Anglo-Chinese School (Independent)

[autolycus]

Estéema\" post_id=\"2126293\" time=\"1704263597\" user_id=\"66413:

2023 ACSI IB Results

Total Candidates : 441
Total Passes : 100%
Ave Total Points Score : 40.8
Ave Subj Grade : 6.34
% with 40 abv points : 73.5%
% with 40 abv points : 50.3%

Those are reasonably good post-Covid results. Tracking the distribution of scores over the years, it should really be better though. Group 1 is still an area of relative weakness; average for the 342 students doing SL Lit or Lang/Lit was 5.42; for chemistry HL (the best Group 4 subject, with 341 students) it was 6.82.

I think some of the critical pieces of data to look at would be the number of Theory of Knowledge (TOK) students getting an A, and the number of Extended Essay (EE) students who also get an A, and the overlap. I've phrased it that way because the former is a smaller number than the latter—the 2023 batch got 51 As for TOK and 144 As for EE, so TOK is the limiting factor.

The https://ibo.org/about-the-ib/what-it-means-to-be-an-ib-student/recognizing-student-achievement/about-assessment/dp-passing-criteria/ awards three bonus points for AA, AB, or BA in those two core elements. Post-Covid standards mean it will likely be harder to score, and indeed this has been the case.

[phtthp]

I think for Sciences like HL Higher

level (Physics / Chem / Bio), most IB students : in general, no issue with Sciences.

I could be wrong.
But I think Group 1 (English Literature) is also not easy, involving deep analysis. But, I feel that often, the studients’ main challenge lie in

TOK (Theory of knowledge)

And in

EE (Extended Essay), because lots of writing, very time consuming.

Don’t mind I ask.
Why or in what way, is TOK challenging ?
Is it because

is like … Philosophy thinking,

OR

is it because lack of time to finish writing up TOK report or
something else, instead ?

For EE (Extended Essay):
what’s the common struggle, that many students often encountered with ?

Thank you, for your kind sharing.

[autolycus]

phtthp\" post_id=\"2127439\" time=\"1705640831\" user_id=\"35251:

I think for Sciences like HL Higher
level (Physics / Chem / Bio), most IB students : in general, no issue with Sciences.

I could be wrong.
But I think Group 1 (English Literature) is also not easy, involving deep analysis. But, I feel that often, the studients' main challenge lie in

TOK (Theory of knowledge)

And in

EE (Extended Essay), because lots of writing, very time consuming.

Don't mind I ask.
Why or in what way, is TOK challenging ?
Is it because

is like ... Philosophy thinking,

OR

is it because lack of time to finish writing up TOK report or
something else, instead ?

For EE (Extended Essay):
what's the common struggle, that many students often encountered with ?

Thank you, for your kind sharing.

Good questions!

I teach English, History and Chemistry, so I am in a 'blessed' situation to comment across disciplines.

The common factor for students is that they don't read and write as much as they used to, so subjects with little narrative analysis are 'easy', and they are encouraged to major in those. With the use of AI (mostly accurate if trained well in convergent tight-logic disciplines, same for sources like Wikipedia; bad elsewhere), students are crippling their natural brain talent even more. It's not natural to read and write, those are learned skills and need practice.

Therefore, English (language or literature), and 'Arts/Humanities' subjects like History, are easy once humans learn to analyse human activity, emotion, and thought. This ought to be natural, since we do it everyday! But we are learning to be more 'robotic' as the subliminal message is that only 'sure' answers are worth having, 'complicated' answers are 'too cheem' and not worth the time. Once this hurdle is overcome, it is easier to score for English, you should get at least a 6.

TOK suffers because the young people prefer canned examples and thoughts. They no longer take the time to even read the very illuminating TOK Guide, in which many questions (mostly complex) are raised about the core concept, \"How do you know what you know?\" It is not really deep philosophy; it is the foundation of giving answers to any subject's questions. If you say, \"The post-WW1 economy drove the Germans to war in the period 1929-1939,\" you need to see what the evidence and logic are. Same if you say, \"Dylan Thomas's poetry is about the superluminal connection between man and his world.\" It's just the vocabulary that's different from, \"Show that the proposed mechanism of this reaction is plausible based on the data provided.\"

It is not difficult because of the actual product required (a triptych presentation under 1000 words, internal marking; an essay under 1600 words, external marking). It is difficult because to make good product, the student has to show thinking that is coherent and addresses the chosen topic—in a very short form relative to the complexity of the topic. I've taught TOK for almost 20 years now.

EE doesn't suffer so much because it is essentially the construction of a research project and the writing up of the experiment/research and findings. An orderly mind is all you need, and even if you have negative findings (e.g. your experimental findings showed exactly the opposition conclusion) and are able to explain why this is so, you can get an A. The main struggle is time trouble, a lot of students have bad time management when planning projects! I have supervised EEs in History, English, Econs and Chemistry.

(Sorry ah, not intending to 'hao lian', but sometimes need to explain why I talk so much, then people will understand. )

[SG_KP1]

.

[phtthp]

For TOK (Theory of Knowledge), how to score bonus 1 point?

Is it your TOK must get grade A or B, then can score 1 bonus point ?

Because

when Principal flashed onto overhead projector, saw a student got "C" grade for TOK, end up got … zero bonus point, for TOK.

