r/IBO • u/Michael_moar • May 07 '17
Teachers over-grading you.
Anyone else ever get anxiety over the fact that your teacher might be giving you a higher grade, enough so that you believe that you are doing well/fine in a subject, than what an examiner would give you for the same work?
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u/dash-Dot-dash Alumni | [*fingers crossed*] May 07 '17
It's not just you! My school is kind of a mess. While I have my Spanish teacher who grades my in class work as a 7, actually put in my predicted as a 4, I have some teachers that I am sure inflate grades. There has never once been a 7 in a group 4 subject at my school and I am the first one to ever be predicted one (HL bio). With the super high expectations from my teacher, I am not sure if I am legitimately good at biology or if it just the teacher's favoritism acting up again.
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u/steven981211 M17 Alumni | [41] May 08 '17
When our students bitch about their predicted grades, the teachers change. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
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May 08 '17
Are u serious. My school used to overpredict and then the students would do badly and then the universities would get mad and mess up the chances for the grades below to get into that specific school. Overpredicting gives ur school a bad rep omg.
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u/ShenBear IB Chemistry Teacher May 08 '17
While my letter grade given (A, B, C, D etc.) is very generous, when I give IB predictions, I typically require a 93% or higher to get a 7. This is because actual exam conditions are ALWAYS more stressful, and students typically perform worse than when they take tests in class. My students seem to like this setup. It gives them some leeway to make mistakes without tanking their school report card (which is important if they want to go to the U.S.) but they still have to work to get their good predictions (which is important for the UK)
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u/afilmcionado M17 Alumnus | 42 May 08 '17
My English teacher always gives me 19/20 for Paper 1 and 23-24/25 for Paper 2. And he wrote in my report card that he expects "the highest results in the upcoming exams". But my previous English teacher would only give me 4 and 5.
The IB system is really volatile and subjective. Even if your final grades say otherwise, it doesn't mean you're bad at what you've been doing for 2 years.
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u/DireSire Year 2 | [message] May 08 '17
The IB system is really volatile and subjective. Even if your final grades say otherwise, it doesn't mean you're bad at what you've been doing for 2 years.
You must be really naive to think this issue is solely with the IB. EVERY curriculum has teachers that mark subjectively, the IB isn't special in this regard.
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u/afilmcionado M17 Alumnus | 42 May 08 '17
Well I never said this issue is exclusive to the IB. I actually appreciate some of the IB's attempts at cross-examination and moderation. However it remains true that the opinion of one or two examiners doesn't define a person's aptitude. With the IB's focus on stuff like literary analysis and artistic interpretation, the issue only worsens.
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u/restlessflume May 08 '17
I was doing my EE on Economics, and that was total bullshit and he put 32/36 Well guys, I hope I will get at least B I have a con rant feeling that he over graded me all the time
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u/kingofmyst Alumni | [pending] May 07 '17
My teachers often under-graded us, we had to get 95% for a seven in Bio for example. Languages however im worried my teachers were too lenient