AIS West offers the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program as an option for grades 11 and 12. The IB was developed as a standardized international educational program and so the IB organization is quite strict about how it is implemented.

In May (or November for the southern hemisphere) at the end of grade 12, all IB students take a series of final examinations in their six subject areas over a three-week period. These tests are sent off to be evaluated by independent IB examiners. The students have to wait until July to find out how they did.

It’s a high-stakes test and the examination situation is tightly controlled.

We used these hallway signs at ICS

In the Middle East, most schools operate on a Sunday-Thursday schedule, but because the IB exam schedule must be standardized internationally our kids must still take Friday tests (there are different versions of the test for the different time zone bands, however, so that students won’t share test information with friends in other parts of the world).  The test proctors are called “invigilators.” I volunteered to invigilate on one of the Friday exams. I was very vigilant and I swear no one cheated. Check out my magic eye.