IB History SL
The IB Diploma Programme’s SL History course is built to foster the exploration of history from various perspectives while training students to develop evidence-based arguments. Because of its variety of topics, subtopics, and illustrative examples, students have a chance to enhance their understanding of the modern relationships between individuals and societies.
Practice Exams
Choose your revision tool! Contains topic quizzes for focused study, Revision Village mock exams covering the whole syllabus, and the revision ladder to precisely target your learning.
Past Papers
Full worked solutions to all past paper questions, taught by experienced IB instructors.
Course Structure and Content
Though its scope is smaller than the HL course, the Standard Level IB History course still packs a lot of material into a two-year course including the student of one Prescribed Subject (chosen from five options) and two World History Topics (chosen from twelve options). The SL History course assesses a student’s knowledge and skills across three distinct assessment components, two externally assessed (Paper 1 and Paper 2) and one internally assessed (the historical investigation).
Typically, teachers select the topics and examples in their course to encourage both depth and breadth of knowledge while keeping a degree of cohesion based on either particular world regions or periods of time. As an example of this approach, consider the simplified outline of a typical two-year Standard Level IB History course below:
- Paper 1: Prescribed Subject 4 - Rights and Protest (Civil Rights Movement in the United States and Apartheid South Africa)
- Paper 2: World History Topics 8 (Independence Movements) and 9 (Emergence and Development of Democratic States)
The final component of the IB History SL course is identical in expectations to the higher-level course and involves a “historical investigation” based on a topic of choice, assessed internally and moderated externally. This independent research project provides students the chance to either deepen their understanding of the coursework topics or explore an area of interest not covered by their classroom studies.
Tips for Success
- Paper 2 is weighted heavily in the Standard Level IB History course representing 45% of your grade (compared to its 25% weight in the HL course), so when you’re planning your revision, make it a priority!
- There may be less material in the SL History course, but the markbands used to assess your work by examiners are the same. Although the course is only “standard level,” the expectations of high-quality writing, analysis, and evidence-based arguments are identical to the Higher Level course for Paper 1, Paper 2, and the internal assessment.
- The pace of work on Paper 1 can be challenging, so don’t underestimate it. It’s a great idea to practice the structured questions from Paper 1 across various familiar and unfamiliar content to practice your skills using sources (the RV History Questionbank is a great resource for this kind of practice).
The RV Standard Level IB History materials will help you acquire the key knowledge, conceptual understanding, and practical writing skills to help you succeed on the exam.
More IB History Resources
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between HL and SL in IB History?
The two courses are structurally similar and assess the same core skills, but Higher Level (HL) History requires students to study a greater breadth of content. However, the requirements for SL History students are still demanding. While SL students are not required to complete the third paper, this means a larger percentage of their overall mark in the course will be based upon the remaining components, with a substantial percentage based on Paper 2, the World History Topics.
How is standard level IB History assessed?
IB History at the Standard Level (SL) includes two primary external assessments and one internal assessment. Paper 1 is a source-based exam centered on one of the course’s five Prescribed Subjects (e.g., The Move to Global War). It features three short, source-driven questions and one longer, extended response. Paper 2 consists of two extended essay-style questions, each addressing a different topic from the twelve available World History Topics like topic 12, The Cold War: Superpower tensions and rivalries (20th century). For the internal assessment, students conduct an independent historical investigation on a topic and research question of their choice.
What does Revision Village provide to support SL History students
Revision Village’s IB History platform currently offers two key resources to support students throughout the Diploma Programme: 1) the Questionbank features targeted short-answer questions (some incorporating the use of historical sources) to help students review specific topics and 2) Essay Question Practice presents a curated set of sources paired with scaffolded questions that build toward answering a broader Guiding Question, modeled after the extended response questions found in Papers 1 and 2 of the SL History exam. More features and extended topic coverage are coming soon!