TOK essay on a prescribed title
TOK exhibition assessment instrument
Theory of knowledge: First assessment 2022 |
| Assessment component | Weighting |
|---|---|
Internal assessment Theory of knowledge exhibition (10 marks) For this component, students are required to create an exhibition that explores how TOK manifests in the world around us. This component is internally assessed by the teacher and externally moderated by the IB at the end of the course. |
1/3 (33%) |
External assessment TOK essay on a prescribed title (10 marks) For this component, students are required to write an essay in response to one of the six prescribed titles that are issued by the IB for each examination session. As an external assessment component, it is marked by IB examiners. |
2/3 (67%) |
The TOK exhibition explores how TOK manifests in the world around us. For this reason it is strongly recommended that students base their exhibition on one of the TOK themes (either the core theme or one of the optional themes).
The TOK exhibition is an internal assessment component—it is marked by the teacher and is externally moderated by the IB. Internal assessment is an integral part of all DP courses. It enables students to demonstrate the application of their skills and knowledge, and to pursue their personal interests.
For this task, students are required to create an exhibition of three objects that connect to one of the 35 “IA prompts” provided in the “IA prompts” section of this guide. Students must select just one IA prompt on which to base their exhibition, and all three objects must be linked to the same IA prompt.
Students are required to create an exhibition comprising three objects, or images of objects, and an accompanying written commentary on each object. To enable their exhibition to be marked by their TOK teacher and for samples of student work to be submitted to the IB for moderation, students are required to produce a single file containing:
Each student must create an individual exhibition. Group work may not be undertaken by students. Multiple students in the same TOK class are permitted to create exhibitions on the same IA prompt. However, students in the same class are not permitted to use any of the same objects.
The TOK exhibition task has been explicitly designed to be completed during the first year of the DP. To support DP students, it is important that schools have a clear overall schedule of internal deadlines for the completion of the internal assessment tasks for the different subjects. Within this schedule, teachers are strongly encouraged to complete the TOK exhibition in the first year of the programme.
Further guidance on the TOK exhibition task, including marked and annotated examples of student work, can be found in the Theory of knowledge teacher support material.
It is recommended that a total of approximately eight hours of teaching time should be allocated to the TOK exhibition task.
The TOK exhibition process consists of three key steps.
| Step 1 | Students begin their exhibition by selecting one IA prompt and three objects, or images of objects, that show how this question manifests in the world around us. Students must select one IA prompt as the basis for their exhibition. All three objects must be linked to the same prompt. To help them approach this task effectively, students are encouraged to root their exhibition in one of the TOK themes—either the core theme or one of the optional themes. This can help to provide an accessible starting point for students and can provide a focus to help students narrow down their choice of potential objects. Within the teaching time allocated to undertaking this task, teachers should ensure that they include time to explain the requirements of the task and ensure that students are familiar with the assessment instrument. |
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| Step 2 | Students should produce a single file containing their TOK exhibition. This must include:
Teachers are permitted to provide feedback on one draft of this work. They should provide oral or written advice on how the work could be improved, but should not edit the draft. Once complete, this file is submitted to the TOK teacher to be marked. Samples of student work are then submitted to the IB for moderation. |
| Step 3 | Teachers are required to provide all students with an opportunity for their completed exhibitions to be showcased and exhibited to an audience. As this does not form part of the formal assessment task, teachers have a great deal of flexibility as to how they choose to hold these exhibitions—as in the following examples.
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The IA prompts are a set of 35 high-level knowledge questions. Students must select one of the following IA prompts on which to base their exhibition, and all three objects must be linked to the same prompt. These IA prompts apply for all examination sessions for the life of this guide—they do not change from session to session.
Students are required to create an exhibition of three objects that connect to one of the following IA prompts.
The chosen IA prompt must be used exactly as given; it must not be altered in any way.
An extremely wide variety of different types of objects are suitable for use in a TOK exhibition. Students are encouraged to choose objects that are of personal interest and that they have come across in their academic studies and/or their lives beyond the classroom.
