My rising senior attends a well-established IB high school and is a degree candidate. His GPA, standardized test scores, AP scores (he has taken 5 APs in addition to IBs) and his one other IB score are all outstanding. However, he got a 4/7 score in IB psych SL (he got an A in the class), which is pretty bad as far as we can tell. He is aiming for some tough schools. Is it ok to not report? How much does it matter? What about this predicted score thing? I don’t really understand how this works with IB.
Is he an IBD candidate? Is the 4 a predicted grade or the actual result?
Unless he’s applying to a university that requires all IIB scores — MIT and Stanford in the US — he can simply not report the score.
And unless he’s attending a HS outside the US, predicted scores don’t matter (or exist) if not applying to an international university. US high schools typically don’t provide predicted scores nor do they generally have a historical record of accuracy when they do provide
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No need to report it as it’s unlikely to enhance his application.
As an aside, the mean was 4.4, so it’s not awful. It is much easier to get a 5 on an AP exam than a 7 on an IB exam. (Only 3.9% got a 7 on that exam, and the score that was awarded most was 4.)
If your DS didn’t do as well as hoped on the other SL exams he took, he may want to work on prepping for his tests next year. It’s a very different assessment than the AP. If his school is an established IB school, his teachers should be able to help. Just mentioning that in the event that he was approaching this the same way he did the AP exams, where his approach was successful.
I don’t even know if it’s predicted or what! The test was taken last spring and he got a score from the IB site.
Thanks, this is helpful. He got a 6 on his other SL IB exam, but it was math, so he’s unsure if it’s really comparable as far as how to test successfully. He doesn’t feel the psych class was very rigorous, but he actually thought he did well, so the score was an unpleasant surprise. He was within 5 points of a 5, so maybe we should have asked for a remark?
You could. I am most familiar with people asking for a re-grade when their total IBD score falls short of achieving the IBD or the score required for their college admission, etc. Iow, when something big is at stake. You might want to ask your IB coordinator this question. It sounds like it doesn’t really matter except as a matter of pride. But if you’re looking at college outside the US, that may not be true! The most awarded score for Psych SL was 4.
Then that’s an actual, not a predicated
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I wouldn’t. 5 points is a lot. If it were 1 or 2, sure. But expect zero change if you submit an EUR fior 5 points
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IB is really tough on kids mentally / emotionally - I have an IB Diploma grad from back in 2013 and it just about killed me as his mother watching him go through junior/senior year. Acing his AP classes and just grueling over the IB work/studies/thesis and approved volunteer work time - do that and competition marching band at the same time! But, to this day, he is so very, very proud of that diploma and the silly fake medal you wear around your neck at graduation along with all the cords and other accoutrements.
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