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 ToK’s:
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 Gov’t (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 Gov’t?) 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
½ Semester Gov (Fall) & ½ 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