It is strongly recommended that students base their exhibition on one of the themes (the core theme or one of the optional themes). This can be an extremely useful way to help students narrow down their choice of objects and give a focus to their exhibition.
The objects may be digital rather than physical objects. For example, students could include a photograph of an object, such as a historical treaty, where it would not be practical/possible for them to exhibit the physical object. Students may also use digital objects such as a tweet by a political leader. However, they must be specific objects that have a specific real-world context—objects that exist in a particular time and place (including virtual spaces). They may be objects that the student has created themselves, but they must be pre-existing objects rather than objects created specifically for the purposes of the exhibition.
The specific real-world context of each object is extremely important to the task. It is, therefore, important that students identify specific objects to discuss rather than using generic objects and generic images from the internet. For example, a discussion and photograph of a student’s baby brother is an example of an object that has a specific real-world context, whereas a generic image of “a baby” from an internet image search is not.
Examples of the diverse kinds of objects students could select include the following.
Further guidance on the role of objects in the exhibition and examples of student exhibitions can be found in the Theory of knowledge teacher support material.
The image of each object used in the exhibition must be appropriately referenced. If an object is the student’s own original work (for example, a painting that they created in a visual arts class) then this should be identified and acknowledged to ensure that teachers and moderators are clear about the origins of the object.
The maximum overall word count for the TOK exhibition is 950 words. This word count includes the written commentaries on each of the three objects. It does not include:
If an exhibition exceeds the word limit, then examiners are instructed to stop reading after 950 words and to base their assessment on only the first 950 words. Extended footnotes or appendices are not appropriate to a TOK exhibition.
The work submitted for internal assessment must be the student’s own work. However, it is not the intention that students should be left to work on the internal assessment component without any support from the teacher. The teacher should play an important role during both the planning stage and the period when the student is working on the internally assessed work.
It is recommended that a total of approximately 8 hours of teaching time should be allocated to the exhibition task. This should include:
Students should be encouraged to initiate discussions with the teacher to obtain advice and information, and students must not be penalized for seeking guidance. Teachers should read and give advice to students on one draft of the work. They should provide oral or written advice on how the work could be improved, but they may not edit the draft. The next version handed to the teacher must be the final version for submission.
It is the responsibility of teachers to ensure that all students understand the basic meaning and significance of concepts that relate to academic honesty, especially authenticity and intellectual property. Teachers must ensure that all student work for assessment is prepared according to the requirements and must explain clearly to students that the internally assessed work must be entirely their own.
All work submitted to the IB for moderation or assessment must be authenticated by a teacher and must not include any known instances of suspected or confirmed misconduct. Each student must confirm that the work is his or her authentic work and constitutes the final version of that work. Once a student has officially submitted the final version of the work it cannot be retracted. The requirement to confirm the authenticity of work applies to the work of all students, not just the sample work that will be submitted to the IB for the purpose of moderation.
Authenticity may be checked by discussion with the student on the content of the work, and scrutiny of one or more of the following.
The TOK exhibition focuses on exploring how TOK manifests in the world around us. Students are required to select one prompt from the list of 35 internal assessment prompts provided in the TOK subject guide. They then curate an exhibition of three objects connected to their chosen prompt.
An extremely wide variety of different types of objects are suitable for use in a TOK exhibition. Students are encouraged to select objects that have personal relevance or that link to areas of personal interest. For example, a student with an interest in fantasy football might select an object such as a set of fantasy football rankings or a set of football statistics, or a student might choose to include a personal item such as a photograph of a grandparent.
The student may have created the objects themselves, but they must be pre-existing objects rather than ones created specifically for the purposes of the exhibition. The objects may also be digital rather than physical. For example, students could include a photograph of an object where it would not be practical or possible for them to exhibit the physical object. Students may also use digital objects, such as a post on social media.
