The IB Diploma requires students to complete three Core elements which help students have a holistic educational experience. One of these elements if Creativity, Activity, and Service (CAS) where students need to complete experiences and one larger project which are related to the aforementioned three concepts. This will take place alongside schoolwork and exams during the IB Diploma. Students will need to show initiative, compassion, and other skills apart from the ability to complete their coursework. Students will get a brief respite from the academic pressure the IB Diploma puts on them and experience a holistic way of learning.
What are the three components of IB CAS?
Creativity
This includes arts and other experiences which involve creative thinking, such as designing a website, learning an instrument, or creating artwork for a school event or campaign.
Activity
This involves physical exertion which contributes to a healthy lifestyle, such as completing a sports even, running a marathon, committing to a goal in sports, or additional coaching.
Service
This component involves an unpaid and voluntary exchange which has a learning benefit for the student. These could involve community-based experiences and projects. Students could help those around them via volunteering, fundraising, or environmental awareness.
What are the 7 Learning Outcomes of CAS?
- Strength and growth
- Challenge and skills
- Initiative and planning
- Working with others
- Showing perseverance and commitment
- Global engagement
- Recognising and considering the ethics of choices and actions
The 5 Stages of CAS
Investigation – identifying interests, skills and talents and scouting your area
Preparation – planning based on investigations, looking for resources
Action – acting upon a plan with decisiveness and critical thinking
Reflection – reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of your project
Demonstration – logging things in your CAS portfolio
Continuous CAS involvement and 1 CAS project
There is a difference between CAS Experiences and your CAS Project. CAS Experiences are short projects which cover one or more of the CAS strands and achieve at least one or two learning outcomes – they should last for around an hour and require on reflection. However, the CAS Project needs to be at least a month long. This needs several collaborations and have several reflections. This can be an individual concept or something which is worked on as part of a group (such as a whole classroom). This project can pull inspiration from one or more of the three components and work on projects which involve all three components.
Reflections
You will need to write CAS reflections for each CAS experience. The CAS Project will have several reflections at different stages of the project. The reflections include an overview of the actions taken, how you felt through the project, and what was learned. All these reflections will need to go into a CAS portfolio – this portfolio needs to show that students have had a balanced engagement from all the three outcomes. There must be evidence of the student’s experiences – the photo, the project itself, or a video. This portfolio must be checked by a supervisor to evaluate whether the student has met the objectives. CAS is not given a numerical grade like anything else in the IB, but it is still a compulsory component.
Students can use CAS as an opportunity to develop their natural skills and interests. Taking part in CAS will enhance their personal and professional lives – universities like to see that students have had a holistic education – focusing on things other than schoolwork will help students talk about these experiences when they apply for university. CAS helps students gain a better perspective as they will have the opportunity to contribute to their community. As such, CAS should be approached with a positive attitude and good time management.
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As the name suggests, the IB Chemistry Clinic does not only fix a student’s grades - it helps students with critical components of the IB Programme, namely the Internal Assessment (IA) which is worth at least 20% of a student’s grade and their Extended Essay (EE) in Chemistry.
The IA and EE are a non-negotiable part of the Chemistry curriculum - without them, students will not be able to graduate with an IB Diploma. However, there are many difficulties associated with conducting experiments for the IA and EE - many replications are required and the standard for the final deliverable - the research report - is high. Students need to undertake statistical testing and present their final results coherently and concisely.
Although the IB school provides mentors for the EE and teachers at school can guide students through their IA, attention to each student is often limited in a classroom setting and many students are left to figure things out by themselves. This results in difficulty completing internal deadlines on time, especially when a student needs to juggle all their 6 subjects and the additional components of the IB, along with their CCAs and other commitments.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How hard is it to get a 7 in IB?
With time and effort, students who know the syllabus well and are well-prepared and have well-written assignments will easily get a 7 in the IB.
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