Rudbeck IB Diploma Handbook

Academic Year 2012 - 2013  

                 

 

 

Contents

1. Introduction

2. What is the IBO?

3. IB Learner Profile

4. The advantages of the IB Diploma

5. Pre-DP year

6. IB Diploma Curriculum

7. What is CAS?

8. What is TOK?

9. What is the Extended Essay?

10. How is the IB Diploma assessed?

11. Grading System and Results

12. University Admissions

13. About Rudbeck School

14. Contact Us

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1) Welcome to Rudbeck IB!

 

Do you like a challenge? Enjoy learning about different cultures and international issues? Thinking of studying abroad in the future? Want to learn how to think critically and develop and express your own ideas? Keen to make a difference to your community, locally and globally? Interested in doing something a little bit different from what everyone else chooses? In which case, you have made the right choice with the IB Diploma programme at Rudbeck!

The IB Diploma is a challenging international education programme for students aged between 16 and 19, designed to prepare you for success both at University and in your future life after studying. The IB aims to ”create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding” and students that are ”active, compassionate and lifelong learners”.1

We have been teaching the IB at Rudbeck since 2007, and we welcome all internationally-minded and curious students to our IB learning community. The purpose of this guide is to give students and parents who are new to the IB an overview of what the Diploma Programme at Rudbeck involves. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions about our programme.

 

 

                                                        1 "Mission and Strategy." IB Mission and Strategy. Web. 05 Apr. 2012. <http://www.ibo.org/mission/>.

2) What is the IBO?

The International Baccalaureate Organization (IB0) is an independent, not-for-profit foundation, founded in 1968 in Geneva, Switzerland to provide a programme for international students preparing for university. Since then over 560,000 students have studied the Diploma programme, and the IBO has grown to offer three educational programmes for students aged from 3 up to 19: the Primary Years Programme, Middle Years Programme and Diploma Programme. These three programmes are united by the common IB aim of encouraging students to develop the “intellectual, personal, emotional and social skills to live, learn and work in a rapidly globalizing world”.2

Today the IBO’s educational programmes are taught in 3,371 schools in 141 countries around the world, leading to more than 1 million IB students in total worldwide. The Diploma programme is growing rapidly and is now taught at over 2,300 schools globally, with 32 schools in Sweden currently teaching the IB Diploma.

 

    

                                                        2 "About the International Baccalaureate." International Baccalaureate. Web. 05 Apr. 2012. <http://www.ibo.org/general/who.cfm>

What is the IBO’s Mission Statement? “The International Baccalaureate Organization aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect. To this end the IBO works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment. These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.”

  

What are the core values of the IBO? Motivated by a mission

We aim to create a better world through education International-mindedness

We embrace diversity Quality

We value our reputation for high standards Participation

We actively involve our stakeholders Partnerships

We achieve our goals by working together Pedagogical leadership

We innovate in educational practice3

 

                                                        

3 "Mission and Strategy." IB Mission and Strategy. Web. 05 Apr. 2012. <http://www.ibo.org/mission/>."The IB - what You Should Know." The IB. Web. 05 Apr. 2012. <http://www.ibo.org/facts/21things/>.

How do these values form part of the IB Diploma?

To find out how these ‘core values’ are incorporated into the Diploma programme as a whole, and what they mean for you as a student, go on to read the next section in this guide about the IB Learner Profile.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3) The IB Learner Profile

The IB Learner Profile is fundamental to the Diploma programme. It expresses the core values of the IBO’s educational philosophy, and defines the learning outcomes that all of its programmes aim towards. For the IB, education is not simply about intellectual development but is also centrally concerned with the personal, emotional and social growth of each individual student. Furthermore, and given the desire of the programme to help make “a better and more peaceful world”, the Learner Profile is structured around the ideal of creating genuinely internationally minded people. These ideals, of educating holistically towards international mindedness, can be seen in every aspect of the IB Diploma programme.

 

At Rudbeck IB we try and incorporate the values of the IB Learner Profile into our programme, both in the classroom and in the wider community. We encourage our students to reflect on their own strengths and weaknesses in terms of the Learner Profile attributes, and use it as a tool for setting personal goals and targets for each student’s self-development. We take seriously the IB’s vision of creating compassionate, life-long learners, and we hope that our efforts at Rudbeck are contributing towards this goal.

 

 

The Learner Profile in depth

To demonstrate the ambition and range of the Learner Profile, it is worth showing it in full here with all of the attributes outlined clearly.4

IB learners strive to be:  

Inquirers

They develop their natural curiosity. They acquire the skills necessary to conduct inquiry and research and show independence in learning. They actively enjoy learning and this love of learning will be sustained throughout their lives.

