IB websites may not always be the easiest to navigate, but they are generally comprehensive in coverage even if you have to dig deep to find what you are looking for and then combine available information. I think internal assessment in Business and Management tends to fall into that ‘dig deep and check for additional information’ category.
Let’s examine where we should be looking for supporting material. Naturally we start with the programme guide. There are two essential pieces of reading from the printed guide; pages 48 to 54 on assessment details and 55 to 68 for the assessment criteria. It would be expected that all teachers and students would have a good working knowledge of the relevant HL and SL details from these sections – after all this is the most basic of information. We also have additional and essential information on the OCC that is not in the guide; for example full information on word counts. On that basis, it should be expected that supervisors of the IA access these additional materials and make their students aware of the requirements. The problem is that every session, it is apparent that students appear to unaware of even the guide information, let alone the additional information available on the OCC. Though a minority fall into this category; it is a surprisingly significant minority. Indeed, students from the same centres frequently make similar mistakes session after session, despite the feedback afforded by the moderators, examiner reports and through requesting moderator reports.
