IB Counseling Guide/Cheat Sheet

Things every counselor should know about IB Students

There are two kinds of IB Students:
Certificate (those that take courses as stand alone credit)
Diploma Candidates (specific required coursework)
There are two levels of IB Coursework:
Higher Level = students take half the class across the junior year; the other half is
finished as a senior year class
Standard Level = students take a course and exam in a single year
Diploma Candidates MUST:
[A] Take at least one course in each Group/Subject area:

Group 1: English

Group 2: Foreign Language

Group 3: History

Group 4: Sciences

Group 5: Math

Group 6: any other elective IB class of their choice

[B] Take a minimum of 3x Higher Level (two-year) courses

MUST take History HL as junior and senior classes

MUST take English HL as junior and senior classes

the other HL can be EITHER a Foreign Language HL OR Mathematics HL

[C] Take a minimum of 3x Standard Level (one-year) courses
[D] Complete the Theory of Knowledge course
[E] Complete an Extended Essay (3-4,000 word essay on topic of their choice done
independently)
[F] Complete the CAS (Creativity, Action, Service) requirements
[G] Score an average of 4 out of 7 on the IB assessments in all courses or make up the
difference on other tests
[H] May NOT score a 1 or 2 in a Higher Level course
[I]May NOT score a 1 in a Standard Level course
[J] Score a TOTAL of 24+ points, finish a passing Extended Essay, pass the Theory of
Knowledge essay, and complete their CAS requirements in order to earn the IB
Diploma
Courses available to IB students as their 6th Subject Choice:
IB Visual Arts
IB Physics and/or Biology
IB Psychology
IB Economics*
IB Music Theory
IB Computer Science**
*IB Economics is new; it will NOT be co-taught with an AP Econ class and thus may not
make

**IB Computer Science is new; it will be co-taught with AP Computer Science A, and the
course number will be the same as the AP CompSci class because GaDoE does
not yet have a course number for IB Comp Science

Theory of Knowledge CHANGES:

In the PAST:
ToK was offered as a full year course
mostly to IB Seniors (a few juniors)
was open to general study body as an elective option)
Next Year:

Two different ToKs:

IB Seniors who have NOT taken ToK as juniors:
Will take the full year class as per in the past
Taught by Daniel Spiegel
Open to non-IB students
IB Juniors will be different:
Will take Govt (or Econ?) their Fall Semester with Matthew Thompson
Will take the first half of ToK Spring Semester with M Thompson
Will take the second half of ToK in Fall of their Senior year
Will take Econ (or Govt?) in Spring of their Senior year
No other non-IB students should be enrolled in any/either of these combined
classes

2010-2011 SCHOOL YEAR:

Most IB Juniors will be taking:
IB History of the Americas
IB English 11
IB Biology AND
One other IB Course requirement
Semester Gov (Fall) & Semester Theory of Knowledge (Spring)
Most IB Seniors will be taking:
IB 20th Century Topics
IB English 12
IB Math HL OR IB Foreign Language HL
Two+ other IB Course requirements
Full year Theory of Knowledge course