The Foreign Service Journal, December 2006

88 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 6 S CHOOLS S UPPLEMENT ater productions, etc.). They are also required to take part in sports, either on teams or individually. Finally, they must be involved in community ser- vice, which can include anything from volunteering at school events to orga- nizing a drive for the homeless — usually at least three to four hours a week or, at many schools, a total of 150 hours. The IB grading system uses a numerical scale from 1 (lowest) to 7 (highest). At the end of the two-year program, students take exams in each subject. The diploma is awarded to those students who have achieved at least a sum of 24 (in other words, an average grade of 4 in each of the six subject areas) and who have success- fully completed the three core ele- ments of the program: TOK, CAS and the Extended Essay. The maximum score that can be attained is a 45: 42 points for a perfect 7 grade in each subject, plus up to 3 “extra” points if a student has done excellent work in TOK and the Extended Essay. The students are graded by their own high school teachers and also by external IB examiners. For a complete description of the program, go to the IBO’s manual for schools: http://www.ibo.org/program mes/documents/schools_guide_diplo ma.pdf Is the IB Necessary? If a student wishes to attend high- er university in most countries, par- ticularly European countries and the U.K., the IB is most certainly neces- sary. American high-schoolers who intend to go to U.S. colleges and uni- versities do not need to take on the full IB Diploma Program and, in fact, it is not available at many schools in the States. However, if they have access to the program, and are strong students who wish to apply to the most com- petitive U.S. colleges (or universities abroad), it would be a smart move to enroll in the full IB program, accord- ing to Keith Todd, director of under- Continued on page 90 Perhaps the most negative aspect of the IB diploma is the amount of work and accompanying amount of stress it entails. (Continued from page 86)