ASTRA RUBRICS

KOLEJ MARA BANTING

UNDERSTANDING
TOK ESSAY
RUBRICS

ASTRA 2020/2022

TOK ESSAY ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENT
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UNDERSTANDING THE TOK ESSAY
ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENT

The assessment of the TOK essay is
underpinned by the driving question:

Does the student provide a
clear, coherent and critical
exploration of the essay title?

clear coherent
critical

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A. Understanding knowledge question(Achievement
Level 0 – 10)
This criterion is concerned with the extent to which the essay
focuses on knowledge issues relevant to the prescribed title,
and with the depth and breadth of the understanding
demonstrated in the essay. A relevant knowledge issue is one
that directly relates to the prescribed title undertaken, or one
that the essay has shown is important in relation to it. Depth of
understanding is often indicated by drawing distinctions
within ways of knowing and areas of knowledge, or by
connecting several facets of knowledge issues to these.
Breadth of understanding is often indicated by making
comparisons between ways of knowing and areas of
knowledge. Since not all prescribed titles lend themselves to an
extensive treatment of an equal range of areas of knowledge or
ways of knowing, this element in the descriptors should be
applied with concern for the particularity of the title. Does the
essay demonstrate understanding of knowledge issues
that are relevant to the prescribed title? Does the essay
demonstrate an awareness of the connections between
knowledge issues, areas of knowledge and ways of knowing?

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B. Quality of analysis of knowledge
question (Achievement Level 0 – 10)
What is the quality of the inquiry into
knowledge question? Are the main points in
the essay justified? Are the arguments

coherent and compelling? Have
counterclaims been considered? Are the
implications and underlying assumptions of
the essay's argument identified? This criterion
is concerned only with knowledge issues that
are relevant to the prescribed title. Analysis of
knowledge issues that are not relevant to the

prescribed title is not assessed

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Key phrase from the essay Additional guidance or comments
assessment instrument

The TOK essay is an exploration of the chosen title, so
ensuring that the essay is tightly focused on the title is
crucial. If this doesn’t happen, the essay will be seen to lack

relevance and will only achieve low marks.

“A sustained focus on They fail to address the title, or that they begin
the title” well but then deviate from the title. Strong TOK

essays retain a clear focus on the title
throughout.

“A sustained focus on They focus on one part of the title but completely ignore
the title” another part of the title. Strong TOK essays ensure that
they address all parts of the title, as well as considering

any assumptions that are written into the title.

“A sustained focus on They fail to consider central terms and concepts
the title” used in the title, or alternatively where they simply
provide lengthy descriptive dictionary definitions of

these terms.

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Key phrase from the essay Additional guidance or comments
assessment instrument

The TOK prescribed essay titles may refer to specific areas of
knowledge or they may ask students to discuss a claim in
relation to two areas of knowledge but leave the choice of
areas of knowledge to the student.

it is vital that students make clear and
effective links to areas of knowledge in their

essays.

The term “area of knowledge” refers explicitly to
the five areas of knowledge listed in the TOK guide:

history, natural sciences, human sciences,
mathematics and the arts

Sometimes students may wish to use an example or discipline
that does not fit comfortably into an area of knowledge. This
approach is not recommended as it requires the student to
make the case (justifying) for why that example or discipline
belongs to that particular area of knowledge (this will cause

the essay being descriotive due to lengthy justification).

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Key phrase from the essay Additional guidance or comments
assessment instrument

The TOK essay requires students to undertake a critical
exploration of the chosen title. It is therefore crucial that the
discussion is analytical rather than simply descriptive and
that students provide clear and coherent arguments that are

supported by specific examples.

The term “specific examples” means that the
student, for example, makes reference to a particular
artist or artwork or scientist or scientific theory rather

than making a generic reference to “artists” or
“scientists”.

The examples in a TOK essay play an important role in
supporting the argument. This means that it is not only
the examples themselves that are important, but crucially
also how they are used within the essay to support the

arguments that the student is making.

A common weakness seen in TOK essays is where students
use too many examples and/or skip from one example to
another without unpacking their relevance and significance

and without showing how these examples support the
argument being made. This tends to make the essay overly

descriptive rather than analytical.

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Key phrase from the essay Additional guidance or comments
assessment instrument

The TOK essay should be a critical exploration
rather than simply a one-sided statement of the

student’s own viewpoint or opinion.

