IB History SL - 2028
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 the opportunity to deepen their understanding of modern relationships between individuals and societies.
Practice Exams
Choose your revision tool! Includes topic quizzes and mock exams to help you precisely target your learning.
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 study of one Focused Study (chosen from five options) and one Thematic Study (chosen from four 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: Focused Study 3: Political and Economic Transitions - The Meiji Restoration (1853-1894) and The Russian Federation (1985-1999)
- Paper 2: Thematic Study 3: Authoritarian Rule - early 20th-century Japan, post-WWII Soviet Union, and Mao's China.
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 with the opportunity to either deepen their understanding of the coursework topics or explore an area of interest not covered in their classroom studies.
Tips for Success
- Paper 2 is weighted heavily in the Standard Level IB History course, representing 40% 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 for high-quality writing, analysis, and evidence-based arguments are identical to those of 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.