TOK: Everything You Need to Know

Theory of Knowledge is a key subject that is only offered in the IB and makes for some very interesting and thought-provoking lessons. Some people find them a bit dry, while others (like me!) feel like its the perfect introduction into philosophical concepts. In this post, I will be giving you a summary of all the essential information you need to know for doing TOK and the assessment components in the subject. 

Before beginning this article, I would recommend you first familiarise yourself with all the essential Theory of Knowledge (TOK) Terminology you will need to know to understand the subject and its components fully. Here's a post I did on TOK terminology that goes into detail about all the different terms you should know.

This post is meant to cover all of the basics of the assessment in TOK, including the TOK Oral Presentation and TOK Essay. I have separate posts for how to complete every assessment component from start to finish and will be activating the links for each once they're uploaded:

• How to write a TOK Essay
• How to fill in a TOK Outline
• How to create a TOK Presentation

TOK as a subject

What is TOK as a subject?

TOK, officially known as the Theory Of Knowledge, is essentially an IB version of philosophy classes, where different philosophical concepts are given specific IB-relevant terminology so that they can be applied throughout the curriculum. You'll see some bits and pieces of TOK terminology in your math and history textbooks, for instance. In this way, TOK is meant to be a bit more of a practical application of philosophy within your student career.

Your attendance and participation in TOK classes is not assessed. However, TOK classes are incredibly important if you want to understand what you have to include in your assessment components. Lots of students don't do too well in their assessments as they skip this class since it's considered "not that important", and I personally would never have been able to complete either component if I hadn't gone to my TOK classes.

Here's the official IB guide for classes from 2015 and onward as to all of the nitty gritty details of what doing TOK entails: The IB Theory Of Knowledge Guide. It's a 72 page read though, so I've summarised all of the essential information from this guide in this post.

What am I assessed on in TOK?

The main assessment components for TOK are:

• An Oral Presentation (1/3 of your TOK grade)
• a 1600-word TOK Essay (2/3 of your TOK grade)

The Oral Presentation is marked out of 10 points. The TOK Essay is also marked out of 10 points. If you get 8/10 for your Presentation and 7/10 for your Essay, you can calculate your grade as such that:

(Presentation grade) + (Essay Grade)*2 = Total grade

8 + 7*2 = 22/30

Using the official IB rubric, your score is determined using this system:

A 22-30 || B 16-21 || C 10-15 || D 4-9 || E 0-3

where E is the failing condition.

TOK Oral Presentation

What is a TOK Oral Presentation?

A TOK Presentation is a two-part assignment you need to present to your class, almost always with a group of 2-3 people. It is worth 1/3 of your TOK grade. It is made up of:

1. A TOK Outline
   You need to write up to 500 words for TOK outline.
2. An oral presentation to the class
   The presentation to the class is 10 minutes per person. If you have 2 people, this means it will be 20 minutes, and if you have 3 people it will be 30 minutes. 

Once I've uploaded them, I will activate these links leading you to the step-by-step guide from beginning to end on how to structure and create your own TOK Outline as well as a complete guide for your TOK Presentation.

Why do we do a TOK Oral Presentation?

A TOK Presentation is meant to show how well you've understood all the concepts taught during your TOK classes by having to demonstrating how they are applicable to different scenarios. These different scenarios are known as Real Life Situations (RLSs), where different examples of TOK concepts (ie. Shared Knowledge, Ways of Knowing, etc.) can be found in your everyday life.

For example, you first pick some TOK concept, like Memory as a Way of Knowing (WOK). You then ask yourself "where are some everyday problems that we see with memory being used by people to 'know' things?" Then, you might come across information about the issues faced when doing court cases using eyewitnesses. Your RLS might even be about the problems that come up when using memory, such as those faced during the prosecution of Troy Davis when looking at eyewitness testimonies. By talking about the positives, negatives, and challenges of using Memory as a WOK in terms of this RLS, you can demonstrate how your understanding of TOK knowledge can be applied to real problems in society.

What is a TOK Outline?

