Examiner commentary / Commentaires de l’examinateur /Comentarios del
examinador /
Anmerkungen des Prüfers / 阅卷人的评语 / 試験官のコメント - WRC samples
May/ Mai / Mayo / 五月 / 5 月 2022
TOK essay on a prescribed title / Essai de TdC sur un sujet imposé / Ensayo de TdC sobre un título prescrito /
Der ET Aufsatz zu einem vorgegebenen Thema / 认识论命题论文 / TOKエッセイ（所定課題を使用）
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Marks
awarded
/Points Justification/ Justificación/ Anmerkungen des Prüfers/ 阅卷人的评语 / 試験官のコメント
attribués /
Puntuación
asignada
8 The candidate starts out by labelling interpretations in the arts as appropriate or inappropriate, and in the natural sciences as accurate or
inaccurate hence suggesting that interpretation means something rather different in each area. Appropriate interpretations in the arts are
identified as those that cohere with the intentions of the artist, with support from two examples. However, the issue of how to know what the
producer of the art intends is not addressed.
The candidates argumentation becomes more sophisticated in the next paragraph in which it is posited that, even if the artists intentions and
the consumers interpretation do not match, the latter is still appropriate if it is in some way complementary to the former. Two further literary
examples are offered to buttress this idea.
Moving on to the natural sciences, the relationship between smoking and lung cancer is examined. The candidate claims that interpretations are
good here only if they have a solid basis in the scientific knowledge that was available at that time. However, it is not quite clear whether the
candidate is saying that interpretations in the past were poor because of the lack of available knowledge, or, in keeping with the preceding
argument, good as they would have had a solid basis in that which was known at the time.
The following example supports the same line of argument, but there is some confusion as to whether it is about the availability of evidence or
about the quality of reasoning, and the candidate then moves deeper into the second possibility with a further example about Covid-19 and social
distancing. The candidate finishes off with a summary of all preceding arguments made.
The essay demonstrates a sustained focus on the prescribed title and links to the selected areas of knowledge are evidence. Arguments are clear
with respect to the arts; somewhat less so with the natural sciences, and again the examples work better with the former area. There is an
awareness of different points of view, although the initial premise concerning appropriateness and accuracy is never squarely examined. All in all,
this is a generally well-organised response to the title that resides in the good band.
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