M20 and M21 news

The IB has announced a significant change to M20 grades. For candidates where the IA grade exceeds the original awarded grade, the IA grade will now be awarded instead provided that the IA grade was no more than one above the predicted grade.

While welcome for those candidates who excel in coursework, this offers little for those who would have outperformed the IA in their exams. Confused? Check out the source link below for exemplar tables.

As a result of this amendment, consider taking the following action:

• Check whether your internal IA mark was higher than the examined IA mark. You have until 15th September to request a remark (EUR Cat 1) with the candidate's permission.
• Ask your Coordinator whether the grades of any 'review' candidates have been affected. Reactivate the reviews for those who deserve a higher grade on the basis of evidence for their exam performance. Unfortunately the deadline has passed to submit any new reviews.

Paper 3 has been cut from assessment for May 2021 candidates. While practical work and simulations should still be at the forefront of teaching for many topics, this change means that students will not need to tackle the usual data analysis section.

There is also now no requirement for students to learn an Option, although those with time on their side could allow students to self-teach their choice of Option using ThinkIB (all four covered through Activities) or StudyIB (Astrophysics and Engineering).

Schools are not required to organise a Group 4 project for this cohort of students, but of course many may still choose to do so.