To achieve high marks, students need to not only
show awareness of different points of view but also to

critically evaluate these different points of view.

Although students are required to engage with different
points of view, students should be encouraged to come to
their own conclusions. Students should make a critical
appraisal of different points of view and to be clear what

own position is; for example, they might agree with a
claim with reservations.

Within an essay, different points of view might take the
form of claims and counterclaims or arguments and
counterarguments. Students may discuss contrasting
examples and different perspectives from different

disciplines or areas of knowledge, or indeed from within
the same discipline or area of knowledge.

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THEORYOFKNOWLEDGE.NET

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IB MASTERY

The good news
What you should notice first is that if you

follow the basic method structure,
your essay is already going to have a
clear logical development. As long as
your claims and counter-claims are
thought-out and explained and backed
up with evidence you should already be
well on-track to achieving above a 6. The
first 6 marks are going to be pretty easy
for any student who develops a clear KQ
(that fits with the PT) and follows the

method.
(IB Mastery)

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IB MASTERY

The bad news
The hard marks are going to be those last four. And I
know, for most of you, those are the ones you want the
most. To get those ones you need to make sure you're
pushing the envelop a little bit with your thinking. Your

essay cannot read like the 99 other essays your
marker is reading. Those last 4 marks take some guts to
earn because you need to take some small risks and

try to say something new. And this is not at all to say
your writing needs to be confusing. To the contrary.
Your writing needs to be as clear as possible. The risks

you need to take involve your choice of claims,
counter-claims and evidence. It's extremely tempting

to write the obvious responses to questions --
choosing obvious claims and counterclaims and using
the most obvious evidence. And that's why you need to
make several drafts of your planning document --so
you can notice all the ways you're preparing to write a
very average/boring essay and then change your

plan.

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5. “AREAS OF KNOWLEDGE ARE MOST USEFUL
IN COMBINATION WITH EACH OTHER.”

DISCUSS THIS CLAIM WITH REFERENCE TO
TWO AREAS OF KNOWLEDGE.

(IB TOK ESSAY PRESCRIBED TITLE: MAY 2021)

Introduction 5A

Areas of knowledge are different sectors of life where
knowledge could be seeked through ways of knowing. The
phrase ‘most useful’ brings the meaning of valuable and is
put to use at its full purpose. Combination is an integration of
distinct qualities whereby the individual elements are different
(Lexico,2021). A combination that is described to be most
useful must be a union of components that bring great
outcome compared to if they were in their individual
components. Areas of knowledge are definitely useful on their
own however as a knower, I recognize that combinations of
the areas could result to very beneficial (most useful) or
rather unsuccessful (contradict each other). The aim of
this essay is to investigate and analyze the reality of a
combination of areas of knowledge with a balanced
discussion. Through the knowledge I have acquired, I am able
to deduce and address combinations of areas of knowledge,
therefore, I will discuss two combination of areas of knowledge
which are the combination of mathematics and natural
sciences and the combination of natural sciences and
human sciences.

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5. “AREAS OF KNOWLEDGE ARE MOST USEFUL
IN COMBINATION WITH EACH OTHER.”

DISCUSS THIS CLAIM WITH REFERENCE TO
TWO AREAS OF KNOWLEDGE.

(IB TOK ESSAY PRESCRIBED TITLE: MAY 2021)

Claim 5A

I was able to analyse and realise the powerful combination of
mathematics and natural sciences when learning a topic in
Chemistry Higher Level, the topic of Thermochemistry.
Thermochemistry is the topic of heat energy related to
chemistry reactions which include fundamentals of heat
capacity, heat change and more concepts. It can be described as
a powerful combination because the smooth merge of
mathematics and chemistry had complemented each other and
created the topic of Thermochemistry which allows us to explore
and apply it to our daily lives. A clear example of the usefulness
of this combination is a subtopic in Thermochemistry which is
Enthalpy Change (ΔH) that is used to calculate the heat of a
reaction that are then applied to real life situations and
inventions.

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5. “AREAS OF KNOWLEDGE ARE MOST USEFUL
IN COMBINATION WITH EACH OTHER.”

DISCUSS THIS CLAIM WITH REFERENCE TO
TWO AREAS OF KNOWLEDGE.

(IB TOK ESSAY PRESCRIBED TITLE: MAY 2021)

Conclusion 5A.

