The comprehensive curriculum of the International Baccalaureate Organisation can be a little confusing for students who are just starting out. Without proper direction and a guide, they might keep swinging in all sorts of directions. IB classes available for a diploma programme:
The following article will explore a complete and comprehensive list of all the available IB classes so that you can make an informed choice while making a decision for your IB school and subjects. It should be noted that not all IB schools might offer all of the available IB classes.
The total number of classes that IB offers is 57 when we count both HL and SL. It is further segregated into six subjects.
A dive into a river of clarity
Group 1: Studies in Language and Literature
This class introduces students to language and literature and develops a lifelong interest in and appreciation for the intricacies and complexities involved in them.
Courses in this group
- Language A: Literature: This IB class involves an introduction to literary texts and their analysis. Students have to choose from the availability of it in 55 languages, and it may be studied in any language that has a sufficient amount of written literature.
Level: Available in both HL and SL.
- Language A: Language and Literature: It involves an introduction to the evaluation and critical analysis of written and spoken literary texts.
Level: Available in both HL and SL.
- Literature and performance: The aim of this IB class is to understand human expressions through performing arts. It focuses on the relationship between literature and theatre.
Level: Available in SL
Group 2: Language Acquisition
This group aims to help students acquire competency in a foreign language and improve their chances of global reach.
Courses in this group
- Classical languages: This course will give you a taste of archaism. This IB class gives students the opportunity to study the literature, language, and culture of ancient Rome and Greece.
Level: Available in both HL and SL.
- Language ab initio: This course is designed for beginners who have little to no knowledge of the language they have chosen.
Level: Available in SL
- Language B: This is designed for students who already have some understanding and knowledge of the language they have chosen, and it aims to improve that learning by targeting the conceptual and in-depth learning of the language.
Level: Available in both HL and SL.
Group 3: Individuals and Societies
This group aims to establish students’ understanding of the world as we know and live in it. This course includes various social science subjects, such as social studies, psychology, politics, philosophy, etc.
Courses in this group
- Business management: The world is a big commercial market. This course is specifically designed for business enthusiasts who would like to understand the scope and nature of the business world—locally, nationally, and globally.
Level: Available in both HL and SL.
- Economics: This will help students understand the market forces that govern the commercial world.
Level: Available in both HL and SL.
- Geography: This IB class links both physical and human geography.
Level: Available in both HL and SL.
- Global politics: This class will give an understanding of political dimensions at the local, national, international, and global levels.
Level: Available in both HL and SL.
- History (trace back your roots): This involves the study of various types of history that can become an anchor for the problems we face in the contemporary world.
Level: Available in both HL and SL.
- Information technology in a global society: This IB class introduces you to the various facets of information and communication in our contemporary society.
Level: Available in both HL and SL.
- Philosophy: This course deals with metaphysics and epistemology.
Level: Available in both HL and SL.
- Psychology: Why does a person behave the way he does? This is a key question of this IB class and will introduce you to the systematic study of conscious, subconscious, and unconscious mental processes.
Level: Available in both HL and SL.
- Social and cultural anthropology: This is a class for the study of mankind and its evolutionary progression.
Level: Available in both HL and SL.
- World Religions: This IB class introduces the study of the variety of beliefs and practices practised in the nine main religions of the world.
Level: Available in SL
Group 4: Sciences
This group aims to develop students’ in-depth understanding of the scientific world.
Courses in this group
- Biology: This IB class sees the living world at all levels using various scientific approaches and methodologies.
Level: Available in both HL and SL.
- Chemistry: This course will introduce you to experimental science by integrating it with academic study.
Level: Available in both HL and SL.
- Computer science: This course will enhance your computational and analytical skills by introducing you to data-based problem-solving activities.
Level: Available in both HL and SL.
- Design Technology: This course will introduce you to the man-made world and help you enhance your creative and design skills.
Level: Available in both HL and SL.
- Environmental systems and societies: This course integrates science with the natural world.
Level: Available in SL
- Physics: This course aims to expose students to the physical world as we know and do not know it and to explain it with a single, unified theory.
Level: Available in both HL and SL.
- Sports, exercise, and health science: This course includes various disciplines of anatomy and physiology, biomechanics and psychology, and nutrition.
Level: Available in both HL and SL.
Group 5: Mathematics
The mathematical IB courses are highly technical, especially those chosen at a higher level. The aim of these courses is to develop conceptual and practical mathematical knowledge and critical, logical, and interpretational thinking by employing rational principles.
Courses in this group
- Mathematics: Analysis and Approaches SL
- Mathematics: Analysis and Approaches (HL)
- Mathematics: Application and Interpretation SL
- Mathematics: Application and Interpretation (HL)
Group 6: The Arts
If the students do not wish to take any course from this group, they can choose to take an additional class from groups 1 to 4.
Courses in this group
- Dance: It is an age-old expression of emotions through the movement of hands and legs. This course will develop an understanding of this form of expression, both conceptually and practically.
Level: Available in both HL and SL.
- Film: This course aims to increase the understanding of filmmaking and its interpretation.
Level: Available in both HL and SL.
- Music: This will develop students’ musical knowledge and enhance their musical skills.
Level: Available in both HL and SL.
- Theatre: This performing art style will enhance their expression by presenting their thoughts and ideas via theatre.
Level: Available in HL and SL
- Visual Arts: This course will help students work on sensual interpretation while working towards technical know-how as art-makers.
Level: Available in both HL and SL.
The IB Diploma programme requires students to select one subject each from six subject groups along with three compulsory core components of the IB: CAS, Extended Essay, and Theory of Knowledge.
