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IA problems with my harsh bio teacher


Egos

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Hi everyone!

As you are aware, we are nearly done with the IB. I am finishing my IAs for biology but I have a problem with my bio teacher. She is TOO harsh at marking my lab reports. Therefore, I am getting EXTREMELY low grades for my lab reports. When I ask her to explain why I deserve only one point for design, not only does she digress but also she yells at me for not studying and understanding the IB. Then, she questions me if I am well suited to IB. Basically, my biology teacher is CRAZY. I am scared because there are ten students in my biology class and only five samples are sent to the IB to be moderated. If my sample is not sent, I am basically f***ed. Is there anything I could do about it? Does any of you have the same situation? I feel like changing schools but it would be too expensive for me at the moment. So, I am stuck with this crazy woman! Is it possible to complain to the IB or something? or make sure that IB moderators correct my lab reports.

Ohh, I forget to tell you this story from September. She told the class that she received the moderator's comments on the lab reports from last year. The comment was "The teacher was generally too harsh on marking students" There were four students in bio class last year and all of them earned five or six points more because the teacher was too harsh. I am concerned because only five samples are sent and, if mine isn't sent, I will get VERY low grades. I need your opinions about this please ASAP. I am desperate.

Thank you for reading!

Edited by Egos
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lol don't quit, your exam are this year and it will all be over! btw how many IAs did you do? because they take the best marks from your design, data collection and processing, and concusion and evaluation but not necessarily from the same piece of work. and tell your teacher not to shout because it's not helping and there's no need to, she's not helping herself or you

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I bring good news- you've gotten the idea of moderation wrong. The sample that is sent out to the IBO for moderation is in essence a representation of the entire cohort. If the IBO finds a general discrepancy between their evaluations of a lab report and your teacher's evaluations, all the lab report marks for the cohort marked by that teacher will be adjusted accordingly. So even if your lab report isn't sent in for moderation, if your teacher is who you claim she is, then there isn't too much to worry about.

That's how it's supposed to work, anyway. Godspeed.

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Our class is having a similar issue in physics, methinks, and it is also quite distressing. However, as mentioned above, moderation is meant to adjust this! Even if your samples are not sent to IB, if they think that everyone else has been marked harshly then you are marked up. Only problem is if the teacher applies inconsistent standards to different members of the class, in which case moderation may do weird and funny things.

So, if you end up with a decent marker, you should get your IAs re-moderated upwards by a few points to a more reasonable standard. Hope for the best. Personally, I think that if you present the IA moderator with an IA that was savaged by the teacher as a 1 or 2 there's no chance of getting moderated upward that much to a 5 or 6, but I'm learning to try and not question the psychology of the IBO too closely. I mean, the score that the teacher gives is the 'anchor', it is the first impression that the moderator gets - and they could be inclined to follow that harshness. Then again, they might just live to try and refute everything a teacher marks... so whatever. What a convoluted process.

Also, I don't think sending the IBO a message about this is the most effective way to address the issue. I'd say try talking to your bio teacher first and if that doesn't work (which sort of appears the case), step it up to someone important within the science department, and then go try your IB co-ordinator, who's meant to deal with these kind of things. If none of these avenues work, I wish you the best of luck, and don't lose hope! Think about how happy you'll be if your IAs get moderated up. :)

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No need to worry my friend, follow the detailed criteria found in the IB syllabus for biology and follow that religiously in your internal assessment or lab reports. The moderator will mark you according to that, regardless of whether your teacher is accurate in her marking. Your entire cohort should get their scores bumped up significantly hopefully, just never stray from the criteria, it is your guidance.

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I think that if the ibo bumps up the grade of the sample, they usually bump up the grade for the whole cohort (my first ia is coming up soon and my teacher was talking about it). Don't worry that much because if you are sure that you deserve better, IT WILL HAPPEN :) try to concentrate on your final biology exams... there's a whole 76% on stake there instead of your ias

Good Luck :)

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That document is perfect, summarizes the criteria succinctly, conveying the points needed clearly. :)

I have been using this document for quite a long time and, I think it is helpful as you said. Thanks for the help and your comment on the document :)

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