IB Psychology HL

Written papers only - there is no multiple choice. Paper 1 covers the three core approaches through short-answer and extended-response questions; Paper 2 is essay-based on your studied option; Paper 3, HL only, tests research methodology and qualitative analysis. Because paper structure and timings are revised between sessions, confirm the current details with the IB or your DP coordinator rather than relying on older past papers.

HL adds Paper 3 and expects a broader, deeper evidence base: you should be able to draw on more studies per topic and evaluate methodology more sharply. The core approaches and the option are examined at both levels, but HL essay questions tend to reward synthesis across studies rather than single-study description. HL also carries a heavier content load across the same teaching time.

Less than you fear, but more than you hope. Aim for a compact set of studies per topic that you can describe precisely - aim, sample, method, findings, strengths and limitations - and then reuse them flexibly across questions. Examiners reward accurate, well-chosen evidence used to build an argument, not a long undifferentiated list of names and dates.

Evaluation. Middling answers describe a study accurately and stop; strong answers say why the finding can or cannot be trusted, weigh competing explanations, and reach a defensible conclusion. Answer the exact command term, link every paragraph back to the question wording, and avoid spending half the essay on background the question did not ask for.

Ignoring the command term, writing everything known about a topic instead of answering the question, describing studies without evaluating them, and running out of time because essay planning was skipped. In the internal assessment, the usual culprits are a vague independent variable, an uncontrolled confounding variable, and an analysis that does not match the data collected.

Work through the three core approaches first, since they build a shared vocabulary of methods and ethics, then your option, which leans on that vocabulary. Thread Paper 3 skills through from the start rather than cramming them at the end. Run the internal assessment in parallel with teaching, because data collection always takes longer than planned.

Enough to choose and justify a suitable inferential test for your own experiment, compute and interpret descriptive statistics, and explain what a significance level does and does not tell you. You also need to critique sampling, design and validity in the studies you cite. Paper 3 pushes further into qualitative approaches, so read about thematic analysis and trustworthiness criteria too.

Retake arrangements, eligible sessions and any component-level resit rules are set by the IB and administered through your school. They are not something this page can confirm, and they can differ for candidates in different situations. Ask your DP coordinator early, and check the IB's own pages for the current regulations and deadlines.

No. Extended-response questions are open: they name a topic or behaviour, and you choose which research to discuss. That freedom is exactly why a well-organised study bank matters. If a question covers a topic your class skipped, answer with the closest research you do know and make the relevance explicit rather than leaving it blank.

These change by examination session and by school, so no fixed figure belongs on a study page. The IB publishes the current assessment schedule, fees and results release information, and your DP coordinator holds your school's specific deadlines for registration, coursework submission and any retake. Treat those two sources as authoritative over anything you read elsewhere.