It’s important for students and their parents to note that from time to time, the grades that appear in their Semester 2 report may differ from the IB-validated grade that appears on their MYP Record of Achievement. According to IB guidelines, the grades that appear on a school report can only reflect work done in that time period, i.e. Semester 2. However the grades the IB-validates must be based on all work completed in both Semesters 1 and 2.
There are two major reasons as to why these may differ. First relates to the work students have completed across the year. The second is related to the IB’s own grading processes.
1. Work completed over the course of the year
These variations in grades are most common in modular subjects, such as Sciences, Physical and Health Education, and Individuals and Societies. This is also the case for project-based courses, such as Design and the Arts Group of subjects. The nature of these courses means a student could find their strengths in certain areas of the subject but be relatively weaker in another. For example, a Sciences student may perform strongly in Semester 1’s Chemistry unit but performed relatively poorly in Semester 2’s Biology unit. This means that the Semester 2 Science results may appear lower than the overall grade the IB awards for the MYP Record of Achievement.
2. The IB’s moderation process
The IB’s grade award processes are known as moderation. Moderation is a two-part process. Part one involves all Year 11 teachers submitting samples of student work, assessment tasks and curriculum planning documents to the IB in March. Based on the IB’s assessment of our curriculum and assessment documents, the IB may decide to impose a positive or negative moderating factor on a student’s final grades. Part two involves the uploading of a students grades, based on all Year 11 work, to the IB. Depending upon the IB’s decision to impose moderating factors, a student’s MYP Record of Achievement grades may be adjusted.
The IB releases MYP results in September and we will inform all students of their results as soon as we have the obtained these.