What to Know About COVID-19 Changes to This Year’s IB Exams
In an unprecedented decision, the International Baccalaureate (or IB) recently announced that it will not be administering May 2020 exams for students, and that students will instead be assessed based on their coursework and predictive analyses.
This came as a surprise to many students, particularly as other high school programs like the AP have announced plans to move to an online, at-home assessment. The IB’s decision has left many students and parents with a number of questions. You can review the complete Q&A of COVID-19-related changes to the IB program here, or review several of the most relevant highlights below:
How will IB scoring work?
The IB plans to score diploma, Career-Related Programme, and course certificate students according to their coursework and internal assessments. These grades will follow the normal scales, and will count toward diplomas and certificates in exactly the same manner. Students who are not constrained by university application deadlines have the option to defer to November’s session to formally sit for the exam, so long as that test is available.
The upside
As with any of the recent changes made by examination bodies, the IB has reiterated that the decision to cancel exams and take on a new grading system was made with students in mind. This particular decision to shift to coursework-based evaluation was, according to the IB, based on these factors:
Given the international reach of IB classes, it would be impossible to ensure universal access to the tools and processes needed to fairly administer an online option.
Infrastructure is not currently in place to provide a reliable rescheduling option to candidates worldwide.
Students are already experiencing higher-than-normal levels of stress and adjustment to uncertainty. Even if an online or rescheduled option were feasible, concern would remain that students are not necessarily in a position to demonstrate their full potential in an exam setting.
So—the intention behind this decision is to allow students to use their success in coursework thus far to reflect their learning and capabilities without adding undue burden to educators and test candidates. Coursework will now (generally) be externally graded to ensure consistency, and predictive analyses will be put into play to determine final grades.
This change should offer students the ability to reset and focus their efforts on managing the unexpected changes to their day-to-day lives, as well as college planning and preparation for standardized exams on the horizon.
The downside
Some students do flourish under testing conditions, and this change of format eliminates that possibility for students who have been rigorously preparing for their upcoming exams. This announcement also came at a point in time when all internal assessments were near or past due, with no option to resubmit internal assessments given the change.
That said, IB has taken measures to mitigate the potential negatives for students with the predictive analyses mentioned above, though it is unclear precisely how that data will be utilized. Additionally, appeals and retakes are in play as per usual. Students looking to use this testing session to improve past exam marks without new submitted work will, unfortunately, no longer have this option. They can, however, submit new work up until the May 4 deadline.
While questions will continue to arise (particularly about adjustments for students in exceptional circumstances), the message from the IB has been consistent: the time your student spent preparing for exams and completing coursework will be illustrated in the evaluation methods used. As long as colleges and universities are in agreement with this message, students should find that this change is unlikely to reflect negatively on their hard work and accomplishments.