However, what is really important for this task is that the students select objects that have a specific realworld context—objects that exist in a particular time and place, including virtual spaces. For example, a photograph of a student’s childhood teddy bear is an example of an object that has a specific real-world context, whereas a generic image of “a teddy bear” from an internet search is not.
The TOK essay engages students in a formal, sustained piece of writing in response to one of the six titles that are prescribed by the IB for each examination session. These titles take the form of knowledge questions that are focused on the areas of knowledge.
The TOK essay is an external assessment component. Each student’s essay is submitted to the IB to be marked by IB examiners. The TOK Essay must be written in standard 12 type size and be double spaced. It is not primarily a research paper, but it is expected that specific sources will be used, and these must be acknowledged.
The IB releases a set of six prescribed titles for each examination session. These titles are published on the programme resource centre (TOK>Assessment>Session-specific material) six months before the submission deadline.
It is not intended that students will spend six months working on their essays—teachers should select a window within that six-month period for students to work on their essays that fits with the other commitments in their school calendars. It is suggested that 10 hours of teaching time should be dedicated to working on the TOK Essay.
The chosen title must be used exactly as given; it must not be altered in any way.
The maximum length of the essay is 1,600 words. Extended footnotes or appendices are not appropriate for the TOK essay.
The word count includes:
The word count does not include:
If an essay exceeds the word limit, then examiners are instructed to stop reading after 1,600 words and to base their assessment on just the first 1,600 words. Students are required to indicate the number of words when the essay is uploaded during the submission process.
The TOK essay must be the student’s own work. However, the teacher plays an important role in supporting the student during the planning and writing of their essay. Teachers are expected to explain the requirements of the task and ensure that students are familiar with the assessment instrument, provide clarifications in response to students’ questions, monitor students’ progress, and check the authenticity of the student work.
For the TOK essay, three formal recorded interactions between the student and teacher are required. These three interactions must be recorded on the TOK essay Planning and Progress Form (TK/PPF). This form is not referred to by examiners when determining the mark awarded for the essay. However, it is submitted to the IB as important evidence that steps have been taken to help ensure the authenticity of the student’s work; it also plays an important role in terms of helping to ensure that all students receive an appropriate level of support when completing their essays. The procedure for uploading the TOK Essay and forms can be found in the Diploma Programme Assessment procedures resource on the programme resource centre<.
It is the responsibility of teachers to ensure that all students understand the basic meaning and significance of concepts that relate to academic honesty, especially authenticity and intellectual property. Teachers must ensure that all student work for assessment is prepared according to the requirements and must explain clearly to students that the work must be entirely their own.
All work submitted to the IB for moderation or assessment must be authenticated by a teacher and must not include any known instances of suspected or confirmed misconduct. Each student must confirm that the work is his or her authentic work and constitutes the final version of that work. Once a student has officially submitted the final version of the work it cannot be retracted.
Examples of ways that authenticity may be checked are through discussions with the student about the content of their work, scrutiny of the style of writing compared with work known to be that of the student, scrutiny of the references cited, or the analysis of the work by a web-based plagiarism detection service.
The TOK exhibition and the TOK essay are both marked using a global impression marking approach. This means that the assessment of both tasks is envisaged as a process of holistic or global judgment rather than an analytical process of totalling the assessment of separate criteria.
The assessment instruments present five described levels of performance. These levels are to be seen as global and holistic descriptors rather than as a checklist of necessary characteristics. When marking, the aim is to find the descriptor that conveys most accurately the level attained by the student. It is not necessary for every single aspect of a level descriptor to be met for a mark in that level to be awarded.
When using the TOK assessment instruments, it is to be understood that:
There are two marks available within each level of the assessment instruments. Teachers and examiners should award the upper mark if the student’s work demonstrates the qualities described in that level to a great extent—in this case, the work may be close to achieving marks in the level above. They should award the lower mark if the student’s work demonstrates the qualities described to a lesser extent—in this case, the work may be close to achieving marks in the level below.
