Academics
The IB at UCC
Diploma Programme
After their final two years at the Upper School, UCC students graduate from the IB Diploma Programme (DP) with an average score that's four points above the world average — a key to successful university admission.
— Colleen Ferguson, Diploma Programme Co-ordinator
— Colleen Ferguson, Diploma Programme Co-ordinator
Diploma Years Programme
Equipped with the IB Diploma and the Ontario Secondary School Diploma, UCC graduates are well-prepared for university and life beyond UCC.
With its academic breadth, depth and rigour, and its commitment to structured inquiry and experiential learning, UCC's IB-based curriculum educates the whole student. Through their two years of DP studies in Year 11 and Year 12, students acquire high-calibre communication and collaboration skills and a global outlook.
In the DP, students pursue a course of studies in six subject groups, one in each of six subject groups:
- Language Acquisition
- Language and Literature
- Individuals and Societies
- Mathematics
- Arts
- Experiential Sciences
Three of the six subjects must be taken at the Higher Level (HL) and three at the Standard Level (SL). Students may opt to study an additional sciences, individuals and societies, or languages course, instead of a course in the arts.
In addition to completing courses in six subjects, DP students also complete the following:
Theory of Knowledge (TOK)
This interdisciplinary course is designed to stimulate a critical awareness of the bases of knowledge, experience and judgement in human thought and creativity.
Extended Essay
Students in Year 11 research and write a 4,000-word essay on a topic of interest from within the IB curriculum, usually taken from one of their HL subjects.
Creativity, Activity, Service (CAS)
An IBDP core requirement is a completed CAS portfolio. This will demonstrate that each strand — creativity, activity, and service — has been experienced more than once, that the CAS Project has been completed, and that the seven CAS learning outcomes have been achieved.
CAS Experiences: Over a period of 18 months, students will engage in experiences of their choosing across the three strands — creativity, activity and service — and provide appropriate documentation. Students will record reflections and the learning outcomes of these experiences.
The CAS Project: A CAS project is a student-initiated, collaborative, sustained CAS experience or series of experiences, engaging students in one or more of the CAS strands of creativity, activity and service. CAS students must complete a CAS project during their IBDP years.
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Colleen Ferguson
Diploma Programme Co-ordinator
The DP in action
The Extended Essay
The Extended Essay (EE) is an independent, self-directed piece of research, finishing with a 4,000-word paper. Students choose a topic related to one of the six DP subjects, and meet regularly with their EE advisor to focus their research and hone their writing. Through the process they develop the capacity to analyze, synthesize and evaluate knowledge.
Examples of Extended Essays:
1. To what extent do mindfulness techniques (meditation) affect athletic performance?
2. What were the major historical markers when women exercised their ‘voice’ in western theatre?
3. What is the construction method for the first Fermat point of a spherical triangle on a unit circle?
4. Evaluating the factors that changed the historiography of German culpability of WWI between 1914-1971
The Extended Essay (EE) is an independent, self-directed piece of research, finishing with a 4,000-word paper. Students choose a topic related to one of the six DP subjects, and meet regularly with their EE advisor to focus their research and hone their writing. Through the process they develop the capacity to analyze, synthesize and evaluate knowledge.
Examples of Extended Essays:
1. To what extent do mindfulness techniques (meditation) affect athletic performance?
2. What were the major historical markers when women exercised their ‘voice’ in western theatre?
3. What is the construction method for the first Fermat point of a spherical triangle on a unit circle?
4. Evaluating the factors that changed the historiography of German culpability of WWI between 1914-1971
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