Knowledgeable

They explore concepts, ideas and issues that have local and global significance. In so doing, they acquire in-depth knowledge and develop understanding across a broad and balanced range of disciplines.

Thinkers

They exercise initiative in applying thinking skills critically and creatively to recognize and approach complex problems, and make reasoned, ethical decisions.

Communicators

They understand and express ideas and information confidently and creatively in more than one language and in a variety of modes of communication. They work effectively and willingly in collaboration with others.

Principled

They act with integrity and honesty, with a strong sense of fairness, justice and respect for the dignity of the individual, groups and communities. They take responsibility for their own actions and the consequences that accompany them.

Open-minded

They understand and appreciate their own cultures and personal histories, and are open to the perspectives, values and traditions of other individuals and communities. They are accustomed to seeking and evaluating a range of points of view, and are willing to grow from the experience.

Caring

They show empathy, compassion and respect towards the needs and feelings of others. They have a personal commitment to service, and act to make a positive difference to the lives of others and to the environment.

Risk-takers

They approach unfamiliar situations and uncertainty with courage and forethought, and have the independence of spirit to explore new roles, ideas and strategies. They are brave and articulate in defending their beliefs.

Balanced

They understand the importance of intellectual, physical and emotional balance to achieve personal well-being for themselves and others

Reflective

They give thoughtful consideration to their own learning and experience. They are able to assess and understand their strengths and limitations in order to support their learning and personal development.

  

 

 

                                                        4 "IB Learner Profile." International Education. Web. 05 Apr. 2012. <http://www.ibo.org/programmes/profile/>.

4) The advantages of the IB Diploma

 

What are the benefits of studying the IB Diploma Programme? Below is a list of ten advantages of taking the IB Diploma:

⇒ You get to study a balanced range of subjects in depth over the course of two years. The curriculum allows you to combine Natural and Social Science (NV and Sam) interests without having to choose either/or. Alternatively, you can choose to emphasise the Sciences, Arts or Languages, while retaining the balance of the Diploma as a whole.

⇒ The rigorous and challenging IB curriculum gives you the thinking and study skills you will need to succeed at University in the future. In terms of subject knowledge, critical thinking and analytical skills, being able to communicate and present an argument clearly, time-management and organization skills, the IB is excellent preparation for University studies.

⇒ Passing the IB Diploma gives you access to a vast range of University courses around the

world. It is a globally recognised qualification.

⇒ The CAS programme ensures that you develop in more ways than simply the academic. Extra-curricular activities relating to creativity, action and service will help balance the academic demands of the programme.

⇒ Studying all your subjects in English will increase your language skills in what has

become the world’s global language, improving your future opportunities for work, travel and further studies abroad.

⇒ The global perspective of the IB curriculum will develop and enhance your

international-mindedness, both at the local level as part of our multicultural Rudbeck IB group and beyond as a member of the IB global community.

⇒ The IB Diploma is externally assessed, meaning that the system is fair and the same

for all IB students everywhere. Furthermore, IB assessment is built upon testing your ability to think about and process the knowledge you have learnt, rather than simply memorising facts.

⇒ The Extended Essay gives you the chance to carry out independent research, potentially in a subject you are interested in studying later at University, and then communicate your findings in a formal piece of academic writing. Again, this is excellent preparation for further studies.

⇒ The Theory of Knowledge course allows you to reflect on your own experiences as a learner and develop critical awareness in relation to how knowledge is created and used/misused. Treating sources of information critically is an essential skill for the Internet Age!

⇒ Studying your Diploma subjects will involve an exciting and varied range of

tasks, which will help keep you stimulated and motivated. For instance, as part of your studies in the Experimental Science element of the Diploma, you will get to complete a ‘Group 4 project’, which is student-driven and generally a lot of (learning) fun each year for all those who take part! Another example is the ‘revision wiki’ that a previous year’s History class created online to help prepare for their final IB exams (below).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Warning!

The IB is a challenging, rewarding and in many ways fun education programme; however, it does require a certain level of commitment from you. It is not something that you should choose half-heartedly, without really knowing what the programme involves. Below are two important points for you to note in approaching your IB studies:

• The IB Diploma is not simply a regular ‘gymnasium’ programme taught in English, so you should not choose the IB just because you want to study in English. The IB has a form and style of learning that is different from the Swedish system, and you should have some idea of what this is if you choose to study it!

• Succeeding in the IB Diploma demands a fair commitment from you in terms of time and effort spent each week on homework and CAS activities. It is therefore really important that you want to study the programme and are motivated to meet the challenges that it will give you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Studying the Diploma at Rudbeck IB

We think that our school offers you an excellent learning environment for the IB programme because we have:

‐ a good learning atmosphere

‐ small classes, allowing strong, positive relationships to develop between students and teachers

‐ engaged and committed teachers who dare to believe that learning can be fun

and that ideas matter!

