IB Geography SL study guide
IB Geography SL · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
IB Geography SL is the standard-level geography course within the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, a two-year pre-university qualification taught in schools worldwide and assessed by external examinations plus an internally assessed fieldwork report. It suits students who want to understand how human activity and physical systems interact across scales - from a neighbourhood catchment to global climate patterns - and who are willing to support arguments with case-study evidence rather than memorised lists. The IB Geography SL study guide has 9 sections and about 3,037 words.
01Geographic themes and concepts
This domain tests whether you can use geography's seven concepts as analytical tools rather than recite definitions. Command words such as 'analyse' and 'evaluate' reward explicit linkage between a concept and a real place or process.
355 words, about 2 min02Core: Population and economic development patterns
This core sub-unit compares global population distribution and the demographic and economic measures used to explain development patterns. SL questions often require interpretation of population pyramids, DTM stages and development indicators.
355 words, about 2 min03Core: Changing populations
This sub-unit examines migration and population change at different scales, including ageing, policy responses and the transformation of places. It tests whether you can explain change rather than just describe a pyramid.
320 words, about 2 min04Core: Global climate change and its impacts
This core unit examines the climate system, the causes of recent warming and the uneven impacts of change. SL answers need to distinguish evidence, cause, impact, adaptation and mitigation.
340 words, about 2 min05Core: Resource consumption and security
This core unit examines how resources are used, why security varies and whether growth is sustainable. SL questions often ask you to evaluate Malthusian and Boserupian perspectives or compare energy mixes.
330 words, about 2 min06Optional themes: Freshwater and/or Oceans and coastal margins
This optional theme examines water and coastal systems, their processes, landforms, hazards and management. Candidates usually study one option, but the same systems language applies: stores, flows, feedbacks and sustainability.
340 words, about 2 min07Optional themes: Extreme environments and/or Geophysical hazards
This optional theme examines harsh environments and tectonic hazards. For hazards, the key idea is that a hazard becomes a disaster only when it intersects vulnerability and exposure.
327 words, about 2 min08Optional themes: Leisure, tourism and sport and/or Food and health
This optional theme links consumption, place change and human wellbeing. Tourism questions often use the tourism area life cycle; food and health questions use nutrition and epidemiological transition.
315 words, about 2 min09Internal assessment: fieldwork and report
The IA is an individual geographical enquiry based on fieldwork. It tests your ability to design a question, collect and present primary data, analyse it and evaluate the investigation.
355 words, about 2 min