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What is CAS and how can I prepare for it?

Ex-I/GCSE student here, not very social. Little volunteering experience and occasional gym-goer. Not too musical; I don't dance. Mostly academic. What counts as CAS activities? How about tutoring?
Thank you

Reply 1

Neverme

Original post by iodised

Different schools have slightly different rules surrounding CAS. Tutoring counted for CAS at my school until our CAS coordinator decided that any activities based in school wouldn't count for service hours. The best thing is to check with your CAS coordinator once you go back to school.

You don't need to prepare for CAS, it will start when you start IB and will last for 18 months. What you can do now is look for activities you could start doing once you go back to school.

Don't worry about being mostly academic and not too strong on the extra currics, a lot of people are in the same position. CAS is designed to get you out of your comfort zone and experiencing new things. I know this can be difficult and annoying, but if you try to look at it as a positive thing you will get so much more out of it.

You can find about potential activities through your CAS coordinator, other students, and through the internet. I'd recommend aiming for a few long-term things and a few one-off events.

Here are a few examples of what I've done:

Action:
Camping
Half-Marathon
Sponsored hike
Sponsored walk
Skiing

Service:
Helping at a school careers event
Sponsored hike & walk
Volunteering at a horse shelter
Helping at a fundraising ball
Selling chocolates to raise money for a charity
Volunteering at a summer camp for children with special needs
Volunteering at a holiday centre for disabled people

Creativity:
Cooking class
Debate club
Piano
Sewing
Decorating for a party

Reply 2

nicholasflamel

I was in your position this time last year, and I personally don't think that any preparation at this stage would be significant in helping you succeed at CAS.

Depending on your school's CAS policies, any amount of work done before the school year starts may not even be counted. And furthermore you can't start a CAS activity without getting approval from your CAS supervisor. So, if you start doing something right now and it happens to not be "CAS-worthy", then all of that hard work may go to waste.

I would certainly wait until the school year starts, until you are fully briefed of what to do, before you actually start doing it.

IMO CAS isn't particularly too taxing, and it's certainly one of the easier aspects of the IB in comparison to the EE and TOK, etc. I spent my first term of Year 12 (grade 11) sorting out my CAS, and once all of my activities are planned and approved, it's just a matter of doing them consistently throughout the entire 2 years.

You can certainly start thinking about what activities you want to do, but I wouldn't bother dwelling to much upon CAS right now. There are much more important and useful things to be doing, such as preparing for your more difficult subjects.

Reply 3

etherinmyeyes

CAS stands for Creativity, Action, and Service.

Here's a link to the IBO's CAS guide:
http://www.holyhearthigh.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/CAS-Guide.pdf

Here's what I've done for CAS so far:

Creativity:
Maintained my school bulletin board
Wrote poems for the elderly at a nursing home for their birthdays

Action:
Academic Decathlon
Walks
Habitat For Humanity

Service:
Tutoring at my local library
Volunteering with the elderly at a nursing home

It really depends on your CAS coordinator what activities you can do, because they're the ones that approve them.

What is CAS and how can I prepare for it?

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