If a piece of work seems to fall between two descriptors, teachers, moderators and examiners should re-read the driving question that underpins the global impression judgment and then read the two levels again. The level that more appropriately describes the overall holistic impression of the student’s work should be chosen. If the decision is taken to place the response in the higher of the two levels being considered, then the bottom of the two marks in that band should be awarded. If the decision is taken to place the response in the lower of the two bands being considered, then the upper mark in the band should be awarded.
The TOK exhibition is an opportunity for students to explore links between knowledge questions and the world around us. The assessment of this task is underpinned by the following single driving question.
| Does the exhibition successfully show how TOK manifests in the world around us? |
The assessment instrument provided describes five levels of performance in response to this driving question. These levels are to be seen as holistic descriptors rather than as a checklist of characteristics.
Please note: If a student only provides images and accompanying commentaries for two objects, teachers should award a maximum of 6 marks. If a student only provides an image and accompanying commentary for one object, teachers should award a maximum of 3 marks.
| Does the exhibition successfully show how TOK manifests in the world around us? | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Excellent 9-10 |
Good 7-8 |
Satisfactory 5-6 |
Basic 3-4 |
Rudimentary 1-2 |
0 |
The exhibition clearly identifies three objects and their specific real-world contexts. Links between each of the three objects and the selected IA prompt are clearly made and well-explained. There is a strong justification of the particular contribution that each individual object makes to the exhibition. All, or nearly all, of the points are well-supported by appropriate evidence and explicit references to the selected IA prompt. |
The exhibition identifies three objects and their real-world contexts. Links between each of the three objects and the selected IA prompt are explained, although this explanation may lack precision and clarity in parts. There is a justification of the contribution that each individual object makes to the exhibition. Many of the points are supported by appropriate evidence and references to the selected IA prompt. |
The exhibition identifies three objects, although the real-world contexts of these objects may be vaguely or imprecisely stated. There is some explanation of the links between the three objects and the selected IA prompt. There is some justification for the inclusion of each object in the exhibition. Some of the points are supported by evidence and references to the selected IA prompt. |
The exhibition identifies three objects, although the real-world contexts of the objects may be implied rather than explicitly stated. Basic links between the objects and the selected IA prompt are made, but the explanation of these links is unconvincing and/or unfocused. There is a superficial justification for the inclusion of each object in the exhibition. Reasons for the inclusion of the objects are offered, but these are not supported by appropriate evidence and/or lack relevance to the selected IA prompt. There may be significant repetition across the justifications of the different objects. |
The exhibition presents three objects, but the real-world contexts of these objects are not stated, or the images presented may be highly generic images of types of object rather than of specific real-world objects. Links between the objects and the selected IA prompt are made, but these are minimal, tenuous, or it is not clear what the student is trying to convey. There is very little justification offered for the inclusion of each object in the exhibition. The commentary on the objects is highly descriptive or consists only of unsupported assertions. |
The exhibition does not reach the standard described by the other levels or does not use one of the IA prompts provided. |
| Possible characteristics | |||||
Convincing Lucid Precise |
Focused Relevant Coherent |
Adequate Competent Acceptable |
Simplistic Limited Underdeveloped |
Ineffective Descriptive Incoherent |
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The TOK essay is an opportunity for students to engage in a formal, sustained piece of writing in response to a prescribed title focused on the areas of knowledge. The assessment of this task is underpinned by the following single driving question.
| Does the student provide a clear, coherent and critical exploration of the essay title? |
The assessment instrument provided describes five levels of performance in response to this driving question. These levels are to be seen as holistic descriptors rather than as a checklist of characteristics.
