Grade Descript ors
Policy area
Author
Students Ladislav Burkovic Head of Academics
Approved
Version
Grant Ferguson 2024
Director
Last updated
Next review 21/07/2025 08/2026
Grade Descriptors
Effort Grades
Effort grades reflect the level of engagement and commitment a student demonstrates towards their learning process. These grades are assigned across all subjects and align with the following descriptors:
Excellent (E)
• Actively participates in lessons, fully engaged at all times.
• Seeks feedback and works consistently to improve the quality of work.
• Shows resilience and perseverance, using a range of strategies to overcome challenges.
• Manages time efficiently, both in and outside class, and takes opportunities to extend learning.
• Frequently uses initiative and creativity, going beyond expectations.
• Ambitious and committed to personal learning growth.
Good (G)
Satisfactory (S)
Needs Improvement (NI)
• Demonstrates a good level of focus and interest in learning.
• Responds well to feedback and achieves a good standard in completed work.
• Shows resilience and perseverance, in tackling challenges.
• Manages time well and occasionally takes opportunities to extend learning.
• Uses initiative and creativity to exceed expectations.
• A responsible and hard-working student, meeting most expectations.
• Participates in lessons and is generally focused.
• Responds to feedback but may not always act to improve.
• Meets minimum expectations in managing time and work quality.
• Occasionally shows initiative and creativity.
• Meets basic expectations but does not always take full advantage of learning opportunities.
• Shows little effort in lessons and may disrupt the learning of others.
• Does not act on feedback and shows a lack of effort.
• Gives up on challenges easily.
• Struggles to manage time, leading to incomplete or substandard work.
• Rarely uses initiative, and falls below basic expectations.
Middle Years Programme (MYP) Grade Descriptors
- Years 7-11
For Years 7-11, students in the Middle Years Programme (MYP) are graded based on subject-specific criteria. Each subject area has four criteria, assessed at least twice a year, and students receive final grades on a scale of 1-7. The following subjects and groups apply:
A B C D
Language and Literature Analysing Organizing Producing text Using language
Language Acquisition Comprehending spoken and visual text
Individuals and Societies
Comprehending written and visual text Communicating Using language
Knowing and understanding Investigating Communicating Thinking critically
Sciences Knowing and understanding Inquiring and designing Processing and evaluating Reflecting on the impacts of science
Mathematics Knowing and understanding Investigating patterns Communicating Applying mathematics in real world contexts
Arts (Visual Arts, Music, Drama)
Physical and Health Education
Knowing and understanding Developing skills Thinking creatively Responding
Knowing and understanding Planning for performance Applying and performing Reflecting and improving performance
Design Inquiring and analyzing Developing ideas Creating the solution Evaluating
Overall Grading (MYP)
Grade Boundary Guidelines
1 1-5
2 6-9
3 10-14
Descriptor
Produces work of very limited quality. Conveys many significant misunderstandings or lacks understanding of most concepts and contexts. Very rarely demonstrates critical or creative thinking. Very inflexible, rarely using knowledge or skills.
Produces work of limited quality. Expresses misunderstandings or significant gaps in understanding for many concepts and contexts. Infrequently demonstrates critical or creative thinking. Generally inflexible in the use of knowledge and skills, infrequently applying knowledge and skills.
Produces work of an acceptable quality. Communicates basic understanding of many concepts and contexts, with occasionally significant misunderstandings or gaps. Begins to demonstrate some basic critical and
4 15-18
5 19-23
creative thinking. Is often inflexible in the use of knowledge and skills, requiring support even in familiar classroom situations.
Produces good-quality work. Communicates a basic understanding of most concepts and contexts with few misunderstandings and minor gaps. Often demonstrates basic critical and creative thinking. Uses knowledge and skills with some flexibility in familiar classroom situations, but requires support in unfamiliar situations.
Produces generally high-quality work. Communicates a secure understanding of concepts and contexts. Demonstrates critical and creative thinking, sometimes with sophistication. Uses knowledge and skills in familiar classroom and real-world situations and, with support, some unfamiliar real-world situations.
6 24-27
7 28-32
Produces high-quality, occasionally innovative work. Communicates extensive understanding of concepts and contexts. Demonstrates critical and creative thinking, frequently with sophistication. Uses knowledge and skills in familiar and unfamiliar classroom and real-world situations, often with independence.
Produces high-quality, frequently innovative work. Communicates comprehensive, nuanced understanding of concepts and contexts. Consistently demonstrates sophisticated critical and creative thinking. Frequently transfers knowledge and skills with independence and expertise in a variety of complex classroom and real-world situations.
International Baccalaureate (IB DP) – Years 12-13
For Years 12-13, students follow the IB Diploma Programme (DP). Each course is graded on a 1-7 scale, where a final score is based on both internal and external assessments. To earn the IB diploma, students are required to take three higherlevel (HL) and three standard-level (SL) courses, complete the core DP components (Theory of Knowledge, Extended Essay, and Creativity, Activity, Service), and achieve a minimum of 24 points out of 45.
General Grade Descriptors (IB DP)
Grade Descriptor
7 Consistent and thorough understanding of the required knowledge and skills, and the ability to apply them almost faultlessly in a wide variety of situations. The student consistently demonstrates originality, insight, and analytical thinking. The student produces work of high quality.
6 Consistent and thorough understanding of the required knowledge and skills, and the ability to apply them in a wide variety of situations. The student consistently demonstrates originality, insight and analytical thinking.
5 Thorough understanding of the required knowledge and skills, and the ability to apply them in a variety of situations. The student occasionally demonstrates originality, insight and analytical thinking.
4 General understanding of the required knowledge and skills, and the ability to apply them effectively in normal situations. There is occasional evidence of analytical thinking.
3
Limited achievement against most of the objectives, or clear difficulties in some areas. The student demonstrates a limited understanding of the required knowledge and skills and is only able to apply them fully to normal situations with support.
2 Very limited achievement in terms of the objectives. The student has difficulty in understanding the required knowledge and skills and is unable to apply them fully to normal situations, even with support.
1 Minimal achievement in terms of the objectives.
n/a Not yet assessed
CORE (TOK, EE, CAS)
OT
The student actively participates in lessons, meets learning goals, and shows steady improvement. They consistently produce work that meets or exceeds expectations and complete tasks on time. The student works independently with minimal support and demonstrates resilience, overcoming challenges and staying focused.
C The student is often disengaged or distracted, falling behind in achieving learning goals. Their work is frequently incomplete or below standard, and they often miss deadlines. The student requires frequent support to complete tasks and tends to give up easily when facing difficulties.
High School Diploma Programme (HSDP) – Years 12-13
Students who are studying a subject at HSDP level are assessed continuously throughout the year. The grade is based on a combination of classwork, homework, tests, and examinations. Examinations occur continuously throughout the academic year and are written and graded by the teacher. Effort and participation are highly valued, and attendance is also considered in the calculation of the final grade. The grade is based on the USA scale of A+ through to F.
To earn High School Diploma (HSDP), students will need to meet the following benchmarks:
• Minimum Credits: 10 credits over two years, which includes:
o 8 credits from academic coursework.
o 2 credits from Service Learning.
Grade Point Average Conversion
Students following the High School Diploma Programme (HSDP), grades on the high school transcript are converted to a GPA on a scale of 4.0 as per the following table:
Core and Elective Grade Boundaries
In addition, in order to recognize the academic rigor of IBDP, the following conversion is made: