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Re-sitting an exam if you miss taking it


Vvi

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This isn't about retaking exams after 6 months if you fail/do badly the first time you do them, but rather about sitting the exam after everyone else in the world has done it if there are exceptional circumstances for you not being able to sit the exam in the first place.

A senior who graduated in 2007 recently told me that he was sick for a week in the middle of IB exams with severe food poisoning (he was throwing up and it wouldn't stop). He had to go to hospital, and missed his Chemistry Paper 3 exam. Even though he got a doctor's note explaining his circumstances, the IB didn't let him resit the exam that year. He ended up getting a 0 on the paper (obviously), which dropped his overall grade for Chemistry to a 4.

Their attitude on that seems quite mean to me. Now I doubt the IB would care if a war broke out in your country right in the middle of exams; they would probably say "Tough luck, take them after 6 months when you hopefully have peace". The only circumstance that would probably be severe enough for them would be if a family member died right then. Obviously reasons like traffic that morning or waking up late wouldn't qualify.

But if the IB won't let you sit the exam later even if you were severely ill, then under what circumstances would they let you? Does anyone know of someone who was allowed to resit their exam?Any thoughts?

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I was actually reading the Vade Mecum section on this, and I believe that (officially) civil unrest, natural disasters or wars are acceptable reasons for an entire class missing the exam. That being said, apparently they don't follow their own guidelines if IBdoc had to write even during a civil war.

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So nothing short of a devastating earthquake/all out nuclear war would allow me to miss an exam? That's reassuring.

Have to make sure not to crack my skull/break a leg on the exam day then. Otherwise I'd be made to take it, bleeding throughout.

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So nothing short of a devastating earthquake/all out nuclear war would allow me to miss an exam? That's reassuring.

Have to make sure not to crack my skull/break a leg on the exam day then. Otherwise I'd be made to take it, bleeding throughout.

Smudge blood all over the paper. That should please the examiner. :(

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Last year in mocks my classmate hadn't studied anything for Psychology. He spent an entire hour writing out Beatles' lyrics to every question for his "answers". Great handwriting, not so great grade.

And our Economics teacher who's also an IB examiner spilled water all over the last exam papers he got sent to correct. He lied to the IB and said that they must have gotten damaged in the return post. So anyone who gets back ruined November exams: it was him.

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wow SERIOUS? i thought you could just resit if you wanted to!!

obviously i've gotten the wrong information...

but not allowing resit's unless your dieing or some kind of natural disaster hits seems kind of unreasonable to me -_-

i mean in our OP system it's like...oh you missed the exam...oh you missed the resit...ok we'll just give you an expected grade (usually is probably higher than what they would have scored), and yes, the normal school system (OP) is rigged - you get scaled up and down by ALOT.

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Wow that is pretty harsh. The other high school program in my state which I could of done is so lenient for things like this. I know of someone who got glandular fever during her major exam period and had to do her final exams in her room at home. With the HSC (state program) people not only resit missed exams but heaps of people get extra time for virtually no reason (slow writing etc.)

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there was a girl i guess it ould have been about 5 or 6 years ago, and as she was driving o her IB exam she got in a really bad car accident and ended up in the hospital and she wasn't allowed to resit the exa,

We had an incident similar to this where the girl had gotten in an accident and was in the hospital so our IB coordinator tried to convince IB to let her take the exam in the hospital since, obviously, in her condition she wasn't allowed to leave. IB denied it though because it wasn't a secure testing environment...Oh, yeah, I'm sure the nurse would have slipped her answers -_-

In the regular school systems if you miss exams because of an illness the teachers will usually just give them to you as take home exams!

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In the regular school systems if you miss exams because of an illness the teachers will usually just give them to you as take home exams!
Not at my school, if it's like the formal exam at the end of the semester, you better have one REALLY darn good excuse like you were practically dying or whatever. And you have to write in on the make-up date for all missed exams at school. At home, wouldn't you just have all the answers?
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  • 1 year later...

Hello I was wondering if anyone knows what happens if you are sick during the exams. I have been sick over the past week and seen a doctor that says I should not sit exams until I am feeling better. I missed English paper 1, and physics paper 3 today, and my previous math and physics paper I feel like I possibly failed because I was feeling so bad I could not think.

My mother has emailed the IB, but can anyone here explain what happens or has it happened to any of you before?

Good luck with the rest of your exams to everyone taking them now!

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Your mother emailing the IB does not change anything because your IB Coordinator has to inform the IB. The IB does not respond to any correspondence sent out by students with regards to their exams and whatnot.

If you have got an absolutely valid reason, and not just a common cold, but a valid reason for not doing the exams, you can go to your IBC with it and they can send it across to the IBO.

In the end, you won't have to resit (only if the reason is valid) but you will get a number grade based on the predicted grades that your school sends to the IBO at the start of the second year of the diploma course.

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In addition: our IB co-ordinator stressed that even if you're feeling really sick but you can physically get to the exam hall, that you should at least attempt to take the exams. Apparently if you miss more than 50% of your papers from a subject you have to retake all of the exams from that subject in May, as opposed to just the papers you missed. I think that's what he said anyway...

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