The International Baccalaureate has recently published their bi-annual statistical bulletin. Most of the data contained is far too detailed most Economics teachers to worry about, but I have summarised the distribution of grades and the averages below.
Of potential interest is the comparison between different Group 3 subjects. If you look purely at the HL results for Economics, Business and Management, Geography and History with its huge cohort of 29,000 candidates the distribution is quite different.
- Is it harder to attain a 7 in Business or History compared to Geography and Economics?
- It the quality of students in the different subjects cause the difference in attainment?
- Is the quality of the teachers and the teaching different?
- Will the new curriculum for Economics cause any dramatic shift in the distribution?
- Do some students choose Economics and Geography knowing that statistically there is a higher chance of attaining a 7? ceteris paribus; that the student actually studies and does some work.
All results referenced from the IB Statistical Bulletin – May 2010 – publicly accessible here
Digging a Little Deeper 