BACCEducation
IB CoreCAS Student Toolkit

Creativity, Activity, Service

Build a sustained programme of purposeful experiences, reflection, and a collaborative project that demonstrates personal and interpersonal growth.

Know the requirement

CAS is not formally graded by the IB, but it must be completed. Students reflect on their experiences, provide evidence of the seven learning outcomes, and undertake at least one CAS project.

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Milestone roadmap

A workflow students can actually follow

  1. 1

    Map interests and starting points

    Programme start

    Outcome: A balanced, personally meaningful plan rather than a list of convenient activities.

    • Identify genuine interests, strengths, growth areas, and community relationships.
    • Discuss safety, ethics, feasibility, and school approval before beginning.
    • Map possible experiences across creativity, activity, and service without forcing every experience into all three.
  2. 2

    Plan purposeful experiences

    Ongoing

    Outcome: Clear goals, actions, evidence, and anticipated learning outcomes.

    • Define what success would look like for the activity and the people involved.
    • For service, begin with community-identified needs and reciprocal partnership.
    • Choose evidence before starting, while protecting consent and privacy.
  3. 3

    Complete the CAS project

    Sustained project period

    Outcome: A real collaborative project showing initiative, planning, perseverance, and reflection.

    • Agree roles, decisions, communication, and a realistic timeline with collaborators.
    • Review progress and adapt when circumstances or community needs change.
    • Document process and learning, not only the final event or product.
  4. 4

    Curate and reflect

    At meaningful moments

    Outcome: Selective evidence that demonstrates learning over time.

    • Reflect before, during, and after experiences when it adds insight—not on a mechanical schedule.
    • Link claims about growth to concrete decisions, challenges, and evidence.
    • Audit coverage with the CAS coordinator and address gaps early.
Best practices
  • Choose experiences with real purpose, personal challenge, and room for growth.
  • Use varied evidence: plans, artifacts, logs, feedback, photographs with consent, and concise reflections.
  • Write reflections around choices, feelings, changed assumptions, impact, and next steps.
  • For service, work with communities rather than treating people as recipients of a one-way intervention.
  • Map evidence to learning outcomes honestly; one strong experience may demonstrate several outcomes, but not every experience must.
Common pitfalls
  • Counting hours or uploading photographs without explaining learning.
  • Backfilling generic reflections long after an experience.
  • Claiming every activity meets every learning outcome.
  • Starting service without consultation, consent, safeguarding, or attention to community priorities.
  • Treating the CAS project as a single event rather than a sustained collaborative process.

Student tools

Templates for better decisions

Copy these fields into a document, spreadsheet, or project board. The value comes from revisiting them as the work changes.

Experience proposal canvas

Turn an idea into a purposeful, approvable experience.

1. Need/interest2. CAS strand3. Goal4. Challenge5. People affected6. Safety/ethics7. Evidence8. Possible outcomes
Paste into a document or spreadsheet.
Learning-outcome evidence map

Find strong evidence and genuine gaps without box-ticking.

1. Learning outcome2. Experience3. Specific evidence4. What changed5. Strength of evidence6. Next action
Paste into a document or spreadsheet.
What? So what? Now what? reflection

Move from description to analysis and forward action.

1. What happened?2. What did I decide?3. Why did it matter?4. Whose perspective changed mine?5. What will I do differently?
Paste into a document or spreadsheet.
CAS project board

Keep collaboration, dependencies, and adaptation visible.

1. Shared purpose2. Partner voice3. Roles4. Milestones5. Risks6. Evidence owner7. Review date8. Adaptation
Paste into a document or spreadsheet.

Final self-review

Before you call it ready

  • Experiences show ongoing engagement across creativity, activity, and service.
  • At least one sustained collaborative CAS project is documented.
  • The portfolio contains evidence of all seven learning outcomes.
  • Reflections demonstrate learning and changed thinking, not only description.
  • The school CAS coordinator has verified completion under the school's procedures.

Use authoritative requirements

Always reconcile this study guidance with your school’s current guide, deadlines, coordinator instructions, and assessment session.

IB Creativity, activity, service IB CAS project guidance IB Diploma Programme core