Register students for IB exams through ManageBac+: check your school and Diploma settings, have students complete their Plans worksheets, review them, then submit registrations to IBIS from Register via IBIS.
For DP coordinators. Students and advisors fill in the Plans worksheets, you check them, and ManageBac+ sends the registrations to IBIS in one step. You can also build exam calendars and invoices from the same information.
At a glance
| Stage | What you do | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Check settings | Exam session, school code, languages, DP subjects | Settings |
| 2. Plans worksheets | Students or advisors enter personal details and subjects | Year Group > Plans |
| 3. Review the roster | Send reminders, check progress, lock worksheets | Year Group > Plans |
| 4. Register via IBIS | Clear previous registrations, then register scheduled students | Plans > Register via IBIS |
| 5. Exam calendars | Times, locations and proctors for each exam | Plans > Exam Calendar |
| 6. Invoicing (optional) | Exam fees on each worksheet and PDF | Plans > Invoicing & Payments Options |
Why register through ManageBac+?
- Students can see and help add their own personal information.
- You can quickly see who still needs to add information.
- Registration is one step once student details are in.
- Exam calendars are built from each student's registrations.
- You can invoice families with Export to PDF.
1. Check your school and Diploma settings
School settings
- Check the exam session and school codeGo to Settings > School Settings > Name, Address & Logo. Under School Information, check your IB School Code and Session (May or November).
- Set your languages of instructionOn the same page, choose your Language of Instruction. If you offer the IB Diploma in more than one working language, tick them under Additional Languages so you can set subjects in those languages. Theory of Knowledge can also be registered in more than one language.
For data security, the IB School Code and Session cannot be changed here. To change them, submit a request. You can only register for one exam session through ManageBac+: the one that matches your school settings.
Diploma settings
- Confirm your subjectsGo to Settings > IB Diploma > Subjects and tick your authorised subjects. They must match your IBIS subjects exactly, or registration returns an error.
- Set additional subjectsOn the same page, under Additional Subjects, choose the Number of Subjects (0 to 3) students can add beyond their six. With 0, students cannot add additional subjects to their worksheet.
- Set options and levelsOn the Options & Levels tab, set options (for example ab initio), levels (SL or HL) and topics for subjects that have them, for example History HL "Asia and Oceania". Only subjects ticked on the Subjects tab appear here.
- Choose Extended Essay subjectsOn the Extended Essay Subjects tab, tick the subjects students can choose in their Extended Essay and Plans worksheets.
If a student cannot choose a subject in their Extended Essay proposal, check it is ticked on both the Subjects and Extended Essay Subjects tabs.
Additional Subject or Add New Subject?
Additional Subject is for subjects beyond the six that count towards the Diploma. If a student takes two subjects that count towards their Diploma in Group 1, 3 or 4, use Add New Subject on their worksheet instead.
2. Plans worksheets
Turn on the Plans tab
If your DP year group has no Plans tab, go to the year group, select Edit Year Group Settings and tick Diploma Plan. The same section has Invoicing Option and Pamoja Online Course.
Open the Plans roster
Go to Year Groups, select the year group and open Plans. Students are grouped by advisor, with Your students at the top. Use By Advisors to switch to Alphabetically. Ticks in the DP 1, DP 2, CAS, EE, EX, TOK and Candidate Info columns show what each student has completed.
The Details panel on the right has the roster tools: Manage IBIS Personal Codes, Invoicing & Payments Options, Send E-mail Reminder, Configure E-mail Reminder, Export Plans to IBIS Excel, Export Plans to PDF and, for Pamoja, Manage Course Requests.
Decide who fills in the worksheets
The Candidate Personal Info and Subjects & Levels sections must be complete before you can register a student.
- To let students complete their own worksheets, unlock them on the Plans roster (Lock All Worksheets switches between locked and unlocked).
- To complete them yourself, keep them locked so students cannot change anything.
- Personal data syncs between the Plans worksheet and the student's profile. If Lock Student Profiles is on in Settings > Security & Permissions > General, students cannot edit their personal information even when the worksheet is unlocked.
Complete a worksheet
Select a student's name on the roster to open their worksheet. Students and advisors open it from the Plans tab on their own accounts.
- Candidate personal infoSelect Edit Candidate Personal Info. Required fields have a red star. First and last names must match the student's legal identification.
- Codes and status (admins)Admins can enter the IBIS Personal Code (needed if the student was ever registered before, for example as an anticipated or MYP candidate) and the Candidate Session Number. Students cannot edit these. Set the Candidate Status to Diploma or DP Course.
- Subjects and levelsUnder Subjects & Levels, select Edit Subjects. Choose the DP 1 or DP 2 tab, select a subject group on the left, then select the subject and its level (HL or SL). Select Save Changes.
- Lock when completeSelect Lock Worksheet to stop further changes to that student's worksheet.
- Do not lock worksheets with missing or out-of-date personal information. Candidate Personal Info is used for registration and must be accurate.
- To pre-fill personal information in bulk, use Settings > Import Manager > Students and tick Update Existing Users.
- DP Course students cannot register for EE, TOK or CAS through ManageBac+. Register those components directly in IBIS. DP Course status cannot be combined with anticipated registration.
- Running a session with students? Use the demo account to show them the worksheet. Submit a request for demo access.
IB requirements and common scenarios
Full Diploma candidates
ManageBac+ checks that full Diploma candidates choose at least three HL subjects, so complete Subjects & Levels in one sitting and select Save Changes. To start again, select Reset Plan at the bottom of the page.