‐ a multicultural IB community with students and teachers from 24 different countries around the world

‐ a small tight-knit programme (‘the IB family’) as part of a much larger

school with many activities going on (such as the Amnesty International group and a wide range of sporting clubs), giving you the best of both worlds!

‐ an exciting range of extra-curricular activities, often related to CAS (such as

our work supporting Star for Life) and with an international focus (such as our annual UN Day lunch). Our IB students also write their own student newspaper: ScrIBble!

                      

 

 

5) Pre-DP Year 

Although the IB Diploma is a two-year study programme, in Sweden it is preceded by a preparatory year, which we call the ‘Pre-DP’ class at Rudbeck IB. The Pre-DP year aims to introduce you to key IB concepts and values, allow you to interact and bond with your IB classmates, and prepare you for the academic demands of the Diploma Programme by giving you the study skills you will need to succeed. 

 

You will take a broad range of courses from the Swedish Upper Secondary Programme, but these will be taught in English in order to strengthen and develop your language skills. In as far as is possible these courses will also be taught with an IB approach to learning, which will help make your transition to the Diploma proper as smooth as possible. It is essential that you successfully complete the Pre-DP year to proceed to the first year of the Diploma programme (DP1).

The following subjects are currently taught for your Pre-DP year (with specific details of the courses in the Swedish programme given in brackets), though it should be noted that the exact details can vary from year to year:

‐ English (English 5 and 6) ‐ Swedish (Swedish 1 for native speakers, or beginner’s course) ‐ Modern Language (i.e. French or Spanish, stage 3) ‐ Humanities (History 1b, Religious Studies 1, and the MYP Personal Project) ‐ Conceptual Science (Science Studies 1b) ‐ Mathematics (Mathematics 1c) ‐ Theatre (Stage Performance 1) ‐ Physical Education (Physical Education and Health 1) ‐ Introductory Classes for CAS and TOK

The MYP Personal Project

 

Beyond the courses in the Swedish programme listed above you will even complete a ‘Personal Project’, which is normally part of the final year of the IB’s Middle Years Programme, MYP 5. The MYP Personal Project allows you to choose a project that is of interest to you and then show the skills and abilities necessary to complete it, while reflecting on and evaluating the process of learning along the way. With the Personal Project you will produce and present a major piece of work in which you have considerable creative licence, and also write a report that analyses what you were trying to achieve in your project, what methods you chose to do this, and how far you succeeded in realising your goals.

In addition to the pleasure involved in working on the project and the sense of pride achieved in completing it, the Personal Project gives you important practice in formal academic writing conventions, research skills and working towards specific deadlines that will be particularly helpful when it comes to completing your Extended Essay as part of the Diploma Programme. It is therefore both a fun and very useful task for you to engage in as part of your Pre-DP studies!

Previous Personal Projects at Rudbeck IB have involved a diverse range of tasks and activities, including composing and performing a song, drawing a Japanese Manga comic, designing and making a dress, and making a short film about cultural differences. To see more examples of past Personal Projects, go to our Facebook page.

 

 

 

 

6) IB Diploma Curriculum

Once you have successfully passed the Pre-DP year you will proceed to study the two-year IB Diploma curriculum for your second and third years at Rudbeck IB (DP1 and DP2). You choose six subjects to study in depth over the two years, taking one subject from each of the groups shown below in the IB hexagon (choosing a group 6 subject is optional and can be replaced with another choice from group 2 or 4 here at Rudbeck). You will take three of your subjects at ‘Higher Level’ (HL), which means a greater depth and range of syllabus coverage and 240 hours of teaching per subject spread across DP1 and DP2. Your other three subject choices will be studied at ‘Standard Level’, which each involve 150 hours of teaching over the course of the two years.

 

Beyond these six subjects you will also complete the three ‘core’ requirements of the IB Diploma Programme: CAS, TOK and the Extended Essay (EE). These three parts are absolutely central to the IB as a whole, and they contribute much to the distinctive character of the IB Diploma as an education programme. Furthermore, studying these subjects both complements and assists you in the studies you will undertake for your individual Diploma subjects. This is why they are described as ‘core elements’ and placed at the centre of the IB hexagon used to represent the Diploma curriculum (below).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Subject Choices at Rudbeck

The table below shows the range of Diploma subjects currently taught for the IB at Rudbeck. Please note that the subjects available can vary from year to year depending on student demand (in particular for the various Language options). You can read more about the specific details of each subject course on the IBO website.

