Exams & IB results

Study leave

The G12 will receive about 2 weeks of study leave before the IB exams start in May.  The reason for the study leave is to give the students to freedom to study however the students feel that they can study most effectively. There will be teacher-led review sessions which are optional for the students as well as appointment times for the students to meet with their teachers.

Students may be required to be in school during study leave due to evidence that they might not pass the IB Diploma or to make up for excessive absences, for instance. This decision will be made by the Division Lead  and counsellor. 

IB Exams

IB exams occur in May of grade 12, usually beginning the first Monday in May and ending on the third Friday. The IBO sets the days and start times for the exams. The IB schedule of exams is usually available in May of grade 11 or August of grade 12. Here it is for 2025. We will make the detailed exam schedule available in late March or early April. 

HS students will have a schedule set by the teachers for their final assessments. In some cases, it will mirror the IB student schedule; in other cases, those assessments might happen earlier.

The IBO is very specific about the conditions under which the exams must be given. These will be reviewed with all students.

Sending results to universities

The IB will send results to up to six institutions without any fee. (UCAS counts as one institution.) The Division Lead submits these requests, which need to be made before study leave begins.

After results are released, students need to make the request for results to be sent to universities themselves through the IBO website.

Other provisions for results to be sent to universities need to be made by email.

Graduation

The graduation ceremony is usually the first Saturday in June. All are welcome to attend. This is a celebration of the completion of the ISH diploma.

The day before graduation, students must attend the graduation practice. Besides preparing for the graduation, important information is provided for graduates.

Receiving exam results

All IB students will receive a letter with their user number and PIN. (These are also available on ManageBac.) Results are available on 6 July at 12:30 GMT via https://candidates.ibo.org.

If you have any questions or concerns about universities, remarks or anything (see below) or anything else to do with the results, email Mr Kilmer at markk@ishelsinki.fi.

Re-marks

After receiving results, you can ask for a remark of externally assessed work (not IAs). Grades can be raised or lowered after a re-mark, so usually re-marks are only a good idea when the mark is close to the top end of a grade boundary.

Requests for re-marks need to be made by email to Mr Kilmer before 10 September. I will require a written statement in the email that you understand that a grade might be lowered by a re-mark.

Equanimity and stress