Assessments and exams

Assessment and exams

All assessment is carried out by ISE Secondary Department teachers and standardisation is done through the IB to ensure international standards of teaching and learning are maintained. All students participate in continuous assessments throughout the year, and each student’s accomplishment is recorded on Toddle.

MYP Assessment

The MYP uses a criteria-based grading system based on a student’s developmental ability. Teachers use a combination of formative and summative tasks in order to assess a student’s strengths, weaknesses, and skills development throughout the year. Each subject has four criteria (A-D), and teachers use a “best fit” approach (not an average or percentage), in order to determine a student’s level of learning by the final report. Information about the different criteria for each subject and how the criteria add up in the IB’s overall Grade Boundaries can be found on Toddle and at the end of each student’s report. The criteria can also be found in the MYP Subject briefs on the IB’s website.

Students who complete the final year of the MYP programme and all its requirements are also eligible to receive their IB MYP Course Results. In order to qualify, students must complete both the Personal Project and Service as Action Programme. To receive a passing report at the end of MP5, students must also obtain a minimum of 28 points, must not have a grade of less than 2 in each subject group, must not have a grade of less than 3 in their Personal Project and must have completed the Service as Action component to the satisfaction of the school.

Students who enter our International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme must meet the minimum MYP requirements as stated above. Please note, meeting the minimum requirement is not an automatic guarantee of admission into the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (DP). The final decision is left at the discretion of the school.

DP Assessment

Final examinations take place at the end of the second DP year. These examinations evaluate the extent to which the general objectives of the DP have been achieved. Consequently they attempt to assess not the student’s ability to memorise, but the extent to which they have acquired a real understanding of the subject examined and of the links between subjects.

The final mark includes a substantial element of internal assessment carried out during the two years of each course. Internal assessment (which is externally ‘moderated’ or checked) may consist of: oral presentations and discussions; course work, portfolios, essays; practicals and laboratory work; studio work; fieldwork; projects.

The CAS commitment should reflect engagement in a range of meaningful activities, across the three areas, over a period of time. Such commitment roughly translates into purposeful activity for four to five hours each week over the course of the two years. The student’s programme is evaluated by activity leaders, the CAS coordinator, CAS Supervisors and Advisors, and the students’ self-evaluation journals recorded on Toddle.

External Assessment includes written examinations in all subjects (except for Visual Arts);  The Extended Essay; written assignments in studies in language and literature A, written assignments and Theory of Knowledge.

Students must be deemed to be in good standing with the school in order to be admitted to the programme and/or the final examinations and for final certificates and diplomas to be released. ‘Good standing’ refers to the prompt payment of fees and other costs, a satisfactory attendance and behaviour record, and the return of all school materials.

Examination Periods

There are no end-of-year examinations for MP1-4 students. In MP5, students start participating in exam weeks in December and July in order to prepare them for further study. Please note the exams are not cumulative and the content and format varies by subject. DP1 students also participate in exam weeks in December and July in order to assess their progress and prepare them for their IB exams in DP2. DP2 students participate in a mock exam cycle, usually in February, to determine predicted grades and help prepare them for their final DP Assessments in April/May. Please note that MP5 and DP students must sign the Programme of Assessment and Examination, which has more information about the exam requirement.

For more information about assessments and our practices, please refer to the Secondary Assessment Policy.

Reports and results

The ISE uses Toddle to document major assessment and achievement grades.  All students and parents have access to this platform in order to view the data regularly. In addition, reporting is done four times in the school year generally in November, February, April, and July. The first and third report are progress reports that reflect the student’s academic progress at that point in time and are not necessarily based on a precise sum of all assessment criteria. The second and fourth reports are full reports that include all criteria in the MYP and grades-to-date in the DP, as well as a conversion to the IB Grade Boundaries on a 1-7 scale. All reports include judgments on the cross-curricular skills to provide more information on the student’s performance in each subject.

If a student is to join a class during the school year a report might not be issued straight away if assessment of the student is not yet sufficient. The teacher may decide to award cross curricular skills only, at the discretion of the curriculum team.