Group Subjects we currently offer Group 1 Studies in Language and Literature

English A Literature, Swedish A Literature, 

Self-taught A Literature (SL only and dependent on availability of teacher to supervise. Currently studied: Italian, Vietnamese) 

Group 2 Language Acquisition

English B, Swedish B, French B, Spanish B,

Spanish ab initio (i.e. beginner’s course)

Group 3 Individuals and Societies

History,

Psychology

Group 4 Experimental Sciences

Biology,

Chemistry, Physics

Group 5 Mathematics and Computer Science

Mathematical Studies (SL),

Mathematics SL, Mathematics HL (pending teacher approval)

Group 6 The Arts/ Electives

Theatre,

Another language from Group 2, Another science from Group 4

 

 

 

 

What to consider in choosing your six DP subjects?

You will receive more information and guidance to help you in choosing your Diploma subjects during the second half of the Pre-DP year, but in the meantime it can be worthwhile to consider the following:

‐ Your subject choices can have a major impact on your admission to certain courses of further study in Higher Education. If you know what you plan to study at University in the future, check now which Diploma subjects you will need to have taken in order to be eligible for your desired course!

‐ Your three Higher Level choices should be the subjects you are most interested in and that you consider to be your strongest, since you will spend a greater amount of time studying these courses. Your HL choices ought also to include the subjects that you consider most relevant to your future career or study plans.

‐ In deciding upon your sixth subject, try and think about the profile and balance of all of your subjects as a programme of study. Choosing ‘Theatre’, for instance, offers you a creative, aesthetic and more practical subject that can counterbalance some of your other more theoretical Diploma subjects. It can also be an excellent way of increasing your confidence and skills when it comes to giving oral presentations in these other subjects!

‐ If you are having a hard time choosing between subjects, why not talk to older students

on the programme that are currently taking the subjects? Sharing experiences and listening to the thoughts of your fellow IB students can be an excellent way of making an informed decision.

Example of a student’s DP subject choices

To give you an idea of what a typical Diploma Programme can look like at Rudbeck IB, here are the subject choices of a student particularly interested in going on to study a course in the Natural Sciences at University:

 

Group Subject 1 English A SL 2 Swedish B SL 3 Psychology SL 4 Physics HL 5 Mathematics HL 6 Chemistry HL

Core CAS/ TOK/ EE  

 

 

7) What is CAS?

CAS stands for ‘creativity, action, service’, and is central to the philosophy and worldview of the IB programme. Through engaging in CAS activities you will have the chance to put into practice one of the IB’s central ideas: ‘think globally, act locally’. CAS gives you the chance to learn while doing, and to put principles into practice in working towards a better world. It also plays a vital role in balancing the academic demands of the diploma programme, in encouraging IB students to develop as well-rounded, balanced and grounded individuals.

More specifically, the IBO explains the three elements of CAS as follows:

• Creativity - “arts and other experiences that involve creative thinking”.

• Action - “physical exertion contributing to a healthy lifestyle” that “can include not only not only participation in individual and team sports but also taking part in expeditions and in local or international projects”.

• Service - involves a vast range of “community and social service activities. Some

examples include helping children with special needs, visiting hospitals and working with refugees or homeless people”.

The key concept underlying the CAS programme is individual self-development, with each student choosing their own specific activities based on their particular interests, needs and learning goals. CAS is not just about completing extra-curricular activities, but also encourages you to reflect upon the process involved in carrying out such tasks: in planning and setting goals, reviewing your progress and outcomes, and evaluating what you have learnt along the way. In this sense, CAS plays an important role in furthering your development towards several of the IB Learner Profile attributes.  

How is CAS completed?

You will be introduced to the key ideas of CAS during your Pre-DP year, and then over the course of your actual Diploma studies (DP1 and DP2) you will complete the 150 hours of the CAS programme. To make sure your CAS activities effectively counterbalance your academic work these CAS hours should be split roughly between your DP1 and DP2 years, with three hours per week as a basic recommendation. Similarly, to guarantee a balanced CAS profile you should aim to spend roughly a third of your CAS hours on each of the three parts: creativity, action and service (though it is possible to complete activities that combine these elements).

To guide you through the CAS course you will have specially focused CAS sessions given by our CAS Coordinator, as well as an individual CAS Supervisor from the Rudbeck IB teaching staff that will encourage you along the way! We also use the Managebac online platform to help you complete your CAS, as this offers a simple and effective way of keeping track of and documenting all of your CAS achievements over the course of the two years.

 

CAS at Rudbeck “Challenging but rewarding” would be a fair way of summarizing the attitude of former Rudbeck IB students towards CAS. Most would readily admit that CAS was an excellent way of allowing them to develop their existing interests while also pushing them to branch out and explore a range of new activities. Furthermore, the voluntary work carried out as part of the ‘service’ element helped to provide personal experience of important issues at local, national and international levels. In the shorter term, this experience of a ‘world outside the classroom’ can be helpful when it comes to strengthening University applications with examples of extra-curricular achievement, but in the longer term it can also help encourage a life-long commitment to CAS values and looking beyond individual self-interest in the pursuit of a wider good.

