FAQs

Almost anything that you undertake could be considered a CAS experience. But, you need to be able to justify how it is linked to one or more of the three strands. Watch the videos at the bottom of the page for some inspiration.

Talk to your tutor about what you would like to change as they can edit activities on your behalf. Unfortunately, students can not make these changes themselves.

Note: you do not need to add a new experience.

This is definitely possible. But you need to be able to explain and justify how you will use this new skill in a creative way. For example making a series of posters in English and another language. Or composing a short story in another language.

Remember, this can not be a language you are studying for the IB Diploma.

Almost anything can be included in the creativity strand. But you need to justify what you are creating.

Yes- this can fall under the Creativity strand as you are creating space. Remember to articulate what you are creating and set a clear goal for the experience.

Absolutely. Many of your CAS experiences may be things that you already do. Perhaps you play for a team, act in school plays, help out somewhere or are in the scouting movement. All these experiences could meet the criteria above for CAS. However, CAS also gives you the opportunity to undertake something new that you’ve always dreamed of doing. It doesn’t have to be extreme, like rock climbing, but it could be. It could be learning to sew, helping someone or promoting a cause you care about.

Remember, you must develop yourself during your CAS experiences: you can’t just do the same thing again and again. So for example just going to the gym is not great CAS but going to the gym and working towards goals is - and isn’t that the point of the gym!

There is no rule regarding the length of activities dictated by the IB.

Some of your experiences may go for one hour, one day, one week, or one year. They may be a combination of both planned and unplanned activities.

The CAS program does require you to set goals and make some commitment to your activities so that you can upload evidence and ongoing reflections throughout the process. This is why it is suggested that your commitments will extend over many months.

At SJII the one exception is that we want students to make long-term service commitments for a period of twelve months or more.

Yes- every CAS activity requires a supervisor.

If you do not have a particular person in mind to supervise your activity you should consult the 'supervisor list' to see if there is a teacher on staff who shares similar interests and has experience in the area you would like to explore.

If you are unable to find a teacher from the list then you could add your tutor as your supervisor. However, you need to consult with them, outline your goals and inform them how you plan to upload your evidence and reflections before adding their contact details to ManageBac.

An experience supervisor does not need to be a teacher. It can a sporting coach, member of a service organisation or just someone with experience or expertise in a particular area.

Ideally your supervisor will have an email from a company or organisation to legitimise their connection to your activity. If this is not the case, your CAS Coordinator or tutor might ask you some follow up questions to find out more about the background of the supervisor- so just be prepared.

No. The IB specifically states that parents and family members can not serve as IB CAS supervisors.

If you have a CAS experience and clear goal you would like to achieve but don't have a supervisor the best thing to do is ask your tutor or a teacher to act as your supervisor.

It is important that you ask this teacher first if they are willing and able to support you before inputting their details on your experience application.

Then you need to ensure that you consistently upload your evidence and reflections to ManageBac. When you have finished the commitment, you will request a supervisor review where they can look at your evidence and make a supervisor comment on your engagement. They may also ask to have a meeting with you to discuss what you have done.

1. Be careful when selecting a supervisor. You should be in communication with them throughout the CAS experience and know if they will move countries, be on holidays etc. You should also request the review as soon as your commitment is over. This should avoid any issues.

2. BUT, if you have reached out and requested the review and have still not received a response then you can talk to your tutor and ask if they can act as your supervisor for this experience. Your tutor is able to update an experience and nominate themselves as your supervisor.

3. NOTE: As they are taking over the role it is vital that they see your engagement via ongoing reflections and lots of evidence in order to complete the supervisor review. You can also expect that they will need to have a long conversation with you about the experience, your goals and achievements.

If you need to change your supervisor on ManageBac, talk to your tutor and ask if they can act as your supervisor for this experience and/or change the name of your supervisor to the person who is not leading the experience. Your tutor is able to update an experience and make these changes on ManageBac.

NOTE: As someone else is now taking over the role of your supervisor it is vital that they see your engagement via ongoing reflections and lots of evidence in order to complete the supervisor review. You can also expect that they will need to have a long conversation with you about the experience, your goals and achievements.

All students of SJII are expected to take part in at least ONE school organised CCA.

There is no real answer to this. It is more important that reflection is meaningful than voluminous. If you undertook a one-off experience then one, perhaps short, reflection is enough. If you played in a netball team 5 hours a week for 2 years, you should use the opportunity to reflect on the experience more often and deeply. However, this doesn’t mean reflect after every training session.

Don’t panic! Remember it is quality, not quantity, that counts when it comes to reflections. Set a target to undertake one detailed reflection about each experience. You could do it orally if that is easier for you, then upload a sound file to your CAS portfolio.

You should be undertaking CAS continuously for 18 months. This means you can finish your CAS experiences before your exams start - if you have met the requirements.

This is not an easy question to answer. There are many different approaches that students can take to developing their CAS portfolios. Some have a low number of high quality and long-lasting experiences and projects. Others have a high number of many different experiences. It depends on the person, their local context, and their school culture and expectations. Ultimately, you must meet the CAS learning outcomes but how this is achieved will be different for every IB Diploma Programme student!

• Consistent engagement with CAS

• Evidence of all three strands

• All seven learning outcomes met

• ​One project completed

• Evidence and reflections have been uploaded

• Supervisors have signed off on experiences

• ​18 months of engagement

• 3 formal CAS interviews

This is a common problem that all busy people face. However, even if you are struggling academically, taking a break from your books and laptop will aid you in the long term. Getting into the gym, expressing your creative side or helping others will get you out of your study bubble and give you a sense of perspective. Make sure you have not taken on too many CAS experiences at one time. Sometimes this is a lesson in itself, and you may come to the realisation that you have to give something up because you don’t have the time. Just make sure you are using your time constructively and are not procrastinating.

See Aunty Glenis in the secondary school office.