Build a One-Page Map of the IB Diploma
Understand the DP through a practical course, core and assessment map you can discuss with your school.
Start with the programme you will study
The IB offers several programmes, but a DP student needs a clear map of the Diploma Programme rather than a list of everything the organization provides. The DP combines six subjects with theory of knowledge, the extended essay, and creativity, activity, service. Draw these as nine named commitments on one page. Leave room beside each for a teacher, a current document, and the next useful action. This turns an unfamiliar programme into people, materials, and tasks you can locate.
Make the subject map concrete
Write the exact course and level beside each subject, using your school's option sheet rather than a friend's timetable. Notice how language and literature, language acquisition, individuals and societies, sciences, mathematics, and arts appear in your combination. Permitted alternatives and interdisciplinary arrangements give some flexibility, but your coordinator should confirm that your particular combination works. A course's short name can hide meaningful differences: knowing you take mathematics is less useful than knowing which mathematics course and level you actually study.
Give each core component a purpose
Write a plain sentence explaining what you do in each core component. In TOK you examine knowledge claims; in the EE you develop an independent investigation; in CAS you learn through experiences and a collaborative project. Then list one example of a decision each involves, such as choosing evidence, narrowing a question, or responding to a community need. These are orientation statements, not substitutes for assessment instructions. Keep detailed requirements in the current course guide so your overview stays readable and useful.
Separate classroom work from assessed work
Ask each teacher for a broad assessment map: what is externally assessed, what is assessed through school processes, and when important drafts or performances occur. Do not assume every subject has the same kind of internal assessment or that every classroom score becomes an IB grade. Add a symbol beside tasks requiring extended preparation, practical access, or another person's availability. That identifies dependencies early. A rehearsal booking and an essay draft both take time, but they need different planning decisions.
Worked example: a new student's map
Imagine Leila starts DP1 knowing only that she chose history, biology, and two languages. Her first map replaces those vague names with exact courses and levels, adds mathematics and the sixth subject, and names the three core components. She asks the coordinator to confirm her combination, asks history when source work begins, and asks the CAS coordinator how experiences are recorded. Her useful outcome is not an ambitious annual schedule. It is a verified programme map and three questions directed to the right people.
Review the map when information changes
Keep the page somewhere easy to find and date every correction. At the end of your first month, replace guesses about coursework with confirmed information and add links to school instructions. Revisit it when changing a level, joining a new activity, or encountering a revised syllabus. You do not need to understand every assessment detail immediately. You do need to know which document and person can resolve uncertainty. That habit prevents a confident explanation from another cohort becoming your own planning rule.
Your next-step checklist
Checklist choices stay in this browser.
Official references
This is an original practical guide from IBvia. The examples are illustrative; your subject guide, assessment year and school instructions determine the requirements.
Keep working on your next step
Build a DP1 study system you can keep using
A practical weekly routine for lessons, independent practice and the first steps of longer IB projects.
Read the guide ↗
Turn DP2 deadlines into a workable plan
Work backwards from your school's dates, spot dependencies and protect time for revisions and exams.
Read the guide ↗