CAS Experiences

A CAS experience is a specific event in which the student engages with one or more of the three CAS strands:

Creativity
Activity
Service

A CAS experience can be a single event or may be an extended series of events.

A CAS project is a collaborative series of sequential CAS experiences lasting at least one month.

Typically, a student’s CAS programme combines planned/unplanned singular and ongoing experiences. All are valuable and may lead to personal development. However, a meaningful CAS programme must be more than unplanned/singular experiences. A series of planned CAS experiences are recommended for a more engaging CAS programme.

CAS experiences may incorporate one or more of the CAS strands. For example:

Going for a mountain hike could be a singular experience within the "Activity" strand.
A student plans a number of visits to a nursing home resulting in a series of CAS experiences within the "Service" strand.
A group of students plan and stage a basketball tournament for the local community, resulting in a series of CAS experiences involving the strands of "Activity" and "Service."

Guidelines to CAS Experiences

There are four guidelines that should be applied to any proposed CAS experience. A CAS experience must:

fit within one or more of the CAS strands
be based on a personal interest, skill, talent or opportunity for growth
provide opportunities to develop the attributes of the IB learner profile
not be used or included in the student’s Diploma course requirements

To further assist students in deciding on a CAS experience, the following questions may be useful for students to consider.

Will the experience be enjoyable?
Does the experience allow for development of personal interests, skills and/or talents?
What new possibilities or challenges could the experience provide?
What might be the possible consequences of your CAS experience for you, others and the environment?
Which CAS learning outcomes may be addressed?

While it is not necessary for each CAS experience to address a CAS learning outcome, upon completion of the CAS programme, CAS students are required to present evidence demonstrating achievement of all CAS learning outcomes.