In the primary year program (IB PYP Tutors), an IB student can opt for the following subjects:
1 Mathematics
2 Sciences and Technology
3 Art
4 Social Studies
5 Personal, Social and Physical Education
6 Languages
In the middle-year program (IB MYP Tutors ), an IB student can opt for the following subjects:
- Mathematics
- Sciences a)Physics b)Chemistry
- c)Biology
- Arts (performing and visual arts)
- Humanities a)History b)Geography
- Physical Education
- Technology
- Language one
- Language two
Students who pursue the IB diploma must take six subjects: one each from Groups 1–5 and either one from Group 6 or a permitted substitute from one of the other groups; three or four subjects must be taken at the Higher Level (HL) and the rest at Standard level (SL)
Here are the subject groups offered by IB
First Group: Studies in language and literature. Taken at either SL or HL, this is generally the student’s local language, with over 80 languages available. As for courses starting in summer 2011, there are two options for Language A, Literature, which is very similar to the old course, and Language and Literature, which is slightly more complex.
Second Group: An additional language, taken at the following levels: Language B (SL or HL) or Language ab initio (SL only).
Third Level: Individuals and societies. Humanities and social sciences courses are offered at both SL and HL. Business and Management, Geography, Economics, History, IT (information technology) in a Global Society, Psychology, philosophy, and Social and Cultural Anthropology and World Politics. World Religions and the interdisciplinary Environmental Systems and Societies course are offered only at the SL level.
Fourth Group: Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Design Technology, and Computer Science are offered at HL and SL levels. Sport, Exercise, and Health Science and the interdisciplinary Environmental Systems and Societies course are offered at SL only.
Fifth Group: Mathematics. In order of increasing difficulty, the courses offered are Mathematics Studies, Mathematics SL and HL, and Further Mathematics SL and HL. The computer science courses were moved to Group 4 as an entire course from the first examinations in 2014
Sixth Group: The arts. Courses offered at SL and HL: Dance, foreign languages, Music, Theatre, Visual Arts, and Film. Instead of taking a Group 6 course, students may choose to take an additional course from Groups 1–4 or either Further Mathematics HL (if already studying Mathematics HL), a course for Computer Science from Group 4, or a course based on the school syllabus approved by IB.
IB is also designing an online diploma course, which I will discuss in my next article.
