IB/TCE Pathway

If you start the IB Diploma but change your mind in Year 11, or if you are uncertain as to whether to follow the IB or the TCE Pathway, you can easily switch to the TCE qualification in Year 12. This is how it works:

1. In Year 11, you will choose six subjects.

2. In some of those classes, you will follow the TCE syllabus, and in others, the IB syllabus.

3. For the TCE subjects, you can sit the TCE exams at the end of Year 11, and your results will go on your TCE Certificate, whatever you choose to do in Year 12.

4. For the IB subjects, you will not sit any external exams in Year 11. However, the course will be equally suitable as the first year of an IB course, or as a foundational year for a TCE pretertiary C subject in Year 12.

5. You will also do the IB Theory of Knowledge course. This is a compulsory subject for the IB Diploma, and it can be accredited on a TCE Certificate as school-based Philosophy A.

6. You will take part in Creativity, Action and Service activities. These are required for the CAS part of the IB, and lead to the Clemes Certificate for TCE students.

7. You will begin an Extended Essay – a requirement of the IB Diploma. If you choose the TCE in Year 12, you may drop the Extended Essay, or you may complete it and have it assessed for the TCE as a school assessed A course.

If you choose to pursue the IB Diploma in Year 12:
you will also get a TCE Certificate with several pretertiary C results from Year 11, and you will have had practice in external exams before the final IB exams. You will continue all your subjects in Year 12 to prepare for the November exams.

If you choose to pursue the TCE in Year 12:
you will have several TCE pretertiary C results from Year 11, and can study four or five more in Year 12. In many of these, you will have had a year of preparatory work. Your TCE Certificate will contain between 6 and 8 pretertiary C subjects, depending on how you have chosen your courses. You will also be able to gain the Clemes Certificate by continuing your Creative, Action and Service pursuits.

The table below gives details of the courses you can choose in the IB/TCE Preparatory Pathway.
You will have to chose one subject from each of the first five Groups, plus one more.* Choosing the Group 3/4 subject Environmental Science will cover both groups in one choice, and allows more freedom of choice elsewhere.
Key to the table below:
Courses in plain text will follow the International Baccalaureate syllabus in Year 11.
Courses in italics follow the Tasmanian Certificate of Education syllabus in Year 11.
For more details on the content of the courses, see the appropriate section in this book.

 * Environmental Science can be taken in either the third or the fourth box, or to cover the requirements for both the third and fourth boxes, giving more freedom of choice in other boxes. It is possible that students who choose this subject, and to do the IB in Year 12, will be able to sit the IB Ecosystems and Society SL exam at the end of Year 11, and do only 5 IB subjects in Year 12.

For more information contact the IB Coordinator, Tim Sprod on 03 62102288 or email tsprod@friends.tas.edu.au