eAssessment in the MYP

The eAssessment is designed by the IB to be taken by MYP 5 students (ICS Grade 10), as the completion of the Middle Years Programme and leads to the MYP certificate. The eAssessment takes place on computer, rather than on paper with an exam administrator, invigilators and IT support.

In the MYP eAssessment, only a fraction of the covered material is actually based on knowledge, with the focus primarily on inquiry and critical thinking. This reflects the IB’s preference for the development of critical thinking and and the ATL skills over simple fact-based, textbook learning – an important preference in the information age, which has provided every student with near-unlimited access to information any time they need it.

As each student completes each eAssessment examination, a student response file is generated and uploaded to the IB cloud. IB examiners then mark and moderate the answers against the MYP assessment criteria to determine the level of achievement. 

One of the most important aspects of the eAssessment is the electronic format itself. Students generally consider the onscreen exam to be far more engaging than paper-based exams, because it more closely resembles the tech-based learning in which they engage regularly.

Because the exams are interactive, they also allow for more dynamic forms of examination. Questions and tasks can be designed with far more unique opportunities to show understanding. Videos can be played, and interactive diagrams can be manipulated. Students can even draw lines and pictures or work with graphs for tests. All of these allow for very interesting forms of interaction that allow for types of assessment that would never have been possible with paper-based exams. 

For the reasons outlined above, we at ICS feel the eAssessments are a fantastic opportunity for students to ‘show-off’ their knowledge, understanding and Approaches to Learning skills, than would otherwise be impossible. For more information, please see this article on the IB's official website, where you can find out more about this award-winning assessment, and what makes it such a valuable learning experience.

*This article was written in collaboration with Dr. Jennifer Barnett, our MYP Coordinator