IB DIPLOMA PROGRAMME
IB (International Baccalaureate) support
A final IB DP score is out of 45: up to 42 points from six subjects, plus up to 3 bonus points from the core (TOK and EE). ELT works from that structure, bringing subject teaching and the IA, EE and TOK core together into a single study plan, taught one-to-one online by qualified native-speaker teachers.
- Native-speaker teachers with CELTA, DELTA and similar qualifications
- Maths, Sciences and Humanities also taught in English
- IA, EE and TOK brought into one study plan
We are happy to start by explaining how the IB works. There is no obligation to enrol
SCORE SYSTEM
How an IB DP score is decided
An IB DP score is out of 45: six subjects marked 1–7 give a maximum of 42 points, and the core — TOK (Theory of Knowledge) and the EE (Extended Essay) — adds up to 3 bonus points. A minimum of 24 points is required to be awarded the Diploma.
What makes up the 45 points
| Component | Points | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Six subjects | Up to 42 | Six subjects chosen across Group 1 (Studies in Language and Literature) to Group 6 (The Arts), each marked 1–7. Usually three at HL (Higher Level) and three at SL (Standard Level) |
| Core bonus points | Up to 3 | TOK and the EE are each graded A–E, and the combination of the two grades awards 0–3 points via a matrix |
| CAS | No points | Creativity, Activity, Service. It carries no points, but the Diploma is not awarded if CAS is not completed |
Main conditions under which the Diploma is not awarded
Even with 24 points or more, the Diploma is not awarded if any of the following applies.
- TOK or the EE is graded E
- CAS has not been completed
- A grade of 1 has been awarded in any subject
- Grade 2 has been awarded in three or more subjects
- Grade 3 or below has been awarded in four or more subjects
- HL subjects total fewer than 12 points, or SL subjects fewer than 9
In other words, the DP cannot be carried by strong subjects alone: every subject and the core must be held above a threshold. A single weak subject, or the grade awarded for the EE, can decide the outcome for reasons separate from the total score. Final examinations are held in two sessions each year, in May and November, and most schools in Japan and the northern hemisphere sit the May session. The IA (Internal Assessment) accounts for roughly 20–30% of the final mark depending on the subject, so marks are already accumulating well before the final exams.
CHALLENGES
The four walls IB students hit
What makes the DP demanding is less the difficulty of any one subject than the fact that tasks of very different kinds run in parallel. In the enquiries ELT receives, the difficulties come down to four.
Wall 1 — IA deadlines arrive subject by subject
The IA (Internal Assessment) covers work produced and marked within each subject: practical reports, mathematical explorations, oral examinations and so on. Although it accounts for roughly 20–30% of the final mark depending on the subject, deadlines across several subjects cluster in the first half of DP2. Believing the exams are still far off, families often find that a quarter to a third of the grade has already been settled.
Wall 2 — the EE topic will not settle, and the work stalls
The EE (Extended Essay) is a 4,000-word essay on a topic the student chooses. It is common for months to be lost narrowing down the topic and the research question. Meetings with the school supervisor are limited, and many students begin writing without ever having been taught academic writing in English in a structured way.
Wall 3 — the TOK assessment criteria stay out of reach
TOK (Theory of Knowledge) is the IB's own core course, asking what knowledge is, and is assessed through a 1,600-word TOK essay and the TOK exhibition. It requires abstract argument in English built around a knowledge question, and it is the area where we most often hear "we don't know what we are supposed to write." As noted above, a grade of E in TOK means the Diploma itself is not awarded.
Wall 4 — HL subjects consume the time and the whole plan collapses
HL (Higher Level) subjects go deeper than SL (Standard Level), and students usually take three. The workload is heavy, and putting too much time into one subject takes it away from the others and from the IA and EE. Since the Diploma also requires at least 12 points across HL subjects, how the time is divided becomes a strategy in itself.
These four are not separate problems. They compete for the same limited two years. That is why the answer is not subject-by-subject firefighting but a study plan built on the whole picture.
OUR APPROACH
What changes with ELT's IB support
ELT's IB support is not general tuition that explains subject content. We work backwards from your child's current grades, target universities and the time remaining, and bring the six subjects and the core (IA, EE and TOK) into a single plan.
Qualified native-speaker teachers who teach from the IB's assessment criteria
Every ELT teacher is a native speaker of English and holds an international teaching qualification such as CELTA or DELTA. Former Heads of Year at international schools are among them, and lessons are grounded in which criteria each IB task is judged against and what the examiner is looking for. Rather than giving answers, we rebuild the response or the essay from the assessor's point of view.
