Completing the Teacher Feedback form

The form asks some standard questions such as whether you considered the paper to be easier, harder or of about the same standard as last year. It also provides space for you to comment on individual questions. This is important particularly for the multiple choice questions. Some years ago on the old syllabus there was a question that basically asked how many peaks there would be in the ¹H NMR spectrum of benzene. The candidates could choose answers of 1, 2, 6 and another obviously wrong answer such as 78. The answer expected by the IB was 1. Benzene of course does give one peak but it could be argued that the spectrum would actually show two peaks as students are taught about chemical shifts and there needs to be a peak due to the TMS reference to be present for the shift to be measured. Because of the comments from by teachers it was agreed at the Grade Award meeting that both answers 1 and 2 would be accepted. (Another two examples of this can be found in my blog on Multiple Choice Answers). It is also important to state whether you think something has been asked that is not on the syllabus. If this is found to be true then if it is a multiple choice question it can be discarded.  

It is worth doing two things before you complete the form. Talk to your students immediately after they have done each examination paper. They will tell you of anything they found particularly difficult or unusual and give you their overall impression of the papers. This can alert you to any particular problem areas. Then after 24 hours have passed you can obtain the examination papers from the IB coordinator in your school. Set aside some quiet time and do the papers as if you were a student. You will then get a good grasp of any areas you feel are worth commenting on. If there is more than one chemistry teacher in your school discuss the papers with your colleagues and submit a joint feedback form. There is one other way to spot potential problem areas. Many teachers air their views on the various chemistry discussions forums. They should not discuss anything until at least 24 hours after the examination has finished for obvious reasons (there may be students in other countries who have not yet started the exam). Because of this teachers are not actually allowed access to the papers until 24 hours have elapsed from the time the examination finished. When you read other teacher’s comments check that they are referring to the papers in the same time zone as the exam taken by your students.  

Remember though that the IB is an international exam. Different cultures will have different views. Some years ago I was at Grade Awarding and we saw the following feedback comments which referred to the same examination paper.

After reading these we decided that we had got the balance about right!