The model of internal assessment for computer science consists of a computational solution developed by the candidate. Each candidate must also participate in a sciences project. For both SL and HL, it is expected that each candidate will spend 30 hours on the computational solution and 10 hours on the sciences project.
For HL candidates, internal assessment contributes 20% of the total mark. For SL candidates, it contributes 30% of the total mark. For SL and HL, the internal assessment final mark is out of 34.
The project will be broken into 5 stages or criteria. The stages of the process and how to prepare for them can be read here.
Follow closely all five assessment criteria (A-E), because the criteria are a guide to the way marks are allocated.
Please note, from 2016, the Group 4 project (worth 6 marks) is no longer added to the total of 34. There will be guidance on how exactly grades will be calculated soon, but in the mean time (and for illustrative purposes only) the grade boundaries, which are adjusted year on year in any case, are roughly as follows:
| Level | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marks | 0-6 | 7-13 | 14-17 | 18-21 | 22-24 | 25-28 | 29-34 |