With students receiving IB results, you might be wondering what (if any) part you can play.

This information comes from a guide to enquiries upon results that I send to my students. You are welcome to copy and edit the text for use in your schools.

Student information

The Diploma Programme is about a great deal more than results. It is a process of becoming more balanced, risk-taking, caring, knowledgeable, principled, open-minded and reflective, and skilled in communication, inquiry and thinking. The results simply provide extra information; they do not change who you are.

Some grades might be better than expected and some might be worse. This is part and parcel of the IB Diploma Programme; while it is almost certain that there will be ups and downs, everything must be taken together. Most of the time, there is a lot to celebrate!

Saying this, you might have questions and a desire to see if you can increase things. The guides below explain what is possible and how to make it happen.

Component scores

A couple of days after results, we get access to component reports, which means a breakdown of marks for each paper, external assessment and internal assessment. These are distributed directly from schools and are not found on the IB Candidates site. The numbers don't make a lot of sense, but the grade for each part will give you a feel for how things went.

This component report will enable you to make a more informed decision about whether to get a remark, because you can see how you did in the assessments that will be remarked. For example, if you got 7s in Physics Paper 2 and Paper 3, but 4s in the IA and Paper 1, a remark is unlikely to succeed because only the best parts are looked at again.

However, the component report will also give you information that will lead to questions: Why are the grade boundaries so high? How do the marks combine together? What does scaling mean? Why is my IA lower than I expected? Although searching for the answers will be interesting, queries of this nature will mean that staff members have less time to do time-sensitive things like remark requests, helping with universities and supporting with retake decisions. There is also some data that isn't accessible until 14th July, like IA moderation reports, which may contain the answers.

Remarks

Step 1 - understand the rules

A remark (formally known as an Enquiry Upon Results) can be requested from the IB for a fee of €88. In most cases, the grade does not change. If the grade goes up or down, you are entitled to a refund. 

All examined components are remarked together. You cannot, for example, request a remark of just Paper 3. The exception is multiple-choice papers, which are not remarked. You should therefore check the component scores of the relevant papers or essays, to be sure that there is ‘room’ to go up. Think also back to how the exam felt on the day; how did you expect it to go?

It is not possible to get internal assessments remarked. These have already been double-marked, because of teacher marking, internal moderation and external moderation.

In general, remarks should not be considered unless you are:

• within 3 marks of the next grade for subject grades
• within 2 marks for TOK, EE and other subjects with just one examined component

If you have more than one subject that you are considering getting remarked, it might be wise to do them one after the other. It would be sad for two grades to go down at the same time, or for one to go up while another goes down. So go for the subject that is most likely to go up first.

How do TOK and EE combine?

Step 2 - make a request to your Coordinator

You are required to provide permission for the remark in writing. Your school may have statements for you to tick along these lines:

• “I understand that a remark costs €88 and that this will only be refunded if the grade changes."
• “I understand that my grade can go up, down or stay the same.”

Step 3 - await the outcome

After your Coordinator submits your request, the average wait time is roughly two weeks. Your Coordinator will receive an email from the IB when your remark is concluded. It will also be updated on the IB Candidates site.

If your remark is unsuccessful in changing the grade, at least you will know you tried.

Talking to universities

If your results match or exceed your offer, then all is well! You should expect to wait a few working days for your place to be confirmed, but there is no harm in checking by telephone call. For example, you could ring them to say: “I hope you have received my results from the IB. If it might be helpful, I’d be happy to share a screenshot from the IB Candidates site."

If your results are below your offer (or the anticipated grades you had when you applied), you might need to take a little more care.

University offers come in three main types:

1. Pass required (which means no specific grades)
2. An expectation that you remain on roughly the same path (common among US universities, you should be ok to drop a couple of points)
3. Conditional (common among UK universities, often with a total points requirement and one or more subject-specific grades

If you are in Type 2 and you are only one point below, you could reasonably do nothing. You are so close to your predictions that the university is likely to admit you without a problem. They might not even notice, so it could be good to avoid drawing attention to yourself - especially in the US.

