Westminster High School
How to Speak IB
For those new to the International Baccalaureate Programme, the plethora of acronyms can be quite
overwhelming. Hopefully, this glossary of terms will help you successfully negotiate your way
through…“IB Speak”
CAS: Creativity, Action and Service are the 150-hour requirement of all diploma candidates
beginning the summer of their sophomore year. IB recommends a balance of hours in each
component.
DP: Diploma Programme (begins the junior year of high school) 9th and 10th grade MYP prepares
students to enter the actual IB Diploma Programme.
EE: Extended Essay refers to the 4,000-word research paper students write during their senior year.
Students choose their own topics and are supervised by a faculty advisor.
EA: External Assessment refers to the tests the students take in May. These tests are sent to
qualified graders around the world to be scored. The results of the test scores combined with their
internal assessment will result in a grade of 1-7 (7 most qualified). The test results are released in
early July.
Group subjects: IB students are required to take classes in six subject areas: 3 higher level and 3
standard level:
 Group 1: The student’s native language and literature
 Group 2: Foreign language
 Group 3: Individuals and Societies (social sciences)
 Group 4: Experimental sciences (biology, chemistry, physics, environment)
 Group 5: Math and Computer Science
 Group 6: The Arts or a second subject from groups 2-5
HL: Higher level class that meets for 240 hours and is usually two years in length.
IA: Internal Assessment refers to oral exams, projects, essays, experiments, case studies, etc. that
are scored by the Westminster High School IB teacher. A randomly selected sample of these
assessments are sent to IB to ensure that the IB teacher is scoring according to the IB rubric
IBNA: International Baccalaureate North America
IBO: International Baccalaureate Organization
MYP: Middle Years Program from 6th-10th grade. IB encourages its DP schools to adopt the MYP
model to “grow” IB students.
PG: Predicted Grade. IB teachers have to submit to IB their prediction of the grade they believe the
student will earn in their IB subject. Students do not see these grades, nor do they figure in their
ultimate IB grade in the subject. However, examiners can use PG’s if a student has an unforeseen
circumstance and they can’t complete their exam (death in the family, car accident, national
emergency, etc.)
PYP: Primary Years Program from K-5th grade.
Paper: This refers to the exam in May and is otherwise known as the external assessment; graded
by an examiner usually in another country. Depending on the subject, students could sit for 2-3
papers in one subject. Most papers run 1-4 hours long. IB restricts students testing more than six
hours in one day, thus exams tend to run 1-2 days in length. Example: Paper 1 is 2 hours and is
given on day 1. Paper 2 is 2 hours and Paper 3 is 1 hour and both are given on day 2. Thus three
papers, five hours of exams given over two days. (That’s just one subject)
Rubric: This is the set of standards by which the student work is scored. Students should be given
the rubric at the beginning of the year and should be very familiar of what is expected of them by
May exams.
SL: Standard Level class that meets for 150 hours and is usually one year in length. Depending on
the depth of the subject matter, some SL courses meet over two years (Biology, Mathematics, World
Languages are good examples)
ToK: The Theory of Knowledge (TOK) is the class that integrates all six subjects with the goal of
teaching students that all knowledge is related. For example: What do physics and art have in
common? How does a scientist discover truth in a way different than a philosopher?
Hopefully this glossary has answered your questions and has provided some clarity to those pesky
acronyms. If you still have further questions, please feel free to ask.
Laura Diercks, IB Coordinator
Westminster High School
303.487.2612