Not only English: Maths, Sciences and Humanities are taught in English too
Using several schools and tutors for IB support fragments the approach and adds to your child's load. At ELT, alongside English (Groups 1 and 2), Maths, Sciences and Humanities can also be taught in English, so the plan — including how time is divided between subjects — stays coherent. IA reports and the EE are, in the end, tasks written in English. Having the same team move between subject understanding and academic writing is a genuine advantage in the IB.
The IA and EE are staged, not just proofread
A single round of corrections just before a deadline cannot repair a flawed structure. ELT designs lessons around stages — topic, research question, outline, draft, revision — with feedback against the assessment criteria at each one. Because the IB has strict academic integrity regulations, we neither ghost-write nor rewrite substantially; we work to make your child's own argument stronger.
PREMIUM Academic includes progression guidance, so we look beyond the score
ELT's IB support sits in a service tier called PREMIUM Academic: our upper plan for academic tuition, which adds progression guidance — monitoring of your child's progress and advice on choosing schools — to subject teaching. A target score only means something once it is derived from the universities in view. Designing "what score to aim for" together is what separates this from one-off subject tuition.
Fully online, one-to-one, 50 minutes — from any IB school in the world
All lessons are one-to-one and 50 minutes, online. Students at international schools in Japan, at boarding schools abroad and in other time zones all receive the same quality without interruption. Not losing continuity through a move or a period back home is a practical advantage over two years of the DP.
TIMELINE
What to do, term by term, across the two years of the DP
The DP runs to a fixed two-year schedule. For students sitting the May session, the general shape is as follows (timings vary by school).
| Stage | What happens at school | What ELT supports at this stage |
|---|---|---|
| First half of DP1 | Six subjects and HL/SL choices are confirmed. Foundations in each subject | Checking that subject choices hold up. Building the base for HL subjects. Adapting to studying subjects in English |
| Second half of DP1 | EE topic set and supervisor assigned. Some IAs begin | Designing the EE research question. Planning the IAs. Introducing TOK habits of thought |
| End of DP1 to start of DP2 | First EE draft. TOK essay preparation | Structural work on the EE draft. Outlining the TOK essay |
| First half of DP2 | IA deadlines cluster. Final EE. Predicted Grades confirmed | Prioritising which IAs to finish first. Shoring up weaknesses identified from the Predicted Grades |
| Second half of DP2 | Past-paper practice. May session final examinations | Training in answer technique, including command terms. Optimising time allocation. Final subject-by-subject consolidation |
What matters is that Predicted Grades are used for university applications well before the final examinations. A plan that relies on recovering in the final exams often does not work in application terms. The first half of DP2, when IA and EE deadlines overlap, also leaves no room to change study habits. We recommend putting the study routine in place during DP1, and no later than its second half.
Whichever stage you are at now, we can propose priorities worked back from the time remaining.
FLOW
How lessons begin
Free consultation (online)
We ask about your child's school, year, subjects, current grades and the direction they are considering, and tell you frankly whether ELT can be of use.
English assessment (first time only, paid)
A native-speaker teacher checks your child's English and study situation directly, giving a detailed picture of the starting point. The fee is $149 (tax included).
Your proposed study plan
Based on the target score, the time remaining and progress on the IA, EE and TOK, we design how subjects and lesson frequency should be allocated.
Lessons begin
Online, one-to-one, 50 minutes. Progress is monitored continuously and the plan is adjusted as the year moves on.
The consultation carries no expectation that you enrol. Families who simply want to understand how the IB works are equally welcome.
CURRICULUM UPDATE
Preparing for the 2027 changes to the EE
The IB revises its programmes periodically. A new guide has been published for the EE (Extended Essay), and assessment against the new criteria begins with the May 2027 session. Alongside the established subject-focused pathway, in which a student explores one of their DP subjects in depth, the new guide introduces an interdisciplinary pathway combining two DP subjects. The 4,000-word limit and the framework contributing up to 3 bonus points in combination with TOK are retained.
ELT confirms which set of criteria applies to the session your child will sit, and teaches the EE against that set. It is precisely the year groups that straddle a change of criteria who most need a plan built on the current guide.
Source: International Baccalaureate Organization, Extended essay guide (First assessment 2027)This section reflects information as of August 2026. Please check the official IB site for the current position.
Fees for IB support
PRICING
ELT's IB support is delivered as PREMIUM Academic tier lessons, which include progression guidance. All lessons are online, one-to-one and 50 minutes.
Frequency is designed around IA and EE deadlines and the time left before the examinations. For the full picture, including how the tiers differ, see our lesson fees page.