Taken together the IB students at Rudbeck have been involved in a vast and varied range of CAS projects. As a programme, we support the ‘Star for Life’ organisation that works with HIV and AIDS prevention in Southern Africa, and have thus carried out several CAS activities aimed at spreading awareness and generating support for this cause. At an individual level, our students have been involved in learning to play musical instruments, learning new languages, teaching new languages to others, writing articles for the school newspaper, compiling a yearbook, learning how to cook, attending salsa and other dance classes, riding horses, drawing, coaching and playing team sports, learning to drive, lifting weights, volunteering at hospitals, performing in concerts, organizing IB events such as the UN lunch, putting on theatre performances at local homes for the elderly, and baking cakes for ‘Star for Life’. The list could go on and on, but the examples included here give some sense of the variety of things which CAS can give rise to!

  

8) What is TOK?

TOK is a challenging and exciting course in philosophy broadly understood, which encourages you to look a little closer at the various foundations on which “knowledge” is built upon and to examine your own assumptions as a learner of such knowledge. ‘What is the nature of “knowledge”?’ ‘How do we know what we know?’ ‘On what grounds, if any, can we justify our most cherished beliefs?’ ‘Can we be certain that we really know anything at all?’ Such foundational questions of epistemology lie at the heart of TOK, but as distinct from traditional courses of academic philosophy, the IB places the students’ own experiences as knowers at the centre of the TOK course. You are invited to bring in examples of ‘knowledge issues’ from both your everyday experiences and your six Diploma subjects, and then reflect upon and evaluate these from the various theoretical frameworks explored in class.

 

The course is interdisciplinary, which means that we look at both the various different ways that knowledge is constructed across the whole range of subjects in the IB curriculum (i.e. the four ‘ways of knowing’: perception, emotion, language and reason), and at the various different types of knowledge produced within these subjects: i.e. scientific, artistic, mathematical and historical knowledge. It is also deeply concerned with the impact that different cultural perspectives and technological change can bring to bear on our understanding of ‘knowledge issues’ and how knowledge is produced, and is thus vitally relevant for a twenty-first century student.

The aim of TOK as a whole is to encourage you to develop critical thinking skills and self-awareness as a learner. Learning to look beyond simply taking things at ‘face value’ and adopting a sceptical approach towards sources of information is hugely important in the ‘digital age’, and this will benefit you both in completing your IB studies and in the future, as a University student or simply as a citizen trying to make sense of the world. Indeed, the TOK course is often the part of the IB diploma that former students readily admit confused and disorientated them at the time but then proved incredibly useful when it came to further studies and beyond.

 

How is TOK taught and assessed?

You are introduced to the TOK course during your Pre-DP year, and you will then have two TOK classes a week over the two years of the Diploma programme (for a total of 100 hours). To reflect the interdisciplinary, exploratory and self-reflexive character of TOK, these classes will have a greater focus on discussions, reflections and group activities than is perhaps the case with your other ‘normal’ IB classes. As opposed to simply trying to learn ‘information’, in TOK we examine and discuss a broad range of questions. A central part of studying the ‘theory of knowledge’ course is sharing your ideas with others and listening and learning from your classmates, particularly those that might have grown up in a different cultural background than your own. These open-ended, discussion-based classes therefore provide the ideal environment for you to deepen your understanding of the richness and complexities of human knowledge.

Rather than a final exam the TOK course is assessed via two pieces of work, both of which allow considerable personal input from you, the student and knower! The major part of this assessment is the TOK essay, a piece of written work of between 1,200 and 1,600 words that you will write in DP2 in response to one of the ten essay questions prescribed by the IBO each year (see examples below). This essay allows you to explore knowledge issues in a fair amount of depth, and gives you the chance to develop a critical analysis of an issue that is supported by personal examples and reflections.

The second piece of assessment is the TOK presentation, of approximately ten minutes in length, which will explore how ‘knowledge issues’ can be identified in ‘real-life situations’ or ‘contemporary problems’ and then evaluated from different perspectives. This presentation lets you choose a topic that you think will be fascinating to explore, which again allows you to personalise your learning and focus on knowledge issues that are of interest to you. You will be guided and encouraged by our TOK teacher in the planning and carrying out of the work for both of these pieces of assessment.

