Admission to the IB Diploma Program

Conditions for admission to the IB Diploma Program  (IBDP)

Students interested in pursuing the IB Diploma must submit a complete application within the specified deadline through their Grade 10 Advisory class. Students who wish to take only a few IB courses do not need to apply. 

Note that a minimum enrollment of 12 students is required for all IB courses. 

To be admitted to the IB Diploma Program 

• In grade 10, students must earn a C or higher in English and history and a B- or higher in Math High-Level, Chemistry, Physics, and Biology courses. (The grade in Biology 9 may also be used for those interested in IB Biology.) There are specific grade requirements for the different levels of IB Math. 

• Students must have no serious discipline/academic integrity issues in grade 10.

• Students must complete a 300 to 500–word personal statement explaining how the IB program will benefit them and help them achieve their University goals.

Conditional admission

If students do not meet these requirements and still wish to be admitted, they may be offered conditional admission after a review of their case by the Director of IB and AP and IB admission committee. 

The progress of all IB students, including those admitted conditionally, will be evaluated at the end of the first semester of year 1. IB course grades are based on a scale of 1-7, converted to ACS Athens grades based on the IB-ACS Athens Conversion chart.  Below are the required conditions for a student to stay in the IB Diploma Program: 

• No grades of 1 or 2

• Only one grade of 3

• No Academic Honesty concerns.

ACS Athens and IBO fees

IB schools offering the IB Diploma program face fixed and variable costs payable to IBO. The variable costs involve course exam registrations and any optional services requested by the students concerning their examinations.  

All ACS Athens IB Diploma students pay a flat fee for the two years of the IB program.  See https://www.acs.gr/parents_families_financial_tuition_fees_registration_special_services_ib_program/.The IB Diploma Course students pay only a prorated fee based on the number of courses they take.  The ACS Athens IB Diploma program fee is paid at the beginning of each year. The exam registration fee (approximately €1,000 Euro for the IB Diploma students) is an additional fee paid during the IBO registration in November of year 2. 

Assessment of student work in the IB Diploma

Delivery of IB courses must meet the IBO (International Baccalaureate Organization) course-specific requirements as stated in each IBO subject guide. Student work is designed and assessed using the IBO assessment criteria. In addition to their in-class IB assessments, IB Diploma or Diploma Course students must sit for formal mock exams in June of year 1 (grade 11) and January of year 2 (semester 1, grade 12).  Mock exams follow the IB examination protocol and schedule. Mock examination papers are graded by ACS Athens faculty, and IB scores are converted to the ACS Athens grade scale. 

Year 1 assessment of IBO student work (internal assessment, tests, projects, essays, mock exams) using the IBO scale (1-7) is included in the end-of-year student report card under the SIB column (score per IB). The SIB score constitutes the academic performance prerequisite for all year 2 IB classes.  

Criteria to continue to IB YEAR 2 

Transition from year 1 to year 2 of the program:

Student performance will be assessed based on the SIB scores, which include academic performance throughout Year 1 and the June Mock Exam scores.  

To enter year 2, you must have: 

• a total minimum grade of 24 points for the six courses taken;

• no grades of 1 or 2 in any subject;

• at most one grade 3;

• for the courses selected at Higher Level, the grade must be 4 or higher;

• a 2,500-word EE draft by the first week of September.

Awarding of the IB Diploma

In May of each year, students, after having completed their two-year program, sit for externally assessed examinations, which are graded on a 1-7 scale:  7 being the highest mark awarded. Students also complete a number of internally and externally assessed or moderated projects, papers, presentations and/or performances in each course. These assessments constitute a percentage of the final IB score in each course.

The IB Diploma is awarded by the IBO if:

1. CAS requirements have been met. 

2. The candidate’s total points are 24 or more.

3. There is no “N” (non-submission of work) awarded for Theory on Knowledge, the Extended Essay, or for a contributing subject.

4. There is no grade "E" awarded for Theory of Knowledge and/or the Extended Essay.

5. There is no grade 1 awarded in a subject/level. 

6. There are no more than two grade 2s awarded (HL or SL). 

7. There are no more than three grade 3s or below awarded (HL or SL).

8. The candidate has gained 12 points or more on HL subjects (for candidates who register for four HL subjects, the three highest grades count). 

9. The candidate has gained 9 points or more on SL subjects (candidates who register for two SL subjects must gain at least 5 points at SL). 

10. The candidate has not received a penalty for academic misconduct from the Final Award Committee.

College applications and grades for AP and IB courses

May examination scores are released in early July from the IB examinations. A frequently asked question by both parents and students is, “How do colleges offer admissions to students prior to the release of the examination results?”  U.S. colleges base admissions on a number of criteria (grades, difficulty of program, SAT scores, co-curricular activities, essays, teacher recommendations, and IB/AP Predictions). UK universities admit students based on predicted IB scores, which teachers submit in the fall of the senior year.  All teachers use key IB assessments of the first and second year to determine predicted IB grades in each subject.  It should be noted that the predicted grade may deviate from the ACS Athens grade, which is more holistic and includes assessments other than those set by the IBO. These additional assessments make up the ACS Athens student profile.  For example, it is likely that a student with an ACS Athens grade of A in a course be given an IB prediction of 6 instead of a 7 or a 4 instead of 5 for an AP course.

We list below the individual course criteria used by teachers to form their IB score predictions in order to assist parents and students in academic planning.

IB Predicted Scores 

Calculation of the IB grade

The IB grade on a scale of 1 – 7 will be calculated as follows: ACS Athens creates grade boundaries for each IB subject based on the average of the IB subject reports from the previous few years. These boundaries change slightly from year to year, which is why an average is taken. The end of year percentage grade based on quizzes, tests and exams only, will then be converted to a 1 – 7 grade based on the grade boundaries of the subject. These will be different from subject to subject. The conversion of ACS percentage grades to an IB grade as described occurs three times: at the end of the first semester of year 1, at the end of year 1, and at the end of the first quarter of year 2.

IB prediction in October of year 2

There will be one major assessment in September of year 2 in all subjects. This applies to all students. This means that the summer between years 1 and 2 must be spent preparing for this assessment as well as working on the EE and, depending on the subject, IA’s. The grade of this test will be used along with the year 1 grade to determine the preliminary IB prediction (80% year 1 + 20% September/October test). This will be a 1 – 7 grade calculated based on subject report grade boundaries.

IB Assessments - Distribution by Subject Area Group