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IB Psychology

THE INTERNAL ASSESSMENT ASSIGNMENT

The internal assessment in psychology requires the students to plan, conduct and evaluate a simple experiment. This project allows the students to work practically with the subject. It counts for 20% of the final grade for HL students and 25 % of the final grade for SL students.

Students complete their Psychology IA in the first semester of the second year of diploma.

For the IA, students work in groups of 2-4 and design and conduct a simple experiment (one IV, one DV). After conducting the experiment, students must write their reports individually. The IA consists of 4 marked sections:

  • Introduction (0-6 marks)
  • Exploration (0-4 marks)
  • Analysis (0-6 marks)
  • Evaluation (0-6 marks)

The maximum word count is 2200 words and must be strictly adhered to.

Other requirements for the IA are title page, table of contents, appendices, graphs, tables, and works cited page (references). All of these are not included in the final word count.

The teacher marks the IA and IBO examiners moderate the marking of a sample  of IA’s selected by IBO.

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PSYCHOLOGY AND TOK

TOK is invaluable for exploring some of the bigger questions relevant to the teaching, learning and practice of psychology. Questions that can be explored include the following; can models and theories be used to understand and predict human behaviour? Does a researcher’s choice of methodology affect the reliability or credibility of research? Is what we know about human behaviour limited by our ethical considerations? Are emotions universal? Are the methods of the natural sciences applicable in the social sciences? There are a variety of ways of gaining knowledge in psychology, including observation and experimentation, inductive and deductive reasoning, and the collection of evidence. Having followed a psychology course, students should be able to reflect critically on the various ways of knowing and on the methods used in the social sciences.

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ASSESSMENT

The psychology written exams
STANDARD LEVEL

3 hours total          75% of the final mark

Paper 1 (2 hours) (50% of the final grade)

  • Section A: Three short-answer questions (SAQ) on the core approaches to psychology.
  • Section B: One essay from a choice of three on the biological, cognitive and sociocultural approaches to behaviour. 

Paper 2 (1 hour) (25% of the final grade)

  • One question from a choice of three on one option
HIGHER LEVEL

5 hours total           80% of the Final Mark

Paper 1 (2 hours) (40% of the final grade)

  • Section A: Three short-answer questions (SAQ) on the core approaches to psychology.
  • Section B: One essay from a choice of three on the biological, cognitive and sociocultural approaches to behaviour. One, two or all of the essays will reference the additional HL topics.

 Paper 2 (2 hours) (20% of the final grade)

  • Two questions; one from a choice of three on each of two options.

Paper 3 (1 hour) (20% of the final grade)

  • Three short-answer questions from a list of six static questions on approaches to research
INTERNAL ASSESSMENT

STANDARD LEVEL: 25 % of the final grade

HIGHER LEVEL: 20 % of the final grade

Worked exam examples

IA + marks and comments.

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EXAM

Psychology IA example with examiner’s marks and comments

See example

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