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The International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme (often referred to as just ' IB ') is an Education al programme taught in one of three languages - English , French or Spanish - and is intended for students in their final two years of Secondary School , often before entering University . It is taught in 1,469 Schools , to a great extent in International School s, in 121 countries ( As Of 2005 ). The programme, administered by the International Baccalaureate Organization , is one of the most widely recognised pre-university educational programmes in the world. CURRICULUM The Diploma Programme (DP) curriculum consists of completing six courses from six different subject areas, writing an Extended Essay (EE) of up to 4,000 words, and taking part in the Theory Of Knowledge (TOK) class. Grades are awarded from 1 to 7 in each subject, and up to three 'bonus' points may be awarded for good results in EE and TOK. Thus, a total of 45 points may be obtained by the candidate for their final diploma (this was achieved by roughly 0.23% of the worldwide IB population in May 2005). If candidates study in a language other than their native language (i.e. their language A1), they may receive a Bilingual Diploma. If they choose not to fulfil all parts of the programme, they can only receive 'subject certificates'. Subject areas Students pursuing the Diploma take six courses, usually from six different subject areas (detailed below), with three (or four) of them taken at higher level (HL) and the rest at standard level (SL). Higher level subjects require approximately 240 hours of teaching time, and standard level subjects about 150.
Extended Essay See Also: Extended Essay Students must write an essay of at most 4,000 words in any chosen subject (not necessarily one taken for the final exam) but not across subjects. The topic may be any that the student feels is researchable. This task involves independent research and requires producing a comprehensible written piece. Each student is paired with a supervisor, who provides insight toward the final product. It is essential to submit an Extended Essay, often abbreviated as EE, or the candidate cannot receive the IB Diploma. CAS See Also: Creativity, Action, Service CAS is an acronym for ''Creativity, Action, Service''. Each DP student must complete at least 150 hours, spread out over at least one and a half years, doing something creative, participating in Sport or other physical activities, and doing community service or social work. The general guideline for CAS is to split it evenly among Creativity, Action and Service, hence a ''de facto'' requirement of 50 hours of each. The whole lot of the work done for CAS must be documented in the 'CAS diary', which might eventually be sent to the IBO as a proof of the fulfilled CAS programme. Criticism Students in the IB programme have expressed many criticisms of the programme. The most common of these is the "IB Bubble," a condition in which the social circle of an IB student is made up of only IB students. Some claim this encourages elitism, especially in schools where there are also Advanced Placement students and students who study the bare minimum, standard curriculum as mandated by the state. Other criticisms usually come from the amount of work a student in the IB programme has to do compared with those not in the IB programme. In addition to this, some students feel that this 'added' work is not recogised when comparing the grades of an IB graduate with, say, an A level graduate (i.e. a 'B' in Higher History in the IB is harder to obtain than a 'B' in A level History). Also, students tend to criticise CAS requirements, claiming either that the number of hours is overly burdensome or that the CAS is unnecessary. Theory of Knowledge See Also: Theory of Knowledge Each student must complete the ''Theory of Knowledge'' (TOK) course of approximately 100 hours, which aims to encourage students to be critical thinkers and to teach students basic Epistemology . To complete requirements for TOK, diploma candidates must write a TOK essay of 1200-1600 words on a set title (from a choice of ten issued by the IBO), and present a TOK issue to their class on their choice of topic. The grades that the student receives from the TOK essay and presentation are compared with the grade for the Extended Essay by way of a matrix designed by the IBO, which may result in the awarding of 'extra' points for the candidate's Diploma. The candidate may get up to three extra points if both works are of a sufficiently good standard. Without the extra points, it is still possible to achieve the Diploma, but not with the full 45 points. Assessment All subjects are assessed using both internal and external assessment, including final Exam s given worldwide in May (usually for Northern Hemisphere schools) and in November (usually for Southern Hemisphere schools). Each exam usually consists of two or three ''papers'', generally written on successive days. The different papers may have different forms of questions, or they may focus on different areas of the subject syllabus. For example, Chemistry Paper 1 has Multiple Choice questions, Paper 2 has extended response questions, and Paper 3 focuses on the 'option' topics which can vary according to the student's (or school's) preference. Resits for each paper (sat in the next exam session - November or May) are possible for a maximum of three times. Each individual paper can take anywhere from 45 minutes to three hours, but usually they are between one and two hours in duration. Because of the large amount of subjects being examined in one examination session (of less than a month in length), students often have to write multiple papers in one day. The external assessment is assessed by examiners appointed by the IBO. A common practice by schools is to hold mock exams, using exams from a previous year's session to introduce students to the examination process. This is also used to determine predicted grades required by IBO prior to assessment. Another common practice is to allow the students a study leave for independent study without scheduled lesson time. The nature of the internal assessment (IA) varies by subject. They may be oral presentations (used in languages), practical work (in experimental sciences), or written works to be done at home. Internal assessment accounts for 20 to 50 percent of the mark awarded for each subject and is marked by a teacher in the school. A sample of at least five per subject at each level will also be graded by a moderator appointed by the IBO, in a process called external moderation of internal assessment. AWARDS There are two types of award available in the IB Diploma Programme. A student can be awarded the full Diploma or Certificates of Merit in individual subjects. Diploma conditions In order to be awarded the full IB Diploma the following requirements must have been met:
Certificates A candidate may also choose not to take the whole Diploma, but to aim for a Certificate of Merit in a particular subject. Candidates doing certificates do not have to take part in the extra requirements of the Diploma (the Extended Essay, TOK and CAS). Those candidates who complete extra courses in addition to a Diploma will also receive a special kind of certificate. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE IB Upon completion of the Diploma Programme, students receive the IB Diploma, which is used to obtain admission to institutions of Higher Education . This degree is sometimes regarded as a foreign diploma, so its recognition may vary depending on the university. In Canada and the United States , some IBDP courses are recognised as equivalent to university/college-level courses, and universities and colleges may award entering students with first-year credit for high IB exam scores. In this regard it is similar to the Advanced Placement Program , or superior to it, depending on the institute of higher learning in question. UCAS rates the AP programmes to be of GCE AS level difficulty, which is roughly equivalent to the standard level of IB Diploma subjects. However, universities in the United Kingdom accept the IB Diploma on a par with A-level s, including Oxford or Cambridge University ( Oxbridge ) and some universities prefer it to A-Levels. In some countries, for example Turkey or Peru , the IB Diploma is not considered equivalent to the national end-of-school examination scheme, usually because the IB Diploma is not as specialised, or because certain subjects are not offered. Some universities, on the other hand, prefer the IB to the certificate which the students usually get in their own country. A list of universities admitting the IB can be found on the IBO web site. PRE-IB In many schools, one or two years of 'Pre-IB' are administered before admission into the formal IB curriculum. This is not a practice managed by the IBO, but by the schools themselves, and the nature of the Pre-IB studies varies greatly between schools. In many countries, Pre-IB consists of adapting to studying in a foreign language (usually English ), while completing the compulsory courses demanded by the national education authorities (as opposed to the IBO). For schools in the United States, the 'Pre-IB' curriculum usually consists of more advanced courses than the regular freshman and sophomore classes in order to prepare the student for the rigours of the actual IB curriculum. Schools in Canada usually offer a more advanced French language course, or offer an optional language in grade ten, usually Spanish. EXTERNAL LINKS
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