How on earth does CAS work?

[Pingu]

Hey guys,

 

My school is terrible at explaining the way CAS works, and I'll be starting IB this year (in summer at the moment).

I have heard that in order to "fulfill" CAS, you basically have to tick off objectives, which are given by the school and vary by institution?

 

Can someone give me a basic explanation on how CAS works, and how not to fail it?

 

Sorry for being a noob,

Thanks!

[ShootingStar16]

Ok so CAS basically stands for Creativity, Action, Service and you have to have one project where you collaborate with others and one that combines two of the three categories in CAS. At my school at least, they don't count hours. You just need to fulfill the 8 outcomes, have a project that involves collaboration, have one that involves two of the three categories (these two can overlap) and do at least 12 activities. Even if you fulfilled all these requirements, you have to keep doing CAS from first year of IB to April of IB2. You fill out a bunch of reflections and you document your activities for your CAS portfolio. If you volunteer, I suggest asking for reference letters and keeping them for your portfolio. You can also take photos that show you participated in that activity and if you go to the gym for action and have a membership there, you can photocopy your pass and put it into your portfolio. 

[Purple Joystick]

This is how CAS works.

 

You do a creative exercise, have a supervisor, somehow bull**** justify your activity so it meets any of the learning outcomes, 

and you get creativity hours towards your CAS!

 

You do a active exercise, have a supervisor, somehow bull**** your activity so it meets the learning outcomes, 

and you get action hours!

 

You do some volunteering, somehow justify the activity so it meets the learning outcomes,

and you get service hours! omg

 

Honestly it's that simple. Requirements differ from school to school, but that's how things work. I don't believe your school can **** up explaining how CAS works, it's literally the easiest thing in the IB ever. CAS is one of the most basic things about IB. You don't need to ask how it works to an online forum. The IBO website and your coordinator would do a better job of telling you what CAS is than any of us.

Edited August 21, 2015 by Purple Joystick

[karlislog]

Hi, I am also starting my first year of the IB in only a few days, and our CAS coordinator explained that multiple changes have been made to the CAS syllabus (including Action being renamed to Activity).

 

Mainly, what the others said is still true, but:

1.) The 150 hour requirement no longer exists (although it is a sort of hidden recommendation within the new guide);

2.) There are only 7 learning outcomes you need to meet.

 

There also seems to be a much larger focus on incorporating two of creativity, activity or service into one "experience", but that may significantly vary, again, depending on your school.

 

Definitely remember that the tasks you wish to take part in should be significantly challenging and not trivial, and you should largely be actively participating in them, not acting as a bystander.

Hope I added something to the conversation, good luck!

[WhitneyGrace]

Pretty much everything that everyone has already said. Just a few tips though: 

 

1 - ALWAYS get the signature right away. I am about to start IB2 and I just realized I need to track down some people for signatures ASAP before my adviser realizes I haven't done so yet.

2 - Writing the reflections is so easy and quick... as long as you do them right away. It sucks to have to write a bunch of reflections in one night, especially because you know its taking time away from homework and such. 

3 - Unless your CAS adviser says otherwise, pretty much anything can be counted as CAS. Go bowling with your friends? That can count. Paint a picture? Sure. Babysitting? As long as you aren't paid. So make sure you keep track of the little things that you'd be doing anyway. 

 

Good luck! And don't stress, CAS is the easiest part of IB. It's like mandatory fun-time. 

[Guest]

Pretty much everything that everyone has already said. Just a few tips though: 

 

1 - ALWAYS get the signature right away. I am about to start IB2 and I just realized I need to track down some people for signatures ASAP before my adviser realizes I haven't done so yet.

2 - Writing the reflections is so easy and quick... as long as you do them right away. It sucks to have to write a bunch of reflections in one night, especially because you know its taking time away from homework and such. 

3 - Unless your CAS adviser says otherwise, pretty much anything can be counted as CAS. Go bowling with your friends? That can count. Paint a picture? Sure. Babysitting? As long as you aren't paid. So make sure you keep track of the little things that you'd be doing anyway. 

 

Good luck! And don't stress, CAS is the easiest part of IB. It's like mandatory fun-time. 

 

I'm not quite sure how your school runs things, because, for us, it's a bit different for point 3.

 

That would work for one-off's, which don't need to be centred around a certain objective (at least, that's what we have), but for major activities, none of it could possibly count because a) they don't go along for long enough unless you do it in a regular basis (e.g. babysitting every week, unpaid; art classes every weekend, and so on), and b) you need to fulfil at least two of the objectives (or perhaps that's just my school). Unless, of course, that's what you meant, in which case, apologies. 

Edited September 2, 2015 by Guest

[Ekingboss]

This should help explain what CAS is. 

• In essence you have to do activities that either fit into creativity, action or service.
• Once you complete those activities you have to get a form signed by your supervisor to confirm that you did the activity
• Then you write reflections based on the learning outcomes
• All of this has to get approved by the advisor and then your hours are confirmed
• You have to complete approximately 150 hours of CAS to meet the requirement
• Some schools use ManageBac for this

If you want to know more about how CAS works this website should help you out:

 

http://ibhacks.com/index.php/core/cas/15-what-you-should-know-about-cas.html