IB Programme

Upper School students in an IB Science class

At the American School of Madrid, the International Baccalaureate programme provides a curriculum framework whose purpose is to prepare students for life beyond secondary school, where students are given the opportunity to challenge themselves at the highest levels of academic rigor as well as learn critical 21st-century skills.

IB Results May 2024

The Class of 2024 achieved excellent IB Results, with an overall average of 32.19, 2 points above the world average. As a school that adopts an inclusive approach to the IB Diploma program, supporting a diverse cohort of learners in their desire to study for an IB Diploma, we are very proud to have a strong set of results significantly above the world average. Please see below for a summary of this year's results.

Tables based on Awarded Diplomas

Average	32.19
Mode	37
Median	31
Max	43
Multi-Lingual Diplomas	39%
Diplomas Awarded	86.65%

What is the IB?

The International Baccalaureate Programme is a two-year, pre-university course of study designed to the highest academic standards. The program is a comprehensive curriculum, leading to externally assessed examinations for students in Grades 11 and 12. Students may sit for examinations in a single course or work toward a full IB Diploma. The course of study for the diploma is well-balanced; it requires six selected subject areas as well as an extended essay, a Theory of Knowledge course, and participation in the extra-curricular Creativity, Action, Service Program (CAS).

Why the IB?

Nationally and internationally recognized by top colleges and universities.
Considered the gold standard in college preparatory curriculum.
IB diploma students are more than 20% more likely to be admitted to the most prestigious universities in the U.S., including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Duke, and Stanford.
Required for acceptance to UK and EU universities.
Ability to earn college credits.
Challenging, in-depth, creative curriculum with service-oriented activities.
IB students are better able than their peers to cope with demanding workloads, manage their time, and meet the expectations placed on them.
Provides the opportunities for students to develop physically, intellectually, emotionally and ethically.
A well-rounded program, providing both breadth and depth of knowledge and understanding, studying courses from six subject groups.
Requires students to study at least two languages and increase understanding of cultures, including their own.
Explicitly structured to make connections across traditional academic disciplines and explore the nature of knowledge through the program's unique theory of knowledge course.
Provides the opportunity to undertake in-depth research into an area of interest through the lens of one or more academic disciplines in the extended essay.
Enhances students’ personal and interpersonal development through creativity, action and service.

Total Points Range

Cumulative

IB Coordinator

Dr. Martina Bree

IB Coordinator

martinabree@asmadrid.es

Sandra Perez

IB Assistant

sandraperez@asmadrid.es

Students pursuing the IB Diploma study six subjects including the arts, experimental sciences, individuals and societies, language, second language, and math and computer science. Typically, three subjects are higher level; the remaining three are at standard level. In addition to specified courses, the IBDP has three central parts: (see below)

Extended Essay

Theory of Knowledge

Theory of Knowledge (TOK) is an interdisciplinary course students take in Grades 11 and 12.

The course encourages IB Diploma students to compare and contrast subject areas, and to see connections between them by looking at various Knowledge Claims (statements beginning “I know” or “we know”). Through this, students learn to differentiate supported claims from gratuitous ones, and also to consider how a supported claim may mean different things in different subject areas – in the media, and in their personal lives and most interestingly, at different times in history.

Students learn that language, reasoning, sense perception and emotion are our Ways of Knowing – like “Knowledge Claim,” a key TOK term – but they aren’t always precise or predictable, so "Knowledge Issues" (another key term) arise.

Community Activity Service (CAS)

Creativity Activity Service (CAS) is an experiential learning component of the Diploma Programme in the 11th and 12th grades, totaling 150 hours of action and service. All students complete a wide variety of extracurricular, community service, and athletic options as individuals and as part of a team, enabling them to enhance their personal, interpersonal, social and civic development.

How is CAS structured?
The three strands of CAS, which are often interwoven with particular activities, are characterized as follows:
Creativity – arts, and other experiences that involve creative thinking.
Activity – physical exertion contributing to a healthy lifestyle, complementing academic work elsewhere in the DP.
Service – an unpaid and voluntary exchange that has a learning benefit for the student. The rights, dignity and autonomy of all those involved are respected.

24-29	37.74%
30-34	24.53%
35-39	32.08%
40-45	5.66%

>=24	100%
>=30	62.27%
>=35	37.74%
>+40	5.66%