If you are in Type 2 and you are two or three points below, telephone or write a gentle message (if possible to a named admissions contact) to say how excited you are to have met most of your grades and how you remain really keen to study there. You can ask when you might expect to find out about your offer status and gently play to your strengths, for example: “As I have done well in my Higher Levels but a little less well elsewhere, who might be the best person for me to contact to make a case to take up my place at the university?”.

If you are in Type 2 and more than three points below or in Type 3, a longer letter would be advisable. This is a suggested template:

• A reminder of who you are and what you have achieved since you first applied (e.g. topics you have studied, skills you have developed, habits you now have, examples of leadership and community service, things you have learned)
• Reasons why you would still love to study there and why you think you would be a contributor to the university community
• A statement of your results
• A short discussion about why the results might be a little lower than expected,
• If applicable, what remarks you have requested and how close you are to the next grade up
• A short discussion about the components that did go really well (for example, perhaps you got a 6 in an Oral or a 5 in Paper 3)
• Reasons why you still think you would be an amazing student (e.g. this gives you more determination, and you learned a lot during the IB Diploma Programme)

You don't need to rush this, but it might be smart to call or write within three working days so that you get ahead of a potential rush.

Retakes

Most of the time, students can proceed to the next stage of their careers without retakes. Retakes usually mean taking a year out, because the first opportunity for retakes is in November and the next is in May.

Saying this, retakes might be the only way to secure a Diploma, and for some students a Diploma is essential.

Step 1 - decisions

Your first priority is to pick the right subjects. Then you can use component scores to consider whether you can avoid redoing the coursework (which creates a lot more problems). You can check the conditions for a Diploma pass here: https://ibo.org/about-the-ib/what-it-means-to-be-an-ib-student/recognizing-student-achievement/about-assessment/

Then think about where you will be located in November and May, and use this IB tool to locate possible World Schools: https://www.ibo.org/programmes/find-an-ib-school/

Schools are not required to offer retakes, so prepare to be positive and concise in your request to their Coordinators. It is also hugely beneficial to contact the school using an email address (if you can find one) rather than the form on the IB website.

Step 2 - registration

If you can source a retake school by 28th July, you can retake in November without paying a late registration fee. If not, you can still retake in November, but it will cost more. Alternatively, you can retake in May if you register by November.

A retake costs €85 if registration is on time. It costs an additional €108 per addition or amendment after the deadline. Some schools may charge yet another fee (perhaps €100 per paper) for administering your retakes because it doubles the amount of paperwork they have to deal with for that subject and it might mean they need to pay another invigilator or add another courier delivery.

Step 3 - prepare

Work full time to prepare for your retakes. Most retakes are unsuccessful, so you will need to do more than the average retake student to succeed. Think about where in the world you will work best and what you will change to do better in an independent environment than you did in the school environment.

Buying marked exam papers

For a price of €12 per subject, you can buy PDFs of your marked exam papers.

This process is time-consuming for schools; it takes as much time to process than a remark and yet is guaranteed to have zero effect on your outcome. Additionally, examiners are not required to write detailed comments, so you may not learn a great deal about your performance.

Saying this, there are some rare occurrences where this request might be helpful. One of these is if you score inexplicably worse in an exam than you expected and want to find out why. The other is if you are considering a retake and want to learn from your mistakes.

Remoderation of IAs

Simply put, students have no mechanisms to combat worse-than-expected IA results. The IB is tasked with bringing all schools' marks into alignment with global standards, so if your score has fallen below your teacher's recommendation, your teacher was more generous than others around the world. This doesn't diminish their expertise or efforts, because teachers provide feedback in line with IB guidance and school policies.

If IA marks in a subject have been severely reduced by the IB (an average decrease of more than 15% for all candidates in a subject), the IB Coordinator and subject teacher will decide if making a request for remoderation is appropriate (e.g. if the original moderator's justification is unsound). Students' marks cannot fall during this process, so your permission is not required. In the unlikely event that your grade increases as a result of remoderation, your Coordinator will receive an email and the IB Candidates site will be updated.

Teacher information

The Student Information also applies to teachers as it includes Category 1, 2b and 3 enquiries upon results.

You may also be interested to know about Category 2a returns of externally marked materials, which include all students' work for a component and cost about the same as three individual returns. These can be useful for professional development, but the school should have sought permission from students to use the material for these purposes.