For M28 students: IB exams in May 2028, starting DP1 in August 2026.
If CAS has not been explained at your school, record possible activities, identify your CAS coordinator, and request your school's handbook and deadlines. You do not need a major project immediately, but confirm the local process before assuming an activity counts.
CAS means creativity, activity, service. Completing this Diploma Programme core component is required for the diploma, although it receives no numerical grade and contributes no points.
Your first three CAS actions
1. List possible experiences
Start with activities you already do or could realistically begin. Sort them provisionally into these strands:
- Creativity: exploring and extending ideas through a creative product or performance, such as music, design or theatre.
- Activity: physical exertion contributing to a healthy lifestyle, such as dance, hiking or sport.
- Service: collaborative and reciprocal community engagement responding to an authentic need.
One experience can involve several strands. Paid work, passive attendance and work submitted for another DP requirement should not automatically count. Treat your list as possibilities for discussion, rather than approved experiences.
2. Begin a provisional log
Record the date, experience, possible strand, purpose, actions and evidence. Useful evidence might include plans, feedback, attendance records or work you created, subject to school privacy rules.
Record experiences honestly. Reflection should explain a decision, challenge, change or lesson, rather than simply describe attendance. RevisionDojo's guide to logging CAS consistently offers organisational advice; your school's platform and schedule take priority.
For example, after helping organise a rehearsal, note what you planned, what changed and how you responded. “Our group struggled to coordinate practice times, so I gathered availability and proposed a shorter shared session” shows a specific decision. Explain what this taught you about collaboration, and connect it to a learning outcome only when the evidence supports that connection.
3. Contact your coordinator
Ask your DP coordinator, teacher or school office who oversees CAS. Explain that you have not received guidance and want to confirm procedures before committing to experiences.
Request the handbook, recording platform and first meeting date. CAS includes supervised processes and formal interviews, so asking early helps prevent avoidable gaps.
During your first week, aim to leave the coordinator meeting with one realistic next action, such as submitting an experience proposal or arranging a supervisor. Set a short review date to check whether the activity is suitable and your records are accessible. This is a suggested starting routine, not an additional IB requirement or a substitute for your school's timetable.
Official IB requirements and school procedures
The IB CAS overview explains the three strands and project requirement. The official CAS subject brief provides a useful summary of the programme.
| IB expectation | Confirm with your school |
|---|---|
| Engage with all three strands | How balance is reviewed |
| Demonstrate the seven CAS learning outcomes | Evidence and reflection requirements |
| Complete a collaborative CAS project lasting at least one month | Approval, supervision and proposal deadlines |
| Participate in three formal interviews | Dates and preparation |
| Maintain sustained engagement | Checkpoints and completion deadlines |
The learning outcomes cover strengths and growth, challenges and skills, initiating and planning, commitment and perseverance, collaboration, issues of global significance, and the ethics of choices and actions. Demonstrate all seven across your programme; each experience need not address every outcome.
CAS normally extends over approximately 18 months, with regular participation. The IB does not prescribe a universal 150-hour requirement or identical hours for each strand. Schools may set monitoring targets, which should be distinguished from IB requirements.
Questions for your first meeting
Ask your coordinator:
- Do experiences need approval before starting, and can earlier activities qualify?
- Which platform, reflection formats and evidence should I use?
- What are the DP1 and DP2 deadlines and interview dates?
- Who can supervise or verify participation?
- What consent, safeguarding, transport and risk-assessment rules apply?
- How do I propose the collaborative project?
Write down the answers. Another school's procedures may differ, especially for approvals, evidence and internal deadlines. If instructions conflict, ask your coordinator to clarify them in writing.
Choose a manageable first experience
Choose something you can sustain alongside your subjects. A beginner running plan could support activity; preparing rehearsal materials could support creativity; helping a community organisation meet an identified need could support service.
For service, consult the community before deciding what help to provide. This makes the experience responsive and reciprocal rather than based on assumptions.
Review your overall programme using RevisionDojo's guidance on balancing CAS strands. Your first experience need not be your project, which requires collaboration and connected experiences lasting at least one month. If difficulties arise, prepare a conversation with your coordinator.
Avoid common early mistakes
Do not wait months to record participation, count hours as your only evidence, or claim all seven outcomes for a simple activity. Existing hobbies need purposeful goals and appropriate learning, rather than automatic inclusion.
Keep documentation proportionate. Capture meaningful moments and review progress regularly instead of writing repetitive reflections after every session. RevisionDojo's CAS documentation guidance can help organise records without replacing school instructions.
Conclusion
When CAS is unclear, make a provisional list, begin an honest log and contact your coordinator. Build sustained participation across the strands while planning for the learning outcomes, interviews and collaborative project.
Use RevisionDojo's IB Study Planner guide to schedule manageable CAS tasks alongside coursework, starting with your coordinator meeting.