Your MYP Individuals and Societies teacher normally marks classroom assessments, while trained IB examiners mark the official on-screen eAssessment. The answer depends on whether you mean a regular school task, a mock examination, or an IB-registered eAssessment.
Teacher assessment and external IB marking serve different purposes. Schools organize ordinary coursework and mocks, while the IB controls the marking and grade awarding of official on-screen examinations. Exam-day arrangements vary, so follow the instructions provided by your MYP coordinator.
Who marks regular MYP Individuals and Societies work?
Most MYP assessment consists of tasks created and marked by classroom teachers. These can include investigations, source analyses, essays, presentations, projects, and tests. Teachers assess the evidence in your work against the published MYP subject criteria:
- Criterion A: Knowing and understanding
- Criterion B: Investigating
- Criterion C: Communicating
- Criterion D: Thinking critically
When several classes take the same course, teachers may standardize their marking by reviewing samples and discussing how the criteria should be applied. Schools may also check borderline results or use common task-specific clarifications. These are internal quality-control arrangements, not external IB marking.
A classroom result is therefore not the same as an externally awarded IB result. It belongs to the school’s assessment and reporting system, although it should still reflect the MYP criteria and appropriate evidence of achievement.
Who marks the official MYP eAssessment?
If your school registers you for the official MYP eAssessment, the Individuals and Societies on-screen examination is externally marked by trained IB-appointed examiners. Your classroom teacher does not normally award its final marks.
The IB offers Individuals and Societies on-screen examinations in geography, history, and integrated humanities, subject to availability for the relevant session and language. Examiners assess each response using the authorized markscheme and examination guidance. They award marks for the evidence in the submitted response, not for effort, classroom reputation, predicted grades, or performance relative to classmates.
Examiner training and quality-assurance checks help maintain a consistent international standard. The resulting marks are processed through the IB grade-award system to produce the reported result. A predicted grade may provide contextual information during grade awarding, but it does not replace examiner marking or determine the final grade by itself.
How examiner marking stays consistent
External marking does not mean that one examiner makes an unchecked personal judgment. Examiners work from a common markscheme, receive instructions on how to interpret it, and complete standardization before live marking. During marking, quality checks are used to identify whether an examiner's decisions remain aligned with the required standard.
This matters because Individuals and Societies responses often allow different valid arguments or case studies. Examiners are looking for relevant knowledge, accurate use of evidence, clear reasoning, and direct engagement with the command term. A response does not need to reproduce a model answer word for word. It needs to satisfy the demands of the question and the markscheme. Clear structure helps the examiner see that evidence, but marks come from demonstrated achievement rather than presentation alone.
External marking and moderation are different
Students sometimes treat external marking and external moderation as interchangeable terms, but they describe different processes.
| Assessment type | Who initially marks it? | Quality process |
|---|---|---|
| Classroom task | Teacher or school staff | Internal standardization |
| School mock examination | Usually school teachers | School-defined review |
| Individuals and Societies eAssessment | IB-appointed examiner | External marking and grade award |
| Personal project or specified ePortfolio | Teacher | IB external moderation |
With external marking, an examiner directly marks the candidate’s responses. With moderation, the teacher marks first and the IB checks selected samples to determine whether the school applied the international standard appropriately. The official overview of MYP assessment and examinations confirms that on-screen examinations are externally marked, while specified internally assessed components are moderated.
What happens on exam day?
Your school administers the examination but does not normally mark the responses. The coordinator and invigilators manage candidate details, approved access arrangements, devices, room supervision, security, and response-file submission.
Invigilators can provide administrative instructions and respond to technical problems according to IB procedures. They cannot explain questions, recommend arguments, suggest answers, or assess your work during the examination. Your coordinator will confirm arrival times, permitted materials, device arrangements, and the procedure for reporting technical issues.
The IB’s guidance on preparing for an MYP on-screen examination explains the general process. However, your school’s instructions are the practical authority for your examination session.
How should students prepare?
First, confirm whether you are taking a classroom assessment, school mock, or official eAssessment. Each may have different conditions and purposes, even when the questions assess similar skills.
Useful preparation includes:
- Revising subject terminology, concepts, and relevant case studies
- Practising source interpretation rather than memorizing facts alone
- Writing clear explanations, comparisons, and evaluations
- Reviewing which objectives or criteria the task assesses
- Completing timed practice on a similar device
- Asking early about access arrangements or technical requirements
RevisionDojo’s MYP Individuals and Societies resources can support content review. The MYP Individuals and Societies Questionbank is particularly useful for practising evidence-based responses and identifying weaknesses.
The key answer
Your teacher normally marks ordinary MYP Individuals and Societies work. Trained IB examiners mark the official on-screen eAssessment externally, while the school supervises the session and submits responses. Always confirm an assessment’s status with your teacher or coordinator.
For focused preparation, combine RevisionDojo Questionbank practice with Study Notes and Flashcards. This helps you strengthen subject knowledge while practising the source analysis and written reasoning that assessment rewards.
