Guide to IB Results Day

Congratulations! That’s the first thing to say. The most important thing.

You have survived the IB. You made it through two very tough years of work, knowledge, and thought, not to mention CAS, TOK and one hefty Extended Essay. The fact you are getting your IB results now is a sign you are a force to be reckoned with.

Results day is scary, whether you get the mark you were dreaming of or the one you were afraid of.

If you’re one of the thousands of students around the world receiving their results soon, here is our advice to help you through all scenarios.

Getting your IB Results

Results are released on July 5^th, but they are available to you online a day later, on July 6^th. It’s up to your school whether they decide to issue them on paper first.

You can access your results online by logging in right here.

You’ll see that you need your personal code and your PIN to log in. Your IB Coordinator will have provided these to you earlier in the year. But that was probably long ago when it seemed like IB results day was no more than a myth! If you’ve lost, destroyed, or eaten your details, call your school to find out what they are.

Results are released at different times for different time zones. This is usually between midday and 2pm, but don’t panic if yours don’t appear instantly. You can find the exact time they will be released on your candidate page.

Celebrate, no matter what

This step is super important regardless of what your results are. We’ll get onto details of what you may or may not need to do in just a moment, but first, ensure that you have some kind of celebration. Simply getting your results is an achievement in itself. Now, more than ever is the time to remember all that you have achieved over the past two years.

If you got the results you wanted, congratulations! Celebrate! If you didn’t get the results you were after for whatever reason, celebrate! We recommend lots of this:

Moving forward with your results

For a lot of you, your university offer is conditional upon your IB results, and this is where it’s important to look at all the options. There are a few common scenarios to come out of this, so we’ll deal with them one by one.

1. Your score meets the requirements for your university offer.

Congratulations! In a lot of cases, including in the UK, your university will be notified of your results automatically. In this case, you need to do nothing but celebrate! If you aren’t sure whether you need to send off transcripts or inform someone of your result, speak to your teachers or call up the university admissions. The only exception to the doing nothing rule is if your grade exceeds your expectations and you might want to reapply to a different university. In this case, the important thing is to make sure you don’t make any hasty decisions. Get advice from parents and teachers, and consider whether you are willing to wait another year so you can reapply.

2. Your score doesn’t quite meet the requirements for your university offer.

This can be the case in the IB because offers are often dependent on a lot of different factors. For example, it’s possible to score the required overall grade but not the required grades for your HL subjects. Or vice versa. First, read the original offer requirements carefully so you know where you stand. Stay calm, seek advice, and speak to your university. Try to present your case for why you are still an OUTSTANDING candidate. In a lot of cases, your university might decide to accept you anyway. If not, you may encounter these situations:

• The university wants to wait until result days for other qualifications have passed. As much as this can feel like a frustrating limbo, try to be patient. You might consider getting your exams remarked in the meantime if you seriously think this could bump up your score to give you a stronger chance of getting in. However, do remember that results can go down as well as up. If you have met your 2nd choice university offer, speak to them to make sure they hold your place for you until you know more.
• The university may tell you they won’t be holding your place. In this case, speak to your 2nd choice university. If you have met their offer, congratulations! If you haven’t quite met their requirements either, go through the same process as above.

3. Your score is far below your offer requirements, or below what you had hoped for.

This can feel devastating, but it’s important to remember that a lot of IB students go through this, so you aren’t alone. There are still plenty of options:

• Do some research into other universities that may accept your grades. In the UK, UCAS runs a formal process to help you do this called Clearing. Also, remember that there are universities worldwide that don’t require a full Diploma, only Certificates in individual subjects. The most important thing is to do as much research as possible so that you know your options.
• If an extra point or two could make a difference to your university options, speak to your teachers to find out whether getting your papers remarked could result in your grade going up. This will depend on how close to the boundaries you were originally.
• Consider retaking some of your exams either in November or next May. Speak to your IB coordinator, find out the deadline for registering, and then make a plan for how you will improve upon your original grades. Consider where you went wrong, whether getting extra tuition will help and how much time you will commit to revising and when.

Whatever your next steps are, good luck!