Does the IB require schools to hold mock examinations?

Mock examinations are school-designed practice assessments rather than official IB examination components. Schools determine whether to hold them, when to schedule them, and how to use the results within their assessment policies. A mock mark is not submitted as an externally assessed examination result. However, mock evidence may contribute to reporting, intervention planning, or predicted-grade decisions when considered alongside other student work. Teachers should explain the local purpose and consequences of the mock before students sit it.

How much of the syllabus should a fall-term mock cover?

A fall-term mock should cover material students have reasonably had an opportunity to learn. For a May examination cohort, a September or November paper will often be a cumulative taught-content assessment rather than a full-syllabus simulation. Teachers can reproduce authentic question styles, timing pressures, and assessment objectives while limiting the content scope. Reports should state which topics were excluded so the result is not interpreted as a complete forecast. A full-syllabus paper becomes more defensible once course coverage is substantially complete.

Can a mock exam grade be used as an IB predicted grade?

A mock result can contribute evidence, but it should not automatically become the predicted grade. A predicted grade represents the teacher's expectation of the grade a candidate will achieve based on available evidence and knowledge of IB standards. Strong predictions consider multiple assessments, consistency, relevant components, and the student's performance trend. A mock may deserve substantial weight when it is broad, current, secure, and completed under controlled conditions. Teachers should be cautious when incomplete coverage, illness, access barriers, or administrative problems affected performance.

Should teachers use past papers for IB mock exams?

Past and specimen papers can help teachers reproduce authentic formats, command terms, mark allocations, and difficulty. However, a paper students have already practised may measure memory of the markscheme rather than independent readiness. Teachers should confirm that every selected question belongs to the current syllabus and assessment model. They must also follow authorized access and copyright arrangements for IB materials. Combining carefully reviewed questions with original or licensed IB-style material can improve security while preserving appropriate demands.

How should teachers assign grades when future boundaries are unknown?

Teachers may consult relevant historical boundaries, but these provide context rather than guaranteed cutoffs for a future session. Live IB boundaries are determined after assessment using evidence that a school mock cannot reproduce fully. Student work should also be considered against current criteria and grade descriptors. If a provisional grade is reported, its method and uncertainty should be stated clearly rather than implying official status. Topic, skill, and pacing data are usually more useful for instructional decisions than a narrowly calculated grade.

What should teachers do immediately after marking the mock?

First, standardize a sample of scripts and check whether any questions produced unexpected or inconsistent marking. Next, analyse results by topic, assessment objective, command term, and completion rather than looking only at averages. Group errors into categories such as missing knowledge, weak application, poor structure, and timing. Select the 2-3 patterns costing the cohort the most marks and reteach them explicitly. Finish with fresh timed questions so students can demonstrate that the identified weakness has improved.

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How to Prepare a Mock Exam That Reflects Readiness

IB Teachers Seasonal Planning IB Exam Tips

• 24 Sept 2026•9

How to Prepare a Mock Exam That Reflects Readiness

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How to Prepare a Mock Exam That Reflects Readiness | RevisionDojo

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How to Prepare a Mock Exam That Reflects Readiness

IB Teachers Seasonal Planning IB Exam Tips

• 24 Sept 2026•9

To prepare a mock exam that reflects readiness, an IB teacher must do more than collect difficult questions. The paper should represent the current syllabus, reproduce relevant assessment demands, generate dependable marks, and show what students can do independently under realistic conditions.

A mock is best treated as a diagnostic assessment, not a prediction machine. In September-to-November planning, this matters because May-session classes may still be learning content, while November-session classes may need a final readiness check.

Define what readiness means

Readiness is not simply the percentage of content a student remembers. It includes selecting and applying knowledge, interpreting command terms, communicating in the required form, managing time, and sustaining performance across a complete paper.

The IB discusses assessment through principles including validity, reliability, fairness, comparability, and manageability in its official assessment principles and practices. Applied to a mock, these principles mean checking several dimensions:

Knowledge: Can students recall the required concepts, evidence, formulas, or texts?
Application: Can they use their knowledge in unfamiliar contexts?
Assessment literacy: Do they understand command terms, choices, and mark allocations?
Pacing: Can they distribute time according to the available marks?
Communication: Are answers precise, structured, and appropriate to the subject?
Independence: Can students perform without notes, hints, or intervention?

A total mark can conceal these differences. Two students may both score 58%, although one lacks content knowledge while the other understands the course but leaves questions unfinished.

Start with an assessment blueprint

Before selecting questions, create a one-page assessment blueprint. This prevents the mock from overrepresenting topics that happen to provide convenient questions.

