Transferring from one IB school to another in DP2 is possible, but your work does not automatically follow you as one complete IB record. The receiving school must offer a compatible subject combination, accept responsibility for your registration and assessment, verify your coursework, and decide how your existing CAS, EE, TOK, and IA evidence will be incorporated.
ManageBac is a school platform, not the IB's official candidate-registration system. Some CAS material can move between ManageBac schools, but EE, TOK, IA, assessment, and school-specific records usually require separate exports and direct communication between coordinators. The safest approach is to secure written confirmation about every DP component before formally leaving your current school.
Can you transfer to another IB school during DP2?
The IB confirms that a student can transfer between Diploma Programme schools. However, IB World Schools are independent institutions with their own admissions policies, subject offerings, timetables, internal deadlines, and graduation requirements. A school is therefore not required to admit a DP2 transfer simply because it is authorized to offer the DP.
The receiving school must first determine whether it can realistically support your programme. Important compatibility questions include:
- Does it offer all six of your subjects at the same HL or SL?
- Does it teach the same course and current syllabus?
- Can it support your response language and examination session?
- Has its class covered topics comparable to those at your previous school?
- Can its teachers authenticate and assess your unfinished coursework?
- Are its internal deadlines still achievable?
A transfer is much easier when both schools follow the same May or November examination session and offer an identical subject package. If a subject, level, language, or session differs, the coordinators may need guidance from the IB before confirming that the transfer is viable.
What happens to your IB registration?
Your official examination registration is managed through IBIS, the IB's secure information system, by a DP coordinator. Students and parents cannot register themselves or independently alter an existing registration.
The sending and receiving coordinators must establish whether you have already been registered, preserve your candidate identity, and prevent duplicate registration. The receiving school ultimately needs to accept academic and administrative responsibility for the examination session in which it registers you. Any uncertainty about a late transfer, session change, subject change, or assessment record should be referred by the coordinator to IB Answers.
Do not assume that creating a new ManageBac account completes this process. A functioning school-platform login says nothing by itself about whether your official IBIS registration is correct.
What transfers through ManageBac?
According to ManageBac's student-transfer guidance, a transfer between two ManageBac schools must be confirmed by coordinators at both institutions. Requests made only by a student or parent are not processed.
The distinction between transferable and non-transferable records is significant:
| Component | What may transfer through ManageBac | What normally needs separate handling |
|---|---|---|
| CAS | Experiences, reflections, evidence and CAS documents | Progress indicators, checked learning outcomes, interviews, completion decisions and some adviser records |
| EE | No complete automatic transfer of the project workspace | Proposal, research question, documents, journal entries, reflections, supervisor comments, assessment and progress records |
| TOK | No complete automatic transfer of the TOK workspace | Exhibition or essay files, journals, teacher comments and assessment records |
| IAs and classes | Generally not transferred as portable academic records | Drafts, final files, feedback, marks, data, laboratory records and authentication evidence |
| School reports | Not transferred as part of the core-record transfer | Reports, grades, attendance information and school-specific records |
ManageBac states that transferred data is moved rather than duplicated, while the student's account at the original school is archived. Schools should therefore export records before approving the transfer. Cross-server transfers involving a school in China and one outside China may also require manual handling.
Before access changes, download PDFs and original files rather than relying on screenshots. Retain filenames, dates, draft histories, teacher comments, bibliographies, data sets, reflection records, approval emails, and signed forms where applicable.
What happens to CAS?
CAS does not restart automatically when you change schools. Your previous experiences can usually contribute to your overall CAS programme if the receiving school accepts the evidence and can confirm that your work meets IB expectations.
The IB requires engagement across creativity, activity and service, reflection, achievement of the CAS learning outcomes, and completion of at least one CAS project. CAS is not awarded points, but successful completion is required for the diploma. The IB does not define CAS as a universal total of service hours, so a new school should review the quality, continuity, evidence, outcomes, and project rather than merely count hours.
The receiving CAS coordinator may ask for:
- An exported CAS portfolio containing experiences and reflections
- Evidence such as photographs, planning documents or supervisor confirmation
- A list showing which learning outcomes were addressed
- Records of CAS interviews and adviser comments
- Documentation of your CAS project and your role in it
- A statement from the former CAS coordinator about your progress
Because ManageBac's checked learning outcomes and completion indicators do not normally transfer, ask the former coordinator for a signed summary. The new school makes its own completion decision and may require additional experiences or reflections if the evidence is incomplete.
What happens to the Extended Essay?
You should not have to restart a sound EE solely because you transferred, but the receiving school must be able to supervise the remaining process and authenticate the work. The IB requires three formal reflection sessions with an EE supervisor, with the final session being the viva voce.