Past TOK Essay questions

To give you an idea about the types of questions that the IB sets for students to write about for their TOK essays, here is a selection from the past few years:

• How important are the opinions of experts in the search for knowledge? (2011)

• “There are no absolute distinctions between what is true and what is false.” Discuss this claim. (2011)

• “We see and understand things not as they are but as we are.” Discuss this claim in

relation to at least two ways of knowing. (2010)

• All knowledge claims should be open to rational criticism. On what grounds and to what extent would you agree with this assertion? (2010)

• When should we trust our senses to give us truth? (2009)

• “In expanding the field of knowledge we but increase the horizon of ignorance.” (Henry

Miller) Is this true? (2009)

• Are reason and emotion equally necessary in justifying moral decisions? (2008)

• “Context is all” (Margaret Atwood). Does this mean there is no such thing as truth? (2008)

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

9) What is the Extended Essay?

The Extended Essay (EE) is one of the three core subjects at the heart of the Diploma programme, alongside CAS and TOK. The EE is a 4,000-word research essay based on independent research into a topic chosen by you within one of your DP subjects. The purpose of the EE is to allow you to develop the academic skills you will need to succeed at University: in planning, researching, structuring and writing a formal essay within a given timeframe. Beyond learning such skills, the EE also gives you the chance to develop your critical thinking and to experience the excitement of intellectual discovery and risk-taking involved in exploring a topic you are personally interested in.

How is the Extended Essay completed?

In total you will spend around 40 hours completing your EE, including the planning, research and writing phases. You are introduced to the EE midway though the autumn term of DP1 and the final essay is submitted during the autumn term of DP2, so these hours are spread out over the course of almost 12 months. Though it is an independent piece of work that emphasises your individual motivation and commitment, both our EE Coordinator and your specific EE subject Supervisor will guide you through the process. You will be given classes on key research and writing skills, such as research methods, referencing/bibliographies and writing an abstract, as well as having regular meetings with your Supervisor to discuss your progress. To give you access to the resources needed for your EE research you will go on a study trip to the Stockholm University library, while the school subscribes to Questia, the world’s largest online library, which offers you a huge range of material.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

Worth the challenge!

While completing an EE of a sufficient standard is necessary to pass the Diploma programme, the majority of students tend to feel that succeeding in writing an EE brings benefits beyond simply passing. Though students will almost inevitably experience fear, uncertainty and frustration while working on their Extended Essays, this will be overshadowed by the feelings of pride and achievement when the task is finished. This sense of pride translates into confidence in the face of future University studies, with the considerable advantage of having already completed a proper academic study and having the skills at hand to do so again! It also gives you the chance to experience your chosen subject at a ‘University level’, which can help you both in applying to certain University courses and in deciding which subject you choose to pursue at a higher level in the future.

Past EE topics at Rudbeck IB

You are free to focus on any one of your 6 DP subjects for your EE, though in practice our students have tended to write their essays in subjects in which they are already used to producing longer pieces of written work: in particular, Language and Literature, History and Psychology, and Theatre. To give you some sense of what an EE topic can look like, below is a small selection of questions that former Rudbeck IB students chose to investigate and write about for their Extended Essays.

• What is the significance of the protagonist’s attitude towards humans in Pär Lagerkvist’s novel Dvärgen? (Swedish)

• How does Sebastian Faulks use sound to develop character and portray the theme of loss in Birdsong? (English)

• Why are more women than men diagnosed with depression? (Psychology) • To what extent was President Lyndon B. Johnson culpable of escalating U.S. involvement

in the Vietnam War? (History) • How can stagecraft be used to convey the key themes of changing identities and social

status in Strindberg’s Miss Julie and Ibsen’s A Doll's House? (Theatre)

 

 

 

10) How is the IB Diploma assessed?

External Assessment

The formal assessment system for the IB Diploma Programme includes both external examinations and internally assessed coursework. The major part of the assessment for each course generally consists of externally graded exams, as this provides the fairest and best way of evaluating the level that each student has achieved by the end of the course. You will sit these exams in the May month of your DP2 year, so in practice these are the ‘final exams’ that your Diploma studies are leading up to and preparing you for.

In addition to external exams, which constitute between 50 and 80% of your final grade for each subject (the proportion varies depending on the subject), you will also submit various pieces of ‘internal assessment’ in each subject to make up the remainder of your grade (normally between 20 and 30%). These are pieces of coursework (i.e. oral presentations, research investigations, laboratory work) that are completed during the course of the two years of the programme under the guidance and supervision of your subject teachers. This coursework will be graded internally by your teacher, but is then sent away and checked by external examiners.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The main advantage of such an assessment system, and the reason why Universities around the world recognize the IB, is that it means that each student is assessed in the same way regardless of where they study, making their results truly comparable. The assessment tasks are the same for all IB students globally, are completed under the same conditions and are graded in the same way by external examiners appointed by the IBO (often IB teachers in other parts of the world). So when you sit an IB exam you can be faced with the same questions as an IB student in, say, Tokyo, Bangalore or Lima; your exam script could be sent to the same IB external examiner in, say, Rome, Nairobi or Los Angeles; and your work will be judged and graded according to the same IB assessment criteria no matter where it is marked. This helps to guarantee a global system that maintains fairness and high educational standards, enabling IB students to access the world’s top Universities and in turn helping these Universities in their admission processes.

