Documentos de Académico
Documentos de Profesional
Documentos de Cultura
GUIDE TO
GRADUATION
Includes:
WARNING!!! Information subject to change. Many of the theoretical combinations in this book are
not practically possible, or will mess you up in college. Make sure to consult with others.
Let's start with the basics.
The 2006 class. were split on what subjects to take. They ended up with a suits-nobody compromise.
Us, the 2007, class, got stuck in a number of departments:
– We didn't know that there was a provincial exam (PrEx) for English Literature, so we didn't take it.
– We were told we needed four PrExs in Grade 12. In fact, that's what UBC wants. However, only
one of us was taking UBC seriously, so in May, one of us dropped Math. In the end, we should
have looked at what we probably needed.
– We didn't know until may that we had two more courses than we needed to graduate.
At eh beginning of May, this all fell down on our heads. We made the same mistakes that they laughed
at us for making last year - and it seemed like it would continue forever (no offense to Grade 11 – I
think they'll do fine.)
This happened for several reasons. None of us had clear goals of what we wanted to do, and each year
builds off the next. No one, or nothing, at the school, is dedicated to doing this for the students – with
fifty of us, there are plenty of other things to worry about. So if you don't check yourself, people will
make mistakes, or do a standard set to play it safe.
This booklet is meant to give you all of the information you need to start planning your own schedule.
You should start as soon as Grade 9 – You don't have many choices next year, but you'll have more
when class sizes go up, and you should always be able to pick your elective.
Some basics.
In British Columbia, high school is Grades 10-12. (School districts may add more grades, but they do
not affect graduation.) There is only one type of high school diploma, known as the Dogwood. To do it,
you need to do certain things, outlined below with things PTI requires as a Jewish school:
In addition, colleges have their own requirements. To give two examples, UBC and SFU not only
require a diploma, they also require four provincial exam courses in Grade 12 and a language in Grade
11, and the sciences require even more. American universities are generally easier; University of
Washington just requires a diploma, although you may have to take extra math in college. Check before
you plan.
A couple of things to keep in mind:
– You can keep on taking Hebrew 11 and Hebrew 12 to add on credits and PE 11 to help with your
Graduation Transitions, and you're good to to!
– However, if you want to attend UBC, SFU, and many other colleges (but not UW) you will need to
take four courses with exams in Grade 12, instead of just two secular subjects.
– Don't take a course offered in Grade 11 and 12 that you need in just one in Grade 12. You'll be
missing stuff you need in between.
– The more courses you take in high school, the less you will have to take in university to start your
degree.
Provincially Examinable Courses: You'll have to take at least five of these courses (eight for UBC or
SFU). These courses are the most impressive regular courses, are the most useful for college, and are
the easiest to transfer. However, the course is less flexible, part of the course has to be taught for the
exam, and the exams are hard. Exam courses are marked in bold in Appendix A.
Regular Courses: Most likely, the rest of your courses will be these normal ones, no more and no less.
A complete list of these can be found in Appendix A.
AP/IB Courses (11/12): AP (and its harder cousin, IB) are like international courses (especially IB) and
are treated by the Ministry as full courses - in fact, they can be taken instead of provincial exams. They
are recognized worldwide, and they can even count as college credit at most schools if you do well.
However, the courses are not tailored to BC students and are more of a challenge. They have been
omitted from Appendix A, but may be found in the Course Information for the Graduation Program
booklet.
Graduation Transitions: This is not really a course, but is one of your required 20. It starts immediately
upon entering Grade 10 and runs through they summer until graduation. replaces the Graduation
Portfolio after complaints that it was too bureaucratic and poorly implemented. To get credits for it,
you have to:
• Get 80 hours of exercise besides PE 10 and develop a healthy living plan (Easy o knock off with PE
11)
• Work or volunteer for at least 30 hours and describe it (Get a summer job)
• Develop and present a plan for what you will do after high school. (You do this anyways)
Independent Directed Studies (11/12): As long as it falls within an existing course, you may get credit
for supervised self-study. First, you need to prove that you are capable of independent learning. Then,
with the help of a teacher, you have to develop a rough course outline. Then, you get credits for the
course at about one credit (¼ of a course) every 30 hours/2½ months. This is great for a detailed
research project (e.g. studying World War I for History 12), or if you already know half a course and
just want to learn the other half. Remember that you need four credits of IDS for it to count as a course.
