IB DP Psychology is one of the most rigorous Psychology programs for high school students. While studying knowledge of Psychology is most definitely akin to having a superpower – better understanding of human beings, preparing for the IB examinations can be challenging.
The IB Internal Assessment (IB IA) is, in fact the fun part of the IB DP Psychology curriculum giving students the chance to conduct an experiment and learn how researchers design and conduct one themselves. This, along with the fact that the IB Internal Assessment counts for 20% of the grade for IB HL students and 25% of the grade for IB SL students, means where the IB students can easily score high grades in this component. Yet, IB DP students often struggle with this component or feel they have created work that meets the marking requirements but in reality it does not.
What can you do to ensure that your IB IA scores that perfect 7?
There are 5 things you need to do get that perfect IB Psychology score:
Let’s look at each one in detail:
1. Choose your experiment wisely: The most common mistake students make when starting with their IB Internal Assessment is to get excited and choose an experiment which has too many variables or uses tasks/technology which the IB students don’t have access to. When selecting the experiment, ask yourself the following questions:
Example: Effect of distractor task on short term memory
| Condition 1 No distractor task | Condition 2 Distractor task | |
| Independent Variable | Participants read a list of words and immediately recall | Participants read a list of words – do a distractor task for 30 seconds- and then recall the words |
| Dependent variable | How many words did the participants recall? | How many words did the participants recall? |
2. Do not modify the experiment too much: The IB Internal Assessment must be a replication of an already peer-reviewed experiment. Some modifications that may be acceptable may be the words in the list or the video shown to the participants. However, IB students often change the nature of the materials or design of the experiments without realizing the impact it will have on the results of the experiment. Try to replicate the original experiment as closely as possible.
3. Read and familiarize yourself with the IB DP Mark Scheme: You must read and familiarize yourself with the marking criteria used by the IB Examiners. Highlight the key requirements in each section and structure your IB IA accordingly.
Example: The Introduction must have the theory on which the experiment is based rather than the original experiment described. In the Exploration section, the difference between band 1-2 and 3-4 is “describing” your design, materials, sampling technique and controls, and “explaining” them. Explaining would require you to describe as well as justify your choices. The Analysis section only requires 1 descriptive statistic, 1 measure of dispersion, 1 inferential statistic to be calculated, described and it’s meaning explained. The Evaluation section requires 1 strength, 1 limitation and 1 modification addressing the limitation each for design, procedure and sample.
You can see the markscheme here: https://ibpublishing.ibo.org/d_3_psych_gui_1702_1/apps/dpapp/guide.html?doc=d_3_psych_gui_1702_1_e&part=3&chapter=5§ion=8
4. Learn these key concepts before you perform your experiment: There are some key concepts that you must be clear about, before you even plan your experiment or collect data. Clarity on these concepts will impact how well you are able to explain your choices in your IB IA. The key concepts are:
5. Pay attention to the details in your report: The most often overlooked section of the IB Internal Assessment is the Appendix. It is important to understand that the Appendix is the evidence for all the work that you have done in your experiment. Thus, it is critical that you attach your materials, consent form, instructions given to the participants, debriefing notes, raw data tables and most importantly, screenshots of, or calculations of your inferential statistics. Ensure you are attaching all your evidence in the Appendix so that the IB Examiners can verify the procedures and calculations you have conducted.
In 2020 and 2021, all IB Internal Assessments were submitted to the IBO for marking and moderation – and they played a crucial role in deciding the grades of the students. It only reinforced the importance of planning and submitting well-drafted IAs by the students to boost their final IB grades.