Blueprint category	Planning question
Syllabus coverage	Which taught topics can students reasonably be expected to know?
Assessment objectives	How many marks test knowledge, application, analysis, or evaluation?
Paper structure	Are sections, instructions, choices, and mark totals authentic?
Difficulty	Does the paper progress from accessible to demanding work?
Timing	Can a prepared student complete it within the stated time?
Diagnostic evidence	Will results separate content, technique, and pacing weaknesses?

Use the current subject guide and authorized school materials as controlling documents. The IB's public sample examination papers can confirm layouts, question forms, instructions, and markschemes for selected subjects.

RevisionDojo's Test Builder and Exam Mode can help assemble questions by subject, paper, and topic. Teacher review remains essential because individually suitable questions do not automatically produce a balanced paper.

Match the mock to taught content

A November mock for a May examination cohort should not imply that the course is complete. Extensive untaught material reduces validity because the result measures syllabus exposure rather than readiness for the content covered.

Choose an honest model:

Cumulative taught-content mock: Uses authentic paper styles but only taught topics.
Paper-section diagnostic: Reproduces one substantial section to examine selected skills.
Full-syllabus mock: Appropriate when the examinable course is complete or nearly complete.

State the model when reporting results. A grade based on 60% of the syllabus should not be presented as a complete forecast of final performance. For November-session students, September may permit a fuller simulation, but teachers should still verify timings through the official IB examination schedule and current subject documentation.

Reproduce the assessment construct

A paper can resemble an IB examination while measuring the wrong abilities. A science mock dominated by definitions may neglect data analysis, while a humanities paper containing only broad essays may omit required source interpretation.

Check that the mock:

uses current question types rather than obsolete syllabus formats
preserves realistic mark-to-time relationships
includes familiar and unfamiliar contexts
provides permitted calculators, texts, formula booklets, or data booklets
reproduces genuine choice rules
avoids clues created by topic headings or recent teaching order

The IB's DP assessment and examinations overview explains how examinations fit alongside internal and externally assessed components. A mock should reflect the relevant examination component rather than attempt to represent the entire subject grade.

Protect reliability and fairness

Before administration, ask another teacher to complete or review the paper, identify ambiguity, verify the markscheme, and estimate completion time. For several classes, teachers should mark the same anonymized sample, compare decisions, and agree how criteria apply to borderline responses. A second shared sample midway through marking can expose drift.

RevisionDojo's guide to using mock exams effectively connects consistent marking with feedback and reteaching. For extended responses, teachers should record why marks were awarded, not only the total.

Students should know the assessed scope, duration, permitted materials, and purpose beforehand. Apply established access arrangements wherever possible. The IB access and inclusion policy explains that arrangements remove barriers without lowering assessment expectations and should normally reflect the student's usual way of working.

Keep administration consistent across classes and record disruptions, illness, late starts, technology failures, or unauthorized assistance. These factors affect how confidently results can be interpreted.

Plan from September to November

Period	Recommended action
September	Define the purpose, audit coverage, and run short baseline tasks.
Early October	Draft the blueprint, select questions, and confirm access arrangements.
Late October	Trial demanding items, refine the markscheme, and standardize decisions.
November	Administer consistently, analyse patterns, and schedule targeted follow-up.

For November-session schools, compress the process so feedback still influences final revision. For May-session schools, use the mock as an autumn checkpoint rather than a premature final prediction.

Report a readiness profile

IB assessment is criterion-related, so performance is judged against defined standards rather than class rank. The official DP grade descriptors support formative assessment, reporting, and predicted-grade decisions.

Historical grade boundaries provide context but cannot guarantee future boundaries. Report the raw mark and provisional grade interpretation alongside performance by topic, assessment skill, command term, pacing, and unanswered questions.

Classify important losses as knowledge, application, communication, command-term, or timing errors. RevisionDojo's Questionbank can support focused follow-up, while its guide to reviewing an IB mock exam explains how to build an error log and retest plan.

Avoid common mock exam mistakes

Common weaknesses include using obsolete papers, testing untaught content without qualification, overrepresenting one topic, or relying mechanically on one historical boundary table. Teachers should also avoid changing established access arrangements, returning only a total score, or holding the mock too late for feedback to influence learning.

After marking, give students a small number of prioritized actions and use fresh questions to check improvement. The RevisionDojo mock feedback guide provides a framework for targeted practice, although automated feedback still requires teacher judgement.

Conclusion

A mock that reflects readiness aligns with the current course, samples appropriate assessment objectives, reproduces meaningful examination conditions, and is marked consistently. Results should be interpreted alongside syllabus coverage, access arrangements, administration conditions, and other evidence of performance.

RevisionDojo can support this process through Test Builder, Exam Mode, the Questionbank, and Jojo AI feedback. Teachers should retain responsibility for paper quality, interpretation, and final assessment judgements.

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