What happens if I don't work on my CAS?

The consequences of forgetting to up-date your CAS portfolio are numerous.  In this holiday edition of the CAS blog, I will list some of the things that could afflict YOU if the little red - new changes - image doesn't appear next to your name over the next month.

1. You will not be able to show that you have participated in CAS for a continuous period of 18 months
2. You will not be able to show that you have met all the learning outcomes
3. You will find it hard to get evidence of having met the learning outcomes
4. Your supervisor will forget who you are and not be able to review your experience
5. You will get really stressed just before your mock exams because you know that you don't have enough on your CAS portfolio to qualify for the Diploma and you might as well throw in the towel
6. You will have to work like crazy just before, during and after the mocks trying to get things up-to-date, leaving you with no time to study...
7. Some of your experiences will get deleted due to lack of action and you will have to do more to make up for the loss..
8. You will find it hard to reflect on something you did 6 months ago and almost impossible to show how you met the learning outcome for that particular experience - an outcome that you do not have for any other so you will end up with one missing outcome.

All of the above are stressful and eventually lead to you not qualifying for the IB Diploma.  Do not put yourself in that position.  You have all worked so hard to get this far.  Most of you need to spend 10 - 15 minutes a week on your portfolio to keep it in shape.   A stitch in time saves nine. 

There is one more consequence that might not impact on the IB Diploma but is pretty scary.  If you do not up-date your CAS portfolio, the CAS coordinator will haunt your dreams for the next 50 years....

Enjoy the break but don't forget to CAS......

There is not much happening here. In general you need more evidence and reflection for all ongoing experiences

Comments on CAS portfolios

This week I have checked every single CAS portfolio.  All except a couple of people have received comments with suggestions about what they should do to keep up with their CAS and be eligible for the IB Diploma.  The most common comment is the title of today's blog.

"There is not much happening here. In general you need more evidence and reflection for all ongoing experiences"

I know that you have all been very busy with your exams and Internal Assessments but it is essential that you spend a little time on your CAS portfolio NOW.  It is hard to find evidence and do reflections at the end of the IB, especially when you are preparing for the real IB exams.  If you are not done in time, you will need to come in during the exam time to work on your portfolio and do your CAS interview.  NO ONE WANTS TO DO THAT!

A few people have not finished off their CAS projects - correction - they have finished the projects but not the 'paper work'.  This must be priority number one.

Another common comment is:

"If a supervisor doesn't respond to a review request, it is your responsibility to contact him/her. In person if necessary"

I have emailed some school supervisors and asked them to check managebac but really this is your responsibility. If they do not respond to emails - go speak to them.  It might be that they don't really know what to say, as they have not had so much contact with you.  Go and talk to them and explain what you have done so that they know what they can write.

A 3rd comment that reoccurs is: 

"I think that some of these experiences might have ended. Please add all the reflection and evidence and then do the CAS questions to finish them off."

This is to let you know that you need to finish it ASAP.  I have said that you have 3 months to get it completed.  Some of you have let experiences that finished last term stay open. If that is the case you might have received the following comment:

"You have an experience that is in danger of deletion if it is not up-dated or completed within the next 2 weeks."

This means you really have to take action to get up-to-date.

You should have a lot of green ticks by now but you must be actively participating in at least one experience.  That means adding evidence, and reflection on a fairly frequent basis.  If you haven't added anything since June, then maybe the experience is no longer valid.

Take the time over the break to up-date.