The Class Practicals – What do students submit for assessment/grading?

Here’s a question being asked by many IBDP Psychology teachers and students: What do students have to submit for the Class Practical to be assessed?

The answer is surprising many: nothing.

Unlike the Internal Assessment, the Class Practical requires no written report submission. Teachers don’t grade students’ contributions to the Practical itself. Students must participate in some capacity—perhaps planning and conducting the study, serving as participants to experience research from that perspective, or acting as members of an ethics committee reviewing the Practical. The teacher determines each student’s role, but these contributions are not formally assessed.

So where does assessment come in? Paper 2, Section A.

This exam section contains four questions specifically about the Class Practical:

Question 1 (10 minutes): Describe how you used [one of the 4 methods] in your class practical, including its aim and procedure.

Question 2 (10 minutes): Explain the concept of [one of the 6 Concepts] in relation to the [interview or focus group] in your class practical.

Question 3 (15 minutes): Compare and contrast the research methodology used in your class practical with [one of the other 4 methods].

Question 4 (15 minutes): Design [one of the other 3 methods] to investigate the same topic you investigated in your class practical.

For detailed guidance on Class Practicals and to see sample high-scoring responses to these questions, consult Tom Coster’s Textbook and the Ten Mock Examinations book. (Click on the images below to find out more about these books.)

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