Syllabus knowledge tree
Explore the IB Psychology HL syllabus
The current IB Psychology HL syllabus integrates six concepts, psychological content and four contexts, then adds culture, motivation, technology, and data analysis and interpretation. Use the live four-group, 13-destination map to connect extensions across contexts.
- 4
- syllabus groups
- 13
- mapped topics
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How to study IB Psychology HL
IB Psychology HL is not SL with three extra definitions. Use the syllabus map to apply culture, motivation and technology across health, development, relationships, and learning and cognition. For each claim, connect psychological content to a concept, evaluate the research evidence and decide what quantitative or qualitative findings justify. The HL method must distinguish what data show from what the researcher may reasonably infer.
Use Concept to compare explanations and extensions, Mastery to retrieve studies, methods and data language, and the Question Bank for source-based practice. Classify losses as content, extension transfer, graph reading, data analysis, unjustified inference, research consideration or synthesis. Repair the earliest failure before completing another Paper 3 response.
Practise HL extension and source reasoning
Change the method for extension transfer, quantitative and qualitative findings, research evaluation and multi-source synthesis instead of adding more memorised studies.
Culture across contexts
Cultural norms, identity and behaviour in health, development, relationships and learning
Specify the cultural process and context, apply psychological content and evidence, then test measurement, bias and transferability. Compare whether the explanation changes across groups without treating culture as a label.
Practise cultureMotivation and technology
Motivational processes and technological influences on behaviour
Explain the mechanism before applying it to a context. Use evidence to separate association from causation, identify design or responsibility issues and judge when the explanation is useful or incomplete.
Practise HL extensionsData analysis and interpretation
Graphs, quantitative findings, qualitative findings and justified conclusions
Describe the pattern before explaining it, distinguish statistical or thematic evidence from inference, and state what the design permits. Connect limitations directly to credibility, bias, causality or transferability.
Practise data interpretationPaper 2 research methodology
Class practicals, method comparison, design and unseen study evaluation
Use the four practicals as method anchors. Compare designs through the research question, sampling, measurement, ethics and data, then evaluate the unseen study with the specified concepts rather than generic limitations.
Practise Paper 2Paper 3 source synthesis
Graph interpretation, conclusions, research considerations and multiple sources
Map each source’s claim, method, finding and limitation. Answer the quantitative and qualitative evidence separately, then synthesize only compatible conclusions and explain where disagreement or missing information limits certainty.
Practise Paper 3Where to start
Begin from one exact extension or data-analysis weakness, or use mixed sources to locate the first failed inference or synthesis decision.
Choose your starting point
- Browse the HL syllabus
I know the weak area
Open the exact shared or HL Topic and identify its context, concept, evidence and data-analysis demand.
- Open mixed HL questions
The failure is unclear
Attempt a mixed source set and stop at the earliest repeated breakdown in interpretation, research reasoning or synthesis.
Choose the right starting point
- Review a Concept
Connect extension and context
Apply culture, motivation or technology to a behaviour, mechanism and evidence inside one defined context.
- Check Mastery
Read evidence cautiously
Describe the finding, analyse the data and separate supported conclusion from speculation or causal overclaim.
- Practise HL questions
Synthesize and stress-test
Combine multiple sources, evaluate research considerations and repair the first unsupported inference after marking.
IB Psychology HL assessment format
External assessment contributes 80% and the research proposal contributes 20%. HL preparation adds extension transfer, data interpretation and source synthesis in Paper 3.
SourceInternational Baccalaureate Organization · Psychology guide, first assessment 2027IB Psychology · First assessment May 2027
IB Psychology HL questions
HL adds culture, motivation and technology in shaping behaviour, plus data analysis and interpretation, and includes Paper 3. Effective HL revision must transfer extensions across contexts and justify conclusions from quantitative and qualitative sources.
Practise a source map: claim, method, quantitative or qualitative finding and limitation. Describe evidence before interpreting it, state what the design supports, evaluate research considerations and synthesize only conclusions that the combined sources justify.
Begin with the behaviour and psychological mechanism, then specify how the extension changes it in that context. Apply research evidence, connect a concept such as causality or responsibility and evaluate measurement, bias or transferability.
No. Both levels design the same 24-mark research proposal using one method from the four class practicals. The weighting differs: the proposal contributes 30% at SL and 20% at HL.