IB Diploma Programme

The DP has no “class of 30”. Every student is their own schedule.

Diploma students each pick six subjects across the six IB groups. That's what makes DP timetabling hard — and what generic schedulers can't do. Schedual solves it student by student.

3 students · 3 combinations · 1 timetable✓ no clashes
AAna
Math HLBio HLEng SLTOK
BBen
Chem HLMath SLArt HLTOK
CChloé
Bio HLHist HLEng HLTOK
↓ solver · 18s ↓
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
8:30
Math
Chem
Bio
TOK
Eng
9:30
Bio
Art
Hist
Math
Eng
10:45
Eng
Math
Eng
Hist
Chem

Why the DP is different

Individual timetables, not cohorts

In most curricula, a year group moves together as a class. The Diploma Programme doesn’t work like that. Each student assembles their own six-subject combination — one from each of the six IB groups (with some flexibility), at Higher or Standard Level. Two DP students sitting side by side may share only Theory of Knowledge.

That means the scheduling unit is the student, not the class. A tool that builds cohort timetables literally can’t represent a DP student, which is why so many IB schools fall back to spreadsheets. Schedual schedules every Diploma student individually — and still fits them all into one shared week of teachers and rooms.

Built for the Diploma

What DP timetabling actually demands

Six-subject combinations

Every student’s chosen six subjects are placed with no clashes, across the six IB groups, respecting each choice at HL or SL.

HL & SL weekly minutes

HL needs ~240 hours over two years, SL ~150. Each subject lands with the correct weekly load — enforced, not tracked by hand.

Combined DP1/DP2 classes

Small cohorts often share a subject class across both year groups. Schedual models this natively instead of forcing a hard year-group split.

TOK, EE & CAS

Theory of Knowledge runs weekly; the Extended Essay needs occasional supervisor sessions; CAS isn’t timetabled — each handled correctly.

Group-size & room limits

Popular HL subjects don’t overflow a room; the solver balances section sizes as it places students.

Per-student output

Every student gets their own clean timetable, and every teacher and room a conflict-free view.

DP by hand vs Schedual

Where DP spreadsheets fall apart

By hand / generic tool

  • One student’s change breaks three others
  • HL/SL minutes checked manually, subject by subject
  • Clashes discovered when students get their sheets
  • A single elective added = a full rebuild

With Schedual

  • Every student solved together, no clashes
  • HL/SL minutes guaranteed automatically
  • Conflicts impossible by construction
  • Add a choice, regenerate in seconds

Fast enough to iterate

Try the tricky DP cases in minutes

A typical Diploma cohort solves in about 15–30 seconds. So the hard DP questions — can we offer Physics HL and Visual Arts HL to the two students who want both? does adding an Economics section relieve the clash? — stop being guesswork. Change the inputs, regenerate, compare.

See it on your real Diploma data in a short demo: we’ll generate your current DP timetable live, per student.

~18s
a DP cohort
6
subjects per student, solved
HL/SL
minutes enforced
0
clashes

FAQ

Questions IB coordinators ask

Does Schedual support IB DP, MYP and PYP?+

Yes — it is purpose-built for all three. The Diploma Programme uses individual student subject choices with HL/SL groupings; MYP and PYP use cohort-based scheduling. Each runs through the same solver with programme-appropriate constraints.

How long does generating a schedule take?+

A small DP cohort of about 30 students takes around 15–30 seconds. A full IB school with PYP, MYP and DP combined (about 500 students) typically completes in 60–90 seconds. Generation runs on a dedicated solver, so your browser never blocks.

What if a teacher becomes unavailable mid-term?+

Update their availability and re-generate — the schedule rebuilds in under a minute. Manual drag-and-drop edits are also supported, with live conflict validation before you drop a class into a new period.

Where is school data stored?+

On dedicated EU infrastructure, with daily encrypted backups and 30-day object lock for ransomware protection. Row-level security keeps every school’s data fully isolated.

Try Schedual or talk to the founders.

30-minute demo on your own data — watch Schedual build your real timetable.