Theory of knowledge assessment exemplars

Introduction

## Purpose of this document

### About this publication

A guide to the new theory of knowledge (TOK) course was published in March 2006 with first assessment taking place in May 2008. The new course was constructed following a review that concentrated particularly on assessment, recognizing a number of concerns with the previous course. Following trials of three different models, a set of four new assessment criteria for the externally assessed essay was developed.

The essays and comments presented in this publication are an attempt to clarify how the assessment criteria for this component work in practice. The essays come from those submitted in the first examination session in May 2008. Each is accompanied by comments from senior examiners explaining the marks awarded.

### New criteria for externally assessed work

Although the four new assessment criteria were conceived largely as a better way to present the elements of the previous six criteria, what has emerged is a significant refocusing, particularly in the new criterion B, “Knower’s perspective”. This gathered elements from several of the earlier criteria but resulted in a productive emphasis on students’ own approaches to knowledge issues. The new criteria have been widely welcomed as being easier to understand and more “transparent” in application.

In any assessment scheme there is a balance to be struck between validity and reliability. Validity means that the scheme measures what it is meant to be measuring (and in this case, also that it promotes appropriate classroom practice); reliability means that the scheme yields consistent scores at different times and with different examiners. The curriculum review group responsible for the new set of criteria were determined to preserve the validity of the assessment in TOK. Greater reliability was also a goal but it is one that has proved elusive. Essay-based assessment is always difficult, and it may be that the TOK essay is more difficult to assess than most: it is inherently complex and lacks the “stabilizing” element of an expected factual content, such as might be found in a response to, say, a history or economics examination question.

However, despite some perceptions to the contrary, analysis has shown that the accuracy of teachers’ grade predictions in TOK is comparable to that in other subjects (over 40% exactly right; over 90% within one grade). This evidence suggests that assessment in the course overall is rather more reliable than is sometimes supposed.

### Presentation of material

These support materials are available in English, French and Spanish, with each version including at least one essay in each grade. Since it was not appropriate to translate student work, the essays and comments are different in each language. If teachers are familiar with more than one of these languages, it may be worthwhile for them to look at the other language versions.

Each essay has been anonymized but otherwise is in its original format, apart from the addition of line numbers for ease of reference. In one instance a slight change was necessary for copyright reasons.

For information, the five TOK essay grades, with mark ranges as set in May 2008, are as follows:

Grade A | Excellent | 30–40 marks
Grade B | Good | 23–29 marks
Grade C | Satisfactory | 17–22 marks
Grade D | Mediocre work | 11–16 marks
Grade E | Poor | 0–10 marks

### Using this publication

There are various ways of using this publication. You may wish to read one or two essays, with comments, then try “marking” others for yourself to see how closely your assessments agree with those of the senior examiners. You may wish to ask your students to mark one or two of the essays as a way of helping them to understand what they need to aim towards, or what to avoid, in their own essays.

We would be surprised if you agree with all the judgments presented here. Nevertheless, we hope they demonstrate a consistent approach with its own rationale. We would be interested to know whether the publication is useful to you, and indeed, how you have used it. Any comments about the publication or suggestions for changes to the assessment scheme can be made via the TOK discussion forum on the IB’s online curriculum centre (OCC).

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