IB Diploma
The International Baccalaureate's two-year diploma, taught in schools around the world and scored out of 45.
The IB Diploma Programme is taken from 16 to 19 in about 3,000 schools worldwide, including many in Sweden, France and Luxembourg. You study six subjects plus a core of Theory of Knowledge, the extended essay and CAS, and universities everywhere recognise it.
Overview
The IB Diploma is broad by design. Instead of narrowing to three subjects, you keep a language, a second language, a social science, a science and maths, plus one more, so you leave school with a rounded education. Three subjects are taken at higher level, with more teaching hours and more demanding exams, which lets you show depth where your interests lie. The core ties it together and trains research and critical thinking that universities value.
The workload is the main challenge. Coursework, the essay and CAS run alongside teaching for two years, and the deadlines tend to fall at the same time. Students who plan ahead and keep up steadily usually do well. In Sweden the IB is offered at a number of upper secondary schools, and Swedish universities convert IB points into a merit value for admission; in France and Luxembourg it is widely recognised for entry to higher education.
What you study
-
Six subjects
One from each group: your best language, another language, individuals and societies, sciences, maths, and the arts or a second choice from the others.
-
Theory of Knowledge (TOK)
A course on how we know what we claim to know, assessed by an exhibition and an essay.
-
Extended essay
An independent research paper of up to 4,000 words on a subject you choose.
-
CAS
Creativity, activity and service: projects outside the classroom over 18 months. Not graded, but required.
-
Internal assessment
Each subject includes coursework, such as an investigation or oral, marked by teachers and checked by the IB.
How it's scored
Each of the six subjects is graded from 1 to 7, for up to 42 points, and TOK and the extended essay together add up to 3 more, for a maximum of 45. You need at least 24 points, but there are further conditions: CAS must be completed, there can be no grade 1 or an E in TOK or the essay, and there are minimum totals for higher and standard level subjects. Most subjects combine final exams with internal assessment.
How to prepare
- Start the extended essay early and choose a narrow research question.
- Plan your internal assessments across the two years: the deadlines bunch up in the second year.
- Practise with past papers and markschemes from your school, and learn each subject's command terms.
- Check the IB scores and higher level subjects your target universities ask for.
Official pages
Dates, registration and fees change from year to year, so check them on the official pages.