A Handy-Dandy Guide to the IB

The International Baccalaureate. Legend has it that no one actually knows how to properly spell it, thankfully, we have an abbreviation, the IB.

Here at IST you take part in the IB Diploma Programme in the last two years of school. The school and the teachers prepare you very well for this and guide you throughout the whole process.

As an IB student myself, I have decided to bless you, the younger years with some insider knowledge. I have broken down the IB Experience into its main factors which mostly focus on the main aspects of the IB. This guide will hopefully ease your concerns about the IB and help you throughout the course of the whole diploma.

Look here's a cool little diagram about the IB Diploma isn't that neat?

To What Extent?

You enter a lesson of TOK expecting to learn about knowledge, why we know things and other philosophical topics focussed on knowledge. But instead you leave questioning your entire existence and a whole bunch of questions that will probably be left unanswered. What is knowledge? Why do I do TOK? Why is this my reality? How do I pass TOK?

But that’s normal. Welcome to Theory of Knowledge.

Like the name suggests, in this subject we learn about everything to do with knowledge. TOK is one of the core subjects of the IB Diploma, which means that you cannot escape it. TOK is not everyone’s cup of tea; but like a good IB student you have to learn to adapt and smile your way through the pain of pretending to know what is actually going on like please it’s been 42 minutes I have no idea what’s happening I didn’t sign up for this. Not all lessons are like this…to an extent.

One important advice I can give you for TOK is: go into every lesson with an open mind. Maybe you’ll even learn something new and interesting! TOK isn’t as bad as I may have described it as.

Oh, and also, you have to write an essay in TOK because otherwise it wouldn’t be the IB. But don’t worry! Instead of a research question, it’s a knowledge question! It’s different. It’s quirky. Trust me.

Does this count as CAS?

The one question every IB students asks before doing something. Gone are the days of doing something a teacher asks of you without questioning it or out of the goodness of your heart. No. Instead we try to find a way to make anything we do count as CAS.

But what is this weird CAS thing you might ask? Don’t worry, I’ll explain.

“CAS enables students to enhance their personal and interpersonal development by learning through experience. It provides opportunities for self-determination and collaboration with others, fostering a sense of accomplishment and enjoyment from their work.” -The Almighty IB Board, ibo.org

Essentially, CAS is what you do outside of school subjects and activities as part of the diploma. CAS is broken into three sections, creative, activity and service. It is mainly activities that take place outside of school but some of them involve the school community such as the services (UNICEF, IST Environment Group, etc.). It is one of the core aspects of the IB Diploma and you have to do it otherwise the IB Board will be disappointed and withhold your diploma because that’s the society we live in.

The Extent of the Extended Essay

Part of the IB Diploma is writing a spooky, scary 4,000-word essay. Because the IB Board loves us. It is cleverly called the ‘Extended Essay’. However, we like to abbreviate anything and everything to do with the IB, so we call it the EE.

For the EE you choose one of the six IB subjects and develop a research question which you will (hopefully) answer in your essay. It is recommended to do this in a subject you’re interested in and genuinely enjoy. Once you have a good research question, the 4,000 words don’t look as scary. The EE does teach you useful skills such as researching, writing an essay and more for when you venture out into the wondrous world of adult life.

Another great thing about the EE is that you can do virtually anything you want in any of your subjects, the EE gives you the freedom to explore any aspect of a subject. This means that it doesn’t necessarily have to be part of the subject’s syllabus.

Now, you might be intimidated by the EE and that’s fine, we were as well (some of us still are) however, your EE supervisor will guide you throughout the whole process. You have the whole summer to write your essay before the deadline at the beginning of Grade 12. It is advised to actually do it over the summer but we all know that some of us won’t even though we keep on telling ourselves that we will and that’s okay. That’s part of the IB life.

Survival Tactics

Please actually take the IB seriously from the start. You might think that everything is fine because two years is a long time, right? Wrong. Do your best from the beginning because once you’re revising for the exams you won’t have time to relearn topics you didn’t learn at the beginning.

One of the most important things I think is too understand how you work most effectively and try to organise yourself. It is easy to think that the homework that is due in next week can wait until the weekend or even the day before. But trust me, suddenly you’ll be swamped with other homework, CAS and even IAs (internal assessments are like mini-essays).

A moment of silence for all the Biology and Physics students. We believe in you. You'll do great on your IA.

All in all, the IB is a great experience and teaches you important life skills for wherever you want to go in the future. I know that this guide was more on the comedic side but seriously, don’t stress about it. You have a whole group of talented staff as well as a year group of older, veteran IB students who can help you throughout the two years.

IB students trying to synthesise the whole IB Diploma Programme to make the examiner happy.

The source of the CAS quote: https://www.ibo.org/programmes/diploma-programme/curriculum/creativity-activity-and-service/

Fancy IB circle diagram: https://www.icsparis.fr/academic-life/our-curriculum/high-school/ibdp

The meme: https://imgflip.com/memetemplate/167179814/pepe-silva-connecting-dots