7 Unique IB CAS Hours Ideas

Are you struggling with your CAS reflections? Here are a few IB CAS hours ideas that can help you. The article also specifies how each activity can be divided into Creativity, Activity and Service for you to optimise the hours that you will document for your CAS reflections.

 

First, let us go through the fundamental requirements of each of the aspects of CAS, that is, Creativity, Activity and Service. Creativity demands IB students to get in touch with their artistic selves and produce something employing their creative thinking. Activity requires physical exertion and Service is all about helping the community without any reimbursements.

 

Here are the 7 unique CAS ideas: 

1. Making A Video

2. Playing A Sport

3. Learning An Instrument

4. Volunteering On The Weekends

5. Planting a Tree

6. Starting A Club

7. Teaching A Skill

 

This video can be about anything that the world should know. If you are reading this in April 2020, then you are in luck. Make a simple video about the precautionary steps that one should take to curb the pandemic.

If you are reading this after the world has recovered from COVID-19 (wonder how that worked out), then you can choose any global issue including

 

1. waste management

2. sustainability

3. plastic pollution

 

Making such a video will help you earn a lot of hours for all of the components of CAS. Planning the video, writing a script for it and selecting an ideal soundtrack will help to get the creativity points. Dedicating a day to search for a perfect location for the shoot and setting up an optimal setup to record the video can account for the activity bit. Finally, since the video is in the interest of the public and you won’t get any direct reimbursements for your efforts, you will be credible for claiming your Service points. This particular project has a lot of overlaps between Creativity, Activity and Service. Nevertheless, here is an example of how you can break it down.

 

CAS Hours Earned: 

 

1. Creativity: 2-3 hours (penning down a script, etc.), 

2. Activity (Scouting for an ideal location): 2 hours 

3. Service (actually shooting the video and distributing it on social channels): 4-5 hours

 

You may not be a sportsperson but playing a sport is an excellent filler for your CAS reflections. Take my example of integrating sports in my hectic IB routine. I started to learn horse riding towards the end of my DP 1. The sessions happened thrice a week for an hour. This adjustment in my schedule paid off at the end of the second year. The sessions used to take place early in the morning and did not disturb any of my classes throughout the day. It was an easy way of securing several Activity Hours. Moreover, I volunteered to groom the horse over the weekends and documented that for my Service Hours. If there is one thing that you should take from this article, it should be to interrelate all of the CAS components as much as possible.

 

CAS Hours Earned: Activity: 3 hours/week; Service: 1 hours/week

 

It is entirely okay not to want to learn a musical instrument but if you lack the required CAS hours then learning the basics of an instrument is an easy way to Creativity points. I picked up the violin in DP2. Although the only thing that I truly mastered by the end of the first year was ‘twinkle twinkle little stars’, I was able to sail through my reflections. However, I would suggest that you pick up an instrument which is slightly less demanding than the violin. Here’s a fantastic pro tip. Regardless of the instrument, you decide to learn; you can base at least one of your Internal Assessment around that instrument.

A few ideas from the top of my head are:

 

1. Exploring the range of vibrations produced by your chosen instruments in regards to the force of stroke applied while playing that instrument (A good topic for Physics IA where you can explore the topic of Waves)

2. Arranging the notes of multiple instruments based on the Fibonacci Sequence and analysing its impact on each of the instruments melody (a good topic for Maths IA)

 

Note: these ideas, although raw and vague, can be used as the foundation to develop something concrete.

CAS Hours Earned: Creativity: at least 2 hours/week (additional benefit of writing one of your IAs around that instrument).

 

CAS does not need to be limited to the weekdays. Try to volunteer once every month at any local NGO. If you cannot find an NGO near your house, then you can look for nursing homes, animal shelters, etc. and spend some time there. I do not promote helping others just for the sake of completing your CAS hours, but an IB student gotta do what an IB student gotta do. One other thing to keep in mind while volunteering is that you must take approval from your CAS coordinator and connect her with whosoever is in charge of the volunteering place. By doing so, you will be able to vouch for your contribution. 

 

CAS Hours Earned: Service: 2 hours/month

 

If you happen to live in an area where none of the above mentioned is possible, then you can do something as simple as planting a tree. This simple activity can get you at least 3 hours of CAS. Planting a tree might seem like a straight forward activity, but there is a lot to it than what meets the eye. For starters, you will have to do your research about the kind of tree that can survive in your neighbourhood. Then you will have to go to a botanical garden and purchase the sapling. Finally, you would have to find an ideal location to plant that tree. All in all, this is like a calorie bomb for accumulating all your Service Hours.

 

CAS Hours Earned: Service: 3-5 hours

 

Doing CAS for something you are passionate about is one of the fun ways to document your hours. You can start a club for poetry, debate, theatre, chess, films, dance, etc. Starting a club requires a lot of planning and effort. It will be best to do something like this with a friend who shares the same interest as yours. This will help you push through the administrative part of running a club.

 

Furthermore, you should be ready to market your club and build a community. Committing to a club often requires a lot of hard work and dedication. It may also compel you to tweak your schedule so you may want to be careful with all your deadlines and course work. 

 

A more comfortable alternative to starting a club is to teach a skill. One of the ways to get something like this started is to reach out to your community and inquire if people require a tutor. The tutoring can be for anything in which you have enough practice and experience. A few examples of teachable skills are coding, writing, a foreign language, etc. 

 

Don’t forget to help others by mentioning some of your unique ideas in the comments below (no this won’t count for CAS). Thank you for making it to the end of yet another beautifully curated article of Nail IB. 

 

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