IB Program Overview

At tonight’s meetings and breakout sessions, there will be an IB teacher from each subject area/discipline present at the two IB Diploma Program sessions held in the PAC from 7:00 to 7:30 and 7:30 to 8:00.

IB Diploma Program students study six subjects in five areas during their 11th & 12th grade years. Three of these courses must be taken at the HL or Higher Level and three at the SL or Standard Level. HL classes cover two years of time (junior and senior) and SL classes cover only one year of time (junior OR senior):

Literature and Composition

Foreign Language— IB French, IB Spanish, IB German, or IB Latin

Mathematics—IB Math Studies (Pre-calculus) or IB Mathematics HL

Experimental Sciences—IB Biologyor IB Physics

Humanities—IB History of the Americas and IB 20th Century History

Arts/Electives—IB Visual Arts, IB Psychology, IB Music, Informational Technology for a Global Society, an additional IB Science or IB Foreign Language, IB Computer Science, IB Business, IB Design Technology

In addition, students take an interdisciplinary course call Theory of Knowledge during their senior year, which challenges the students to question their bases of knowledge and understand “how they know what they know.”

IB students complete a program called Creativity, Action, Service (CAS) which involves participation in community service, and for example, theater production and sports. Students are expected to document 150 CAS hours during their 11th & 12th grade years.

Finally, IB students are required to write an Extended Essay of up to 4,000 words. This is an independent research project mentored by SFHS teachers that is meant to acquaint students with the kind of independent research and writing skills expected of them at the university level.

For more information on the IB Program at SouthForsythHigh School, please contact Kevin S Denney at 770-781-2264 ext. 100182 or via email at . You can also reach the Advanced Studies administrator, Ms. Suzanne Korngold at 770-781-2264, ext 100450 or via email at .

You can also visit the official International Baccalaureate website:

Criteria to earn the IB Diploma

In order to earn the IB Diploma a student must earn a minimum of 24 out of 45 points and meet all the additional criteria listed below.

•A student must not be guilty of malpractice.

•Numeric grades earned in all 6 subjects (3 HL and 3 SL).

•CAS requirements have been met.

•Grades of A to E for TOK and EE with a grade of at least D in one of them.

•No course grade of 1 in any subject.

•No more than three grades of 3 or below.

The remaining criteria depend on the total number of points a student earns:

24 to 27 Points / 28 Points or more
Total HL Points / At Least 12 / At Least 11
Grade of 2 at HL Allowed? / None / No more than 1
Total SL Points / At Least 9 / At Least 8
Grade of 2 at SL Allowed? / No more than 1 / No more than 2

SFHS IB Courses for 2011-2012

Junior IB Courses / Senior IB Courses
IB English / IB English HL
IB History of the Americas / IB 20th Century History HL
IB Biology SL / Theory of Knowledge
IB Business / IB Psychology SL
IB Physics SL / IB Mathematics HL
IB Math Studies SL / IB Latin HL
IB Computer Science SL / IB German HL
IB Design Technology / IB Spanish HL
IB French HL
IB Visual Arts SL
IB Music SL
IB Business
IB Design Technology

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