Our Outstanding IB School in Houston, Texas
The British International School of Houston’s IB Programme is available to students during their last two years of High School (Years 12 and 13), who seek an internationally recognised and highly valuable qualification with potential to earn university credits. Students who undertake this course will master six core subjects and undergo a range of challenges.
The IB Diploma Programme is a rigorous academic programme, widely recognised to be the most challenging course of study available to students between 16 and 18 years of age, before beginning their college or university study.
The IB’s Subject Groups
The IBDP requires students to select a course in each of the following six subject groups:
- Group 1: Studies in Language and Literature
- Group 2: Language Acquisition
- Group 3: Individuals and Society
- Group 4: Sciences
- Group 5: Mathematics
- Group 6: The Arts*
* Students may opt to study an additional sciences, individuals and societies, or languages course, instead of a course in the arts.
Levels and Core Elements
Students will take some subjects at Higher Level (HL) and some at Standard Level (SL). Each student takes at least three (but no more than four) subjects at higher level, and the remaining at standard level. Standard Level subjects take up 150 teaching hours over the duration of the two-year programme and Higher Level comprises 240 teaching hours.
Students must also complete three core elements to graduate with the full IB diploma. The DP core aims to broaden students’ educational experience and challenge them to apply their knowledge and skills.
These core elements are:
- The Extended Essay (EE): an independent, self-directed piece of research, finishing with a 4,000-word paper.
- Theory of Knowledge (ToK): students reflect on the nature of knowledge and on how we know what we claim to know.
- Creativity, Activity, Service (CAS): students complete a project related to those three concepts.
