Paper One Overview in IB PsychologyFor exams starting May 2027

This post outlines the contents and requirements of IB Psychology: Paper One. Each year I’ll update this with a sample of the exam questions asked in the May and November exams so a combination of IB Past Papers for IB Psychology can be accumulated. However, due to copyright reasons I can’t replicate them all.

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Paper 1 Overview

The following table gives you a quick overview of Paper 1.

Paper 1 is worth 35% of the total mark for SL students and 25% for HL.

Section A

These are two short answer questions (SAQs) designed to test your knowledge of the content from two of the three approaches:

• Biological
• Cognitive
• Sociocultural

The table below shows the topics you should revise for these questions.

Section B

Section B tests your ability to take what you’ve learned from the approaches (see Table 1 above) and apply it to a scenario or problem. There are two questions and  each question is based on a scenario or problem related to one area of study from one of the four contexts. The four contexts are:

• Human Relationships
• Learning and Cognition
• Health and Wellbeing
• Human Development.

You will apply your knowledge of the key terms to answer the question. This means you will revise the same topics and key terms from the three approaches for Section A and Section B.

To see what “areas of study” (i.e. topics) could be asked about, scroll down to Table 2.

Example combinations of content and context:

• An etic approach to studying theory of mind.
• Social learning theory and the prevalence of health problems.
• Animal models of brain development.

 

Section C

In Section C, you will be given two essay questions based on two different contexts. You will choose one to answer. The question will use the command term discuss, evaluate or to what extent. The questions will also combine an “area of study” from the context with one concept. Table 2 (below) provides a brief overview of all areas of study from the four contexts.

The six concepts are:

• Bias
• Measurement
• Causality
• Perspective
• Change
• Responsibility

Mr Dixon has suggested for the IB to increase the number of essays questions to three for SL students. This would mean they could focus on two contexts, rather than three. If you’re a teacher and you like this idea, please find the post on MyIB and express your support.

Past IB Papers

Section A: SAQs

• Cognitive Approach: Explain anchoring bias with reference to one example of human behaviour. (Spec Paper 2025)

Section B ASAQs:

• Context: Learning and Cognition:  “A group of researchers investigated imagination as a cognitive process. They suggested a model in which imagination consists of three stages of processing: y Selection of elements y Random combination of elements with each other y Evaluation of combinations and output To test this model, they conducted a study with a sample of primary school children. Each child was given a set of toy body parts (for example, tails, feet, hair, wings) and asked to create an imaginary creature. Researchers observed that children first selected a subset of body parts then spent time randomly combining them with each other, before deciding on a final version and presenting it to the researchers. With reference to this study, explain the value of cognitive models for understanding cognitive processes.” (Spec Paper 2025)

 

• Context: Human Development: “As the school psychologist, you have been asked to suggest a strategy to promote empathy and/or prosocial behaviour among children at your school. Explain how social learning theory could be used to achieve this goal.”  (Spec Paper 2025)

Section C: Essays

• In the context of human development, evaluate one or more strategies used by developmental psychologists to measure theory of mind.* (Spec Paper 2025)

 

*Personally, I don’t think this question is fair and consistent with the IB’s guidelines for exam questions. The concept is “measurement,” not “strategies used to measure” stuff. A fairer version of this question would be: “In the context of human development, discuss the concept of measurement in relation to theory of mind.”

Download every lesson plan you’ll ever need for IB Psychology

Study Tips

Section A SAQs

• Pre-plan your answers by using the TREX method to guide your note-taking and revision.
• Use flashcards to revise the key terms: you should know definitions of each of the topic titles.
• Create topic summaries: write 5-7 paragraph summaries of each of the topics.
• Find an example: Each topic needs an example – either a real study or hypothetical scenario. Plan these ahead of time.

Section B ASAQs

• Review every key term in the contexts: Any of the approach content (Table 1 above) could be asked in relation to any of the context “areas of study” (Table 2). Therefore, you need to know what each of the key terms in the areas of study mean.
• Revise your topic summaries that you created for Section A

Section C Essays

• Master the content first: the “content” are the approach topics. The key to doing well in Paper 1 is to score well on the SAQs and ASAQs.
• Find Overlaps: Wherever possible you should plan to use approach content in your essay answers. For example, you can use the same chemical messenger for an SAQ in the biological approach as you would for Human Relationships.
  • Example: You could prepare to write about serotonin as a chemical messenger that affects depression for the biological approach and as a biological explanation for depression as a mental health problem.
• Roll the dice to see if you’re ready for the exams – read more about that tip here.
• Use the cheeseburger essay structure – read more here.

Example Answers

SAQs

• Example SAQ: Classical conditioning and behaviour 

ASAQs

• Example ASAQ: Animal models in health and well-being.

ESSAYS

• Example Essay: Strategies used to measure theory of mind (An answer to the Spec Paper question)
• Example Essay: Bias in biological explanations of mental health (#1 No Research)
• Example Essay: Bias in biological explanations of mental health (#2 With Research)

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