In conclusion, areas of knowledge are useful on their own as
individual areas however a combination of areas of knowledge
are deemed as most useful. Its usefulness can be seen in this essay
by the merge of mathematics and natural science in
Thermochemistry and the merge of natural sciences and human
sciences in the subject of Neuroscience whereby the combinations of
these areas have created a far more advanced outcome than any
individual area of knowledge could on its own. The limitations faced by
individual areas of knowledge on their own was overcame when two
areas of knowledge are combined. The combinations of areas which
are mathematics and natural science and the merge of natural science
and human science makes it more valid compared to when they are
individual areas. As an example, heat change of chemicals in chemistry
can be observed through the sense of touch however when combined
with mathematics, the numerical figures on a thermometer will indicate
that the temperature is rising thus making it more valid and reliable. The
impact of the combination of areas are also extremely beneficial to be
applied in daily life and also as a key to unlocking upcoming human
advances and successes. All in all, areas of knowledge on their own are
useful however a combination of areas of knowledge are most useful
as new branches of study are created which overcomes the limitation of
a single area of knowledge and also increases its validity and reliability.

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5. “AREAS OF KNOWLEDGE ARE MOST USEFUL
IN COMBINATION WITH EACH OTHER.”

DISCUSS THIS CLAIM WITH REFERENCE TO
TWO AREAS OF KNOWLEDGE.

(IB TOK ESSAY PRESCRIBED TITLE: MAY 2021)

Introduction 5B

The development of knowledge years ago has changed
people’s ways of living in every aspect of their lives. With
knowledge, people can explain living phenomena that
happen around them and develop models or theories that
assist others to understand and make connections with.
Many years later, experts manage to make connections
between different knowledge areas that successfully
explain and further clarify theories and principles that
have been discovered. With that in mind, we can see that
knowledge of a knowledge area is useful on its own but in
combination with other areas of knowledge, it
becomes most useful because, with justification from
another knowledge area, the knowledge itself becomes
more reliable for knowers. Besides, with combination, the
practicality of concepts or theories discovered in a
knowledge area can be improved to the next extent.
Hence, the combination of Human Science with Ethics
and Mathematics is notable to be elaborated in order to
justify the given claim.

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5. “AREAS OF KNOWLEDGE ARE MOST USEFUL
IN COMBINATION WITH EACH OTHER.”

DISCUSS THIS CLAIM WITH REFERENCE TO
TWO AREAS OF KNOWLEDGE.

(IB TOK ESSAY PRESCRIBED TITLE: MAY 2021)

Claim from 5B

Mathematical Economics is a branch of Economics that

shows the role of mathematical methods to represent

theories and problems related to economics. The involvement

of numerical and statistical data is proved to provide certainty

that further justify any economic concept. This is because

since the economics discipline is often argued to be heavily

influenced by the researcher’s bias, Mathematics enables

economists to explain the real-world phenomenon and

provides the backbone for theoretical analysis. Besides that,

for economists, the utilization of mathematical methods

permits them to perform quantifiable tests using quantitative

data and methods and create models that help them to make

a reliable prediction about future economic activities. For

example, in Economic class, I learn the economic concept of

price elasticity demand (PED)5 where it explains the

responsiveness of quantity demanded of a product in the real

market if there are changes in its price. Products with

different PED whether it is elastic or inelastic will receive

different responses from consumers when the market price

change. If a product has PED elastic, then let say, if the

market price decrease, then consumers will demand more of

the product. 15

5. “AREAS OF KNOWLEDGE ARE MOST USEFUL
IN COMBINATION WITH EACH OTHER.”

DISCUSS THIS CLAIM WITH REFERENCE TO
TWO AREAS OF KNOWLEDGE.

(IB TOK ESSAY PRESCRIBED TITLE: MAY 2021)

Conclusion 5B.

In conclusion, the thorough explanation of how areas of
knowledge can be most useful in combination with
each other enable me to realize the importance of the
combination as a means for us to practically use the
reliable knowledge produced. The reason for that is
because according to the correspondence theory of
truth when the knowledge is compatible with reality
then it is valid and reliable. Furthermore, although the
aforementioned knowledge areas are different in nature,
it is now apparent that they can and do beneficially
coexist helping knowers to arrive at the truth.
Justification from other knowledge area makes the
knowledge from one area become more reliable to be
utilized by knowers to explain the real-world
phenomenon.

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All the best

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