IB Psychology HL - 2027
Starting in August 2025, IB Psychology students will follow a new syllabus for first examinations in 2027. Higher Level (HL) students will explore core psychological concepts (such as causality, responsibility, and change), content from the biological, cognitive, and sociocultural approaches, and the application of this knowledge across four different contexts. HL students will dive deeper into the study of contexts by investigating culture, technology, and motivation in relation to each of the contexts (human development, health and well-being, human relationships, and learning and cognition). Research methodology will be embedded throughout the course.
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.
Course Structure and Content
HL students sit Paper 1, Paper 2 and Paper 3. Paper 1 will examine student knowledge of the concepts, the core content, and their ability to apply their understanding to a range of contexts through a mix of short (SAQS) and extended responses (ERQs). Applying content knowledge to unfamiliar situations will also be examined. Paper 2 tests students’ ability to apply psychological skills and knowledge to unfamiliar research studies and to answer questions related to class practicals. Paper 3 assesses HL extensions using four source-based questions ranging from 3 to 15 marks. The sources can include both quantitative and qualitative data. Each set of sources will relate to one HL extension, (i.e, culture, motivation or technology) in relation to one of the contexts.. Students must analyse data, interpret results, and apply their knowledge to unfamiliar material. The Internal Assessment will be a research proposal based on one of the research methods utilised in the class practicals.
Tips for Success
- Show your understanding of content by providing examples: Your explanations should be supported by suitable examples. The examples can consist of real-world examples, research studies or hypotheticals. Working through the short answer questions (SAQs) from the RV Questionbank is a great way to consolidate your understanding of content and practice providing examples to illustrate your understanding.
- In-depth understanding and application of concepts: Always be on the lookout for connections between the content, the contexts and each of the concepts. When reviewing content, draw mind maps to visualise potential links between theories, knowledge, ideas and the concepts.
- Practice transferring your knowledge to unfamiliar situations: Success in IB Psychology depends on applying your knowledge to new or unfamiliar situations. Regularly practise analysing unfamiliar studies, real-life examples, or scenarios using relevant concepts and content. The Questionbank provides useful unseen examples to build this skill.
- Practice skills in data analysis and interpretation: Look for opportunities to critically analyse graphs and data in everyday situations, such as in news articles, social media, or classroom discussions. Then use the Questionbank and RV Paper 3-style questions to reinforce these skills, as they expose you to a variety of graph types, such as box-and-whisker plots, line graphs and histograms.
Revision Village Psychology offers a range of tools, question formats and sample answers designed to help you deepen your understanding and target specific skills or content areas, supporting your success in the final IB Psychology exams.