We believe that assessment should be:

• Criterion-based: 
  it uses and references the DP evaluation criteria
• Varied: 
  a range of types of assessment shall be employed in each subject
• Differentiated: 
  it is tailored to the individual student and his or her needs when needed
• Timely: 
  it occurs at points which will be optimally useful for the student
• Continuous: 
  it occurs at regular intervals, to facilitate consistent progress
• Objective:
  it is based on specific evidence provided by the student
• Dialogic: 
  over time, it becomes a form of student-teacher dialogue
• Collaborative: 
  teachers cooperate to ensure consistent standards
• Rigorous:
  it carefully checks and measures the students’ knowledge and understanding and skills in a thorough way

Every subject employs a range of types of assessment, each of which fulfils a different role in the learning process. 

These assessment types include:  

• Formative assessment
  • takes place throughout a unit
  • qualitative feedback which helps students identify areas for growth and improvement, and advice on how to achieve this
  • helps the teacher differentiate instruction and address individual student needs
• Summative assessment
  • takes place at the end of a unit or term, and reflects the learning and understanding the student has gained over a particular period of time
• Written feedback from teachers
• Oral feedback from teachers
• Student-teacher dialogues
• Quizzes and tests
• Self-evaluation by students
• Student reflections and/or journals
• Peer assessments
• Observation
• Mock examinations
• Examinations

Students will receive at least two summative assessments in each subject per school year. 

These assessments will consist of a grade, supported by comments:

• At the end of the first term, in January (term grade + effort grade + full term report)
• At the end of the second term, in June (term grade + effort grade + full term report)  

The students will partake in several formative assessments that provide the teacher with sufficient means to support the student’s academic development. The formative assessments need to be comprehensive enough to provide a thorough foundation for the summative assessment.

To promote good communication between the school and the parents, and increase the quality of the parents/form teacher conferences, all subject teachers should strive to arrange at least two grade assessments within November 20th in term one and another two within April 10th in term two.

The purpose of assessment records is to document and monitor student progress throughout their time in the Diploma Programme.

It should be easily accessible by the student, their subject teachers, their form teachers, the Diploma Programme Coordinator and the Head of School, as well as by parents (provided the student is under the age of 18. Students over the age of 18 will need to give the school permission to give parents access).

The Diploma Programme at Gjøvik vgs. uses ManageBac to keep track of assignments, record summative assessments, and record those forms of formative assessment that are amenable to written documentation or MP3 recordings. Grades are expected to be entered within 10 working days of the submission date.

It is the responsibility of the school and of the subject teachers to provide students with several types of calendars and plans, and to ensure these plans are followed and deadlines are kept. 

These documents will be posted on ManageBac, and include:

A Master Schedule, which lists internal deadlines for assignments required by the IB

• At the beginning of each school year, subject teachers cooperate to ensure that internal deadlines are staggered to avoid student overload

Course outlines in every subject

• Provide information about which parts of the IB course will be covered and when, and dates and types of major assessments
• Teachers will provide yearly plans at the beginning of the school year.  

Unit plans

• Provide more detailed information about which topics and parts of the course will be covered, assessment forms and criteria, homework, and expected learning outcomes
• Unit plans will be given to students at regular intervals throughout the school year  

ManageBac calendar

• In conjunction with unit plans, teachers will post lesson topics and deadlines on the ManageBac calendar
• This practice allows all students and teachers to have an overview of what is happening in the class as a whole, and thus facilitates both student and teacher planning  

Extended Essay Calendar

• A subject-specific calendar will be provided for interim deadlines in connection with the Extended Essay

Twice per year, parents will be invited to participate in a conference with their child and their child's form teacher. 

(Once a student has reached the age of 18, the school must obtain their permission before inviting their parents to the conference). 

The aims of these conferences include:

• to review the student's academic progress up to that point
• discuss the student's experience of the social environment in their class
• allow all parties to discuss any questions or concerns they may have
• develop strategies for the student's continuous growth  

Documentation: A record of each conference will be maintained by the student's form teacher for the duration of the student's matriculation at Gjøvik vgs.

The responsibility for assessment is shared between the school, teacher and student.

