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IB Course

The IB Course Programme is generally recommended for students who will find the breadth and depth of the Diploma programme challenging.  

IB Course is recognised by a number of universities and colleges around the world but not as much as the IB Diploma.  It is possible to enter UK, North American, Australian and some European and Asian Universities with IB course subjects which consists of 4 or 5 IB subjects selected at any level.  Below shows the UK UCAS conversion table for certificates.  This will support students when looking at entry requirements.

All Courses students are encouraged to participate actively in the Creativity, Activity and Service (CAS) programme.  This will ensure they are furthering skills linked to the IB Learner Profile and are developing into well rounded leaders for the future.

The curriculum

The IB Course is flexible in terms of the subjects and levels the student takes.  Students can study any discipline from the six subject areas:

  • Language A (Language and Literature): English SL/HL, Self Taught Mother Tongue / First Language SL, English and Performance SL/HL

  • Language B (Language Acquisition) or another Language A: English B SL/HL, Malay HL/SL, French SL, Mandarin SL, Spanish Ab Initio and SL

  • Individuals and Societies:  Business Management SL/HL, Economics SL/HL, Geography SL/HL, History SL/HL, Digital Society SL/HL, Psychology SL/HL

  • Experimental Sciences:  Biology SL/HL, Chemistry SL/HL, Physics SL/HL, Environmental Systems and Societies SL, Sports Exercise and Health Science SL/HL, Design and Technology SL/HL

  • Mathematics - Applications and Interpretations SL, Analysis and Approaches SL/HL

  • Arts:  Theatre SL/HL, English and Performance SL/HL, Visual Arts SL/HL, Music SL/HL (or one subject from groups 1-4)

Grading and certificate

IB Subjects are graded on a scale of 1 (minimum) to 7 (maximum). 

The student will receive one grade for each course covered. The certificate will say IB Course and list each of the subjects and the grade achieved.

It is important to realise for that there are no pass or fail grades for the IB Course.

University recognition of IB Courses

US Universities and Colleges

These countries universally accept the IB Courses programme alongside the High School Diploma (which all students receive alongside their IB Courses certificateand so there are no issues regarding entry and admission. It must be noted however that for more selective institutions especially in the US, the IB Diploma is often preferred and will be treated as such when coming to admissions.

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Australia, Other Countries around the world

Australia usually requires the full IB Diploma for automatic entry into Degree courses, but have many foundation courses to which the IB Courses will be suitable for entry. Other Universities around the world have different requirements and views on IB Courses, dependent on institution so students will need to check individual Universities websites for clarification.

UK Universities utilise a system that checks equivalence for all qualifications. These equivalence tables and then translated into tariff points and the document opposite enables students to calculate how many tariff points they will receive for each subject and the IB grade they receive.

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Students can then apply to Universities with these tariff points. However it must be understand the more selective establishments such as Oxbridge and Russell group will only accept IB Diploma students as a general rule.

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The UCAS applications system also has a tariff point calculator which can be useful to quickly and easily calculate this, and then when checking requirements for entry in UCAS a student can see if they have the requirements to gain entry.

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