Ukki Posted May 9, 2014 Report Share Posted May 9, 2014 I don't know about other science subjects but I know that Chemistry and Biology Paper 2's consist of a section A and a section B. You are expected to answer two questions from section B. I have been told differently by my Chemistry and Biology teacher about answering more than 2 questions on section B. My chemistry teachers said that the examiners are obliged to mark all questions answered and will take the two highest while my Biology teacher said only the first two will be marked. I was wondering if section B is marked differently for different subjects or if one of my teachers has been misinformed. So what happens when you answer more than the required two questions on section B? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
IB . Posted May 9, 2014 Report Share Posted May 9, 2014 Hi Ukki,For Biology, section B has three sets of questions, each set containing 3 questions which are worth different marks. You have to choose ONE set of questions and do ALL of them. You cannot choose one question in one set and another question in another set. You have to do all three questions of the set you choose. I hope that makes sense. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
IB . Posted May 9, 2014 Report Share Posted May 9, 2014 Sorry, what you just said in the beginning, that you need to answer two questions is correct only for HL students. However, for SL students, it's one of 3 questions.Good luck on your exams! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ukki Posted May 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2014 Thank you for your reply. But maybe my question wasn't quite clear, since I still can't find an answer.Does anyone know what happens when a student answers more questions than required?Let's say an HL student did all 4 questions in section B, will all 4 questions be marked and only the two questions with the highest mark be considered in the total score. Or will the examiners only mark the first two questions, which seems rather confusing to me because students may not answer the questions in chronological order. Thus that will lead to another question, do the examiners mark according to the order the students write their answers in or the chronological order of the questions. To elaborate, if the student wrote the answers in the following order: B3,B1,B2,B4 will the examiner only mark B3 and B1 or B1 and B2?I have heard differently from different subject teachers and wonder if there is a difference between subjects. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sameera95 Posted May 10, 2014 Report Share Posted May 10, 2014 Thank you for your reply. But maybe my question wasn't quite clear, since I still can't find an answer.Does anyone know what happens when a student answers more questions than required?Let's say an HL student did all 4 questions in section B, will all 4 questions be marked and only the two questions with the highest mark be considered in the total score. Or will the examiners only mark the first two questions, which seems rather confusing to me because students may not answer the questions in chronological order. Thus that will lead to another question, do the examiners mark according to the order the students write their answers in or the chronological order of the questions. To elaborate, if the student wrote the answers in the following order: B3,B1,B2,B4 will the examiner only mark B3 and B1 or B1 and B2?I have heard differently from different subject teachers and wonder if there is a difference between subjects. I don't know, but please don't be the person who answers more than they have to. That's what the section is designed for, so you can choose the questions that you feel more confident about. I'm not sure whether the examiners will mark the first 2 or all of them and give you the best mark, so don't risk it. 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
psychologystudent501 Posted May 10, 2014 Report Share Posted May 10, 2014 (edited) What I think happens when a student answers more than 2 Part B questions is that they will only read your first two responses- the way they see it, why should they bother to mark more work than they don't have to? So, yes, as I understand it, the examiner would only mark B3 and B1. It would therefore be better for you to spend your time making your answers to the 2 questions you know best as good as they can be- don't waste your time doing the other questions! It's a similar idea to what examiners will do in the data analysis section: Say a question asks you to "give two reasons..." for something, and you write 4 or 5, all of which are valid, you do't get extra marks. They will take your first two answers only. Hope this helps, and good luck with the rest of your exams Edited May 10, 2014 by psychologystudent501 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ukki Posted May 13, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2014 Thank you. I will keep that in mind for my upcoming exams. I guess that means I should use any spare time I have to improve the answers rather than to do more. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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