Newsletter title- Month 2006

45 points = 42 plus 3, but very distinguished 3 points

Three essential requirements of the Diploma Programme are that the students must follow a course on the theory of knowledge, they must write an extended essay of up to 4,000 words and they must be involved in a series of activities that demonstrate creativity, action and service, jointly forming a CAS programme (do we call it programme??) that is individual to each student. The first two of these three requirements are assessed and the marks are combined to yield a joint total of zero to three.  

The extended essay and TOK are marked and then graded from A-E.

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As you can see, it is hard to gain 3 core points. In half the grid, students gain just 1 or 0 core points but must have completed the extended essay and TOK presentation and essay to a certain standard.

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A question frequently asked is Why only a maximum of three points?  Teachers, students and many academics in HE have no doubt of the values of these two elements of the programme, especially as preparation for higher education.   Hence the frequency of the question being asked.  The fact is that all Diploma Programme students are required to write an extended essay, follow the TOK course and participate in CAS so the mark achievable does not need to be high. But this is  far from a complete answer, and the debate will no doubt continue. A question that can be more readily  addressed is Should universities and colleges recognise these hard earned points in their conditional offers when asking for a points total? Currently the picture is a mixed one, there is no uniform policy in offers. However,  non recognition of the core points is a particular concern.  Sometimes it is not made clear in an offer whether core points are included or excluded. We make a plea here for this to be made clear to avoid later confusion and that they are taken into account.

A note on terminology

The 3 points have been called various names: bonus points, additional points, additional diploma points, core points. We prefer the latter because the diploma is a complete package and these points are central to it.