Topic 9 · Case Study & Internal Assessment

Chapter 2 · Internal Assessment workflow

📋 Reference · always available

Weight

~20% of HL CS grade. ~30 hours of work. Highest-ROI investment of the IB year.

Real client

Recorded interviews + observable workflow + measurable success criteria. Self-clients drift; fictional clients have no opinion.

Stage 1 Planning

Client interview + problem statement + proposed solution + success criteria + tech justification.

Stage 2 Design

Architecture diagrams + data model + UI wireframes + algorithm flowcharts + test plan.

Stage 3 Development

Build the system. EVIDENCE: captioned code excerpts showing key implementation techniques (not raw code dumps).

Stage 4 Functionality

Demonstrate the working program; verify against Stage 1 success criteria. Video demo + test results.

Stage 5 Evaluation

Real client uses the system; feedback recorded. Student reflects on what worked/didn't and proposed improvements.

Evidence rules

Captioned screenshots · captioned code excerpts · justified design choices · client interviews + feedback. Code dumps don't score.

Time budget

Planning 4h · Design 6h · Dev 12h · Test 4h · Eval 4h. ALWAYS reserve testing + evaluation — easy marks.

Scope discipline

ONE focused workflow for ONE real client. Polished small project >> over-ambitious half-finished project.

Common failure

Late start → all evidence rushed → only Stage 3 (Dev) has weight; Stages 1, 2, 4, 5 marks lost.

Write evidence as you go

Don't 'document later'. Build evidence in PARALLEL with coding. Stages 1+2 done BEFORE coding starts.