Somers High School

 

What is IB?

Founded in 1968, International Baccalaureate is a non-profit educational foundation offering 4 highly respected programmes of international education that develop the intellectual, personal, emotional, and social skills needed to live, learn, and work in a rapidly globalizing world.
 
The IB Diploma Programme (DP) is a rigorous, academically challenging, balanced programme of education designed to prepare students aged 16 to 19 for success at university and in life. The DP aims to encourage students to be knowledgeable, inquiring, caring, open-minded, and to develop intercultural understanding and the attitudes necessary to appreciate a range of viewpoints. It emphasizes intercultural understanding and enrichment and culminates in six rigorous subject exams.  

Students can either enroll in the entire DP and earn an IB Diploma by taking all the required courses and passing all of the required exams, or they can “dip in” and take just one or even several IB classes individually. Similar to the College Board's Advanced Placement (AP) Program, IB classes and the DP provide students with the opportunity to earn college credit while they are still in high school.

 

What kinds of courses does IB offer?

There are six subject groups, each of which has different courses to choose from.  These six groups are:

• Studies in Language and Literature
• Language  Acquisition
• Individuals and Societies
• Sciences
• Mathematics
• The Arts

 Are there any other requirements?

• Theory of Knowledge, a class in which students reflect on the nature of knowledge and on how we know what we claim to know
• The Extended Essay, which is an independent, self-directed piece of research, culminating with a 4,000-word paper
• CAS (Creativity, Activity, Service), a volunteering experience in which students complete a project