See lesson feesCAMPUS TUTORS
Day-to-day study can be supported alongside, by a Campus Tutor
When IA and EE deadlines collide with the workload of six subjects, the sheer volume of daily study becomes the problem. Campus Tutors — current students and postgraduates at leading universities — support understanding of lessons, progress through assignments and revision planning one-to-one, and can be used alongside your lessons.
How the roles differ
- PREMIUM Academic (professional teachers)
- Examination preparation, building the method for written answers, and progression guidance. The strengths are structure and strategic design.
- Campus Tutors
- Ongoing companionship through daily lessons, assignments and revision planning, from people who passed the same examinations recently.
The roles differ, so either on its own or both together works. Fees are charged separately. We will help you work out which is right at the free consultation.
TARGET
Who this is for
The IB support on this page is mainly for students currently in the DP (ages 16–19), or at the MYP stage and approaching it. The IB comprises three programmes — PYP (ages 3–12), MYP (ages 11–16) and DP (ages 16–19) — and support at PYP and MYP level can also be discussed. Students at IB World Schools in Japan and at IB schools overseas can both take lessons, since everything is online.
Examples of IB World Schools
- Malvern College Tokyo
- The British School in Tokyo (BST)
- UWC ISAK Japan
- Yokohama International School (YIS)
- K International School Tokyo (KIST)
- Seisen International School
- IB World Schools in Japan
- IB World Schools overseas
Note: these are listed to illustrate where the programme is taught, and do not represent ELT’s teaching record. Each school name links to our guide to that school.
If your purpose is different, please see
- Applying to an international schoolInternational school admissions
- Applying to a boarding school abroadBoarding school placement
- Curricula other than the IBA-Level support
- Curricula other than the IBAP support
- Curricula other than the IBIGCSE & GCSE support
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
IB support sits in the PREMIUM Academic tier: online, one-to-one, 50 minutes per lesson, with plans of 4 lessons a month at $708, 8 at $1,208 and 12 at $1,658 (tax included). An enrolment fee of $199 and a first-time English assessment of $149 are charged separately. The consultation is free.
It depends on the stage and the workload. Once a week is common in DP1 while building foundations; two or three a week is common in the first half of DP2, when IA deadlines cluster, and in the run-up to the exams. In the free consultation we propose a frequency based on how much time is left and what needs priority.
ELT lessons are not recorded material. They are live, one-to-one, 50-minute sessions with a teacher. Document-based tasks such as the IA and EE suit screen-sharing review and discussion particularly well, and the time that would go on travel goes into study instead. Students at schools overseas receive the same quality without interruption.
No. ELT does not guarantee scores or admission. IB assessment is carried out by the IB and by the school, and we do not believe it would be honest to promise an outcome we do not control. What we do commit to is teaching grounded in the assessment criteria, continuous monitoring of progress, and revising the plan as the situation changes.
Yes. That said, the EE and IA cannot be separated from understanding the subject itself, so we review the whole picture in the consultation and then design a plan weighted towards the core tasks. In line with the IB's academic integrity regulations, we do not ghost-write or substantially rewrite a student's work.
Yes. Maths, Sciences and Humanities can all be taught in English. We assign teachers and allocate time according to the HL/SL split and the combination of subjects taken. Where a subject name alone is not enough to judge, we confirm against the syllabus during the consultation.
The earlier you start, the more options remain. The peaks of workload are the second half of DP1, when EE topics are set, and the first half of DP2, when IA deadlines cluster. Ideally the study routine is in place during DP1, but even from DP2 we can set priorities by working back from the time remaining.
Support with everyday lessons, assignments and internal exams is handled by our Support for Current Students. IB support is a programme focused on DP score-building and the core tasks (IA, EE and TOK). If you are unsure which fits, we will help you separate the two in the consultation.
Campus Tutors are current students and postgraduates at leading universities who support day-to-day study. IB support, by contrast, is delivered by native-speaker professional teachers holding qualifications such as CELTA or DELTA, who teach DP score-building against the assessment criteria and include progression guidance. The two can also be used together.
Yes. PREMIUM Academic includes monitoring of your child's progress and advice on their path ahead, and we share both the progress and the plan with you. We consider it important that the information you need in order to decide reaches you, rather than staying inside the lesson.
See the full picture of our international and boarding school supportInternational & Boarding School Support
Start by getting clear on where your child stands
With the DP, the options change the moment the system is properly understood. In the free consultation we ask about subjects, grades and progress on the IA, EE and TOK, and set out what should take priority in the time remaining. There is no obligation to enrol.
No pushy sales / We do not guarantee scores or admission