These are the responsibilities of the Diploma Program Coordinator and the Head of School:

• DPC is responsible for ensuring that both teachers and students meet internal and external deadlines.
• DPC is responsible for coordinating the Master Schedule and Extended Essay schedule, which shall be updated each school year.
• DPC is responsible for checking that year plans and unit plans of a consistently high quality are made available to the students and their parents.
• DPC is responsible for ensuring that all IB staff are informed of, and follow, the regulations articulated in the Assessment Policy.
• DPC is responsible for facilitating and overseeing the submission of all IAs, EEs, coursework and DP forms.
• Head of School and DPC are responsible for arranging the DP exams in accordance with the rules stated in the Handbook for Examinations.
• DPC is responsible for arranging an analysis of the last year's exam results and assessment practices.
• DPC and the Head of School together have the responsibility and authority to revise and update the Assessment Policy, after consultation with the IB staff.
• DPC is responsible for storing exam materials.

These are the responsibilities of the teacher:

• Being thoroughly familiar with, and having a good understanding of, the assessment criteria in their subject(s)
• Presenting the assessment criteria to the students and helping them to interpret and understand them
• Checking that their own assessment practices comply with the IB assessment standards
• Focusing on, and keeping, all internal and external deadlines
• Ensuring that a range of assessment practices are employed in their subject
• Ensuring that assessment is recorded at least the frequency described in  "Frequency of Assessment," so that students, parents, form teachers and the DPC are always aware of a student's academic progress and standing
• Providing regular qualitative, formative feedback that is useful to the student
• Setting term grades and, in the second term of the second year, predicted grades
• Setting effort grades in conjunction with term grades
• Ensuring that their Extended Essay supervisees are familiar with, understand, and use the Extended Essay assessment criteria
• Considering student requests for letters of recommendation
• Supervising the IA process for each student to verify the authenticity of their IA work, inform them of deadlines and communicating with them about the process. The teacher must also accommodate to circumstances beyond the student’s control that may influence their process, for instance illnesses or other unforeseen events that enable the student to meet the deadlines.

All forms of assessment are most helpful when both students and teachers are active participants in the continuous assessment processes. 

The responsibilities of the student include: 

• Checking the calendars, year plans and unit plans provided by the school to keep informed and updated about what is required of them
• Making their best effort to understand the DP evaluation criteria against which they are assessed
• Using the DP criteria as a resource and reference as they progress in their work
• Making their best effort to accept feedback, whether given by teachers or peers, orally or in writing, and apply it to achieve continuous growth in each subject
• When peer assessment or self-assessment is employed, making their best effort to give honest and constructive feedback to their classmates or themselves
• Recording on ManageBac the reflections required in connection with the Extended Essay and TOK Essay
• When reflection as a form of assessment is employed, making their best effort to reflect thoroughly and honestly
• Meeting all internal deadlines:
  • Gjøvik vgs. sets the internal deadlines and staggers them to ensure that students will be able to complete all required tasks over the course of the two years. The IBO considers the school's internal deadlines binding. This means that if a student misses an internal deadline for any part of an official IBDP assessment, the school is under no obligation to allow the student to turn in the assessment late.
  • If an internal deadline for final IAs or other coursework is not met the school will upload the first draft or no draft at all if the school cannot verify the authenticity of the student’s work.
  • While the school emphasizes the importance of observing deadlines, we also understand that there may be circumstances beyond the student's control, for example an extended period of illness, in which the student is unable to submit work on time. Each case is evaluated individually, and an extension may be granted by the teacher in collaboration with the DP Coordinator. It is the student’s responsibility to communicate with their teacher about the process and any unforeseen incidents that influences it. 

In connection with each term report, the student will receive an effort grade, supported by comments and formative feedback, in each subject. We aim to use our Effort Grades to help students develop their attitude to learning: in the end, it is the students themselves who do the learning – and more consistent effort they put in, the greater the reward in the end.

Effort grades range from A-D, where A is best. Effort grades do not appear on the diploma or official transcript but are retained by the school for reference. The descriptors for effort grades are as follows:

A – Excellent – a student making excellent effort:

• Constantly works to improve their resilience and perseverance
• Frequently makes a positive contribution in class and participates actively
• Almost always listens to, shares with and supports the efforts of others
• Actively seeks and responds to feedback on how to improve the quality of their work
• Excellent self-management skills 
• Always comes to class well prepared

B – Good effort - a student making good effort:

• Usually works to improve their resilience and perseverance
• Makes a positive contribution in class and participates well
• Usually listens to, shares with and supports the efforts of others
• Often seeks and responds to feedback on how to improve the quality of their work
• Good self-management skills
• Almost always comes to class well prepared

C – Acceptable effort - a student making acceptable effort:

• Sometimes works to improve their resilience and perseverance
• Sometimes lacks self-motivation and participation
• Sometimes listens to, shares with and supports the efforts of others
• Sometimes works actively with feedback on how to improve the quality of their work
• Acceptable self-management skills
• Usually comes to class reasonably prepared

D – Limited effort - a student making limited effort:

• Rarely works to improve their resilience and perseverance
• Shows little interest in studying or participating in class
• Rarely listens to, shares with and supports the efforts of others
• Rarely takes much notice of feedback on how to improve the quality of their work
• Poor self-management skills
• Often comes to class poorly prepared 

The IB grading system is summative by nature and grades are based on several components in every subject; some of these are graded by the teacher while others are externally graded. The externally graded component ranges from 50-80%, depending on the subject.

