DP Biology Internal Assessment

Stop losing marks you didn't know you were losing.

Written by an IB Biology teacher and moderator with 23 years of experience. Moderation-level standards. Built for students and teachers who want marks that stick.

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Years IB experience

IA criteria covered

Resources available now

Why BioMate

The same mistakes. Every year. From students who cared.

After 23 years in the IB Biology classroom, I kept seeing the same thing happen. Students worked hard. They understood the biology. But they lost marks they never knew they were losing — because nobody told them what the examiner actually looks for.

A vague research question. Missing error bars. A conclusion that describes the trend but never explains the mechanism. A p-value stated but never interpreted. These aren't biology problems. They're IA problems. And they're entirely fixable.

BioMate exists to fix them — before the draft lands on a teacher's desk.

Written to moderation standards

Not a summary of the IB rubric. Written by someone who has marked, moderated, and standardised IAs at the highest level.

The DA cap that costs students most

Data Analysis cannot exceed 4/6 without inferential statistics and a correctly interpreted p-value. Most students don't know this. BioMate tells them exactly.

AI Grading Tool — For Teachers

Moderation-level feedback,
without the wait.

BioMate

Jane Smith

RD Research Design

5/6

DA Data Analysis

4/6

C Conclusion

4/6

E Evaluation

3/6

Total 16/24

ManageBac Comment

Four criteria. Full justification.

Each of the four IA criteria scored 0–6, with specific issues flagged and a written justification for every mark awarded.
The DA cap, enforced automatically.

Data Analysis is hard-capped at 4/6 when inferential statistics are absent. BioMate applies this without exception — every time.
ManageBac-ready at one click.

Every report generates a 150-word, criterion-tagged teacher comment formatted for direct paste into ManageBac.
Download as .docx.

Export the complete grading report — scores, justifications, student feedback — as a formatted Word document.

Resources

Everything you need for your IA

Three resources designed to work together — or independently. Each one targets a different stage of the IA process.

Complete Student Guide

The most comprehensive DP Biology IA guide available — covering all four criteria with worked examples and the exact language that earns marks at moderation level.

Research Design — RQ, variables, hypotheses, method
Data Analysis — STDEV, error bars, inferential statistics
Conclusion — p-value wording, mechanism explanation
Evaluation — PPE structure, specific limitations
MLA 8 bibliography guide
Final submission checklist

£9.99

Get the guide →

Teacher Marking Guide

Moderation-level marking standards for all four criteria — written for teachers who want their marks to survive IB moderation.

Score anchors with moderation notes for all criteria
The DA hard cap rules — clearly explained
Most commonly over-awarded scores by criterion
Moderator red flags for each criterion
ManageBac comment templates for every score band
Pre-submission marking consistency checklist

£19.99

Get the guide →

IA Planning Template

A structured, editable, IB-submittable framework that guides students through every section before they write a single word of their report.

Input fields for every section of the IA
Built-in hints and worked examples throughout
Variable tables, data tables, graph planning
PPE evaluation structure for limitations
Works Cited scaffold in MLA 8 format
Pre-submission checklist included

£4.99

Get the template →

From the classroom

What students and teachers are saying

For the first time I actually understood what the examiner wanted from my conclusion. The p-value wording alone saved me marks I didn't even know I was losing.

The DA hard cap section should be mandatory reading for every IB Biology teacher. I had been over-awarding DA for years without realising it.

My research question was too broad and I didn't know it. The guide flagged it before I'd even started collecting data. That saved weeks of wasted work.

FAQ

Common questions

Is this for the new IB Biology syllabus?

Yes. The four IA criteria — Research Design, Data Analysis, Conclusion, and Evaluation — are unchanged in the new syllabus (first assessment May 2025), and BioMate's guidance is fully aligned. One thing worth noting: Conclusion and Evaluation now carry greater combined weight, making the guidance in BioMate on these sections more important than ever.

Does BioMate write the IA for me?

No. BioMate provides structured guidance, worked examples, and frameworks. All investigation, data collection, analysis, and writing must be the student's own work. Using BioMate does not violate IB academic integrity policies.

Are classroom licences available?

Yes. Licences covering 10, 20, or 30 students are available at a reduced per-student rate. Contact us at biomate.hello@gmail.com for details.

Live Now

The BioMate Platform

Beyond the PDF resources, BioMate offers two digital tools for DP Biology students and teachers — live and available to anyone worldwide.

IA Workspace

A cloud-based platform where students plan and write their IA section by section, with real-time AI feedback on every criterion as they go. Teachers monitor progress in real time, run AI grading reports, and export ManageBac-ready comments at the click of a button.

Live — Open to all

£9.99 / month · or £24.99 lifetime

Get started →

AI Grading Tool

Upload a student IA and receive moderation-level feedback across all four criteria instantly — flagging exactly where marks are being lost and why, with ManageBac-ready comments generated automatically. Designed for teachers who want to standardise their marking before submission.

Live

£49.99 / year

Get started →

About BioMate

Built from 23 years inside the IB classroom

BioMate resources are written by an experienced IB Biology teacher and moderator who has marked, moderated, and standardised Internal Assessments for over two decades.

These aren't generic study guides. They reflect exactly what examiners look for at moderation level — and exactly where students lose marks they didn't know they were losing.

BioMate is currently piloting its digital IA Workspace and AI Grading Tool with students at the British School Jakarta. The PDF resources are available to any DP Biology student or teacher worldwide.

Years IB teaching experience

IA criteria covered in full

34+

Students in current pilot