IB BIOLOGY INTERNAL ASSESSMENT CONCLUSION AND EVALUATION

What should be included? Detailed discussion of results Explanation of anomalous results Overall conclusion Evaluation of experimental design Suggested improvements for experimental design What should be included?

Your conclusion should be directly related to the hypothesis. Make sure you discuss the graphs, charts, data processing, etc. Go through each step of your processing and explain the relevance of your results: Identify anomalies but don’t say why the results weren't accurate in this section. Discuss your results. Does it support the hypothesis? Were you predictions correct? Make sure you mention them again. Talk about whether the results support or refute the hypothesis, not prove the hypothesis. At the end of this discussion, you need to reach an overall conclusion. “It was determined that…” Conclusion

Evaluation of weaknesses and limitations Discuss any strengths briefly Discuss weaknesses and limitations at length: Think of all the possible reasons you could think of as to why your % error is too big (if that applies) Or why you results didn't perfectly support the hypothesis Or why you results weren't accurate...etc. Talk the weaknesses in your design and the effects these weaknesses had on the results. Do not discuss any weaknesses in your manipulative skills (MS) at length b/c then I have to automatically mark your MS down. Full sentence dot points are ideal here. Evaluation of weaknesses and limitations

Suggested improvements This simply means, “If you could redo the experiment, what would you do differently?” Solve the problems highlighted in the procedural evaluation: Repeat the experiments more than x times. Control temperature and pressure more carefully. Try to reduce human errors. Use more accurate apparatus for volume measurements Use different species of organisms. Use different chemicals? Change the length of your observations. Once again, poor laboratory skills should not be mentioned! Suggested improvements

Other handy dandy hints... Again, always ask for help if you are unsure! The more thought and care that you put into your evaluation, the better your report will be. Ms Werba’s pet peeve: a one page C&E section! Other handy dandy hints...