IB ESS HL - 2026
Flashcards

Environmental Systems & Societies HL (ESS) is an interdisciplinary course that builds on foundational knowledge from the IB Sciences and IB Individuals and Societies groups of subjects, extending it with philosophical and practical considerations of the human impact on the natural world. Students learn about environmental issues and how to manage them. The IB ESS Higher Level course should be considered by students who are moderate to strong in both Biology and Geography with an interest in pursuing courses related to the environment or sustainability after their IB Diploma Programme.

The Environmental Systems and Societies HL course is assessed with two externally assessed exam papers at the end of the two-year course and an internal assessment (IA), which is an individual investigation completed at an earlier time. ESS Paper 1 presents students with a Case Study of a country and asks them to analyse the data in combination with knowledge from the course. Paper 2 consists of data-based questions, short answer questions and essay questions.

Most subtopics in the IB ESS syllabus include additional HL material and the HL-Only Lenses require Higher Level students to examine environmental issues from an ethical, economic and legal point of view. This greater breadth and depth requires 240 teaching hours for the HL course as compared to 150 hours for the SL course. IB ESS HL Paper 1 is two hours as compared to one hour for Standard Level. Paper 2 for ESS HL is two-and-a-half hours while the SL Paper 2 is only 2 hours. Finally, the weighting of the assessment components is slightly different. For Standard Level, Paper 1 and the Internal Assessment are both weighted at 25%. For Higher Level, Paper 1 is weighted at 30% and the IA at 20%.

Revision Village provides exam-style questions specifically written for the IB Environmental Systems & Societies Higher Level curriculum. They include questions from the core material that both SL and HL students study as well as questions that address the additional HL-only material and the HL Lenses. The Case Studies feature includes full-length 70-mark Higher Level case studies as well as shorter ones that can be completed in less time but still cover a range of content and skills. Many questions present examples that can be used to support answers on an exam. Past Paper videos give detailed solutions that help understand the IB mark schemes. Tags indicate whether a video from a Past Paper from the old syllabus is relevant to the new syllabus and which subtopic it relates to.