to an English teacher, part of which includes follow-up questions from the teacher.

“There were some spots where I lost my train of thought or made a bad transition so there were some awkward pauses,” Balicki said. “I also spoke fairly quickly, so I think it would have been better if I slowed down.”

“I wasn’t really that nervous during the actual speaking part,” Balicki said. “I had prepared as best I could for it and I basically just started talking. The worst part about the IOC is walking in there and picking your passage, once you get it there is nothing you can do but go with it.”

Balicki felt that she did a decent job on her IOC. She spoke for 10 minutes before English teacher Samantha Spinney began asking questions.

Senior Josh Sarker took his IOC on Jan. 13 in the morning. He chose the poem “Cut”, by Sylvia Plath.

“They give you 20 minutes to annotate the passage or poem,” Sarker said.“You have to come up with a thesis and then talk about the poem or passage and try to back up your thesis with examples from the text.”

Sarker felt he did well on the IOC. He felt his thesis was pretty good and believes he did well backing up his thesis through the text.

“I felt pretty good while taking it,” Sarker said. “It was before [the IOC] that I felt really nervous.”

“If I could take it again, I think I would have touched a little more on the imagery within the poem and tried to explain the allusions a little better than I did,” said Sarker. “But other than that, I think I was on point.”