Sunday, May 29, 2016

IB Biology SL Examination 2016

This petition urges you to consider the circumstances of IB students who wrote the final Biology and Physics HL and SL exams.
Changes in the syllabus reflect changes in the educational landscape and what is demanded from students; there is no issue as to why such changes must occur. However, if such changes are met without proper communication to those that are vetted by the IBO to produce these resources, I can't help but think that the IBO is doing a huge disservice to its students.
The Biology and Physics HL and SL papers this year were significant departures from your past IB exam patterns. If you so significantly change the syllabus, shouldn't you ensure that the books that students need to refer to also incorporate these changes properly? Many students practically used 4 books to be sure of covering everything possible, yet were unaware of so many concepts that were present in the paper. This paper was poorly made considering it was a "Physics" or "Biology" paper as it was lacking the core concepts that should have been tested in physics and biology papers.
The grade boundaries for IB Physics and Biology need to be lowered significantly. I hope the IB takes appropriate action to ensure fair assessment of its students.