 

In practice this means that as an IB student you are placed in a completely different relationship with your teacher than is the case under the Swedish system. Rather than your teachers directly setting your grades for each subject, at Rudbeck IB you will work together with your teacher to provide you with the skills and knowledge needed to succeed in the externally graded IB assessment tasks. The role that your teacher has on your grade is the positive one of guiding and supporting you in the collaborative effort towards the shared goal of IB success.

To prepare you for the challenge of written exams we make sure that you have plenty of practice over the course of the three years of study, through a series of mid-term and end of term exam sessions. These are designed to increase your confidence and experience with this form of assessment, and also to allow your teachers to assess and evaluate your progress in relation to the IB’s learning goals. This progress will be communicated several times a year by a written progress report and an IB grade, sent via Managebac, which acts as a kind of ‘formative assessment’ for your teacher to let you know where you currently are in your learning development and what you need to focus on in the future to improve.

 

 

 

11) Grading System and Results

 

IB Subject Grades

Each of the six subjects you study for the Diploma is graded on a scale from 1 (lowest) to 7 (highest), according to the broad grade descriptions given below:

Grade Description 1

Very Poor

2

Poor

3

Mediocre

4

Satisfactory

5

Good

6

Very Good

7

Excellent

Passing the Diploma

Together with the 3 bonus points available for the TOK and EE courses (see below), the maximum possible score for the Diploma is thus 45 points (i.e. 6 x 7 + 3). However, simply to pass the programme and be awarded an IB Diploma you need to gain at least 24 points across your 6 subjects (according to certain conditions, i.e. no grade 1s), as well as successfully completing CAS, TOK and the EE. It is therefore reasonable to regard a grade 4 as a ‘passing grade’ in each individual subject, as scoring this across the board would lead to the achievement of a Diploma (providing that the core elements have been satisfactorily completed).

 

 

TOK and EE Grades

The TOK essay and presentation and the Extended Essay are graded according to the scale given below:

Grade Description A Work of an excellent standard B Work of a good standard C Work of a satisfactory standard D Work of a mediocre standard E Work of an elementary standard

The three additional points available from the TOK and EE are awarded for the combined results in these elements according to the following matrix:  

 

As the matrix above makes clear, to pass the Diploma with 24 points you need to achieve at least a D in both TOK and the EE. Failing to complete either of these elements will mean that a Diploma is not awarded, while the ‘failing condition’ of scoring an E in either the EE or TOK means you will need to score at least 28 points in your 6 subjects in order to gain the Diploma.

 

 

 

IB Results

The results of the IB examinations after the May examination session at the end of DP2 are made available in the beginning of July, with each student logging in individually to the IBO website to access their results online.

 

To put the question of expected results into perspective, it is worth noting that less than 1% of all students globally achieve the maximum 45 points. The general pass rate, of students who are awarded the Diploma each year around the world, is around 80%.

Students who attain 23 points or lower, and thus fail to achieve the Diploma, can still receive individual IB ‘certificates’ for the subjects in which they score at least a grade 3. These certificates can be used to gain admission to Universities in certain countries, with individual institutions tending to have their own guidelines for the level of eligibility offered to holders of IB certificates.

 

 

12) University Admissions

 

Preparing and Applying for University

As so much of the Diploma Programme focuses on preparing you for further studies, the issue of university recognition of the programme is of major importance. As an education programme that prides itself on its high standards and rigorous assessment, the IB is acknowledged and welcomed by Universities around the world, with many universities having developed their own specific recognition policies for the Diploma. The Universities are keen to accept IB students, since they know that the IB system encourages independent learners and critical thinkers who are well-prepared and motivated for tertiary education.

Achieving the IB Diploma can therefore gain you access to the University course of your choice, both in Sweden or internationally. Furthermore, having passed the Diploma you will have the skills, knowledge and mentality necessary to succeed in your University studies. Graduates of Rudbeck IB are now studying at a range of different Universities in both Sweden and the UK (England and Scotland), and those who have been back to visit us have been quick to praise the knowledge and skills that the IB equipped them with!

It is crucial that you are well-informed when you make your choices about where to study and what courses you would like to apply to; this is not a decision to be taken lightly, and you need to weigh up your options carefully. At Rudbeck IB we can offer you help and guidance with your future plans, both from your class mentor and the IB Study Counsellor, though you should also be keen to research independently about possible schools and courses that you might like to apply to.

In the next section there is a brief summary of some important information relating to applying to University in Sweden and abroad.

