EE, TOK & CAS · CAS · 10 min read
CAS in the IB: the strands, the seven learning outcomes, reflections and 30 project ideas
What CAS actually requires, how to write reflections that show something, and how to get it done without it eating your second year.
On this page
- What are the three CAS strands?
- What are the seven CAS learning outcomes?
- What's the difference between a CAS experience and the CAS project?
- How do I write CAS reflections that count?
- What are the CAS interviews?
- What goes in the CAS portfolio?
- 30 CAS project ideas, by strand
- Can CAS fail my Diploma?
- How do I keep CAS manageable alongside the EE and IAs?
CAS (creativity, activity, service) is the part of the IB Diploma core you do rather than sit. You take part in experiences across three strands for at least 18 months, complete at least one collaborative CAS project lasting a month or more, reflect on what you learn, and show evidence of all seven learning outcomes. CAS isn't graded and adds no points, but it is a Diploma requirement: if it isn't completed, no Diploma is awarded.
What are the three CAS strands?
| Strand | What it covers | Typical examples |
|---|---|---|
| Creativity | The arts and any experience that involves creative thinking: making, designing, composing, writing, inventing | Music, theatre, film, design, coding a project, writing |
| Activity | Physical exertion that contributes to a healthy lifestyle | Team sport, training for an event, dance, hiking, climbing |
| Service | Unpaid, voluntary work with a community that meets a real need and teaches you something | Tutoring, environmental work, helping older people, working with a charity |
One experience can sit in more than one strand. Teaching a dance class at a care home is creativity, activity and service at once. You need a reasonable balance across the three over the whole programme, not equal amounts each month.
What are the seven CAS learning outcomes?
You need evidence of each outcome at least once across your CAS. Most experiences show two or three. In our own words:
| # | Outcome (paraphrased) | What evidence of it looks like |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Know your strengths and the areas where you need to grow | A reflection that names a specific weakness and what you did about it |
| 2 | Take on challenges and build new skills | Before-and-after evidence: first rehearsal recording versus the performance |
| 3 | Start and plan an experience yourself | Your plan, timeline or emails setting something up |
| 4 | Stick at something over time | A training log or attendance record over months, with what kept you going |
| 5 | Work with others and see what collaboration adds | A reflection on a disagreement in your team and how it was resolved |
| 6 | Engage with an issue of global significance | Local action on a global issue, such as waste, migration or literacy, with research on the wider problem |
| 7 | Think about the ethics of your choices and actions | A reflection on consent before photographing people you worked with, or on whose need your service actually met |
What's the difference between a CAS experience and the CAS project?
A CAS experience is any single event, or series of events, in one or more strands: a weekend beach clean, a term of choir, a year of football.
The CAS project is a specific requirement. You must complete at least one, and it has to be:
- Collaborative: planned and carried out with other people, not just alongside them.
- A series of linked experiences: each stage builds on the one before.
- At least one month long.
- In one, two or all three strands.
Service experiences and projects usually follow five stages: investigation (what's the need, and who says so?), preparation (planning, roles, skills), action, reflection and demonstration (showing what you did and learned, for example a short presentation or a write-up for the partner organisation). Planning your project around these stages gives you a natural set of evidence for outcomes 3, 5 and often 6.
How do I write CAS reflections that count?
A reflection is not a diary entry. It should show what you learned, what changed in your thinking or actions, and what you'll do differently. Write it soon after the experience, while the details are still there.
Weak"Today we went to the food bank again. We sorted lots of tins and packed boxes. It was really fun and I learned a lot about teamwork. I'm excited to go back next week!"
Strong"Our first two sessions at the food bank were slow because all four of us sorted every donation from start to finish. Today I suggested we split into stations, one checking dates, one sorting by type, two packing, and we filled 38 boxes compared with 22 last week. But the coordinator told us families had been getting the same four tins every week, because we packed whatever was on top of each pile. Next week we're trying a checklist so each box has a balanced mix. I'd been measuring success by speed; the people using the food bank would measure it differently." (Outcomes 3, 5, 7.)
What makes the strong version work:
- Specific detail: numbers, roles, what actually happened.
- A change: in method, in understanding, or both.
- A next step that follows from the change.
- Honesty about something that didn't go well. Reflections that only report success show little learning.
Not every experience needs a long reflection. A short, sharp one after a key moment is worth more than a weekly paragraph that says the same thing. Many schools also accept reflections in other forms, such as a short video, an audio note or annotated photos; check what your school's CAS platform allows.
What are the CAS interviews?
You have three formal interviews with your CAS coordinator or adviser. Schools usually hold them at the start of CAS, around the end of the first year, and near the end of the programme. They check that you're on track, help you plan, and confirm at the end that you've met the requirements.
Prepare for each interview: bring your portfolio up to date, know which learning outcomes you still haven't evidenced, and have a plan for them. The third interview is not the time to discover you're missing outcome 6.
What goes in the CAS portfolio?
Your CAS portfolio is the record of your experiences, reflections and evidence. It isn't formally assessed, but it's what your school uses to confirm you've met the requirements. Good evidence includes:
- Plans, timelines and messages that show you initiating something (outcome 3).
- Photos and short videos, with captions that say what they show.
- Logs over time: training sessions, rehearsals, tutoring attendance (outcome 4).
- Comments from a supervisor, coach or partner organisation.
- Your reflections, each tagged with the outcomes it evidences.
Keep a running checklist of the seven outcomes and tick them off with a link to the evidence. It turns every interview into a five-minute conversation.
30 CAS project ideas, by strand
Each of these can be collaborative, built from linked stages and run for a month or more. Adapt them to what your community actually needs; a project that answers a real need is easier to sustain and to reflect on.
