The written examinations in May and November

IB examinations must be conducted according to the regulations and procedures defined in a handbook for Diploma Programme coordinators and teachers, known as the Vade Mecum. Rigorous compliance with the Vade Mecum ensures a consistent approach to the administration of an examination session regardless of country location and any cultural differences. In each session the IBO regional offices make unannounced inspections of the examination arrangements in a random selection of schools in their region. On the very rare occasion that examination arrangements are found to be deficient, the school is brought to the attention of the IBO final award committee.

Maintaining the security and integrity of the examinations is a very high priority for the IBO. Breaches of security are rare because the IBO implements safeguards, and schools themselves are vigilant and keep the examination papers in a secure environment. Because candidates in well over 100 countries take IB examinations on the same date for each subject, the IBO makes strenuous efforts to prevent opportunities for cheating across time zones. In selected subjects examination papers have regional variations, which makes the transfer of information about examination papers across time zones a pointless exercise.

In general the written examinations proceed smoothly and the schools mail their candidates’ scripts directly to examiners who mark them according to detailed markschemes or assessment criteria. Occasionally, individual candidates or whole groups of candidates within a school may be affected by unforeseen circumstances, such as illness, accident or a natural disaster. If so, the Diploma Programme coordinator informs the IBO’s coordinator help desk and the final award committee considers the circumstances. The committee may authorize an allowance for affected candidates, but individual examiners are not informed about any special circumstances affecting a candidate or group of candidates.