[manorway]

autolycus\" post_id=\"2127436\" time=\"1705640070\" user_id=\"16143:

I think some of the critical pieces of data to look at would be the number of Theory of Knowledge (TOK) students getting an A, and the number of Extended Essay (EE) students who also get an A, and the overlap. I've phrased it that way because the former is a smaller number than the latter—the 2023 batch got 51 As for TOK and 144 As for EE, so TOK is the limiting factor.

The https://ibo.org/about-the-ib/what-it-means-to-be-an-ib-student/recognizing-student-achievement/about-assessment/dp-passing-criteria/ awards three bonus points for AA, AB, or BA in those two core elements. Post-Covid standards mean it will likely be harder to score, and indeed this has been the case.

Hi Autolycus, I am curious about TOK and EE. I heard of a case when a student's TOK and EE teachers both told her her submission should award her an A. Both teachers appeared confident after the various revisions/consultations/drafts etc.. hence student was confident too. But the IB awarded 1 point instead of 3 points.
Imagine the disappointment and shock. Especially when the TOK teacher was the subject head (if the info I got was right). Regardless, if school teachers were supposed to be confident and experienced, how could the outcomes be so different?

What could have gone wrong?

[manorway]

autolycus\" post_id=\"2127444\" time=\"1705642155\" user_id=\"16143:

Good questions!

I teach English, History and Chemistry, so I am in a 'blessed' situation to comment across disciplines.

The common factor for students is that they don't read and write as much as they used to, so subjects with little narrative analysis are 'easy', and they are encouraged to major in those. With the use of AI (mostly accurate if trained well in convergent tight-logic disciplines, same for sources like Wikipedia; bad elsewhere), students are crippling their natural brain talent even more. It's not natural to read and write, those are learned skills and need practice.

Therefore, English (language or literature), and 'Arts/Humanities' subjects like History, are easy once humans learn to analyse human activity, emotion, and thought. This ought to be natural, since we do it everyday! But we are learning to be more 'robotic' as the subliminal message is that only 'sure' answers are worth having, 'complicated' answers are 'too cheem' and not worth the time. Once this hurdle is overcome, it is easier to score for English, you should get at least a 6.

TOK suffers because the young people prefer canned examples and thoughts. They no longer take the time to even read the very illuminating TOK Guide, in which many questions (mostly complex) are raised about the core concept, \"How do you know what you know?\" It is not really deep philosophy; it is the foundation of giving answers to any subject's questions. If you say, \"The post-WW1 economy drove the Germans to war in the period 1929-1939,\" you need to see what the evidence and logic are. Same if you say, \"Dylan Thomas's poetry is about the superluminal connection between man and his world.\" It's just the vocabulary that's different from, \"Show that the proposed mechanism of this reaction is plausible based on the data provided.\"

It is not difficult because of the actual product required (a triptych presentation under 1000 words, internal marking; an essay under 1600 words, external marking). It is difficult because to make good product, the student has to show thinking that is coherent and addresses the chosen topic—in a very short form relative to the complexity of the topic. I've taught TOK for almost 20 years now.

EE doesn't suffer so much because it is essentially the construction of a research project and the writing up of the experiment/research and findings. An orderly mind is all you need, and even if you have negative findings (e.g. your experimental findings showed exactly the opposition conclusion) and are able to explain why this is so, you can get an A. The main struggle is time trouble, a lot of students have bad time management when planning projects! I have supervised EEs in History, English, Econs and Chemistry.

(Sorry ah, not intending to 'hao lian', but sometimes need to explain why I talk so much, then people will understand. )

Always love reading your posts. Love to pick your brain on the following:

For Langlit, I understand it is challenging to get a 7, but there must be cases of that. Not helpful when ACSI teacher tells students it is IMPOSSIBLE to get 7 instead of sharing HOW to work towards a 7. I find it hard to accept that those scoring 6 should NOT aim for 7, especially if Langlit is their forte. Is it possible to get hold of work that received a 7 grade from anywhere so students can do their own critical study? Please share your tips for students who are consistently getting a 6.

Would you say that a student who excels in Langlit and History would find TOK easier too?

Will you PLEASE share how TOK lessons are conducted in ACSI and how do students know if they are thriving in TOK? Basically, what red flags should we be looking for? How can students help themselves? Thanks so much.

[ChiefKiasu]

autolycus\" post_id=\"2127444\" time=\"1705642155\" user_id=\"16143:

...
I teach English, History and Chemistry, so I am in a 'blessed' situation to comment across disciplines.
...

Chemistry and History?! Wow! That's pretty diverse What's your degree in the university? Bachelor of Science or Arts?

[autolycus]

phtthp\" post_id=\"2127452\" time=\"1705643283\" user_id=\"35251:

For TOK (Theory of Knowledge), how to score bonus 1 point?
Is it your TOK must get grade A or B, then can score 1 bonus point ?

Because

when Principal flashed onto overhead projector, saw a student got \"C\" grade for TOK, end up got ... zero bonus point, for TOK.

AA/AB = 3
AC/AD/BB/BC = 2
BD/CC = 1
CD/DD = 0
If you get an E (Fail) in either one, you fail the diploma.

[autolycus]

manorway\" post_id=\"2127464\" time=\"1705659174\" user_id=\"9303:

What could have gone wrong?

Occasionally teachers are bad at using the rubric. We once had a teacher whose correlation score was negative. The correlation scores (teacher predicted vs actual) are actually given to the principal, so we can see who shouldn't be grading or supervising a given subject. In fact, the information given to students when the results come out is extensive, you even know individual scores for each paper taken.