What Is International Baccalaureate Doing For Graduates Of May 2023?

International Baccalaureate (IB) is going beyond its comfort zone to compensate for COVID-19. The IB students who were supposed to graduate this May will be an exception!

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With the cancellation of the exams, the International Baccalaureate has decided to change its way of awarding grades. Known for its rigorous grading system, IB has agreed to make performance in Internal Assessments (IAs) the foundation of its grading process for the graduates of May 2020.

However, it is little known that IB’s evaluation is not only limited to the IAs. Earlier, IB used to ask all the affiliated schools to send in a few samples for moderation purposes. In the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, it will scrutinize all of the individual school data. This means instead of taking samples from the assessments usually marked internally by teachers, IB examiners will check all the work done by every student to award individual grade points. The evaluation of the students will also include their performance in the practice exams held over two years. Predicted grades will be significantly more critical for the students graduating in May 2020. The final grades the students get will reflect their expected grades to no small extent. It only seems fair as predicated grades were the last IB-related examination performance that the students demonstrated.

Although IB is getting quite flexible given the current circumstances, it has abstained from changing the assignment criteria for all coursework. Nor will it reduce the workload of the candidates.

Note: Coursework includes Internal Assessments, Group projects, and any other assignments you must submit for your IB Diploma.

Everything is uncertain these days. While most schools and colleges are shutting down, some regions are returning on track. This has made some institutes optimistic and hopes the situation will be under control by May. Does that mean the May examinations can still occur if your school belongs to one of the recovering areas? Fortunately not. Since IB makes it a point to have a global standard for evaluating all of its students, it has agreed that no school will be conducting exams for May 2020, regardless of the aftermath of this pandemic.

Opting for different evaluation systems means uncertainty when publishing the final grades. It is assumed that since IB has never canceled their examination before, it may take them longer than usual to come up with the final results. It all depends on how quickly all the IB schools across the globe will submit the predicted grades and the coursework required by IB to award grades. As far as IB’s official take is concerned, the organization is determined to release the rates by July 5, 2020, to the universities. They will be available to the students on July 6!

COVID-19 is an unprecedented phenomenon that changed a lot of things around the world. Those who got an excellent predicted grade and performed well in their Internal Assessments must feel relieved! The rest who stumbled along their way to completing their course and were looking forward to the canceled exams as an opportunity to improve their IB score; might be in despair. It is a given fact that some students perform better under exam conditions than in their coursework. Considering this, IB has decided to do some serious data analysis. They will look for trends for each student. If the pattern suggests that a student has shown significantly better performance in the examination than in the coursework, then the final grade awarded will reflect the same. To do this, IB has announced that they will look closely at the relationship between coursework marks, predicted rates, and the score awarded in mock exams about that subject.

Moreover, you can always apply for an Enquiry Upon Results (EUR) if you are unhappy with your results. This also allows the students to retake their exams if the EUR does not play in their favor. The important thing is to ensure you complete all your coursework in due time, that is, before the end of your academic year. Suppose you need help completing the necessary coursework because of the closure of your school. In that case, we suggest you contact your DP coordinator as soon as possible. At the same time, you need to submit all your coursework before the deadline allotted by your school; your school needs to upload all the submitted coursework before the deadline of April 20, 2020, as granted by International Baccalaureate Organisation. Any delay in doing so might push the release date of grades beyond July 5, 2020.

As of now, COVID-19 has had no impact on the November 2020 exams. The exams will take place as planned. Anyone who wishes to take the November 2020 exam in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis might still be able to register. Even though the deadline has been officially closed, IB is considering reopening registration. You should be aware that opting to take the November exam might have you change your college plans. While the IBO is in constant touch with universities all across the globe, deferring to the November exam may mean putting off college for a few months!

This unforeseen crisis has cut short the IB experience for everyone. Many students consider it only fair to have their fees refunded. IB is aware of this common opinion and meditates on the same. There is a high possibility that some compensation might be provided to all those affected, but nothing is sure. For now, the organization has kept providing grades to all of its students.

If you are one of those who applied for an examination retake in May 2020, you will still be able to improve your grade. However, since the examinations have been canceled, you must resubmit your coursework and assignment. It should be noted that your coursework and projects of the previous year are not valid, and IB will not consider them for reevaluating your grade. 

We at Nail IB want to be your virtual companion that helps you hustle through your diploma. Our platform is a one-stop website for students providing them with the right resources and all the IB-related news at the right time. Did you hear about the regulation changes IBO introduced in subject Group 5?

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