The 'TOK Outline' is essentially an online document on Managebac where you need to put the key information about the assignment you're presenting to the class. The TOK Outline serves to make your arguments ultra-clear: it's meant to cut away any excess waffle and jargon you usually put in a presentation. It is used by the teacher and markers to see if you have really understood the essence of your arguments and explored all their implications. The TOK Outline goes as follows:

Presentation Planning

Presentation Title:

Describe your real-life situation:

State your central knowledge question (this must be expressed as a question):

Explain the connection between your real life situation and your knowledge question:

Outline how you intend to develop your TOK presentation in the context of your real-life situation. Include analysis of your main knowledge question and related knowledge questions as well as arguments and perspectives. Responses can be presented in continuous prose or as a list of points:

Show the significance of your conclusions with particular reference to your real-life situation and indicate how those conclusions might be relevant to other real-life situations:

Take a look at this link to see how a high-scoring group filled in their TOK Outline.

This outline is meant to be incredibly clear-cut with NO extra, unnecessary information. If you include 'fluffy' words or include unnecessary information, you may even be marked down. Be afraid of putting too much rather than too little.

What is in the TOK Presentation?

The TOK Oral Presentation is the 'presenting' section of the assignment, where you present your arguments and information to your class. You have essentially 3 main sections:

Introduction (3 parts)

- You need to find a main Knowledge Question (KQ) you want to answer
- You need to find a Real Life Situation (RLS) this KQ can be found in
- You need to explain the connection between your KQ and RLS

Body (6 parts)

- You need to come up with 3 claims, 3 counterclaims and at least 1 example of each

• A claim is basically an argument about your KQ (ie. the WOK of language plays a significant role in the interpretation of historical events)
• As an example to back up this claim, you could use a piece of Post-Colonial literature like Wide Sargasso Sea (which you might've read for English Lang&Lit!) and its influence in interpreting colonisation or emancipation
• A counterclaim is an argument against that argument you just made (ie. our understanding of historical events can interpreted independent of languages) 
• As an example to back up this counterclaim, you could find a video or recording of an important event such as the Ending of World War 1, wherein language is NOT necessary to interpret the historical impact of the ceasefire.

Conclusion (3 parts)

          - You need to summarise what you've covered

          - You need to answer your KQ and connect it with your original RLS

          - You need to find at least 1 other RLS your findings can be applied to

The presentation needs to be planned and executed alongside the TOK Outline. To put it into other words, the TOK Presentation is essentially presenting whatever you have put onto the TOK Outline, and therefore whatever information you edit on the presentation itself should be accounted for in the TOK Outline. Therefore, I'd argue that both are equally important in completing this assignment. Here, you should mix the presenting of your information and arguments evenly among your team members so that it appears seamless and that no one is left with too little time at the end of the presentation (coming from personal experience, being put at the end of the presentation and trying to squeeze in heaps of information into only a few minutes isn't exactly my idea of a good time).

How much time does each person get in the presentation? How do we split the amount of minutes?

As stated before, the presentation to the class is 10 minutes per person. If you have 2 people, this means it will be 20 minutes, and if you have 3 people it will be 30 minutes.  The 10 minute time slot each person is allocated can be done so that each person talks for 10 minutes without pause, or they have each have 2-3 minute segments mixed amongst each other. You get to decide how long each section is and what each person presents, but each person has to have a total of 10 minutes presented. 

How much time should I dedicate to the TOK Presentation?

While this is obviously subjective, I spent a total of 2-3 weeks on the TOK Presentation and got 9/10 points for it. I would say this is quite a good amount of time provided your understands what is being dealt with and any possible implications of the topic. I would say, at the minimum, you need 2 weeks to complete the assignment. Ideally, though, you should spend 1 month on it: many of my classmates ended up switching their topic multiple times and were really frazzled during the process. Dedicating even a week more to the presentation would've made all the difference.

TOK Essay

The TOK Essay is a 1600-word essay that is the more important component of your TOK assessment. In this essay, you explore a certain issue and create arguments and counterarguments about this issue. This makes up 2/3 of your TOK grade.

Alongside making the TOK Essay, you need to write 3 reflections which should each be 100-150 words. These reflections are called "Interactions", wherein you discuss your topic and challenges with your TOK teacher at 3 different stages of your essay writing process. These are NOT assessed, but are meant to act as proof you have completed the assignment. Basically, write what you would for CAS, it's really not that serious.

I will be posting more about the TOK Essay and how to write it in the upcoming days, so stay tuned and wait for my guide to writing The TOK Essay, From Start to Finish.

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