IBEC Assessment & Evaluation in IB Context 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is the IB Extended Essay (EE) primarily assessed on?
- Creativity and artistic originality
- A student's ability to engage in independent research and scholarly writing (Correct answer)
- Knowledge of IB subject content across all six DP subject groups
- The quality of the student's oral defense before a panel
Correct answer: A student's ability to engage in independent research and scholarly writing
The EE assesses a student's capacity to conduct independent research, develop a research question, and communicate findings in an academic essay of up to 4,000 words.
Question 2: In DP assessment, what happens if a student does not submit their Internal Assessment component?
- The student receives zero for that component but can still pass the course
- The student is awarded a grade based solely on external exam performance
- The student receives an N (no grade) and cannot be awarded the DP diploma (Correct answer)
- The school submits a predicted grade on the student's behalf
Correct answer: The student receives an N (no grade) and cannot be awarded the DP diploma
Failure to submit a required IA results in an N grade for that subject, which means the student cannot receive the IB Diploma.
Question 3: What does a 'predicted grade' represent in IB assessment?
- The grade a student received on their most recent mock examination
- A teacher's professional estimate of the grade a student will achieve in final DP assessments (Correct answer)
- The average of all internal assessment scores submitted to the IB
- A computer-generated forecast based on past cohort performance
Correct answer: A teacher's professional estimate of the grade a student will achieve in final DP assessments
Predicted grades are teacher estimates of a student's likely final DP grade, used primarily by universities for conditional offers before results are released.
Question 4: Which IB document outlines the assessment objectives that all tasks in a DP subject must address?
- The IB Learner Profile
- The subject guide (Correct answer)
- The Theory of Knowledge guide
- The Programme standards and practices document
Correct answer: The subject guide
Each DP subject guide specifies the assessment objectives—the skills and knowledge students are expected to demonstrate—that all assessments are designed to measure.
Question 5: In IB assessment, what is the significance of 'grade boundaries' being set after the examination?
- It allows the IB to adjust boundaries based on school performance
- It ensures standards are maintained even if one exam session's papers were harder or easier than usual (Correct answer)
- It gives teachers time to appeal before boundaries are finalized
- It allows students to know the boundaries before sitting the exam
Correct answer: It ensures standards are maintained even if one exam session's papers were harder or easier than usual
Post-exam grade boundary setting allows the IB to account for variations in exam difficulty between sessions, ensuring a grade 5 this year means the same as a grade 5 in previous years.
Question 6: A new IB teacher is designing a MYP unit assessment. She should align her task directly to which documents?
- The IB Learner Profile attributes and ATL skills only
- The MYP subject guide's assessment criteria and the unit's statement of inquiry (Correct answer)
- The DP assessment objectives to prepare students for the Diploma
- National curriculum standards for her country
Correct answer: The MYP subject guide's assessment criteria and the unit's statement of inquiry
MYP assessments must be aligned to the published MYP assessment criteria for the subject and should connect meaningfully to the unit's statement of inquiry.
Question 7: Which of the following best illustrates the IB principle of 'assessment FOR learning' rather than 'assessment OF learning'?
- Administering a final DP examination at the end of the two-year course
- Using quiz results to identify gaps and adjust teaching before the next unit (Correct answer)
- Submitting IA scores to the IB at the end of the course
- Awarding final grades at the end of a semester
Correct answer: Using quiz results to identify gaps and adjust teaching before the next unit
Assessment for learning uses data from assessments to inform instructional decisions and provide targeted feedback during the learning process, not just to measure final achievement.
IBEC Assessment & Evaluation in IB Context 5
What is the IB Extended Essay (EE) primarily assessed on?