Language and Literature students will no longer sit Paper 2 in the May 2021 examinations.  That assessment is out.  Full stop.  In August of 2020, the IB released a document titled “At a glance: the May 2021 examination session for the Diploma and Career-related Programmes” where they provided this information. 

Wow!

This raises a ton of questions and at the time of publishing this post, the reality is that we just don’t have many answers yet.  Unfortunately, we are going to have to wait and be patient.  And that’s tough for me personally because I’m a planner.  Big time.  This unnerves me.  I tell you this because I think it’s important to be honest with you about how I’m feeling right now: unmoored.  And that’s okay.  It’s a big announcement from the IB that has an impact on all of us. 

When we at InThinking know more – in other words, when and where we can give definitive answers to your questions – we will.  Until then, we will all have to wait to hear from the IB.  Because InThinking is not the IB, we don’t want to give you the wrong information at this time or advise you in a way that will force you have to make a serious correction later on in the year. 

Here is what we do know.  The IB has published and given some guidance to schools about what to do for internal assessment (the Individual Oral) and coursework (the Higher Level essay).  This is the go to document if you must conduct your Individual Oral remotely!  Find the correct examination year and go from there.  

1. “Supporting Guidance for November 2020” - this is a guidance document to support you if you must conduct your IO remotely and your students are sitting the November 2020 exams.
2. “Supporting Guidance for May and November 2021” - this is a guidance document to support you if you must conduct your IO remotely and your students are sitting the May or November 2021 exams.
3. “At a glance: the May 2021 examination session for the Diploma and Career-related Programmes.” - this is the document outlining the changes in assessment to the May 2021 exams.

Please do reach out to us for support!  We are here to help you navigate this new and tricky terrain and if we can’t, we will be honest about that too.  Most of all, in these very trying and uncertain times, we hope you are safe, healthy, and well.

Best,

Tim and David