LEVEL: Standard Level or High Level
LENGTH: Two-year course (DP1 & DP2)
RECOMMENDED BACKGROUND: A grade of B or higher in Year 10 Science, Mathematics and English.
PATHWAYS: University or TAFE: Arts, Humanities, Science, Psychology, Psychology Studies
The IB Psychology course aims to develop an awareness of how psychological research can be applied for the benefit of human beings and how diverse methods of psychological inquiry can offer alternative explanations of human behaviour. Hence students are guided to develop an understanding of the biological, cognitive and sociocultural approaches to understanding human behaviour and to ensure that ethical practices are upheld in psychological research.
At the core of the DP Psychology course in Year 11 students will study only the 4 Core Topics. Core Topics (common in SL/HL) is an introduction to three different approaches to understanding behaviour:
- biological
- cognitive and
- sociocultural
The Option Topics are part of the Year 12 curriculum.
- abnormal psychology
- developmental psychology
- health psychology
- psychology of human relationships
Assessment
| SL | HL |
Internal Assessment | |
| Experimental Study This component is internally assessed by the teacher and externally moderated by the IB at the end of the course. A report on an experimental study undertaken by the student (22 marks) 25% | Experimental Study This component is internally assessed by the teacher and externally moderated by the IB at the end of the course. A report on an experimental study undertaken by the student (22 marks) 20% |
External Assessment | |
| Paper 1 Exam | 2 hours Section A: Three short-answer questions on the core approaches to psychology(27 marks) Section B: One essay from a choice of three on the biological, cognitive and sociocultural approaches to behaviour (22 marks) 50% | Paper 1 Exam | 2 hours Section A: Three short-answer questions on the core approaches to psychology(27 marks) Section B: One essay from a choice of three on the biological, cognitive and sociocultural approaches to behaviour. One, two or all of the essays will reference the additional HL topic (22 marks) 40% |
| Paper 2 Exam | 1 hour One question from a choice of three on one option (22 marks) 25% | Paper 2 Exam | 2 hours Two questions; one from a choice of three on each of two options (44 marks) 20% |
| Paper 3 Exam | 1 hour Three short-answer questions from a list of six static questions (published in this guide) on approaches to research (24 marks) 20% |