IB ESS SL - 2026
Flashcards

Environmental Systems & Societies SL (ESS) is a broad subject that borrows from a number of subjects including IB Biology and IB Geography, but goes further in exploring the relationship between human societies and nature. Students develop a deep understanding of the concepts of ecology and human populations and examine the impact that human resource use has on nature, with the aim of a sustainable future. The ESS Standard Level course is interesting for students who want to make informed decisions about their impact on the environment in their personal and professional lives.

Students starting the course in August 2024 or later will be studying the new guide for IB Environmental Systems & Societies Standard Level. While the general structure of the course is similar to that presented in the old ESS guide, the curriculum has been updated with new content such as urban planning, human migration and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. With the introduction of ESS Higher Level, content such as photochemical smog and the nitrogen cycle are now only included in the ESS HL course. The Revision Village materials for ESS examinations starting in May 2026 have been carefully tailored to support learning for the new syllabus for IB ESS SL and IB ESS HL.

There are multiple reasons for choosing Environmental Systems and Societies as one of your IB subject choices. As an interdisciplinary subject, it can be taken to meet the requirement to take a course from Group 3: Individuals & Societies, from Group 4: Sciences or even both. As such it is an ideal subject if you are a strong science student to gain insight into how technology and science affect human societies and nature. If you have more interest in human societies, language or the arts you will get a scientific view of the interactions between society and the natural world. Finally, taking ESS Standard Level will help you understand how to solve some of the most important issues humanity is currently facing: climate change, biodiversity loss, how to feed a growing population, and pollution of our air, water and land.

Preparation for the exams should include reviewing content and practising exam-style questions. The notes that you made throughout your course should help you review the content. This can be supplemented with the Revision Village ESS Flashcards feature, which is especially accessible on the RV Mobile App. As you finish reviewing each subtopic you can test your knowledge and skills by answering the exam-style questions in the RV ESS Questionbank. This will let you know which content you need to review further. Once you have revised all topics you can try the Revision Ladder or the Mock Exam Sets

Many questions in the RV Questionbank for Environmental Systems & Societies include named examples that help you understand the content of the course. Figures for data-based questions provide interesting sets of data and naturally, we include named examples in the mark schemes of questions that require them. The RV ESS Case Studies feature is another place to learn from examples, as each Case Study includes a variety of resources on topics such as Conservation, Pollution, Food Production and more. All these materials provide examples that you could use to support your arguments on an IB ESS exam Paper 1 or Paper 2.