Courses

The 6 academic courses are split between 6 groups:

Group 1: This group includes first-language level literature courses (called A1 courses). The list of A1 courses is very long; note that the IB will allow you to "self-teach" your mother tongue as an A1 language if you pledge to follow the curriculum and arrange tutoring. Text and Performance courses are a blend of literature study and theatrical performance, but are rarely taken.

Group 2: This group includes second language courses, of which there are three types. "Ab initio" courses are designed for students who speak only one language (their A1 language) and study another one from scratch. This is generally quite challenging. B language courses are typical foreign language courses. A2 language courses are designed for bilingual students; they are at first-language level but have lower literature content than A1 courses (so as not to overload students with reading) and lead to the "IB Bilingual Diploma". Here again, the list of languages available is endless and "self-teaching" is possible.

Group 3: Humanities and societies. The most common courses in this group are History, Economics and Geography, but some schools teach other courses as well, including Social Anthropology, Psychology and Business. The commonly-held prejudice in America that IB will prevent students from studying these subjects at high school is thus false.

Group 4: The natural and physical sciences are in this group. Most students take either Physics, Biology or Chemistry, although another course, Ecosystem and Societies, which is a blend of Geography and Biology, is sometimes taken (this is also a group 3 course).

Group 5: Mathematics. There are three Maths courses:

1) Maths Studies, which is the lowest-level maths course, approximately equal to AP pre-calculus (although some basic differential calculus is introduced)
2) Maths SL (formerly called Maths Methods), which is a course equivalent roughly to AP Calculus AB
3) Maths HL, which is a rigorous maths courses approximately equivalent to AP Calculus BC

An additional course, Further Maths SL, serves as an add-on to Maths HL and deals with complex university-level maths. This is an extremely rigorous course and is only taken by a select number of students.

[Note: Computer sciences is also a group 5 course, but for purely administrative reasons. It cannot be taken in place of Maths.]

Group 6: This group contains the Arts and courses offered include Performance Arts, Visual Arts and Music.

To receive an IB Diploma, a student needs to take a course from each of the six groups. Group 6 is particular in the sense that a student does not have to take a course in this group to receive his diploma. He or she may choose to take instead another one from groups 1 to 5.

Standard Level and Higher Level

At least three of these courses need to be Higher Level (HL) courses, while the other three should be Standard Level (SL) courses. The difference between the two tends to be increased content rather than increased difficulty - for example, a History HL student will study components on the History of his continent, in addition to the syllabus covered by History SL. A HL course is approximately equivalent in content to a UK A-Level course or an AP course (although examination may be harder).

A good thing to know is that some HL courses differ from their SL equivalent more than others - thus, an A2 language HL does not require much more work than an A2 SL, Economics HL covers material equivalent to Economics SL (with a bit more Theory of the Firm), and so on, but Maths HL and Physics HL are a significant step above their SL counterparts. Of course, sometimes the extra content may increase the level of difficulty, such as in Maths, Chemistry, Physics or English. Additionally, HL courses tend to have an extra exam paper.

Many IB students will take four HL courses, or even more. If this is likely to affect your result, you are wasting your time. Do not do it! The only person it will impress is you. Universities will not care and, in the UK, will generally still give you their standard offer - it will just be harder for you to make it. Furthermore, the higher workload will prevent you from doing extra reading or extracurricular activities, which will make much more of a difference. But if you are really passionate about a course, and that course is not much harder at HL than at SL, or you need that extra course, take it. Just make sure you have a valid reason for doing so.

Assessment

An interesting and very useful characteristic of the IB is the way it is assessed: your final grade will be dependent both on work you produce during the two years and your performance on the final exam. So it is simultaneously continually assessed and examination assessed. How does this work?

During your two years, you will be asked to produce a number of Internal Assessments for each of your subjects. These are very specific projects that are to be assessed using strict IB guidelines - they can be lab reports, essays, performances, arts workbooks, orals or others, depending on the subject. Your teacher will mark them according to a mark scale and a random sample will be sent to the IB for moderation. The sum of your internal assessment work will be worth at least 20% of your final grade, but in some subjects, such as A1 languages, you can walk into your exam having already worked for 50% of your final grade.

The remaining part of your grade will come from a selection of exams you will take (generally 2-3 papers per subject), which are External Assessments. These are generally short answers or essays - very few papers are multiple choice - that are then each sent to two IB examiners around the world for grading.

Why is this good? Because it will prepare you for the type of assessment used in US universities (where mid-terms, finals, homework and participation can all contribute to your grade) better than any other system I know of. You will be used both to continual assessments and exams. And you will also be able to adapt to any university system in the English-speaking world without much problem. British A-level students who study in America sometimes have a hard time adjusting to continual assessment; American students in Europe are often under-prepared for exams. As an IB student, you can go anywhere.

Core requirements

In addition to completing six courses, an IB student will need to satisfy three core requirements: Creativity, Action and Service; a course in Theory of Knowledge; and an Extended Essay.

Creativity, Action and Service (or CAS for "Kass") is an extracurricular requirement. Every IB student needs to clock at least 150 CAS hours, spread 50-50-50 among the three components. (Many activities could fulfil several components.)

> Creativity deals with all activities in which a skill or a talent is developed - such as performing an instrument or acting in a theatrical performance, but also journalism or learning a language.
> Any sport or physical activity will count as an Action hour.
> The Service component requires students to perform a community service of some form or another. Students choose to do this in a variety of way - the traditional helping at an orphanage or elder's home is of course acceptable, but tutoring, Student Council or helping at a school event count as well.

Most students will have many more than 150 CAS hours, particularly actors, musicians and athletes. Many will even get very competitive about their CAS hours, and end up with as many as 1000 hours by the time they graduate. The important thing to remember about CAS is that it is PASS/FAIL. If you don't have 150 hours, you don't get your diploma - but if you get much more, it appears absolutely nowhere on your diploma or transcript. So while it can be very useful when applying to university to mention your extracurricular activities, hoarding hours for the sake of hoarding hours will be a waste of your time.

Theory of Knowledge

Theory of Knowledge (or TOK for "T-okay") is a course that focuses on how humans acquire knowledge in different fields of sciences, humanities and arts and what is specific about those types of knowledge. It is often considered to be a philosophy class, but this tends to be a misrepresentation. Some students love it, others hate it - my opinion is that it depends on who is teaching it.

Theory of Knowledge is a letter-graded course, but you do not take an exam for it. A third of your grade will come from a presentation you do to your class (marked by the teacher using a mark scale and moderated) and the remaining two-thirds will be an essay that you will write (which will be sent to IB examiners).

Extended Essay

The Extended Essay is a university-level, 4,000 word research essay on a topic of a student's choice. This is a daunting experience for most students, for whom this is often the first such paper. However, you will benefit hugely from producing a good essay as it will prepare you for university work and, most importantly, help you apply to universities, especially selective ones. The research you will do on your topic will enable you to show that you are motivated by a particular subject, that you have a firm understanding of a certain issue, and that you can formulate and articulate complex arguments about it. You can talk about it at an interview or, if you will not have one, you can slip in a copy of your EE as you apply.

Universities love to envision you as one of their students and this is your chance to show them what you would be worth. So even though your essay will be letter-graded (by an examiner), it may be worth your time and effort to produce a truly decent essay - as mentioned, particularly if you want to apply to a selective university. (My hint - your subject. Find one that is original and that truly interests you.)

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