International Baccalaureate’s IB Diploma Programme (IBDP) is recognised for its rigorous standards and stress on the overall development of the student. This helps build the student’s personality and abilities for critical thinking and communication, which is essential for college education and professional and personal growth. IB education steers learners towards application and exploration of the subjects they are studying so that they gain an understanding of their interdisciplinary interplays and real-life applications. The assessments conducted by International Baccalaureate schools in Bangalore are structured to gauge the student’s understanding and learning and how well they apply the concepts using different modalities.
The total scores in IBDP are 45 points, of which 3 points are assigned for the graded elements, the DP Core. Students have six subjects, of which 7 points are the highest one can score in each subject. In these 6 subjects, 20% of points are for internal assessments and 80% for external assessments. The passing marks for earning the IBDP certificate are 24/45. The DP Core is compulsory, so you must aim to score good grades and complete it if you want to earn the certificate. It is not unheard of for students to score 45/45 in IBDP, however, a good score is generally, anything over 38/45.
You must have a thorough and practical understanding of the concepts that you are studying, looking beyond mentioned facts and approaches. Through reading, research and regular practice, you must learn to apply the theories and concepts in various contexts. One of the aims of the IB curriculum is to build critical thinking skills among students, so your answers must reflect critical analyses of the concepts that are taught in class.
From the first week you will be given assignments, projects, course works and then there are the extracurricular activity schedules, and presentations. You must avoid missing deadlines as your work, presentation, and regular submissions contribute towards your internal assessment marks. Also, if you are regular with your school work, then you will have won half the battle in preparing for your assessments since you will be reading and researching from various resources. In the process you will build your knowledge and understanding of the subject.
The IB curriculum schools in Bangalore like Knowledgeum Academy have a WIFi campus and extensive library with physical and digital access. Through them, you can enjoy subscriptions to noted academic journals, news outlets and books. If you apply your research skills strategically, then you will find amle resources beyond the prescribed reading material for study. IB curriculum aims to make students independent learners, and proactively studying the concepts and learning their implications will benefit you when you are answering the case study based questions.
Familiarise yourself thoroughly with the syllabus, course objective and IB answering methodologies. Once you understand the subject-specific terminologies and the expectation of keywords in the questions, you will know how to frame answers to meet the evaluators expectations. Your learning must reflect not just your familiarity with the concepts, but how to apply them in various scenarios.
Familiarise yourself with the exam-style questions and higher-order thinking level questions in each subject area. One recommendation that IBDP alumni and teachers give is that you must regularly solve past question papers to understand the question paper format and writing style for the answers. Look at prescribed IBDP resources to find model answer papers to understand how to frame an answer and approach any query.
The final IBDP assessment is a culmination of all that you have learned in the two years in the classroom, through your self-study and research, and through the various projects and assignments you have done. It is important to work on your speed and articulation of your thoughts so that you can complete the paper on time and give coherent, well-structured answers. The way to do well in IBDP assessments is by being regular and consistent.
© Knowledgeum Academy