{"id":15497,"date":"2026-01-19T13:31:04","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T04:31:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/?p=15497"},"modified":"2026-01-20T00:42:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T15:42:22","slug":"the-hl-advantage-why-hl-ib-psych-is-easier-to-teach-than-sl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2026\/01\/19\/the-hl-advantage-why-hl-ib-psych-is-easier-to-teach-than-sl\/","title":{"rendered":"The HL Advantage: Why HL IB Psych is easier to teach than SL"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is Higher Level IB Psychology now easier than SL? Perhaps it’s not for the students, but in this post I’ll explain why I’d\u00a0much\u00a0<\/em>rather teach HL than SL in this new course. We’ll break down the distinctions and how we can make the most out of the extra HL time.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

In my previous post<\/a>, I outlined the dramatic increase in content in Paper 1 for IB Psych students in the new curriculum (first exams May 2027). To summarise, we now have 46 topics to cover in 100 hours, whereas previously we had more time to cover much<\/em><\/span> less content. Also, since Paper 1 and Paper 2 are now identical for SL\/HL students, this has made the SL IB Psych course dramatically more difficult.<\/p>\n

To review, in the new curriculum, all<\/strong> students need to know all<\/strong> of the topics in the approaches and<\/span> the contexts. Similarly, in Paper 2 they need to know research methods in the class practicals and be prepared to write about concepts regarding an unseen study. This means SL students also need a thorough understanding of research methods. On top of this, the IA is identical for both SL and HL. The result is an SL course of 150 hours that’s jam packed with content knowledge coupled with the requirement of understanding research methods and\u00a0<\/em>developing conceptual understanding. To put it in bullet points:<\/p>\n