A Beginner’s Guide to IB

Students at the International School of Kuala Lumpur, an International Baccalaureate (IB) school in Malaysia.

Many families, especially those in Bellevue — where PrepPages was founded — find themselves hearing about the “IB program.” Naturally, many of you students and parents want to know what the IB program is, how to be part of it, what students are expected to do, and what the benefits and drawbacks of such an education are. Don’t worry! We’re here to share everything you need to know to make an informed decision about whether you want your student in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program (IBDP).

The IB program is a 2-year high school program offered by the IB organization (IBO). Through the diploma program, students will learn to become well-rounded, advanced students in all school subjects, push themselves further in three or four subjects of their choosing, learn to be critical and thorough about knowledge, and complete their first research papers and long-form essays. At the end of the two years, if you pass the rigorous standards of the IBO, you will receive a diploma certifying that you had the grit, skill, and intellect to make it through one of the most challenging school curriculums out there.

Most schools offer IB from 11th grade to 12th grade. This means that your IB scores will generally only be available after college applications. However, some schools allow students to take IB a year early if they are on an accelerated learning track, and courses also have predicted scores in case one wants to send their scores to a college or university before finishing the exams in May of their senior year. These scores are based on performance in class, including on the Internal Assessment (IA), a research paper or project for IB graded by the teacher of the course at your school.

IB exams are scored from 1–7. Each exam has at least three components, called either Papers or Internal Assessments. These papers test different skills within an examination room, while the IAs push students to produce their best work within classrooms or at home to discover and create knowledge on their own.

Within the program, there are 6 subject areas. Students study each for 1–2 years, depending on the subject. The course a student picks for each subject is automatically in the standard level (SL), but you need to select 3–4 courses to study at the higher level (HL). HL exams often have more components and higher scoring criteria than their SL counterparts.

The 6 IB subject areas, along with some common, but not necessarily exhaustive, examples of courses in those areas.

The six subject areas are as follows:

Group 1: Language A, or native language

Group 2: Second language

Group 3: Individuals and societies, or humanities/soft sciences

Group 4: Experimental sciences

Group 5: Mathematics

Group 6: Elective, either in the arts or from any other subject area

Through these courses, students will study STEM and humanities in depth. Although this is beneficial to a student’s education in general, this is one reason IB may not be right for you. If you know you want to study, say, math, then there’s no reason to have your time consumed by the other subjects — and IB is immensely time-consuming.

Selecting which courses you want to take for your IB diploma depends mostly on two things: one, what the school offers; and two, what you want to study. Many schools will not have all these courses available, so it’s important to choose based on those two considerations.

In general, some tips we’d like to share from our experiences in the IB program are the following:

1) IB History, Analysis and Approaches, and Physics HL are very difficult

2) Because these exams have so many different parts and each course takes two years, there is a lot of material to study for

3) IB takes a lot of effort — much more so than AP.

In addition to the courses, the IBO also employs another enrichment procedure called CAS — Creativity, Activity, and Service. CAS experiences are extracurricular activities that must be sustained for at least a month each. It’s recommended students have at least 3 experiences in Creativity, in Activity, and in Service, but the IBO stresses that balance is key.

Creativity essentially refers to any activity that has the student create something. This could be art, an instrument, coding, cooking, or anything along those lines, but they do have to be distinct from school classes that cover those interests.

Activity is about physical exertion. IB expects students to complement their intellectual enrichment with physical labor. Some ideas for Activity experiences include working on a farm, going to the gym, running, biking, swimming, hiking, and more.

Service is, just like it suggests, non-paid work for public good. Cleaning up parks, unpaid internships, and donating food and clothing are really strong options for Service.

Again, these experiences should be balanced according to what you think will improve you the most. For example, if you’re already taking painting and music classes at school, you shouldn’t try to do as much in Creativity as you do in Activity and Service. 

These experiences require evidence to be submitted once a month for the entire duration that you do them for. Evidence could be journal reflections, photos, documents, videos, or others, too. 

On top of the CAS experiences, the IBO also wants each student to partake in a CAS Group Project. The CAS Projects may only have up to 6 members in them, and each student can only officially be part of one Project. These Projects are outcome-oriented and based in the letters of C, A, and S. For CAS, students do things like host blood drives, start clubs, or organize hackathons. 

In CAS, the IBO wants to promote student choice over everything else. As long as you’re doing something that improves you, that you work at diligently, and is legitimate, it’ll work out, but make sure to check with your coordinator.

Students are also required to take two semesters of Theory of Knowledge (ToK). One of the most infamous parts of IB, ToK teaches students how to be rigorous and critical about what they know. ToK has two assessments — both in-class projects — scored from A to E.

Finally, there’s an extended essay (EE) that students must complete for their diploma, which is a 4,000 word essay on anything from any of the subject areas you pick. While this takes a lot of effort, the EE is very rewarding and fun for many students because of the freedom involved.

IB overall is scored out of 45 points. Each of the 6 subject examinations is scored from 0–7, with an additional two points from ToK and one from the EE. Even 7’s are very rare and difficult to get — 6’s on IB are roughly equivalent to 5/5 on an AP exam.

In general, we would express the benefits and advantages of the IB program as such:

PRO:

• Well-rounded education

• Much more challenging and therefore looks more competitive in your college application as course rigor compared to AP (Advanced Placement)

• More choice to study what you want

• Teaches you more in-depth

• Helps you become a smarter, more engaged, and capable person overall

• High scores, especially in HL classes, speak more to your ability as a student

CON:

• Extremely time-consuming — you’ll have little time to do things like competitions without stressing yourself out

• Lots of exams during exam season — typically over a dozen, because each course has multiple papers

• The IAs are challenging and require an additional 15+ hours of work for each class

• Little space to take courses that do not help complete your IB diploma

• Risks student burnout

• The return-on-effort for average students applying to college with their IB scores is limited

  
  

We know IB can be intimidating. Especially if you go to a school that offers IB, it’s hard not to be pressured into taking the program. But if you do, we promise it’ll be worth it — despite all the time, labor, and energy it takes. Not only will it boost your college application, but it’ll also shape you into a stronger person. If you do decide to do the IB diploma, in spite of all the drawbacks, PrepPages will be here to provide support and information on how to do your best in one of the world’s most challenging curriculums.

Best,

Rittik Bhattacharya

PrepPages Director of Programs