International Baccalaureate · IB Diploma
History · HL
Papers, samples and curriculum documents for this course.
Course units and learning goals
These lessons teach selected course objectives. Check the remaining coverage gaps; the material is not a complete preparation programme.
Prescribed subject/P1 · Historical sources and contextual evaluation
- Infer source meaning and compare claims
- Explain source value and limitation through origin, purpose and content
- provenance
- A source's origin and circumstances of production.
- corroboration
- Comparing independent evidence to test a claim.
World history topics/P2 · Causation, change and comparative essays
- Distinguish causes, triggers and consequences
- Build a comparative argument across the school's two selected topics
- causation
- An explanation of how factors contribute to outcomes.
- continuity
- Persistence of features across a period of change.
Historical investigation · Inquiry, evidence and methodological reflection
- Form a focused historical research question
- Evaluate selected sources and synthesize an evidence-based investigation
- historical inquiry
- An evidence-based investigation of a question about the past.
- significance
- Importance judged in a stated historical context.
HL regional depth/P3 · Regional arguments and historiography
- Develop detailed regional essays using three selected sections
- Evaluate interpretations with evidence rather than authority alone
- historiography
- Study of historical interpretations and their construction.
- chronology
- The ordering of events in time.
Preparing for this qualification
- SL: source Paper 1 60 min 30%, essay Paper 2 90 min 45%, investigation 25%. HL: Paper 1 60 min 20%, Paper 2 90 min 25%, regional Paper 3 150 min 35%, investigation 20%.
- School selects one of five prescribed subjects (both cases), two of twelve world-history topics; HL selects one region with three sections. No selection is silently implied. Future 2028 focused/thematic studies are a different course.
Teaching coverage still needed
- School-selected prescribed subject, both cases, two world topics and HL regional sections need factual teaching and reviewed papers; future course needs its own complete package.
- Reviewed runtime bank remains unavailable; no practice registry promotion.
Specifications and sample documents
- History — Subject brief · 2017 ↗
First assessment: 2017
- History — Specimen papers · 2017 ↗
First assessment: 2017
- History — Subject brief · 2028 ↗
First assessment: 2028
- History — Specimen papers ↗
- History — Specimen papers ↗
Course materials
Course preparation
Documents are available. Board-specific notes, assessments and interactive past-paper practice are not yet available for every course.
Lessons →