¾ of a course won't help you.
Course Challenge: Anyone is entitled to challenge any course if they can prove they know it, especially
if the course is not offered by the school. First, you must prove you know the basics of the course, most
easily done by showing previous work or getting an 80 on a basic exam. Then you have to get a 50 on a
regular exam (or the provincial, when required). In practice, this is rarely done, except to challenge a
language course when English is a second language. Risks include failing and/or being unprepared for
next year. However, it takes almost no time of yours – just a couple of afternoons.
Note the different types of Math and Language Arts. There are three types of math – Essentials,
Applications, and Principles. The first is not for college. The second is for the arts. The third is for the
sciences. In the same way, Communications is English for people not planning to go to college. You'll
probably want to keep your options open and stick to the best options.
This package is just a rough outline – don't forget to check their website and consult people.
Math 10 and 11 or 12
Applications of Mathematics 10/11/12
Essentials of Mathematics 10/11/12
Principles of Mathematics 10/11/12
Calculus 12
Science 10 and 11 or 12
Science 10
Earth Science 11
Science & Technology 11
Forests 11/12
Physics 11/12
Agriculture 11/12
Applications of Physics 11/12
Biology 11/12
Chemistry 11/12
Geology 12
OTHER COURSES/ELECTIVES
Agriculture 10
Independent Directed Studies 11A/B/C/12A/B/C
Metal Fabrication and Machining (FNASK) 11/12
Physical Education 11/12
Comparative Civilizations 12
English Literature 12
Geography 12
History 12
Law 12
Technical and Professional Communications 12
Writing 12
Arabic 10/11/12
German 10/11/12
Heiltsuk 10/11/12
French 10/11/12
Italian 10/11/12
Japanese 10/11/12
Korean 10/11/12
Mandarin Chinese 10/11/12
Okanagan 10/11/12
Punjabi 10/11/12
Secwepemctsin 10/11/12
Shashishalhem 10/11/12 (Sechelt Language)
Sim’alga Nisga’a 10/11/12
Sm’algyax 10/11/12
Spanish 10/11/12
Tsek'ene 10/11/12
Upper St’át’imcets 10/11/12
American Sign Language 10/11/12
Introductory American Sign Language 11
Introductory Arabic 11
Introductory German 11
Introductory Heiltsuk 11
Introductory Italian 11
Introductory Japanese 11
Introductory Korean 11
Introductory Mandarin 11
Introductory Okanagan 11
Introductory Punjabi 11
Introductory Secwepemctsin 11
Introductory Shashishalhem 11 (Sechelt Language)
Introductory Sim’algaxhl Nisga’a 11
Introductory Sm’algyax 11
Introductory Spanish 11
Introductory Upper St’át’imcets 11
Introductory Tsek'ene 11
APPENDIX B
REFERENCES
http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/graduation/related_docs.htm
The documents page. Start detailed research here. Use what I did:
Handbook of Procedures for the Graduation Program
The Graduation Program 2004
2007/08 Graduation Program Examination Schedule
Program Guide for Graduation Transitions: Response Draft
Course Information for the Graduation Program: Grade 10, 11 and 12 Courses
http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/graduation/
For graduation requirements and exam dates
http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/irp.htm
For curriculum packages – if you wonder what a course is like, look here
http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/graduation/courseinfo/
For available courses in BC
http://tinyurl.com/2dyz5l
The website is awful to navigate – try this homepage instead, or google your query.
© Avi Levin. This document is released under a CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0 license, available at
http://www.creativecommons.org.