To help out at CHS I sat in and observed the students IB testing. IB is the International Baccalaureate program at CHS and gives the students opportunity to earn college credits. To do this though, as seniors they have to take oral exams which include them sitting in a room with one of the teachers and analyzing two of the works they have worked with over the summer. The first 10 minutes of the exam they get to talk about a work that they have had a few minutes to prepare for and for the other portion of the exam they draw a work at random and have to analyze it. These exams are recorded and sent to an international grading committee.
Some of the students were very impressive and it was interesting to see with how much information they could come up with on the spot. Other students were clearly unprepared or just nervous and didn't do as well as they needed to. It was hard to watch students do poorly because I knew that they probably knew the information and were just nervous. I know that as a high school student I would have found this oral examination incredibly nerve wracking and wouldn't have done very well at it. Although some students clearly performed better than others, I'm happy to say that very few didn't pass!
Some of the students were very impressive and it was interesting to see with how much information they could come up with on the spot. Other students were clearly unprepared or just nervous and didn't do as well as they needed to. It was hard to watch students do poorly because I knew that they probably knew the information and were just nervous. I know that as a high school student I would have found this oral examination incredibly nerve wracking and wouldn't have done very well at it. Although some students clearly performed better than others, I'm happy to say that very few didn't pass!