Made up of the three required components, the DP core aims to broaden students’ educational experience and challenge them to apply their knowledge and skills. The three elements of the DP core are as follows:

1. Creativity, activity, service, in which students complete a project related to those three concepts (CAS)
   
2. Extended essay, which is an independent, self-directed piece of research, finishing with a 4,000-word paper (EE)
   
3. Theory of knowledge, in which students reflect on the nature of knowledge and on how we know what we claim to know (TOK)