What happens after IB Exams? (results, universities etc.)

When are my results released?

The IB Coordinator can see the results on July 5. Individual candidates can see the scores at 12:00 GMT on July 6.

This staggered release allows the IB Coordinator to check the results and prepare an appropriate response if there is anything of concern. The IB Coordinator will not respond to any requests to see the results prior to the IB's official release of results to candidates.

How do I get my results from the IB?

Please go to the IB's site http://candidates.ibo.org

You will see a page that looks like this.

You will need the details from the paper that I handed to you right before you left school. I also made you take a picture of this paper so that you would have a copy later.

If you have truly lost this information please email dp.coordinator@icsaddis.org and/or tigist.kassa@icsaddis.org.

What happens after I see the results on the IB's website?

First, the IB's Candidates Results pack answers all of these questions more officially. Please read that document carefully.

Your results/transcript and universities:

If you filled out the Student score release form for Universities form on PowerSchool prior to the deadline, we sent the requests to the IB. Your results will be sent by the IB either in electronic or paper format. If you did not fill in the form on PowerSchool and/or you need to send your results to a different institution AND it is before July 5 of your exam year, please contact the IB Office (see emails above) and your request can be submitted. If it is after the official results have been released on July 5 of your exam year, please go to the IB's results request services page and be prepared to pay 17 USD per transcript request (current as of June 2021).

Institutions that receive results electronically can access them the same day results are released on July 5. Those that received results via mail will do so prior to July 31.

Your results/transcript and an official certificate:

The IB will send your official results certificate and diploma to ICS. We usually get these in mid-September. Once we get them and you can come pick them up then.

Legalization of your results:

If you filled out the University Request form on PowerSchool you had to select Yes or No to having your results go through the legalization process. Like with university results, if you need legalization prior to July 5, your IB Coordinator will put the request in for you. After July 5 go to the results request services page. Note, if you miss the first deadline of June 15 the 167 USD fee (current as of June 2021) goes up by at least 100 USD.

Help! My university says it doesn't have my results! What do I do now?

This situation happens each year. In 2020 and 2021 ICS students had trouble with universities accessing their results in multiple types British universities and both public and private universities in the USA. In most cases this situation is due to admissions representatives not knowing how to access the results. Here is the procedure that has worked:

Confirm your information

Did you give ICS the right information when making your university request? Did ICS enter the correct information into the IB's university system? When a student sends the ICS IB Office a request for help the first thing we do is confirm the information is accurate.

The IB sends results to universities really quickly

As it says above, electronic results are available to universities on 05 July. Here is what the IB said in an email on 27 May 2021 about results release to universities,

All universities that receive IB results in electronic format will be able to download the results on 05 July at 12pm GMT, providing a transcript request has been submitted. All universities that receive results in paper format will be sent the results transcripts by 31 July, with the exception of several countries such as Spain, India, Germany and Sweden where the admissions deadline is much earlier and therefore the results will be sent out earlier to meet these deadlines.

If your university admission representative says it does not have your records, most likely it is due to a lack of knowledge by the admissions representative about how to access the IB results

In the IB's Candidate Results packet it says:

Electronic transcripts

If your IB programme coordinator placed a transcript request on your behalf before the release of results, institutions that have opted to receive transcripts electronically will receive your transcript on the day of results release via a secure website.

The institution’s admissions office has login details that it uses to access the website and download your transcript. Transcripts are not sent to the admissions office via email.

If your transcript was sent electronically and the university informs you that they are unable to access your record, please ensure that you have provided them with the correct information (spelling of your name, date of birth and examination session).

If the subject department at the university has not received your transcript, please contact the institution’s central admissions office.

Basically, the IB is saying that chances are very high that if the information we submitted as a school was correct, they have not made a mistake and it is between you and the university to figure it out.

Bring up the following information when contacting your admissions representative

First, the information listed by the IB above: your name, your birth date and that you are part of the May 2021 examination session. This must be how the IB shares your information with universities. The IB will not share your personal code (abc123) at all and neither should you.

Second, ask them if they have accessed the IB's secure website, IBIS, to download your transcript. These words are really important--if you can get someone to confirm that they have been into the IB's IBIS system and they do not see your name inside the system, then that might be because the IB messed up. Otherwise, it is most likely that the people at your university haven't looked and/or don't know how to look.

