Last school year, 50 graduating students took the full International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme of 6 subjects (3 Higher and 3 Standard), the Extended Essay, Theory of Knowledge, and CAS (Creativity, Activity, Service). In order to obtain the Diploma, students must gain at least 24 points and fulfil a range of other conditions defined by IB. 92% of the students achieved the full Diploma. The highest score achieved by our students who took all the Diploma examinations was 44 points out of 45 possible points. For those students who achieved the Diploma, the mean total score was 34.7 points. It is incredibly pleasing that over a quarter (26%) of our candidates achieved 40+ points! IB examinations are scored on a scale from 1 (lowest) to 7 (highest), and our students who achieved the Diploma in May had a mean score of 5.49 in each of their subjects. Any candidate who does not achieve the full Diploma receives results documentation indicating their performance in each subject.

May 2021 was another unusual year but we were pleased that we were able to hold the IB examinations almost “as normal”. At ISS, the IB Diploma has become the normal programme for almost all of our graduating seniors, and we are proud of our open access policy. In May 2021 all but one transfer student chose to take the whole IB Diploma. Even if students do not achieve the full Diploma, just missing the point requirements, the experience of following the programme is very valuable.

Congratulations again, Class of 2021!