Basic information 

The external assessment is made up of three separate examination papers. These make up 76% of the final mark upon which the student’s IB grade is based. The remaining 24% comes from the internally assessed practical work. The final examinations are taken in the three week IB examination period during May (or November). The exact date, which varies from year to year, can be ascertained from the IB Examination Timetable. There are actually two separate sets of Chemistry examination papers written in English (but not in Spanish or French) in May. Time Zone 2 (TZ2) is essentially taken by students in Asia and Europe and Time Zone 1 (TZ1) is taken by students in the Americas. This is an attempt by the IB to combat problems due to students who have sat the examination being able to communicate the questions to students taking the examination later in a different time zone. TZ1 and TZ2 are completely different papers which can be useful later to you as a teacher when it comes to setting mock examinations and revision (UK) or review (US) questions in future years.

The precise details about each of the three papers are given on the relevant pages but essentially Paper 1 and Paper 2 examine the core (and AHL material at HL) and Paper 3 examines the Options. Paper 1 consists only of Multiple Choice questions and no calculator or data booklet is allowed.  A calculator is required and the IB Chemistry data booklet provided for Papers 2 and 3. Paper 2 comprises of one data-response question and several short-answer questions followed by more extended response questions. Paper 1 just tests Objectives I and 2, whereas both Papers 2 and 3 test 50% Objectives  1 and 2 and 50% Objectives 3.

 

 

The component weightings

The principle is that the marks for the IA, core (and AHL) and options are apportioned roughly according to the time spent. The total marks available for each paper are thus scaled to reflect this.

 

Standard Level          Paper 1 (20%)      Paper 2  (32%)     Paper 3 (24%)     IA  (24%)      Overall mark (100%)

 (Total mark for paper)    (30)                    (50)                     (40)                 (48)

This means that a mark of 15/30 for Paper 1 translates as 10% towards the overall final mark and a mark of 30/40 for Paper 3 translates as 18% towards the overall final mark. If the conversion to a percentage ends up as a fraction then the IB rounds it up to the next whole number (no half marks etc. are allowed).

 

Higher Level             Paper 1 (20%)      Paper 2 (36%)      Paper 3 (20%)      IA (24%)     Overall mark (100%)

 (Total mark for paper)   (40)                    (90)                     (50)                 (48)

This does mean that for both SL and (even more so) HL, Paper 2 provides the greatest contribution towards the final mark. A student who does not do well in Paper 2 will find it very difficult, if not impossible, to end up with a high overall final mark.