IB Psychology SL - 2027
Starting August 2025, IB Psychology students will begin studying a new syllabus, with the first assessments taking place in 2027. Standard-level (SL) students will examine key psychological concepts such as bias, perspective, and change alongside content from the biological, cognitive, and sociocultural approaches, applying this understanding across four distinct contexts. An understanding of research methodology will be essential throughout.
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
The SL course includes both external and internal assessment components. For the external assessment, students will complete Paper 1 and Paper 2. Paper 1 assesses their understanding of psychological concepts and core content, as well as their ability to apply this knowledge to various contexts through a combination of short-answer questions (SAQs) and extended response questions (ERQs). Application of content to unseen citations will also be assessed. Paper 2 focuses on applying psychological knowledge and skills to unfamiliar research studies and includes questions related to the class practicals. The internal assessment involves designing a research proposal based on one of the research methods explored in the class practicals.
Tips for Success
- Demonstrate your understanding by using examples: To show a solid grasp of the content, support your explanations with clear and relevant examples. These may be drawn from real-life situations, psychological research, or hypothetical scenarios. Practising short-answer questions (SAQs) from the RV Questionbank is an effective way to strengthen your content knowledge and refine your ability to illustrate your understanding with appropriate examples.
- Develop a deep understanding and conceptual application: As you study, actively seek out links between the psychological content, the various contexts, and the core concepts. Using tools like mind maps can help you organise and visualise the relationships between theories, studies, and ideas, and see how they connect to key concepts.
- Practice applying your knowledge in unfamiliar contexts: Strong performance in IB Psychology relies on your ability to transfer what you’ve learned to new situations. Build this skill by regularly interpreting unfamiliar research, real-world scenarios, or case studies through the lens of psychological concepts and approaches. The RV Questionbank offers a wide selection of novel examples to help you practise this.
RV offers a range of tools, question types, and sample responses that can help you strengthen your understanding and focus on specific skills or content areas, all aimed at supporting your success in the final IB Psychology exams.