Purpose
Internal assessment is an integral part of the course and is compulsory for both SL and HL students. It enables students to demonstrate the application of their skills and knowledge, and to pursue their personal interests, without the time limitations and other constraints that are associated with written examinations. The internal assessment should, as far as possible, be woven into normal classroom teaching and not be a separate activity conducted after a course has been taught.
The internal assessment requirements at SL and at HL are different for the business management course. The SL internal assessment is a written commentary and the HL internal assessment is a research project.
Internal Assessment JMC.pptxGuidance and authenticity
The written commentary (SL) and research project (HL) submitted for internal assessment must be the students’ own work. However, it is not the intention that students should decide upon a title or topic and be left to work on the internal assessment component without any further support from the teacher. The teacher should play an important role during both the planning stage and the period when the student is working on the internally assessed work. It is the responsibility of the teacher to ensure that students are familiar with:
• the requirements of the type of work to be internally assessed
• the assessment criteria; students must understand that the work submitted for assessment must address these criteria effectively.
Teachers and students must discuss the internally assessed work. Students should be encouraged to initiate discussions with the teacher to obtain advice and information, and students must not be penalized for seeking guidance. As part of the learning process, teachers should read and give advice to students on one draft of the work. The teacher should provide oral or written advice on how the work could be improved, but must not edit the draft. The next version handed to the teacher must be the final version for submission.
It is the responsibility of teachers to ensure that all students understand the basic meaning and significance of concepts that relate to academic honesty, especially authenticity and intellectual property. Teachers must ensure that all student work for assessment is prepared according to the requirements and must explain clearly to students that the internally assessed work must be entirely their own. Where collaboration between students is permitted, it must be clear to all students what the difference is between collaboration and collusion.
All work submitted to the IB for moderation or assessment must be authenticated by a teacher, and must not include any known instances of suspected or confirmed malpractice. Each student must confirm that the work is his or her authentic work and constitutes the final version of that work. Once a student has officially submitted the final version of the work it cannot be retracted. The requirement to confirm the authenticity of work applies to the work of all students, not just the sample work that will be submitted to the IB for the purpose of moderation. For further details refer to the IB publication Academic honesty, The Diploma Programme: From principles into practice and the relevant articles in the General regulations: Diploma Programme.
Authenticity may be checked by discussion with the student on the content of the work, and scrutiny of one or more of the following:
- the student’s initial proposal
- the first draft of the written work
- the references cited
- the style of writing compared with work known to be that of the student
- the analysis of the work by a web-based plagiarism detection service such as turnitin.com.
The same piece of work cannot be submitted to meet the requirements of both the internal assessment and the extended essay.
Time allocation
Internal assessment is an integral part of the business management course, contributing 25% to the final assessment in the SL and the HL courses. This weighting should be reflected in the time that is allocated to teaching the knowledge, skills and understanding required to undertake the work, as well as the total time allocated to carry out the work.
It is recommended that a total of approximately 15 hours (SL) and 30 hours (HL) of teaching time should be allocated to the work. This should include:
- time for the teacher to explain to students the requirements of the internal assessment
- class time for students to work on the internal assessment component and ask questions
- time for consultation between the teacher and each student
- time to review and monitor progress, and to check authenticity.
Requirements and recommendations
It is important for the integrity of the moderation process that the internal assessment by the teacher is based on the same evidence as that available to the moderator. When there is more than one teacher teaching students in this component, internal standardization must take place.
Grade bands - May 2018 exams