Creativity
| Project | Why it works |
|---|---|
| Write and stage a one-act play for a local primary school | Clear stages from script to performance; strong for collaboration and skills |
| A six-episode podcast interviewing older residents about how your town has changed | Planning, interviewing skills, and an ethics angle (consent, how you represent people) |
| Design and paint a mural for a community centre with its users | Investigation of what users want, then design, then action |
| Launch a school literary or science magazine and publish two issues | Editorial roles, deadlines, sustained commitment |
| Form a band that writes, records and performs three original songs | Visible skill progression from first recording to last |
| Build the set and lighting for the school musical | Technical skill, teamwork with the cast, fixed deadline |
| Make a short documentary on a local environmental issue and host a screening | Research into a global issue at local scale (outcome 6) |
| Design a board game that teaches a Year 7 science topic, then test and improve it with students | Testing and redesign cycles make reflection easy |
| Curate a photography exhibition on one theme with local photographers | Organising, negotiating with others, public demonstration |
Activity
| Project | Why it works |
|---|---|
| Train as a group for a first 10 km race over 12 weeks | A training plan, logged progress and a fixed goal |
| Set up a lunchtime football or basketball league for younger students | Initiative, organisation and responsibility for others |
| Plan and complete a multi-day hike or expedition | Route planning, risk assessment, preparation training |
| Start a climbing or bouldering club with a local wall | Arranging access, safety, sustained sessions |
| Learn a new team sport together (such as korfball or touch rugby) and enter a tournament | Starting from zero shows growth and challenge |
| Choreograph and perform a group dance piece | Activity and creativity together |
| Run a beginner running group for parents and staff | Leading adults is a real challenge; easy to evidence over time |
| Organise a students-versus-staff sports day | Logistics, teamwork, a clear end date |
Service
| Project | Why it works |
|---|---|
| Weekly maths or reading tutoring for students at a partner primary school | Sustained commitment; progress you can see in the children |
| Phone and video-call workshops for older residents, including how to spot scams | Meets a clear need; investigation stage is straightforward |
| Regular river or beach clean-ups with litter data shared with the local council | Links to a global issue; data gives you something to demonstrate |
| A language-buddy scheme for newly arrived students at your school | Collaboration and ethics (dignity, privacy) built in |
| Grow vegetables in a school garden for a local soup kitchen | Long-running, sequential stages, a real partner |
| A children's reading club at the local library | Planning sessions, adapting to the group |
| An energy audit of your school, followed by a campaign for specific changes | Investigation with real data; a global issue at school scale |
| A repair café for bikes or small electronics | Practical skills, community contact, reduces waste |
| Make accessible guides or audio versions of school materials for visually impaired students | A specific need, solved with the people who have it |
Across strands
| Project | Strands |
|---|---|
| Dance or movement sessions at a care home, planned with the staff | Creativity, activity, service |
| Inclusive sports sessions for children with disabilities, with a local club | Activity, service |
| A charity tournament with posters, programmes and a live stream your team designs | Creativity, activity, service |
| A school concert where the music and staging are student-made, raising awareness for a local charity you also volunteer with | Creativity, service |
A bake sale that sends money to a charity you never meet is thin service. It becomes stronger when you work directly with the organisation: find out what they need, help deliver it, and reflect on the people it's for.
Can CAS fail my Diploma?
Yes. Meeting the CAS requirements is one of the conditions for the Diploma, alongside the points and grade rules. Because CAS isn't graded, there's no partial credit: either your school confirms you've completed it or the Diploma isn't awarded, even with a high points total. In practice that means:
- Not evidencing all seven learning outcomes.
- No completed CAS project.
- Stopping CAS well before the 18 months are up, or doing almost nothing in one strand.
- A portfolio too thin for your coordinator to confirm completion.
If you've fallen behind, talk to your CAS coordinator early; it's much easier to fix in month 10 than in month 20. The other failing conditions are covered in our guide to how IB points work.
How do I keep CAS manageable alongside the EE and IAs?
CAS runs right through the heaviest parts of the Diploma. These habits stop it becoming a scramble:
- Front-load year 1. Get your CAS project done, and most outcomes evidenced, before the Extended Essay and IAs peak in year 2.
- Build CAS from what you already do. Your existing sport, instrument or volunteering can count if you set goals and reflect; agree it with your coordinator.
- Reflect within 48 hours, briefly. Ten minutes on the day beats an hour trying to remember it a month later.
- Keep the project a size you can finish. A well-run six-week project beats an ambitious one that stalls.
- Put CAS on the same plan as your IB deadlines and your revision plan, as fixed weekly slots.
If you use an AI tool to help with reflections or planning, remember that reflections should be your own thinking; check your school's rules and our guide to AI for IB.
Questions students ask
How many hours do you need for CAS?
The current CAS programme isn't built on an hour count; it asks you to show all seven learning outcomes over at least 18 months, with a reasonable balance across the strands. The hour targets you may hear about come from an older version of CAS. Some schools set their own minimums, so check your school's handbook.
Can something I already do count for CAS?
Often, yes, if it fits a strand and you can show learning through it: setting goals, taking on something new, reflecting on it. A sport you already play becomes stronger CAS when you set a specific goal or take on a new role. Agree it with your CAS coordinator first.
Does CAS affect my IB score?
No. CAS is not graded and adds no points. But it is a Diploma requirement: if you don't complete it, you don't get the Diploma, whatever your points total.
Can paid work count as CAS?
Not as service: service has to be unpaid and voluntary. If you're unsure whether something you're paid for could count in another strand, ask your CAS coordinator.
Does the CAS project have to cover all three strands?
No. A CAS project can address one, two or all three strands. What it must be is collaborative, a planned series of linked experiences, and at least a month long.