All IB Diploma Program courses involve a combination of internal and external forms of assessment.

• Internal Assessments ("IAs") are in-class projects prescribed by IB that are assessed by the classroom teacher, with the grades then moderated by IB. These are specific to each course, but will often take the form of either an oral exam, an essay, a topic exploration, a lab, or a performance. 

• External Assessments are sent off to IB for evaluation. Most of these involve a sit-down exam in May, but there are a few classes that have in-class projects that are externally assessed. 

A note about May exams: Almost all IB DP exams in May are split over two days, so students do part of the exam in the afternoon on Day 1, and the other part in the morning of Day 2. With the exception of Biology and Physics, IB exams almost never have multiple choice questions. Assessment always involves things like essay writing, short answers, listening and writing exercises, problem sets, etc. 

Not all IB DP classes will have an assessment in May. There are two main reasons for this: 1) Sometimes an IB DP course is the first year of a two-year sequence. In these cases, 11th grade students will take the May exam in their senior year. 2) Some IB DP classes submit only written or portfolio work to IB and do not have May exams. These include "Group 6" classes (IB DP Music, IB DP Visual Arts) and IB DP Theory of Knowledge.

If a student is taking an IB DP class that involves formal assessment, they are expected to register for the exam and complete all internal and external assessments. The assessments are an integral part of the course and are not optional.