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IB Overview

IB (International Baccalaureate) is a two-year rigorous course for 11 & 12 grades.

IB courses and programs are only offered in IB schools, and currently, SJS is the only IB school on Guam.

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If you are an IB Diploma Candidate (IBDC), then you need to take at least 6 subjects, one from each subject group, and three core requirements. Between 3 and 4 subjects must be taken at the Higher Level (HL), and the rest at the Standard Level (SL), in order to earn the Diploma.

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Students can still take the IB classes and exams even if they are not Diploma Candidates.

However, a student MUST BE ENROLLED in the class in order to take an IB exam.

Most US colleges now acknowledge the rigorousness of the IB courses, and so accept most of the IB scores

along with AP scores for college credits.

Subject Groups

Group 1
Studies in Language and Literature

  • Language A: English

Group 2
Language Acquisition

  • Language B: Mandarin

  • Language B: Japanese

  • Language B: Spanish

  • Language ab initio: French

Group 3
Individuals and Societies

  • Economics

  • History

  • Philosophy

Group 4
Sciences

  • Biology

  • Chemistry

  • Physics

  • Sports, Exercise and Health Science

  • Environmental Systems and Societies

Group 5
Mathematics

  • Applications and Interpretations

  • Analysis and Approaches

Group 6
The Arts

  • Music

  • Theatre

  • Visual Arts

Three Core Requirements

  1. Extended Essay

    • Extended Essay (EE) is an independent, self-directed research essay of up to 4,000 words ​that's graded externally by the IB.
      It has to be focused on one academic subject, and written on a topic that's been approved by the IB.

  2. Theory of Knowledge

    • TOK is a class that all students at St. John's school must take, whether the student is an IB Diploma Candidate or not.
      TOK class teaches the nature of knowledge and builds skills in critical thinking. IB Diploma Candidates must complete a presentation (graded by the teacher) and a 1,600 word essay (graded externally).​

  3. Creativity, Activity, Service (CAS) project

    • St. John's school requires all students to complete CAS credit hours to graduate. In order to earn CAS credit hours, students must participate in activities outside of class, either community service, athletics, or creative activities. For most of the students, their regular extracurricular activities and sports count for CAS hours. Students are responsible for checking what activities and how many hours count towards their CAS hours.​

IB Exam Format

  1. External Assessment

    • This is the exams that you take at the end of the year in May. SL courses consist of Paper 1 and Paper 2, and HL courses may consist of Paper 3. Depending on the course, each paper may vary in the format of the problems and rules of the exams. 
      The different types include: essays, structured problems, short-response questions, data-response question, text-response questions, case-study questions, multiple choice questions, etc.

  2. Internal Assessment

    • The Internal Assessment (IA) varies by subject. There may be oral presentations (usually in languages), practical/laboratory work (in experimental sciences or performing arts), investigations (in mathematics) or written work. 
      IA's worth 20% to 50% of the mark for each subject, and is graded by the teachers in the school. Each IA will be sent to the IB and also be graded by a moderator appointed by the IB, which will affect the grades of the whole subject from that school.
      IA is a work done in class and is graded by your teachers. So even if you are not an IB Diploma Candidate or not taking the IB exam, everyone in the class is required to do any class work including IA.

Grading Scale

  • 7 : Excellent​

  • 6 : Very good

  • 5 : Good

  • 4 : Adequate; considered as a Pass

  • 3 : Somewhat adequate

  • 2 : Superficial

  • 1 : Very rudimentary

 

To qualify for the IB Diploma, a student must receive a COMBINED SCORE of 24 points across 6 subjects: at least 12 points from HL subjects, at least 9 points from SL subjects, 3 additional points from TOK/EE. 

The maximum number of points that can be awarded is the full score of 45, with 42 from the subjects and 3 points from TOK and EE.

©2022 by Ms. Lee, St. John's School, Guam

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