Examination Process

[David14]

What happens to our exams after it has been collected by the IB co-ordinator? My IB coordinator sort of 'hinted' to today that he read a completed paper, this would of course mean he went through it after collection. This is purely out of curiosity, thanks.

It also opens up the possibility of teachers having a look at your paper before the sending off, wondering what you guys with any relevant/informative knowledge think about this.

Edited May 14, 2014 by David14

[Ibsurviving]

I always thought they were sent straight away?

[neb120]

I know ours are sealed immediately and no one can touch them, where they go from there I'm not sure but they are sealed in the envelope ready to be sent off

[I3lackAngel]

I know that my IB coordinator has our exams and we usually get the exam answers students from our school in former exams have done. I thought that exams are just scanned in though, which is why we can't write outside the boxes.. But maybe the IB does that later. Secondly, it would be extremely risky to just send them by mail, since stuff can easily get lost (like my school's maths IA's). I really don't know though. Maybe both the IBO and the school will receive a copy of the answers?

Edited May 14, 2014 by I3lackAngel

[flinquinnster]

To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what exactly happens to our exam papers after exams - I suspect that some of the things I heard from my teachers were made up just to make me stop my incessant questioning!

From what I understand, IB exam papers are sealed after completion and teachers are not meant to read/alter papers after they have been sealed. However, as would be expected, sometimes the sealed envelope can be opened - for instance, if a student has mislabelled exam papers (which is what I think happened to me!). Exam papers aren't usually sent away immediately, but after some/all (not sure?) exams are finished.

After that, I gather that the IB papers are sent to some kind of IB centre, and from there are scanned online for marking. I tried to ask where exactly my papers (done in Australia) got sent, and the impression I got was that they were still sent all the way to Wales by post, despite how inefficient it seems in comparison to scanning in the Asia-Pacific region!

Sometimes IB papers and IAs do get lost. It is usually possible to get another copy of an IA/EE/TOK essay to the IB as the school keeps a back-up copy, but I'm not sure what happens if an exam paper is lost. I think this is where extrapolating based on predicted grades might occur.

As papers have been scanned, that means that the school can get fairly easy access to papers after the exam session is over. Not sure what happens to the original papers though - perhaps the IB has a ritual bonfire burning our papers after all remarks have occurred. That's a spectacle I would want to see.

[David14]

I'm sure the IBO has a secret base somewhere, where they keep all the exam papers in secret files, every IBO candidate having his own one.

\I thought that exams are just scanned in though, which is why we can't write outside the boxes.. \\

You mentioned something which seems almost scary to think about. For Math P1 or P2 (not too sure, think it was P1) there were a few questions where my answers were extended towards outside the box, as in just below it. Would the scanning therefore mean that my answers would therefore be cut off? Am getting worried, maybe I should speak with my coordinator about this.

[I3lackAngel]

I'm sure the IBO has a secret base somewhere, where they keep all the exam papers in secret files, every IBO candidate having his own one.

\I thought that exams are just scanned in though, which is why we can't write outside the boxes.. \\

You mentioned something which seems almost scary to think about. For Math P1 or P2 (not too sure, think it was P1) there were a few questions where my answers were extended towards outside the box, as in just below it. Would the scanning therefore mean that my answers would therefore be cut off? Am getting worried, maybe I should speak with my coordinator about this.

I know they are being scanned at one point, I am not entirely sure when though. I had a similar problem when I did maths and I barely had any space left, but I tried to remain inside the box or continued answering the question in the answer booklet. If it is outside the box, it will probably not get scanned and will get lost. But don't worry too much about it. In worst scenario you will lose a few marks, but as long as the stuff inside the box is correct, then it should be fine. Otherwise, maybe, just maybe, the IB people will see that you wrote outside and if they are nice, they will scan the stuff outside as well.