Do I need to do “IB-10PY” before IBDP?

[DotDoinps]

Hello everyone!

I am thinking on joining an IB school next year in Portugal and I was wondering if I have to do this “IB10PY” which I assume is 10th Grade before I do the actual IB Diploma Program? I am doing 10th Grade in the national Portuguese system and would not like to repeat it. I also finished the PYP Program and got to Grade 9 of the MYP in an International school before I moved back to my native country of Portugal if that means anything in this situation. I am turning 16 this year and would not like to graduate a year later than all my peers. Can I simply start the IB Diploma Program next year with no hassles?

Thank you.

[Gaby]

This is dependent on your school, IBO itself does not require you to take any pre-IB course. I have done a pre-IB year, purely because high school in Poland is 3 years (or used to be when I went), so they had to do something with us in that first year. We had people move in straight into year 2 (IB1), without having done a pre-IB year. My boyfriend has also done IB in the UK, and went straight in from GCSEs, without having done any prep years. The pre-IB year in my case was a regular Polish curriculum, with some of it done in English, and an increased number of English language lessons, but none of that was really IB-related, and surely not mandated by the IBO. 

So, effectively, it's the question for your school to ask if they can let you out of it.