All subjects are
assessed using both internal and external assessment, including final exams
given worldwide in May (usually for Northern Hemisphere schools) and in
November (usually for Southern Hemisphere schools). Each exam usually
consists of two or three papers, generally written on successive
days. The different papers may have different forms of questions, or they
may focus on different areas of the subject syllabus. For example, Business
Management HL Paper 1 is divided into two sections, both based on the IBO
prescribed case study issued to candidates several weeks before the
examination. The length of the paper is 2 hours duration, maximum marks is
80 and the paper weightage is 40 % . Paper 2 has six data response
questions, candidate must answer any four. The duration of the paper is
of two and a half hour.
Each individual
paper can take anywhere from 45 minutes to three hours, but usually they are
between one and two hours in duration. Because of the large amount of
subjects being examined in one examination session (of less than a month in
length), students often have to write multiple papers in one day. The
external assessment is assessed by examiners appointed by the IBO.
A common practice by
schools is to hold mock exams, using exams from a previous year's session to
introduce students to the examination process. This is also used to
determine predicted grades required by IBO prior to assessment. Another
common practice is to allow the students a study leave for independent study
without scheduled lesson time.
The nature of the
internal assessment (IA) varies by subject. They may be oral presentations
(used in languages), practical work (in experimental sciences), or written
works to be done at home. Internal assessment accounts for 20 to 50 percent
of the mark awarded for each subject and is marked by a teacher in the
school. A sample of at least five per subject at each level will also be
graded by a moderator appointed by the IBO, in a process called external
moderation of internal assessment.
The marks collected
from the internal and external moderators are again moderated on a world
wide scale. The results of every particular year determine the
grade-boundaries of that year. Therefore the effects of very easy or very
difficult exams are taken into account, however, very good year groups might
receive lower marks than expected as the boundaries are drawn up, and
vice-versa, less successful year groups may receive higher marks than
expected