My CAS Tips + 1 Easy Experience for Each Strand

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• 1 Easy Experience for Each Strand
• My Top CAS Tips

Introduction

You might be wondering, what is CAS? Well, it stands for Creativity, Activity, and Service. According to the official IB website, “Creativity, activity, service (CAS) is one of the three essential elements that every student must complete as part of the Diploma Program (DP). Studied throughout the Diploma Program, CAS involves students in a range of activities alongside their academic studies.” According to the official IB website:

• Creativity – arts, and other experiences that involve creative thinking.
• Activity – physical exertion contributing to a healthy lifestyle, complementing academic work elsewhere in the DP.
• Service – an unpaid and voluntary exchange that has a learning benefit for the student. The rights, dignity and autonomy of all those involved are respected.

Basically, in short, students must complete 150 hours of activities (they call it experiences) spread across these 3 strands, Creativity, Activity, and Service, before they graduate. Otherwise they will fail CAS and will not be able to receive their IB diploma, and I am not joking when I say that.

Read more about CAS on their official website: HERE

1 Easy Experience for Each Strand

Why am I only providing one idea for each strand and not 3, you may ask? Well, this is so instead of just being lazy and doing whatever experiences I mention, I want you to explore all the potential experiences available. Remember, do what interests you. The more interested you are in the experience, the more you will be motivated to do it, and in the end complete it. Trust me, trying to do a CAS experience that you don’t enjoy will only lead you to keep procrastinating to do it.

So without further ado, I will now tell you my 3 easy experiences, one for each strand.

1. Creativity – Writing blogs! Yes, I know it is quite ironic that I’m recommending you to write blogs when I myself am writing this for you, but it is for a good reason. You can easily make a website using free website makers such as Wix, Weebly, etc. I usually take 2-3 hours to write a blog, which includes writing, grammar checking, and formatting. So if you want to knock out easy CAS hours, start writing some blogs!
2. Activity – Exercise! Okay, to be fair this tip is pretty broad. But this is because this is one of the easiest strands to finish. I myself have gone to the gym, and since my exercises take a few hours to complete, I can knock off easy hours just by exercising. You can also do any sports that interests you, whether it be basketball, badminton, soccer, or volleyball. Any sport can work!
3. Service – Editing videos! I will admit, service is the one strand that I have the least amount of hours in. But I found an easy service experience that I can do: editing videos! I film a podcast with my friends, and by editing it, I can knock off hours for both Creativity AND Service!

My Top CAS Tips

Managing your CAS is quite easy. Here are 3 easy tips that you can follow to ensure you can easily manage your CAS:

• Don’t be lazy. CAS is one of the easiest parts of IB to complete. You can complete it, while also pursuing your interests. My suggestion is to set a CAS hour quota for every week and meet that quota by the end of the week. So if you want to meet a 9 hour quota by the end of the week, I suggest doing 3 hours of Creativity experiences, 3 hours of Activity experiences, and 3 hours of Service experiences so you can equally balance your CAS hours.
• Dedicate time in your day to do your CAS. “But I have tests to do and homework to finish!” Well, my friend, there is something called time management that you must learn. Once you finish your IGCSEs and enter IB, the workload will only keep increasing. So by managing your time well now, you can dedicate time to do your CAS, and in return, finish it quicker.
• And finally, finish your CAS as quickly as possible. Although you have 2 years, that being all of Grade 11 and Grade 12 to finish it, I would highly advise to finish it before you enter Grade 12. Like I mentioned, the workload will only keep increasing the higher up you go. As of right now, January 2023, I have done 22 hours of Creativity Experiences, 33 hours of Activity Experiences, and 20 hours of Service Experiences. Although I advance to Grade 12 in June, I have been making steady progress and if I keep progressing I might be able to complete my CAS in April or May. (hopefully)

I hope these CAS tips can help you to manage your CAS and finish it! 👍

P.S: Do you take Physics? Looking for tips on topic-specific guidance? Look at our Physics revision tips HERE!