External assessment (60%): studio

Each student prepares an exhibition of work undertaken during the course. The student’s exhibition is viewed by and discussed with a visiting examiner. Before meeting the student in an interview, the visiting examiner reviews the candidate record booklet. This review normally takes place before the visit to the school, and must take place before meeting the student.

*The investigation workbooks must be available to the visiting examiner during the discussion of the student’s studio work.

Assessment details

The exhibition should include works that have been developed to their complete and final form as well as investigative work carried out during the development phase (for example, sketches, notes, preliminary studies). A rough sketch may have considerable relevance when explained by the student. The selection and presentation of studio work should reflect the student’s choices. However, the teacher is expected to provide help in the display of the work.

*The studio work not chosen for exhibition must be available to the visiting examiner during the interview.

The quantity of work included in the exhibition is not prescribed. The main factors influencing the quantity of work produced are the:

· Technical characteristics of the media and the production processes required

· Complexity and scale of the art pieces

· Nature of the art pieces and the process of their development

· Various combinations of media chosen

For example, a student working in photography or computer graphics may complete a hundred or more pieces for exhibition. However, a student working with labour-intensive sculptural pieces, particularly if on a large scale, would probably produce fewer finished works.

Where appropriate, works should be matted/mounted and displayed on panels, tables, or in a way that allows them to be viewed to the best advantage.

The interview

The purpose of the interview is to assess the student’s studio work. At HL the interview should last for

30–40 minutes; at SL it should last for 20–30 minutes.

During the interview, the examiner will encourage the student to talk about the technical aspects of the studio works, his or her own aims or intentions, and the relationship between the studio works and the investigation workbooks. The discussion should focus on the student’s experiences in making the studio works exhibited and how these relate to the investigation work undertaken. The student is not expected to make a prepared speech.

Internal assessment (40%): investigation

Each student produces investigation workbooks during the course of study that support, inform, develop and help to refine the studio work.

For assessment purposes, the student must select carefully the stated number of copied investigation workbook pages and ensure that they clearly meet the requirements of the assessment criteria. Once the student has chosen the required number of pages that fulfill these requirements, the school must ensure that the candidate session number has been clearly marked on the top of each page and that the pages are numbered sequentially.

The teacher should then mark the selection of investigation workbook pages.