Assessment Criteria: ESS IA Criteria

Some comments made in the IB ESS Subject Report published by the IB:

Aspect 1: “…difficulty in separating discussion and conclusions …focus on the quality of the data, the trends seen, and very importantly, the context of the study. Often students lose marks for providing no links to other studies, larger contexts or ecological concepts.” “Discussion should show understanding of ESS concepts, which were often missing.” “…cite data…”

Aspect 2: “…comment critically on how the quality and reliability of their data may have influenced their results. Ideally their research should be placed in context and references made to appropriate literature” “…it is a rare study that cannot be improved substantially by the collection of more data, either during the study or seasonally.” but this must be addressed specifically.

Aspect 3: “…loss of marks when there is no use of the data generated in the practical. For example a study on diversity should state that the value of Simpson’s index in site A was higher (5.6) than site B (4.2), and provide a possible reason or explanation. Without the numeric data supporting this statement, there is an almost automatic loss of a mark…”