Applying for further studies in Sweden

The IB is broadly accepted by Swedish Universities and passing the Diploma gives you general eligibility (behörighet) to apply to University in Sweden. You apply for places on the same basis as students of the national programme, though of course studying the IB should guarantee that you have ‘bonus points’ (meritpöang) to strengthen your application. One important point to note is that to be eligible for University here you must have studied at least Swedish B to meet the language requirements for higher education in Sweden.

Below is a conversion chart used by VHS to translate the IB grading system into Swedish terms. If you are thinking of applying to University in Sweden with an IB Diploma, it is crucial to be aware of what the grade equivalents are as this will determine which courses you are likely to be accepted onto (this information is current for 2012).

 

You apply to Swedish Universities using the admissions service run by VHS, while general information is available on the studera.nu website.

Applying to study abroad

The most common study destination outside of Sweden for IB graduates of our programme at Rudbeck IB tends to be the UK, for obvious geographical reasons. The British University application system is carried out by UCAS, who also provide a range of useful information about the various courses one might search and what to think about when choosing. At Rudbeck IB we have considerable experience of assisting with UCAS applications, and we can guide you through the process of preparing a ‘Personal Statement’ should you decide to apply to a British University.

We have also helped students apply for American Universities, though you ought to be aware that the US application system often demands that you sit the SAT test (which you will need to arrange and prepare for independently). There is plenty of information available on the Web if you are considering the US as an option for further studies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

13) About Rudbeck School

Rudbeck School was founded in 1970, the same year in which Russian novelist and Soviet dissident Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, and in which The Beatles split after having permanently transformed the nature of popular music. It is a publicly funded (and thus non-fee-paying) Upper Secondary School, situated in a northern suburb of Stockholm next to the peaceful natural surroundings of Edsbergsparken.

   

Approximately 2,000 students currently attend the school, drawn from a mixed social and cultural catchment area, along with c. 210 members of staff. The scale and breadth of the school population contributes to a fantastic diversity, which we are proud to embrace at Rudbeck. This diversity is also reflected in the range of educational programmes offered at the school: beyond the IB programme taught in English, we also offer the Swedish national programmes in Economics and Law, Electricity and Energy, Aesthetics (including music and media), Humanities (with a focus on languages), Athletics, Hotel and Tourism, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, and Technology. It is thus a learning site of considerably energy that covers a broad spectrum of education, from the practical and creative through to the theoretical and technical.

Beyond the 170 teachers, 6 vice-principals and the school principal, Rudbeck also has a range of support staff to guide the education and ensure the health and well being of our students. We have 2 school nurses and 4 counsellors who work full-time with operating our ‘student centre’ for those in need of support; a ‘learning centre’ run by specially trained teachers to help students with learning difficulties and other specific requirements; and 9 study counsellors to offer advice on both present and future courses of study. There are also several school-wide organizations set up and run by the students themselves, including the democratically elected ‘student council’ and the Rudbeck Amnesty International group.

School Library

The Rudbeck school library is staffed by three full-time librarians, and provides students with a wide range of resources to assist and enrich their studies. Beyond its range of Swedish resources, the library offers access to a collection of works in English, both in terms of subject specific books and access to major international databases such as EBSCO. These research resources are of considerable use to our IB students when it comes to starting work on their Extended Essays and research coursework for their individual DP subjects. The school librarians are also more than happy to help when it comes to advice on research skills and how to access information and sources beyond those available in the library.

Food at Rudbeck

To help keep our students focused and energetic throughout the day, Rudbeck has a large and recently renovated dining hall in which all of our students and staff eat their lunch. Each day there are two main courses to choose from, along with a vegetarian alternative, the soup of the day and a salad bar, so there is something for everyone to choose from and little chance of going hungry! Lunch is free for all students as this is funded by the Swedish state. Beyond the dining hall, there is also a ‘school café’ where students can buy drinks and snacks over the course of the school day.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

14) Contact Us

If you would like to know more about our IB programme at Rudbeck, please contact our Diploma Coordinator, Ms Jo-Anne Ahlmén. Ms Ahlmén has considerable experience of working with the IB and will be happy to answer any questions you might have about the programme.

In addition to her work as Coordinator and English teacher, Ms Ahlmén has also been known to take to the cricket field and wield a bat as part of our annual tradition of opening the school year with a cricket match (below).

E-mail: jo-anne.ahlmen@rudbeck.se

Telephone: (+46) 08 5792 15 47

Postal address: Jo-Anne Ahlmén Rudbeck School Box 423 191 24 Sollentuna SWEDEN

Further information

You can see more details about our programme by looking at our ‘Rudbeck IB’ page on Facebook, or alternatively by going to our school website: www.rudbeck.se

To find out more about the IB educational programme go to the IBO’s website: http://ibo.org/.