IB Diploma Programme History: Syllabus Guide

This guide covers the full syllabus structure of IB Diploma Programme History, first assessment 2028, for both Standard Level (SL) and Higher Level (HL) students. It complements the subject overview and the assessment revision notes already on the site by setting out the actual options within each inquiry context – what topics a student can end up studying, not just the four concepts that structure how they are examined.

Total teaching hours are 150 at SL and 240 at HL.

Focused study (50 hours, both SL and HL)

Choose one of five options. Each option contains two focused studies, both of which must be studied.

• Independence and identity – how nations, peoples and identities are formed, asserted and contested.
• Political and economic transitions – how societies shift between political and economic systems.
• Conflict and displacement – the causes and human consequences of conflict and forced movement.
• Climate and innovation – how societies have responded to environmental change and technological innovation across history.
• Protest and change – how organised protest has driven, or responded to, social and political change.

Paper 1 is source-based and set on the five focused-study options, but students answer questions on only the one option their class has studied. Both focused studies within the chosen option must be taught, since Paper 1’s overarching inquiry question can draw on either or both of them, and students are not permitted to choose which of the two they prepare.

Thematic study (80 hours, both SL and HL)

Choose one of four options.

• Conflict (from 750 CE) – causes, conduct and consequences of conflict examined thematically across a broad historical span.
• Innovation and transformation (from 750 CE) – how technological and social innovation has transformed societies.
• Authoritarian rule (from 1750 CE) – the emergence, methods and impact of authoritarian political systems.
• Popular movements (from 1750 CE) – the origins and impact of organised popular political movements.

Paper 2 is set on the thematic studies: Section A tests the four specified historical concepts using an example from the class’s chosen theme, and Section B combines a short response with an essay response on that same theme. Each thematic study spans a very long period (from 750 CE or 1750 CE to the present), so the actual historical examples studied within a chosen theme are themselves a further, teacher-level selection – confirm which specific examples your class covered within the theme, not just which of the four broad themes you studied.

Regional study – HL only (90 hours, HL only)

Choose one of four regions, then two studies from within that region.

• Africa and the Middle East
• The Americas
• Asia and Oceania
• Europe

This entire component does not exist for SL students. Paper 3 (HL only) sets two essay questions on each of the 12 regional studies within the selected region, and students answer two questions from two different regional studies within it. At 90 hours, this is the single largest component in the whole HL course – larger than either the focused study or the thematic study – reflecting how central sustained regional depth is to the HL history experience specifically, rather than being a minor add-on to the SL core.

Each region groups together several individual regional studies – for example, topics spanning a particular period of transformation or conflict specific to that part of the world – and it is each school’s choice, not each student’s, which region and which two studies within it are taught. This makes it especially important for HL students to confirm early exactly which regional studies apply to them, since Paper 3’s questions are written separately for each of the 12 regional studies across the four regions, and revising the wrong one wastes a disproportionate share of study time given how many hours this component carries.

Internal assessment – historical investigation (20 hours, both SL and HL)

Students formulate their own inquiry question, identify and select sources, analyse and evaluate those sources, and synthesize evidence into a written response on a historical topic of their own choosing. The topic does not have to come from the focused study, thematic study or (at HL) regional study the class has covered – students may investigate any historical topic they can source and evaluate evidence for, which makes this the one part of the syllabus genuinely open to personal interest rather than teacher-selected content.

How to approach it

Because your class studies only one focused-study option, one thematic-study option and (at HL) one region, the first and most important revision step is simply confirming exactly which of these your course covered – revising an unstudied option is a common, avoidable waste of time in a subject with this much optionality. Across all three external papers, the same four concepts (cause and consequence, continuity and change, perspectives, significance) structure the questions, so practise applying all four to your specific focused study, thematic study and (at HL) regional studies, rather than treating “content revision” and “concept revision” as separate tasks. HL students should note that the regional study is worth a larger share of the HL external grade (35%) than either Paper 1 (20%) or Paper 2 (25%) individually, so it merits proportionate revision time despite being entirely new content layered on top of the shared SL core.

Official syllabus

International Baccalaureate Organization, Diploma Programme Subject Brief – Individuals and Societies: History, first assessment 2028, © 2025.