Additional subjects
Diploma students taking more than one subject from the same group add it as an Arts subject or with Add New Subject. For two Language A exams, choose the second through Add New Subject.
Diploma students taking subjects beyond their six exam subjects, or Course students taking several subjects from one group, use Additional Subject.
Anticipated candidates
For students sitting exams in DP 1, tick Anticipated Candidate on the DP 1 tab, choose the subject and level and mark it as an exam subject. An E appears next to the subject.
On the DP 2 tab, either keep the anticipated exam subject (with Apply Anticipated Exam) or choose a new subject and level for the final exams. Check the subject package carefully: anticipated exams show an A next to the subject.
Bilingual programme
Bilingual programme students choose two Language and Literature subjects, or a Group 3 or Group 4 subject in a different language.
Self-taught, school-based syllabus and pilot subjects
You can show these on the Plans worksheet, but ManageBac+ cannot register them. Contact the IBIS help desk to confirm these registrations.
Pamoja online courses
Pamoja submits IA marks, predicted grades, moderation samples and externally assessed components for its students in IBIS. After registering through ManageBac+, mark these students as taking an online course in IBIS:
- In IBIS, open DP Online courses.
- Search for the candidate, or select List all candidates, then Search candidates.
- Tick Indicate online course, choose the course provider and select Save change(s).
3. Review the roster
- Remind studentsSelect Send E-mail Reminder in the Details panel. Students get an email and complete their worksheets from the Plans tab. Sending it during a lesson lets you go through the steps together.
- Track progressFollow up with anyone missing ticks on the roster. The CAS tick appears when the student's CAS worksheet is marked as complete. You do not need it to register, because Diploma students are registered for CAS automatically.
- Check everythingUse Export Plans to PDF to review all personal information and subject choices together.
- Lock and do a final checkSelect Lock All Worksheets, then do a final review with Export Plans to PDF or Export Plans to IBIS Excel.
- RegisterSelect Register via IBIS. This opens the registration page, where you choose who to register.
The IB still expects coordinators to check each student's worksheet. ManageBac+ catches basic mistakes, such as fewer than three HL subjects, but a missing personal code or a subject your school is not authorised for will make the registration fail.
4. Register via IBIS
The Registration Details page shows your school code, deadline notes and five tabs.
- Clear previous registrations firstIf students were registered for anticipated exams last year, open the Registered tab and select Clear Previous Registrations. This lets you register anticipated Diploma candidates for their final exams, and Course candidates for further exams. Uncleared students cannot be registered again.
- Fix pending studentsPending lists students missing exam subjects or personal information. Update their worksheets to move them to Scheduled.
- Register scheduled studentsScheduled lists students who are ready. After checking their worksheets, register them one at a time with Register Now or all together with Register all Candidates.
- Wait for processingStudents show under Processing until they move to Registered or Failed. One student takes 5 to 10 seconds; hundreds can take up to 60 minutes.
- Check the resultsRegistered students need nothing more, including students previously registered for anticipated exams. Failed students show an error message with how to fix it.
- Personal codes update straight after successful registration. Session numbers update from IBIS in January (May session schools) or before the end of August (November session schools). You can also update codes with Manage IBIS Personal Codes on the Plans roster.
- PIN codes are not pulled from IBIS. Enter them manually if you want students to see them in ManageBac+.
- If you see a message that registration has been withdrawn because of outstanding debts over 90 days old, contact IB Finance at myaccount@ibo.org.
Fix failed registrations
Candidate exists in another school and cannot be registered again on ManageBac+
The student transferred from another school and was registered there as an MYP or anticipated candidate. Ask the previous school for the student's IBIS personal code (for example dmg891) and register them directly in IBIS.
The candidate already exists in IBIS. Please fill out the Candidate's Personal Code
The student was registered through your school before, for anticipated exams or MYP moderation. Find their personal code in IBIS, add it with Manage IBIS Personal Codes on the Plans roster, then register them again from Register via IBIS.
This Candidate is already registered in IBIS, and can not be registered again from ManageBac+
The student was registered directly in IBIS first. Make all further changes for that student in IBIS. You can still keep their personal information and subjects in ManageBac+ for reference.
More: View common error codes.
5. Exam calendars
Create exam calendars with times, locations and proctors for students and teachers. Exam dates and paper durations for the May and November sessions are built in each year.
- Open the exam calendarOn the Plans roster, select Exam Calendar.
- Add times, locations and proctorsFor each exam, set the location, start and end time, and the exam proctors. Select Save Changes at the bottom of the page.
- Share itUse Daily Exam Calendar for a day-by-day view, Assigned Exams to see each teacher's assignments, or Export Schedule to PDF.
Students see their own schedule from Exams Calendar in the Details panel of their Plans worksheet. Coordinators and advisors can open the same view from a student's worksheet. Exams only show once their times, locations and proctors are set.
6. Invoicing (optional)
- Turn it onTick Invoicing Option in Edit Year Group Settings.
- Set the feesOn the Plans roster, select Invoicing & Payments Options in the Details panel. Tick Enable Invoicing and set the Subject Fee, Currency and payment Details.
- Check each worksheetEach student's worksheet shows the fee for each exam subject and the Total Due (see the Subjects & Levels screenshot above).
- Send invoicesUse Export Plans to PDF on the roster, or Export Plan to PDF on a worksheet, to download a PDF you can send to families.