IB History Tutor

IB History is a Diploma Programme humanities subject that, for the last assessment in 2027, is assessed through two written papers at Standard Level (SL) and three at Higher Level (HL), plus a compulsory Historical investigation worth 25% of the final grade at SL and 20% at HL. The course compares developments across at least two world regions rather than one national narrative, and its mark schemes reward sustained argument over descriptive recall.

The IB History Exam — Structure and What It Tests

The DP history course is a world history course built on a comparative, multi-perspective approach: students are required to study examples from more than one region of the world rather than a single national narrative. Both Standard Level (SL) and Higher Level (HL) students sit Paper 1 and Paper 2 and complete the Historical investigation; HL students additionally sit Paper 3.

Paper 1 is a source-based paper built around one of five prescribed subjects, each studied through two case studies taken from different regions of the world - for example The move to global war or Rights and protest. Students work through questions that test comprehension, comparison and source evaluation.

Paper 2 is an essay paper set on two of twelve world history topics, chosen so that the case studies span more than one region. This is where the analytical essay demands become most visible: students must construct a sustained argument rather than a narrative account.

Paper 3 applies to HL students only and is built around the HL regional depth study; it is covered in the next section. The Historical investigation, an independently researched piece of coursework, is compulsory at both levels and carries a different weighting at SL and HL - also covered below.

What catches students off guard is that IB History does not reward knowledge alone. A student who can accurately describe the causes of the Second World War, or recount the consolidation of power by a named authoritarian leader, will not score well unless that knowledge is deployed in direct service of an argument. The mark schemes are explicit: description, however accurate, is not analysis.

Which Syllabus Applies: the 2027 Cut-off and the Incoming 2028 Course

Every current fact above describes the course the IB itself marks for “the last assessment in 2027” - the syllabus first examined in 2017. The IB has already published a second, separate Subject Brief for a revised DP History course carrying “first assessment 2028”, so a student's cohort determines which structure actually applies to them.

The revised course keeps the same overall shape - SL and HL, an internally assessed Historical investigation, an HL-only regional element - but replaces the content architecture entirely. The prescribed subject and world history topics are dropped in favour of a focused study (one of five options, two focused studies) and a thematic study (one of four options); the HL depth study becomes a regional study with two studies taken from a chosen region. The Historical investigation's weighting also changes.

The IB's subject briefs do not themselves state a first-teaching date for the revised course. Because the Diploma Programme runs for two years, a school adopting the new syllabus as soon as it is available would typically enrol its first cohort in the September before a May 2028 sitting - but this is a reasonable inference from the IB's own two-year model, not a published date, and families should confirm their own school's timetable with its DP coordinator rather than assume it.

HL and SL: A Meaningful Difference, Not Just More Content

The distinction between HL and SL in IB History is structural, not merely quantitative. Both levels study the same prescribed subject and the same world history topics, and both complete the Historical investigation. What HL adds is Paper 3: an essay paper built on a regional depth study, chosen from History of Africa and the Middle East, History of the Americas, History of Asia and Oceania or History of Europe.

Paper 3 is 2.5 hours long and worth 35% of the HL final grade - the single largest component of the HL assessment. Students who treat the regional depth study as a chronological list to memorise struggle here. The paper rewards students who have organised their knowledge thematically and argumentatively, so that they can respond flexibly to whichever question is set rather than reproducing a prepared account.

This places specific demands on preparation time: HL students carry the same prescribed subject and world history topics as SL, plus an additional region studied in comparable depth, within a recommended 240 teaching hours against SL's 150. The extra 90 hours has to build genuine command of a fourth block of content, not just familiarity with it.

Where Marks Are Lost — and Why Good Students Still Underperform

The most consistent reason capable students underperform in IB History is the failure to argue rather than describe. This is not a matter of intelligence or effort - it reflects a habit of historical writing that is actively rewarded at GCSE but penalised at IB level. GCSE History often rewards comprehensive coverage; IB History rewards selectivity in the service of a clear thesis.

Other common sources of lost marks include:

• Writing introductions that outline what will be discussed rather than stating a position - IB mark schemes reward a clear, contestable argument from the opening paragraph
• Treating Paper 2 topics as separate revision lists rather than understanding the thematic connections the questions will exploit
• In Paper 1, evaluating sources by origin and purpose in formulaic terms without connecting that evaluation to the specific historical question being asked
• Underestimating the time pressure of Paper 3 at HL: a 2.5-hour paper worth 35% of the final HL grade, where extended essays must be planned and written against the clock

One piece of advice that makes a measurable difference: when preparing for Paper 2, practise writing the first paragraph only - repeatedly, across different question types - before attempting full essays. The opening paragraph must establish a thesis, signal the line of argument, and demonstrate conceptual awareness. Students who can do this reliably under pressure have already solved the hardest part of the essay.

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The Internal Assessment in IB History

The Historical investigation is the IA for both current and future DP History cohorts, but it is not weighted the same way at every level. For students examined in 2027 or earlier, it is worth 25% of the final grade at Standard Level and 20% at Higher Level; the revised course starting assessment in 2028 raises the Standard Level weighting to 30% while leaving Higher Level at 20%. At both levels and under both syllabuses it is an independent piece of research into a historical topic of the student's own choice, prepared alongside the taught course rather than sat as a timed paper.

The most common weakness tutors see is a research question that is too broad to investigate properly in the space available, which then produces an investigation that reads as a general essay rather than a focused historical inquiry. A well-scoped question, tested against the sources actually available before the student commits to it, makes every later stage - source evaluation, analysis, and the concluding assessment of the investigation's own limitations - considerably more manageable.

How a Specialist Tutor Supports IB History Preparation

A tutor who knows IB History specifically - its mark schemes, its assessment objectives, its particular essay conventions - can address the gap between a student's existing ability and what the exam actually rewards. This means working on argument construction from the first session, not as a finishing touch. It means reading and annotating student essays against the objectives examiners apply, not against general standards of good writing. And it means treating the Historical investigation as a piece of assessed research with its own methodology, not as an extended essay by another name.

The analytical habits IB History demands - building an argument from primary and secondary sources, weighing conflicting interpretations, writing under time pressure across multiple essays - are close to what university History admissions look for. A student who has genuinely internalised Paper 2 and Paper 3's argumentative demands arrives at something like an Oxford History interview already used to defending a position against challenge, which is a different preparation problem from knowing the content alone.

For full curriculum information, see the IB's own History subject page, which links the current Subject Briefs for the course examined for the last time in 2027 and the revised Subject Brief for the course starting assessment in 2028.

Reviewed September 2026: the DP History paper structure, weightings, teaching hours and Historical investigation split at SL and HL, checked against the IB's current and forthcoming Subject Briefs for History.

Frequently Asked Questions about IB History