Assessment Criteria (rubric): ESS IA Criteria

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

Aspect 1: “Candidates continue to be penalised for not specifically including dependent, independent and controlled variables and explaining the later.”

Aspect 2: “Students are losing marks … due to insufficient information regarding how sampling sites are chosen or how transects are selected. In a field study, it is hard for students to demonstrate the concept of a control or a fair, unbiased test. …the reader (needs) to determine if the student has done a good enough job of controlling biased sampling. Moreover in a field study it may be the only part of the design that the student really controls.” 

Aspect 3 :”While the data are usually relevant, often they are not sufficient. …five repeats of each treatment is the minimum number for most practical work to achieve a complete. In the case of transects, three parallel transects are considered a minimum. A candidate that plants three plants in each of three fertiliser treatments would not have satisfactorily completed this aspect and would thus earn a partial.” (Partial means 1 out of 2 for that aspect of the Planning)