In IBDP, what does a 4 vs 5,6,7 artwork look like?

student work, 7 score

New IB visual arts teachers struggle to accurately score their IAs because they don't know what a 4, 5, 6, and 7 look like. And actually, even veteran IBVA teachers, when they try to become moderators, get turned away all the time because they have a different idea than the master examiner about what a 4 vs a 5,6,7 should look like.

If it's this hard for teachers, imagine how hard it is for new DP1 students. They have NO IDEA, even after studying the rubric, what a 4 vs 5,6,7 looks like. They think: As a 16yo artist, what's expected of me?

To solve this problem, I made this student-facing slideshow. I'm thinking in percentiles: What does a painting characteristic of the 50th versus 70th, 90th, 95th, or 99th percentile look like? How about a photo or a sculpture?

This slideshow has serious limitations, discussed on slide 2, but it works best when a teacher presents and discusses with students. That's because my students (and maybe yours) want to see how good a 6 or 7 must be to reach the 91st or 98th percentiles, respectively.

(And I'm always reminding myself that if 16,000 students take DP Visual Arts in a given year, only about 450 will score 7 on their EX. It's a scary-low number).