Throughout the entire two-year-long IBD study, students are marked using a scale of 7 to 1, which corresponds to the Slovak scale of 1 to 5, so 7 is the best mark and 1 is the worst. Students receive a proper bilingual half-year and end-of-year grade report containing their marks in each subject.
The final grades which are subsequently listed on the IB diploma, and based on which universities conditionally accept candidates, differ from their Slovak counterparts on Slovak grade reports. IBD final grades are given on a basis of internally (IA – Internal Assessment) and externally (EA – External Assessment) assessed work. Students get a final mark on the scale of 7 to 1 in each of the six subjects. CAS does not contribute towards the final marks, but its successful completion is required to obtain the diploma. Students can get up to 3 points from the rest of the core – the Extended Essay, ToK Essay and ToK presentation. The final score of a student is the sum of all points gained for selected subjects plus the extra points from the core subjects, so the maximum (best possible) score is 45 points (6 x 7 + 3). For the the IB diploma to be awarded, a score of at least 24 points is required and some other conditions need to be fulfilled. The final marks are published at the beginning of July after the final exams. More detailed marks are accessible from August, when the successful IBD graduates receive their IB diplomas from the IB headquarters.
Internally assessed work (IA)
Students work on these assignments throughout the entire IB study. IAs motivate the students to sharpen their skills and knowledge regularly. IA assignments are graded by professors/teachers from our school, but according to IB criteria. In order to make the evaluation unbiased and fair with regard to the rest of the IB world schools, we send a sample of evaluated assignments from each subject and level (SL and HL) abroad to an external IB examiner for re-evaluation. According to the re-evaluation, grades of all our other assignments from that particular subject and level are moderated (scaled). IA assignments, depending on the subject and level, comprise 20 to 50% of the final grade for the subject.
IA assignments differ by subject. In languages, they are mostly in the form of an oral examination (for example, an interpretation of a literary work in group 1 subjects, or presentation, discussion on a given topic in group 2 subjects). Further, it can be in the form of practical research, for example an individual laboratory project (mostly in group 4 subjects) or theoretical research in group 5. In group 3, IAs are written, essay-like assignments, work with given resources, analysis, etc. In addition, group 4 has the so-called Group 4 Project. Unlike many other IAs, this part is based on team-work. It involves conducting team research, from designing experiments to presenting the results. The aim is to interconnect group 4 subjects (experimental sciences). Therefore, each team should consist of students, who, when taken as a whole team, study all four offered subjects (Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Computer science). Theory of Knowledge (ToK) contributes to the grades in two parts. The first one is the ToK essay, individually written, concerning one of 6 given topics (which are new for each year). The second one is the ToK presentation, which students can do in small teams. All members of a team get the same mark.
Externally assessed work (EA)
These assignments are sent to external examiners and are then evaluated according to unified, previously-set criteria. This unites the evaluation for all IB schools. EA comprises the remaining percentage of the final mark for each subject (in most cases 70 to 80%). The Extended Essay is externally graded on a scale of 0 to 36 points. The achieved score is then changed to the scale of A to E, also used for Theory of Knowledge. Group 1 subjects have the so-called World Literature Assignment (WLA) as their external assignment. WLA is an essay from world literature that focuses on analysing one foreign literary work from one specific aspect, where the topic is chosen by the student. Together with the essay, a reflective statement is sent. It focuses on the same literary work as the essay and has a length of 300 to 400 words. Students of group 2 subjects (foreign language) produce a shorter writing in the language studied. This work is based on reading a chosen literary work.
Apart from the afore-mentioned assignments, done by the students throughout IB study, final exams are also classified as externally assessed assignments. Final exams comprise the majority of final marks in all 6 subjects. They are conducted in May of the second year and last 3 weeks. Students sit 2 to 3 Papers in each subject, altogether around 13 Papers. These are all in English (except for Papers in foreign languages) and in most cases take 1 to 2 hours. Papers in a particular subject each focus specifically on a type of question or on a specific part of the syllabus. For example, in Economics SL, Paper 1 is focused on the first half of the syllabus (Microeconomics, Macroeconomics), while Paper 2 on the second half (International economics, Development economics).