IB and AP in Ontario: How Each Programme Works

Some Ontario secondary schools offer the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, Advanced Placement courses, or both. The two are structured very differently. This page sets out the documented structure of each and how transfer credit policies are published, using the organisations' own materials and a university's published policy as a worked example.

Structural differences

Sources for the above:[1][2][3]

How IB scoring works

The IB maximum of 45 points is composed of six subjects graded 1–7 (36 points), plus up to 3 additional points awarded jointly for Theory of Knowledge and the Extended Essay.[1] Creativity, Activity, Service does not contribute points, but authenticated participation is required for the diploma to be awarded.[1]

The diploma is awarded to students who obtain at least 24 points, subject to minimum performance requirements and completion of the three core elements.[2]

Assessment consists of externally marked written examinations plus internal assessment marked by teachers, which normally accounts for between 20% and 30% of a subject's assessment and up to 50% in some courses.[1]

How AP works

Advanced Placement courses are administered by the College Board. Each course culminates in an examination scored from 1 to 5.[8] Students may take a single AP course or several, and there is no overarching programme structure, required breadth, or additional coursework component beyond the courses themselves.

In Ontario, students in either programme complete the requirements for the Ontario Secondary School Diploma alongside the IB or AP coursework.

Transfer credit at Ontario universities

Transfer credit policies are set by each university, and often by each faculty within a university. The University of Toronto's published policies illustrate the structure such policies typically take:

• IB: Transfer credit is awarded for Higher Level examinations with a final grade of at least 5. No transfer credit is awarded for Standard Level examinations.[5]
• AP: Transfer credit may be granted where a grade of at least 4 is achieved on the examination.[6]
• Limits and exceptions apply.U of T notes that policies vary by faculty and campus — for example, the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering does not provide transfer credit for AP, IB, French Baccalaureate, GCE or CAPE subjects, and some divisions cap credit at a maximum number of Higher Level examinations.[7]

Finding IB and AP schools

The International Baccalaureate Organization maintains an official directory of authorised IB World Schools, which is the authoritative source for whether a school is currently authorised to offer an IB programme.[4]

On this site, you can filter for IB and AP on the rankings page, and each secondary school profile shows the programmes we detected. As with all our programme data, these flags come from automated scans of school websites, are incomplete, and may be out of date — schools where no scan succeeded are marked unverified. Confirm current programme authorisation with the school and, for IB, against the IBO directory.