IB Diploma Programme Psychology

DP Psychology (2019) — SL / HL (being withdrawn)

DP Psychology (2019) is being withdrawn in favour of DP Psychology (2027). Final assessment opportunity: 2026.

Component-based qualification

Not all of these figures come from International Baccalaureate documents: The IB's public subject brief for this course gives durations and weightings but no marks. The Paper 1, Paper 2 and Paper 3 totals shown were read from copies of May 2019 IB markschemes found on third-party websites (for Paper 2, a mirror copy of the May 2019 Paper 2 markscheme); and the internal assessment's 22 marks came from third-party teacher resources. None was read from a document published by the IB.

Source: official International Baccalaureate specification, verified 2026-09-08. Both tiers modeled in full, for the psychology course first assessed in 2019. Recorded as being taught out from 2026-09-17: the new course (code 'DP Psychology (2027)') has been taught since August 2025, so a new student follows that one, and this course is examined for learners already partway through it; the IB's own DP psychology page summarizes this course "for the last assessment in 2026" (read on 2026-09-21), so 2026 is recorded as its last examination year. The same rule is applied to AQA 7137/7138, OCR H436 and OxfordAQA 9725: a specification is current once its first teaching has begun. Weighting and duration figures are read directly from the IB's own official public subject brief (First assessment 2019), read on 2026-09-08. Mark totals – not published in that subject brief – were independently confirmed against real, genuine IB markschemes read on 2026-09-08: Paper 1 (M19/3/PSYCH/SP1) totals 49 marks (Section A: three compulsory short-answer questions on the biological, cognitive and sociocultural approaches, 9 marks each = 27; Section B: one essay chosen from three, 22 marks), identical for SL and HL. Paper 2 (option paper) is one essay marked out of 22 at SL (one question) or two essays marked out of 22 each = 44 at HL (two questions) – this figure was confirmed earlier from a mirror copy of the May 2019 Paper 2 markscheme and is repeated here, not re-derived. Paper 3 (M19/3/PSYCH/HP3, HL only) totals 24 marks (Q1 a/b/c: 3+3+3=9; Q2: 6; Q3: 9). The Internal Assessment (a report on a simple experimental study, word-limited, undertaken individually) is marked against four criteria – Introduction (6), Exploration (4), Analysis (6), Evaluation (6) – 22 marks total, both tiers; this breakdown and total were corroborated across multiple independently-authored third-party IB teacher/revision resources and cross-checked against a real, dated (May 2019) subject-report account of the same four criterion names, rather than read from a single source alone. A genuine discrepancy was found and resolved during sourcing: an older, pre-2019-revision IA rubric (9 criteria A-I, 34 marks total) exists online and was initially mistaken for this syllabus's rubric before the dated May-2019 subject report confirmed the correct (4-criterion, 22-mark) structure actually in use for first assessment 2019 – the 34-mark rubric belongs to an earlier, already-superseded revision of this same legacy course and is not used here.

DP Psychology (2027) — SL / HL

Component-based qualification

Source: official International Baccalaureate specification, verified 2026-09-05. Both tiers modeled in full, for the NEW psychology course (launched February 2025, first teaching August 2025, first assessment May 2027). Recorded as current from 2026-09-17: teaching began in August 2025, so it is the course a new student follows, although its first exams have not been sat; the same rule is applied to AQA 7137/7138, OCR H436 and OxfordAQA 9725. Every figure below, including full mark totals for every component, is read directly from the IB's own official curriculum-updates page for this subject, which reproduces the new course's complete assessment-outline tables in full (no mirror or third-party source was needed). The earlier syllabus (first assessment 2019, being taught out) is modeled separately as its own 'legacy-teach-out' record (code 'DP Psychology (2019)', added 2026-09-08), so both courses are now recorded. Standard Level sits Paper 1 (integration of concepts/content/contexts) and Paper 2 (applying concepts to research contexts, including the four class practicals); Higher Level sits the same two papers (re-weighted) plus an HL-only Paper 3 on interpretation and analysis of research data, since data analysis and interpretation is studied by both levels but assessed only at HL. The Internal Assessment (a research proposal designed using one of four research methods practised in class, 24 marks both tiers) is internally assessed by the teacher and externally moderated by the IB.