Student summative work is matched against scoring rubrics that best describe all elements of their performance.

Students will earn a number grade in each of their six subjects. Grades range from 1 to 7, where 7 is the highest grade. 

The grade descriptors are as follows:  
7: excellent performance  
6: very good performance  
5: good performance  
4: satisfactory performance  
3: mediocre performance  
2: poor performance  
1: very poor performance

TOK

The Theory of Knowledge (TOK) grades range from A-E, where A is highest, and E is a failing condition. The final grade is a combination of the TOK presentation, which is internally assessed, the TOK essay, which is externally assessed.  

EE

The Extended Essay (EE) grades also range from A-E. Extended Essays are externally assessed.

Diploma points

Earning various combinations of grades in TOK and on the EE can result in one or more points which will be added to the student's total overall points.

• 3 points if they earn a combination of A and A, or A and B
• 2 points if they earn a combination of B and B, A and C, or A and D
• 1 point if they earn a combination of B and C, C and C, or B and C  
• 0 points if they earn a combination C and D

Please note that if a candidate attains a grade of E in either subject, the student will not obtain the diploma. 

We follow and enforce the same attendance rules as are applied to students in the Norwegian National Curriculum. 

These rules state that absences without valid documentation must not exceed 10% of the given course hours. If this limit is exceeded in a subject, the student risks not receiving a term grade or a predicted grade in the IB system in this subject.

A lack of a predicted grade means that the course is incomplete, and no grade will be awarded in the subject. If a student lacks a grade in at least one subject, they will not be awarded the diploma, regardless of their achievement in other subjects.

If the undocumented absences are more that 10%, but less than 15%, the Head of School can grant, under special circumstances, an exception to these rules.

In Creativity, Activity, Service the student will receive a pass/fail grade. In order to receive the IB Diploma, a passing grade is required.

The requirements to pass CAS are as follows:

• A reasonable balance of experiences in each of the three areas, over a period of 18 months
• One CAS project, planned and completed according to the guidelines in the CAS guide
• Sufficient evidence posted in the CAS portfolio to document experiences
• Documented reflections on the learning outcomes during and at the end of each experience, and the project.

A candidate will not obtain the IB Diploma in the case that he or she:

• Is awarded fewer than 24 points including TOK and EE
• Is awarded fewer than 12 points in the HL subjects
• Is awarded fewer than 9 points in the SL subjects
• Has not met the CAS requirements
• Is awarded a grade E in either TOK or EE (or both)
• Is awarded a grade 1 in one or more subjects
• Is awarded a grade 2 in three or more subjects
• Is awarded a grade 3 in four or more subjects

A candidate who has not been awarded the Diploma can still obtain generell studiekompetanse in if the following requirements are fulfilled:

Diploma Programme Course Results with:

• 3 SL subjects and 3 HL subjects
• Minimum 20 points, including the points for TOK and EE
• No lower grade than 3 in every subject
• Passed EE, TOK and completed CAS

A candidate who is not rewarded with the IB Diploma can register for a retake session in one or more subjects. 

• Retake sessions are in November the same year or in May the year after. 
• Innlandet fylke offers one free retake session for students who did not earn the Diploma.

Samordna Opptak converts the total points from the IB Diploma to a Norwegian average grade. 

For students who did not earn the Diploma but have IB Diploma Programme Course Results (certificate) that grant general qualification for university admission, all the grades are added up, including the points for TOK and EE. 

This total score is converted to a Norwegian average grade – according to table 1 at samordnaopptak.no

IB Courses that will grant extra points (sciences):

• SL Math AI: 1
• SL Math AA: 1,5
• HL Math AA: 1,5
• SL Physics: 0,5
• HL Physics: 1.5  
• SL Chemistry: 0.5
• HL Chemistry: 1
• SL Biology: 0.5
• HL Biology: 1  

Note that these points require grade 3 or better in the subjects.

There will be a new conversion table from the academic year 2025/2026:
Table 2 at samordnaopptak.no