| Does the student provide a clear, coherent and critical exploration of the essay title? | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Excellent 9-10 |
Good 7-8 |
Satisfactory 5-6 |
Basic 3-4 |
Rudimentary 1-2 |
0 |
The discussion has a sustained focus on the title and is linked effectively to areas of knowledge. Arguments are clear, coherent and effectively supported by specific examples. The implications of arguments are considered. There is clear awareness and evaluation of different points of view. |
The discussion is focused on the title and is linked effectively to areas of knowledge. Arguments are clear, coherent and supported by examples. There is awareness and some evaluation of different points of view. |
The discussion is focused on the title and is developed with some links to areas of knowledge. Arguments are offered and are supported by examples. There is some awareness of different points of view. |
The discussion is connected to the title and makes superficial or limited links to areas of knowledge. The discussion is largely descriptive. Limited arguments are offered but they are unclear and are not supported by effective examples. |
The discussion is weakly connected to the title. While there may be links to the areas of knowledge, any relevant points are descriptive or consist only of unsupported assertions. |
The discussion does not reach the standard described by the other levels or is not a response to one of the prescribed titles for the correct examination session. |
| Possible characteristics | |||||
Insightful Convincing Accomplished Lucid |
Pertinent Relevant Analytical Organized |
Acceptable Mainstream Adequate Competent |
Underdeveloped Basic Superficial Limited |
Ineffective Descriptive Incoherent Formless |
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The assessment of the TOK essay is underpinned by the driving question: does the student provide a clear, coherent and critical exploration of the essay title? The assessment instrument then provides five levels of performance. These levels are to be seen as holistic descriptors rather than as a checklist of necessary characteristics and it is not necessary for every single aspect of a level descriptor to be met for a mark in that level to be awarded.
Key phrase from the essay assessment instrument |
Additional guidance or comments |
|---|---|
“A sustained focus on the title” |
The TOK essay is an exploration of the chosen title, so ensuring that the essay is tightly focused on the title is crucial. If this doesn’t happen, the essay will be seen to lack relevance and will only achieve low marks. Common weaknesses seen in TOK essays:
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“Linked effectively to areas of knowledge” |
The TOK prescribed essay titles may refer to specific areas of knowledge or they may ask students to discuss a claim in relation to two areas of knowledge but leave the choice of areas of knowledge to the student. In both question formats, it is vital that students make clear and effective links to areas of knowledge in their essays. The term “area of knowledge” refers explicitly to the five areas of knowledge listed in the TOK guide: history, natural sciences, human sciences, mathematics and the arts. Sometimes students may wish to use an example or discipline that does not fit comfortably into an area of knowledge. While examiners are encouraged to be open to a variety of approaches, if a student takes this approach then it does require them to offer some additional justification or explanation for why they are using this example for that area of knowledge. It is therefore recommended that teachers advise their students against this approach, as it requires the student to make the case for why that example or discipline belongs to that particular area of knowledge. |
“Arguments are effectively supported by specific examples” |
The TOK essay requires students to undertake a critical exploration of the chosen title. It is therefore crucial that the discussion is analytical rather than simply descriptive and that students provide clear and coherent arguments that are supported by specific examples. The term “specific examples” means that the student, for example, makes reference to a particular artist or artwork or scientist or scientific theory rather than making a generic reference to “artists” or “scientists”. The examples in a TOK essay play an important role in supporting the argument. This means that it is not only the examples themselves that are important, but crucially also how they are used within the essay to support the arguments that the student is making. A common weakness seen in TOK essays is where students use too many examples and/or skip from one example to another without unpacking their relevance and significance and without showing how these examples support the argument being made. This tends to make the essay overly descriptive rather than analytical. |
“Clear awareness and evaluation of different points of view” |
The TOK essay should be a critical exploration rather than simply a one-sided statement of the student’s own viewpoint or opinion. To achieve high marks, students need to not only show awareness of different points of view but also to critically evaluate these different points of view. Although students are required to engage with different points of view, TOK students should be encouraged to come to their own conclusions. They should be encouraged to make a critical appraisal of different points of view and to be clear what their own position is; for example, they might agree with a claim with reservations. Within an essay, different points of view might take the form of claims and counterclaims or arguments and counterarguments. Students might, for example, discuss contrasting examples and different perspectives from different disciplines or areas of knowledge, or indeed from within the same discipline or area of knowledge. |