Third, remind them that the IB does not email results, it only sends them through IBIS.

Fourth, if you want to be really thorough/detailed in helping your admissions representative understand how it all works here is the IB's publicly available information for universities. This is the IB's university results page and their linked guide for accessing the results.

Calling is better than writing emails, but calling is not always possible

Sending emails to university admissions offices can take a lot of time for them to respond and, as with any written communication, there can be misunderstanding. That is why it is preferable for you to call (even if you have to wait on hold for a long period of time) and try to talk to someone. If you are polite and clear with what you want you should be able to get real/effective help. However, some universities only allow email contact, so you will have to use email.

An email might be something like:

Hi! I don't see my IB results in your system.

OR

Hi! I am responding to your recent email about my IB results.

THEN

I have checked with my IB Office and they have confirmed that they sent in the correct information for the IB to send my IB results to XYZ University. It is my understanding that for universities that receive results electronically, IB does not email results rather it sends them via a secure website called IBIS. The IB states that it releases the electronic results to universities on 05 July. My IB Coordinator has told me that each university has at least one person who is authorized to access the results via the IBIS system. I also believe that to find my results you will need my name [insert name here], birthdate [insert birthdate here] and that I took exam in May [insert year here]. My IB Coordinator also suggested that I share this IB user guide for universities should there be any other questions about how to access my results.

THEN

Can you please use the IB's IBIS system to locate my IB results?

Thank you,

[insert your name here]

Contacting the IB can only be done by your IB Coordinator and only gets limited information

You cannot call the IB. If you do, part of the automated system before getting to a person will be a reminder that only your IBDP Coordinator can talk to the IB. The first thing an IB Answers representative does is confirms the IB Coordinator's identity.

If your efforts to contact the university do not work and/or your admissions representative continues to insist that they do not have the results. I can call the IB about this issue and get confirmation from the IB that a student's transcripts had been sent to the specific university. I can also get the IB to confirm that someone from the specific university had accessed the IB's system, but not specific names or contact information of those university people who have accessed the system. After getting this information I can send an email to your university admissions person informing them of this information and firmly, basically saying, "The results are available to you in the IB's system and someone in your office can get them. Figure it out!"

What if I don't like my results, what can I do?

The short answer: contact your IB Coordinator and College Counselor in order to talk about next steps and if they are appropriate for you based on your post-ICS plans.

The IB has a process call the "Enquiry Upon Results" process. There are multiple types of EURs, but the most commonly used one is what the IB calls a Category 1 re-mark: The re-mark of externally assessed material for an individual candidate. This is when the externally assessed components for a subject are remarked.

Special for 2021: Because exams were cancelled, unless your subject had additional externally assessed components (Group 1 HL Essay, Theatre, and Visual Arts), the only thing that can be remarked in a EUR Category 1 is your IA. Meaning a EUR Category 1 will only apply to your IA which, for many classes, contributed 20-25% of the final IB grade.

There is also a new EUR specific for the 2021 cohort who were not able to take exams. It is called the Student-initiated predicted grade enquiry service. As the name implies, this is an EUR for students to challenge the predicted grades given by the teachers at the school. For more information please read the IB's publication for students and their families, which was released on 22 June 2021. This publication contains the reasoning behind this EUR, the procedure to complete it and the fee associated with it.

Considerations before requesting any EUR:

• Scores may stay the same, go up, or go down.

• The EUR score is considered final and cannot be changed.

• A candidate and their parents must provide written consent for each EUR requested.

• Each EUR may take up to 18 business days to remark.

• The fee for May 2021 is 123USD and must be paid to the ICS cashier prior to the IB Coordinator submitting the EUR request.

• All requests must be made before the IB closes the examination session on September 15.

If you would like to challenge your score through any EUR here are some questions for consideration:

• Is raising this score necessary for your university admission?

• Have you spoken to your subject teacher or IB Coordinator about what the score means in the context of your final IB grade? As in, was the score at the upper/middle/lower end of the mark range? How much will the score have to change to change your final IB grade?

• If it is not necessary for your university admission, what are you hoping to gain with a successful EUR?

  • What happens if the score goes up?

  • What happens if the score goes down?

• Is the possible gain or loss worth the additional expense of an EUR?