| Subject | Grade | Raw Mark | Moderated Mark | Component |
| English A1 HL |
6 |
26 |
23 |
Internal Assessment |
|
5 |
14 |
Paper One | ||
|
7 |
20 |
Paper Two | ||
|
7 |
37 |
World Literature | ||
| French B SL |
6 |
24 |
22 |
Internal Assessment |
|
6 |
31 |
Paper One | ||
|
6 |
23 |
Paper Two | ||
| History EE |
A |
29 |
Extended Essay | |
| History of the Americas HL |
7 |
18 |
19 |
Internal Assessment |
|
6 |
17 |
Paper One | ||
|
4 |
24 |
Paper Three | ||
|
4 |
17 |
Paper Two | ||
| Chemistry HL |
6 |
31 |
Paper One (MCQ) | |
|
6 |
30 |
Paper Three | ||
|
5 |
48 |
Paper Two | ||
|
7 |
39 |
39 |
Practical Work | |
| Biology SL |
7 |
30 |
Paper 1 (MCQ) | |
|
7 |
32 |
Paper Three | ||
|
7 |
41 |
Paper Two | ||
|
7 |
46 |
46 |
Practical Work | |
| Mathematics SL |
7 |
78 |
Paper One | |
|
7 |
75 |
Paper Two | ||
|
7 |
39 |
37 |
Portfolio | |
| Theory of Knowledge |
B |
16 |
16 |
Presentation Work |
|
B |
23 |
Theory of Knowledge Title |
Let me quickly explain the mark boundaries to you: for each internal assessment and test in each subject, a mark is awarded (of course). The International Baccalaureate then does some kind of crazy statistical analysis to determine the optimal mark breakdowns for each component and overall grade, which lead to scaling factors. Scaling factors are what you multiply each component mark by in order to get a final percentage grade for the subject. The IB then uses this final percentage grade to award you a grade from 1 to 7.
If you calculated the final percentage grade for a certain subject (with the scaling factors), then you could potentially determine your likelihood of getting a positive remark for the subject. If it were just a percent or two off from the next grade, then you would likely have a high chance of getting the mark raised (and your money back). If you weren’t, then you’d probably be better off doing a retake of the exams in question, because it would be highly unlikely that your mark would be changed.
The nice table above are my mark boundaries for my grades in the May 2010 examination session. This is an example of what you can get from your IB coordinator. You won’t be able to access this from IBIS (IB Information Services), so make sure you get a print out of this from your coordinator before you waste a lot of money on retakes or remarks.
I had asked my IB coordinator for a component breakdown of my IB grades to see which papers I had trouble with, and to determine the effect of internal assessment moderation on my marks. I had been hoping for marks which were eligible for remarks to boost my IB results, but alas it would appear that I was unsuccessful, judging by the mark boundaries released by Sevenoaks. Although I am a TZ1 student, the mark boundaries published by Sevenoaks are still fairly similar to the TZ1 ones even though they were determined from TZ2 results. Unfortunately, not even my coordinator had TZ1 mark boundaries, so I had no choice but to use the TZ2 one.
In my case, it would appear that I was off by more than a couple percent in each grade, which would make the likelihood of a successful remark very unlikely. Looks like I’ll be stuck with 665 HLs for the rest of my life… unless I do retakes. 
On the bright side, it would appear that unlike most people, most of my internal assessments were not moderated down. For many people, a major cause of lower-than-expected grades is internal assessments which have been moderated too far down. Unfortunately, I do not believe a remark by the IB would involve a remark of your Internal Assessments. This is why you must keep your teachers accountable; if they give you a mark too high or low, then your IB mark will be drastically affected for the worse (or better if you are extremely lucky).
Any queries about mark breakdowns and remarks? Leave a comment!
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Hi there,
I’ve read through your article and have found it to be very informative. I thank you for that.
- I am in a quandary about what to do.
Every single one of my A.I’s/ courseworks had been marked down except for Business & management and Geography.
i.e. english world lit’s from a predicted 33/40 – to grades that = 4′s.
My EE predicted A. (30/36) – I got a B
My predicted TOK essay (30) and presentation (18)…I ended up getting a C.
My Biology Ai’s from 39/48 (7) I got 5′s.
….. is there anything that can be done? (holding teachers accountable what do you mean?)
and additionally, I want to resit several of my exams
heres what I got:
Highers Level:
A1 English: 5
Geography: 6
Biology:4
Standard Level:
Businesss and Management:5
Maths studies:5
Spanish Ab initio:4
E.E predicted A. Result: B
T.O.K predicted A. Result: C
Total Points: 30
I want to resit all the course in Nov. 2010 and May 2011…. but breaking down which courses I will be re-sitting at each session.
Like Nov.2010 I do English, Biology and Maths.
and then May 2010 I do depending on my results in Nov. do Business, Spanish Ab initio and which ever I feel I could improve upon again, as the course I am trying to get into needs a very high total – 40 for me to get into- Commerce (liberal studies).
is this the right thing to do or is there alternative routes I may take>?
Kind regards,
Ashton.
p.s. could you reply to my email, as this would be the best method of communication.
I don’t think it’s fair that you get to resit all of your subjects, just because you’re an average student. I have my exams in the coming 2 weeks and I would hate to get similar results. Why didn’t you just study harder the first time round, instead of wasting your time and money?
Well done Brian!
Ashton:
I’m doing what you’re doing and I think its great initially I got:
HL:
English – 5
Maths – 3
Chemistry – 5
SL:
Biology – 5
Economics – 6
Chinese Ab – 4
EE/TOK – 1 with C in EE and B in TOK
After resitting chemistry and biology in Nov 2010
my grades now:
chemistry HL – 6
Biology SL – 6
I’m really dissapointed with that but my breakdown comes out tomorrow, so hopefully there’ll be some chances to remark so I can get a grade or two up. I now need to resit Maths and ENglish in May
Wish me Luck!
and I hope you did ok too!
Ben Wong:
thats a bit harsh, everyone makes mistakes. I mean at GCSE(in the UK) I got all A*’s come sixthform I just messed around too much, but I’ve learnt my lesson.
anyway its our money and time, though it does help that I was a year younger anyway =)
is it possible for someone to get lower than a 5 in their IB english A1 HL grade if they fail or do very badly on paper 1 but they get a 7 on paper 2 and their internal assessments ( world lit papers, ioc and iop) marks are really good?
Hey Sally, If I remember correctly Paper 1 is only worth 20% of your mark. If you have a high 6 or 7 in the rest of the mark components, then you will likely have a 5 (unless the curve significantly raises the boundaries).