Due to the current crisis that has taken the world by storm (the coronavirus) the end of year examinations for May 2020 have been cancelled. Today on the 5th of July, many students were able to see their final grades from their IB coordinators and others are still waiting to receive their final grades tomorrow. 

So far, what we've seen is a great deal of injustice; many students around the world received significantly lower final grades than what they were predicted. For example; 41 down to 34, 43 down to 37, 38 down to 28, 42 down to 36, 30 down to 26 and the list goes on. Essentially, the IBO has lowered some students by up to 12 points! This is the first time in the history of IB that we see such substantial differences between the predicted grades and the final grades, on a large scale, considering that the IB examiners had no real grounds to evaluate and assign us our grades other than marking our coursework - on top of that, the IBO decided to take into account the historical data of individual schools (passing/failing rates) along with global data per individual subject. How is that a fair way to assign IB graduates their final grades considering the current circumstances they are living in? How is that fair on the students that have worked for 2 years + to get into the universities they want to study their passion(s) in?

As a student myself, I want justice for my fellow students around the world. This is unreasonable coming from the IB which is notorious for preaching educational equality and justice. If no change is made, many students would no longer have the motivation to continue studying as a whole. We deserve justice, and we deserve to move on with our lives. Many of us have already suffered too much these past few years and even more so recently, mentally and physically. Many of us were not even given the opportunity to increase our predicted grades when the news of the exams being cancelled prevailed. 

I fear for the future students in case another pandemic forces exams to be cancelled. My advice to you would be this: take the predicted grades into proper consideration rather than brush them aside and DO NOT use historical data because how is that in any logical sense fair on the students who go to a school with a considerably "bad history". Your teachers have been professionally trained and your input is not significantly more important than theirs since they are the ones who guide their students throughout the 2 years + journey. 

Too many of us have failed, lost scholarships, and denied positions in top universities for this to be okay and a "fair and robust grading method" - I suggest you take a look at the backlash you are receiving on social media; from students, teachers, parents, coordinators, and previous graduates alike. Take a look at the lives and futures you have temporarily ruined. Shame on you.

As stated above, the IBO had no real grounds to grade us and even more so stretch out our final grades way under our predicted. For students to be downgraded by as much as 12 points below their predicted is clearly a statistical abnormality and blatant evidence of a faulty algorithm used for this year's grading strategy. If the IBO does not make a change, I believe this situation will definitely impose a negative image on their reputation and deem the organisation as less trustworthy, from a professional, academic, educational and ethical perspective in the years to come.

Some students have already requested for some of their coursework to be remarked, which is said to take between 1-3 weeks depending on the coursework (and in the past exams), only to receive their coursework back in UNDER A DAY with no change made whatsoever! This goes for anybody who has already sent in their coursework for remarking; keep in mind, remarking can only occur if the coursework in question is 1-2 points away from the upper-grade boundary. This just reinstates the fact that the IBO truly does not care about fairness in grading their students leading to us speculating that they would rather produce a profit off of remarks and, hopefully not, re-takes in the future! 

The IBO claim that they are a non-profit organisation, but we know that the charge fees for taking the IB exams. We also know that they charge annual fees to schools that offer their programs, per conference, workshops, authorisation and many other services. According to the own IBO financial report, in June 2017 this amounted to a modest 213.5 million US dollars of total assets. 6% more than the previous year. When liabilities are subtracted, it still was around 121 million USD - http://www.ibo.org/contentassets/9faa0cd4d3eb4c4ab5f239f7342d4547/financial-overview-2016-2017.pdf - all this is to say that the situation being a means for the IBO maintain a good reputation as well as compensate for what has happened this year is not unlikely.

This year's statistics claim that the global average has increased compared to last year. Sure, it may have, but why were a large percentage of the students awarded anywhere from 24-30 points? The global average has increased obviously due to the fact that certain schools around the world achieved much higher grades than before, and collectively the high-grade achievements of students from said schools are what actually increased the global average - https://www.ibo.org/contentassets/bc850970f4e54b87828f83c7976a4db6/dp-statistical-bulletin-may-2020-en.pdf - what I am trying to get at is that what's going on can be speculated as a really well planned and strategic outcome from the moment the IBO realised the potential of the May 2020 exams getting cancelled. The statistics show numbers rather than provide context. However, a question arises: can we really trust these statistics anyway?

To summarise, what we, as your beloved and cared for students, are requesting in plain English is this: we need transparency, we need an explanation, a demand for universities to consider leniency, free remarks, free retakes, and most importantly, a public statement from you that tackles the situation and provides clarity for everybody affected by your despicable excuse for a grading algorithm. We want our universities to admit us based on our coursework which outlines our capabilities in analytical, practical, and theoretical work rather than your skewed assessment of what your AI assumes our capabilities are. We deserve our justice. Whether it be now or later, you will have to answer to your faults.

If enough of us unite together, we can make a change and bring justice to all the students around the world. 

Let's build a better future together.