FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

1. What is the International Baccalaureate Organization?
The International Baccalaureate Organization is an international non-profit educational foundation founded in Geneva, Switzerland in 1967. It aims to provide high schools with a globally acknowledged curriculum and a diploma, thereby enabling student mobility between the countries. (www.ibo.org)

2. What is the IBO mission statement?
The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.
To this end the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment.
These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.

3. What features does the IB World Schools have?

Internationally qualified curricula
Internationally qualified teachers and administrators
International students in and outside the school
International institution philosophy

4. Why should students take part in the IB?

The IBDP creates an interdisciplinary environment by studying topics extensively and thoroughly and comparing it with the nature of knowledge.
The IBDP encourages students to have an international point of view based on their own language and culture.
The IBDP prepares students for university entrance exams as well as developing a positive attitude to learning.
The IBDP provides universities with a qualified structure thanks to its elaborate external assessments and international standards.
The IBDP put stress on student’s development as a whole- physically, mentally, emotionally and morally.
Students are in an excellent command of English when they graduate, simply because the education in the Program is in English.
Students have flexibility when choosing courses.
IB graduates are awarded a globally recognized diploma. The IB Diploma is beneficial for acceptance to many universities worldwide. Therefore, the IB graduates have special privileges in universities in the USA, England, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and many other European countries. Furthermore, most of the private, non-profit universities in Turkey award the IB students different scholarship amounts.

5. What does IB Diploma Program include?
The IB Diploma Program (DP) is run in 11th and 12th grade. Our school has pre-IB class in 9th grade so that our students will get prepared for IB Diploma Program. Students study Math and Science in English in 9th and 10th grade. The IBDP Model involves six subjects groups, from each of which students are required to select one subject. Diploma candidates are required to complete at least three higher-level (two-year) courses and three standard-level (one-year) courses during the junior and senior years. In addition to completing these courses, Diploma candidates must successfully complete the core components of the IB program: Extended Essay (EE), Theory of Knowledge (ToK), Creativity, Action, Service (CAS). Diploma candidates must also complete 240 hours of higher-level courses and 150 hours of standard-level courses. The students select IB courses of their choice with regard to their career plans, and the school designs their weekly schedule accordingly.

6. Are all the courses in the program English?
The IB Diploma Program is carried out only in English, French and Spanish. We, as Gazi University Foundation Private Anatolian High School, run the program in English. Therefore, students must have a high level of English in order to pursue the program successfully. Such courses in the program as Math, Biology, Physics and Chemistry are in English. As Language B is English in our school, students in 9th and 10th grade are given intense English courses focused on different skills. All the other courses such as Turkish, History, Geography, Philosophy, Religious Culture and Ethics are in Turkish.

7. How are the IB DP Candidates assessed?
The IB Diploma Program uses both internally and externally assessed components to assess student performance. Internal assessment is made for each IB course by the IB teacher of that course at school. The internal assessment results are sent to the IBO and are inspected by the IBO. These internal assessments usually make up 20-40% of the assessment. External assessment, on the other hand, is the exams sent at the end of May by the IBO. These exams are done for each course on the same day at the same time in each and every IBDP schools. All the exam papers and answer sheets for external assessment are sent by the IBO in order to ensure the standardization. After the exams, answer sheets are sent back to the IBO. The IBO evaluates the exams and the results are sent to the IB coordinator. There are not any written exams for Extended Essay, Theory of Knowledge and Creativity, Action, Service; however, the IBO set rigid achievement criteria for these three core component.

8. How is IB DP scored?
In the DP, students are graded on a scale from 1 to 7, with 7 being highest. Students receive a grade for each DP course attempted.
7= Excellent
6= Very good
5= Good
4= Satisfactory
3= Mediocre
2= Poor
1= Very poor

A student’s final Diploma result score is made up of the combined scores for each subject. The diploma is awarded to students who gain at least 24 points. Up to three additional points are awarded depending on the grades achieved in the extended essay and theory of knowledge. The maximum possible point total in the IB DP is 45.

9. What is the role of the IB Diploma in Turkey’s university entrance procedure?
The Turkish Ministry of National Education has not recognized the IB Diploma as academically equivalent to the national diploma; therefore, all the high schools in Turkey run the IB Program as an additional program. The students who have both the national diploma and the IB Diploma must take the university entrance exams conducted by ÖSYM. The national diploma is attached significance in the university entrance in Turkey; however, those with the IB Diploma can get scholarshipped after attending the university and can be exempt from the courses they have taken in the IB curriculum. Some of the private universities in Turkey such as Sabancı University, Doğuş University, Bilgi University, Bahçeşehir University, Koç University and Başkent University award the students different scholarship amounts. Moreover, Bilkent University admit those with the IB Diploma and minimum score of university entrance exam into Bilkent and allow them to study in any department they would like to.

10. What are the requirements to complete the IB Diploma Program?

Students must choose three higher-level courses and three standard-level courses and they must complete at least 240 hours for higher-level and 150 hours for standard-level courses.
Students must complete 100 hour-Theory of Knowledge which covers examining ideas and judgments on different topics and students’ own experiences.
Students must complete 150 hours of CAS.
Students must complete an extended essay, the topic or question of which is chosen by the candidate themself, which is a maximum of 4000 words.