Transfer the complete research trail, including:
- The approved subject and research question
- Proposal and planning records
- Research notes, source list and data
- Every significant draft with dates
- Feedback already provided
- Existing formal reflection entries
- The name and comments of the previous supervisor
The new school must check that it offers the EE subject and has a suitable supervisor. A new supervisor may continue the process, but they need enough evidence and interaction to understand how the essay developed and to be satisfied that it is your own work. If the subject is unsupported, the methodology is unsafe, required reflections are missing, or authorship cannot be verified, revision or a change of direction may be necessary.
The IB's explanation of the extended essay confirms the supervisory and reflection requirements. RevisionDojo's EE feedback guidance can help you audit a draft, but official approval and authentication must come from your school.
What happens to TOK?
TOK consists of the TOK exhibition, which is internally assessed and externally moderated, and the 1,600-word TOK essay, which is externally assessed. The essay must answer one of the six prescribed titles for your examination session.
If your exhibition is complete, obtain the final commentary, object images, prompt, teacher mark, feedback, and evidence of authentication. The receiving school must decide how it will record and submit that work. If it cannot authenticate the exhibition or confirm that the correct procedure was followed, it may require further verification or, in exceptional circumstances, new work.
For the essay, confirm that both schools are using the prescribed titles for the same session. A change from a May to a November session can affect the valid title set. Keep planning documents and drafts so the new TOK teacher can authenticate your development without giving assistance beyond what the IB permits.
Students can review the current assessment structure through the IB's TOK overview and compare organization using RevisionDojo's TOK exemplars. Exemplars should be used to understand criteria, never as text or ideas to reproduce.
What happens to internal assessments?
An internal assessment is not automatically valid at the new school merely because a previous teacher accepted or marked it. For most subjects, the school marks the work and the IB moderates selected samples, so the receiving teacher and coordinator must be satisfied that the work follows the applicable subject guide and is authentic.
Completed or partially completed IAs may be accepted when:
- The subject, level, syllabus and assessment task match
- The work complies with the receiving school's safety and ethics requirements
- Draft history and raw data are available
- Permitted teacher feedback is documented
- The receiving teacher can authenticate the work
- The school's submission process and deadlines can still be met
A replacement or substantial revision may be required if the new school uses a different syllabus, the investigation cannot be verified, required oral or practical evidence is missing, or the teacher cannot confidently authenticate authorship. This is especially important for laboratory investigations, oral assessments, performances, portfolios, fieldwork, collaborative data collection, and work involving human participants.
Do not independently redo an IA before the receiving teacher reviews it. Unnecessary rewriting wastes time and may create questions about duplicate work or excessive assistance. Instead, submit an organized evidence package and request a written decision for each subject.
The IB's academic integrity policy emphasizes that teachers must be confident work is the student's own before submission. RevisionDojo's coursework exemplars and Coursework Grader powered by Jojo AI can support self-review, but they do not replace teacher authentication or official feedback limits.
Your DP2 transfer checklist
Before accepting the transfer, arrange a coordinator-to-coordinator meeting and obtain a component-by-component plan. Ask for written answers rather than relying on general assurances that everything will transfer.
- Confirm all six subjects, levels, response languages, syllabuses and examination session.
- Confirm who will manage the IBIS transfer or registration and preserve your candidate details.
- Export your full CAS portfolio and obtain a progress statement from the CAS coordinator.
- Download all EE files, reflection records and supervisor comments.
- Secure TOK exhibition records and verify the correct essay-title session.
- Create a folder for every IA containing drafts, final files, raw data, feedback and authentication evidence.
- Obtain the receiving school's internal calendar immediately.
- Ask each new teacher whether existing work is accepted, requires revision, or must be replaced.
- Keep secure backups outside both school accounts, subject to school privacy rules.
- Confirm any effects on predicted grades, transcripts and university reporting separately from IB registration.
The central question is not simply, “Will my files transfer?” It is, “Will the receiving school accept responsibility for teaching, authenticating, assessing and submitting every component before its deadlines?”
Conclusion
A DP2 transfer can work when subjects align and both schools cooperate, but ManageBac alone does not preserve your IB status or guarantee acceptance of coursework. CAS evidence can often continue, while EE, TOK, and IAs require deliberate transfer of files, process records, teacher comments, and authentication evidence.
Secure decisions from the receiving coordinator before leaving, export everything, and treat school deadlines as urgent. Once your assessment plan is confirmed, RevisionDojo's coursework exemplars, EE resources, and Coursework Grader with Jojo AI can help you evaluate gaps while your new teachers retain final authority over feedback and submission.
Sources and referenced URLs
- IB assessment FAQ, including school transfers
- IB Diploma Programme general regulations
- IB explanation of Diploma Programme assessment
- IB CAS project guidance
- IB extended essay overview
- IB theory of knowledge overview
- IB academic integrity policy
- ManageBac guidance on transferring student records
- RevisionDojo IB core requirements guide
- RevisionDojo EE feedback guidance
- RevisionDojo TOK coursework exemplars
- RevisionDojo IA, EE and TOK coursework exemplars
- RevisionDojo Coursework Grader