Academics
Upper School
AP Courses & IB Diploma Program
Advanced Placement (AP) Courses
Advanced Placement (AP) courses allow students the opportunity to complete college-level coursework during high school. All students taking these courses are required to take a corresponding AP exam in May. A grade of 3 or higher out of 5 is considered a passing score on the AP exam. However, each college or university has its own policies for granting college credit, advanced placement or both. Additional information can be found at CollegeBoard - Advanced Placement Program for Parents and Guardians.
IB Diploma Program
Christ Church Episcopal School is an International Baccalaureate World School, authorized in 1999 to offer the IB Diploma Program. Since the first CCES IB graduating class in 2001, 90 percent of our candidates have successfully earned the prestigious diploma. On average, 20 percent of each class elects the IB curriculum.
IB Diploma Requirements
The program has four components:
- Study of six courses, including English, a second language, social studies, science, math, and either a fine art or another subject chosen from the first five categories. Courses are offered at either a Higher Level (HL) or a Standard Level (SL). Students are required to study three courses at HL and three at SL;
- Extended Essay, a research paper in an academic subject chosen by the student;
- Theory of Knowledge, a course designed to encourage students to examine the nature of knowledge by looking at different ways of knowing and different areas of knowledge;
- Creativity, Activity, Service (CAS), an extracurricular activity requiring students to learn from experiences beyond the classroom.
Students take written examinations at the end of each course of study. These are marked by external IB examiners.
Students also complete assessment tasks in school, which may be assessed by classroom teachers or sent directly to external examiners. The diploma is awarded to students who attain the requisite number of points on their work.
For more information contact Upper School IB Coordinator, Amanda Beckrich at 864.299.1522 x1247 or at beckricha@cces.org. For more general IB Program information visit http://www.ibo.org.
Christ Church Episcopal School (“CCES”) admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at CCES. CCES does not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, color, national or ethnic origin, creed, religion, or sexual orientation in the administration of its educational policies, admission policies, financial aid, scholarship or other programs, or athletic or other school-administered programs and activities.