Curriculum types: IB, Cambridge, and American programs compared
What’s actually being taught and tested — and why it isn’t the same question as how the classroom runs.
Part of the InterCon guide to choosing an international school in Japan.
What curriculum determines
“Curriculum” is the syllabus and the exam board — the specific body that sets what’s taught in each subject, at what age, and how it’s graded. It’s set externally, by an organization outside the school itself (the International Baccalaureate Organization in Geneva, Cambridge Assessment International Education in the UK, or a US state / AERO standards framework), and a school is authorized to teach it and bound by its exam calendar and requirements.
It is not the same as teaching style, and it is not the same as whether a school is legitimately authorized to offer it — those are two separate questions this guide covers on their own.
The International Baccalaureate (IB)
The IB is structured as a continuum of four programmes, each requiring its own separate school authorization — being authorized for one doesn’t automatically cover another:
The DP is the one families weigh most heavily at university-application time: students take six subjects across the arts, sciences, and languages, plus the Theory of Knowledge course, an Extended Essay, and Creativity-Activity-Service hours, and are graded out of 45 points through a mix of external exams and internally assessed coursework that’s externally moderated.
A few schools running the IB in Japan:
Cambridge International (IGCSE & A Level)
Cambridge’s pathway runs Cambridge Primary and Lower Secondary, into IGCSE (typically taken around age 16), and then Cambridge International AS & A Level for the final two years. Where the IB DP keeps six broad subjects going simultaneously, A Level asks students to narrow to three or four subjects and go deep — a structure that suits students who already know their intended field.
Grading is per-subject (A* through E), set by external written exams at the end of each course, with far less internally assessed coursework than the IB uses.
A few schools running Cambridge in Japan:
American / AP-based curricula
Schools running an American-style curriculum in Japan typically follow a US state framework or AERO (American Education Reaches Out) standards, use a cumulative GPA on a 4.0 scale rather than a single diploma score, and layer Advanced Placement (AP) courses on top as an optional rigor signal — AP exams are scored 1–5 and can convert to US college credit.
Because there’s no single external “American curriculum” exam board the way IB or Cambridge has one, the specific standards a school follows and its accrediting body matter more for verifying quality than the “American curriculum” label alone does.
A few schools running American / AP curricula in Japan:
Tokyo
Tokyo
Tokyo
American-curriculum schools are commonly accredited through WASC rather than a curriculum-specific exam board — see how to verify that status directly with WASC instead of relying on a badge on the school’s own site.
How assessment differs
| Curriculum | Breadth | Assessment | Grading output |
|---|---|---|---|
| IB Diploma | 6 subjects + TOK, EE, CAS | Mixed internal + external | One score out of 45 |
| Cambridge A Level | 3–4 subjects | Almost entirely external exams | Per-subject grade, A*–E |
| American / AP | Continuous coursework across years | Cumulative GPA + optional AP exams | GPA (4.0 scale); AP scored 1–5/subject |
This table describes how each curriculum is graded — it says nothing about how the classroom is actually run day to day. Two schools teaching the identical curriculum can run completely opposite classrooms.
University recognition
The IB Diploma is accepted for direct admission by universities in over 100 countries and frequently carries credit or advanced-standing equivalencies; UK universities score it via UCAS tariff points. A Levels are the default entry currency for UK universities (also converted via UCAS points) and are recognized elsewhere too, sometimes alongside supplementary AP or SAT scores.
A US-pattern diploma is the expected format for US college admissions, but on its own — without AP results and SAT/ACT scores — it doesn’t carry the same portable, externally verifiable signal outside the US that an IB score or A Level grades do. Students aiming at competitive US schools from a Japan-based American-curriculum school typically still sit AP exams and standardized tests to round out the application.