terms used in ib
- CAS – “Creativity, Action, Service” – this is the 5-6 activities plus one major project completed by IB diploma students as a requirement to receive their diploma.
- Diploma program – students study subjects from all six groups, as well as Theory of Knowledge. In addition, diploma program candidates write the extended essay and earn 150 CAS hours.
- Extended Essay – All diploma candidates are required to write an extended essay on a researchable topic of their choosing. The extended essay is 3500-4000 words and at Rockville is largely completed in the Theory of Knowledge class
- HL/SL- Higher Level and Standard (or Subsidiary) Level Exams. Of the six exams that students must take, at least three must be at Higher Level. As many as four exams can be higher level. HL exams require the equivalent of two years’ IB instruction, standard level only one. All Rockville students take English and History at Higher Level.
- IB Exams – students have to take an exam in each of the six subjects. They sit for the exam in May of their final year studying the subject. Exams have two parts: Internal and External Assessments
- IBCP- International Baccalaureate Career Program - A program that students take which intermixes the IB and one of the other academies at the school
- Internal Assessments – which are typically an oral interview (English and Foreign Language) or a paper or portfolio (science, history, math, the arts), turned in to the classroom teacher who then assesses the work using an IB rubric. A sample of Internal Assessments are sent to IB examiners for external moderation, to make sure that the assessments are being graded as other IB teachers would grade them.
- External Assessments- the final exams that are taken by the student and are not graded at school, but sent directly to an examiner for marking .
- IB – the International Baccalaureate, which is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and has 3 regional offices, including IBA (Americas), in Bethesda, Maryland.
- Invigilators – exam proctors.
- Papers- sections of examinations. For example, the IB English Exam has two papers, each 2 hours long.