Tips on how to achieve top marks in your PP report

(source: Teacher support Material and Examiners Report from the IB OCC)

Structure all sections carefully to avoid repetition. The word limit of 3500 words maximum does not allow for much overlap. Use words wisely.

How to achieve the highest levels in criterion A:

The goal must be very clearly stated. This is best done in its own paragraph, not hidden in the middle of one. You can talk about the evolution of your goal but make sure that the person reading your report is not hunting around trying to find the actual goal. “Define” means to give the precise meaning of something so make sure the goal contains clarifying statements if anything is unclear. JUSTIFY (give evidence and valid reasons) why this project is ‘highly challenging’ for you. Explain why you chose this project. Where does your personal interest come from? Why is it important to you? Talk about the global context in this part of your report. How does it guide your research and investigation in a meaningful way? Why did you choose to focus your report this way? You need to be very detailed and specific about what you already know about every aspect of your proposed goal. Give examples to help. It needs to be clear that your idea stems from personal interest, but also that there is some room for growth in terms of your understanding of the topic. Your prior learning MUST include examples of things you learnt in school subjects. In order to demonstrate research skills you need to: - have a complete bibliography that shows you have used a wide variety of sources - have in-text references where appropriate (especially chapter D) - write a detailed evaluation of some of the sources you used (as seen in the research template which was part of your October task).

Below you will find some possible examples which you can add in the appendix for evidence:

A(i) defining goal

Brainstorms, iterative or annotated versions of the goal

A(ii) prior learning

Textbook excerpts, formula sheets, notes, summaries or documents from other projects, qualifications, pictures of you in an activity

A(iii) research skills

Search strategies, notes from reading, interview protocols, OPVL evaluations, analysis of existing products/solutions, data collection and analysis, resource summaries

How to achieve the highest levels in criterion B:

The criteria will be used to self-assess the extent to which you achieved your goal later in the project. They should therefore reflect all the elements of the goal. It is best to show that your have received tips from a real-life expert to decide what an ‘excellent’ outcome or product should be. If that is not the case, how did your other research "inform" the criteria? If the project has more than 1 aspect to the goal (for example to learn something and then to perform), there may be separate criteria for the separate parts. Make sure to connect those criteria to the Global context and describe the development of them in the text. The planning chapter must have two parts- 1.) creating dates and deadlines in forward planning and an actual description of the process. The plan should have been devised at the start of the process and should include information about any changes that were necessary along the way, with reasoning. This can then also be used as evidence of your self-management skills in a few sentences in the body of your report, or included as an extract in the appendices. You can achieve a high level for your self-management skills by reflecting honestly on your ability to manage yourself – not just by meeting all the deadlines. It does not matter if your plan changes – the important thing is to reflect concisely on why it changed and how you used your self-management skills to adjust your planning. Another aspect of self-management skills is the managing of your state of mind-your affective skills. How did you overcome distractions, keep your motivation, how did you deal with setbacks or failure? Both parts must be evidenced!

Some examples:

B(i) criteria for success

Research into aspects of quality for the product/outcome, annotated models

B(ii) plan and record of the development process

Planning, execution and necessary adjustments to the original plan

To-do lists, schedules, planning tables, Gantt chart, work breakdown calendar, benchmark data, progress notes

B(iii) self-management skills

First attempts, flops, partial successes, practice logs/notes

How to achieve the highest levels in criterion C:

You have already provided evidence of your product or outcome on Managebac. You do not need to write a detailed assessment of its quality against your assessment criteria yet – that is in the next section. But you might want to make a statement about your overall feeling in relation to its quality. Judge it by looking again at what your goal and the Global Context was. Are you please with how it turned out? What might you do differently if you did it again? Evaluate your thinking skills directly – write a few paragraphs giving examples of when you demonstrated excellent thinking skills. Put evidence for your thinking skills (eg shown in your journal) in the appendices if necessary, but mention this evidence in the text. To reach the highest achievement levels you need to ensure that you specifically analyse and evaluate your creative and critical thinking to complete the project as well as the transfer of learning to generate new ideas or solve problems. Evaluate your communication and social skills directly - write a few paragraphs giving examples of when you demonstrated excellent communication and social skills. Again, put additional evidence in the appendices if necessary (eg emails, feedback, interview notes, etc.)

Some examples:

C(ii) thinking skills

Troubleshooting, problem analysis, evaluation of multiple possible solutions, explorations of multiple perspectives, guesses/predictions, careful observations, concept maps, visual thinking strategies, mind-mapping, brainstorms, trends, data interpretation

C(iii) communication skills

Reading notes, feedback and actions taken in response, graphic organizers, communication plans, letters/emails/multimodal texts developed to support or share the project

C(iii) social skills

Reflections on interactions with supervisor, peer feedback, social media interactions, records of negotiation, leadership, active listening, conflict resolution or self-advocacy

How to achieve the highest levels in criterion D:

Use your own assessment criteria (rubric) and be honest about the extent to which you achieved each of the strands. Give a detailed explanation and analysis of each and reflect honestly on your product. This criterion measures your ability to EVALUATE in an unbiased manner—not justify the grade you would like to score. Include feedback from others about the quality of your product/outcome if you can. Did you do a survey or a test to find out what people thought? Reflect back on your previous knowledge and describe and explain how your knowledge and understanding of the topic you researched has deepened. What did you think then and what do you think now. Why has it changed? Reflect on the global context. To what extent do you have a deeper appreciation of it now? How did it shape your project? Did your understanding develop throughout the process? Choose specific traits of the learner profile and reflect- What have you learnt about yourself? It is VITAL that you give specific examples and evidence where possible to backup or demonstrate points that you are making. Make this section detailed, thoughtful, reflective and specific –without getting flowery. Use the appendices to show specific evidence. Refer to the appendices in the body of the report.