1. IB Biology Syllabus
Differences in HL and SL Biology are the number of topics covered and the depth in some topics. Both students learn “Core” topics and “Option” topics. However, HL students take more time to learn “option” topics in-depth and have “Additional Higher Level” topics to cover. Topics covered in “Additional Higher Level” are more complicated.
A list of topics
| HL | SL | |
|---|---|---|
| Core |
|
|
| AHL |
|
N/A |
| Option |
(HL students take more time |
|
*Core = topics all Biology students must cover
*AHL = topics only HL students must cover
*Option = a topic of student’s or school’s choice is covered
2. IB Biology Criteria
HL:
| External Assessment | Paper 1 |
|
|---|---|---|
|
Paper 2 |
|
|
|
Paper 3 |
|
|
| Internal Assessment |
Individual Investigation |
|
SL:
| External Assessment | Paper 1 |
|
|---|---|---|
|
Paper 2 |
|
|
|
Paper 3 |
|
|
| Internal Assessment |
Individual Investigation |
|
Are you considering taking IB Biology?
Among Group 4 subjects, IB Biology is relatively easy to get high scores as long as you are good at memorizing basic points. The topics covered in HL and SL are not that different, so little difference between the levels allow students to take the subject more easily especially for those who are not really sure about what to take for the science subjects.
Universities and their majors might require students to take a specific IB subject or level. Students with high scores might have an opportunity to get a scholarship or excused from taking fewer credits. So before deciding which IB subjects to take, students might want to check out the application guideline of universities they might apply to.
3. Tips for IB Biology
3.1 How to study
The most important thing in studying IB Biology is to follow the syllabus. It tells you what you need to know and what you need to be able to do in each topic, so you might want to organize those points. Since they are mostly basic knowledge, teachers and IBO often have them on tests or exams. Knowing what they will ask you and how you will answer them will definitely help you get better scores and grades.
3.2 How to prepare for tests in class
- Review topic tests
To get a good score, make sure that you know exactly what and how you need to write in your answer. By adding example answers to your “review list” every time you get the wrong answer in a test, you’ll have a completed list before the final exam to review your weaknesses. Or you can have a list of questions you got wrong in tests and keep on answering them repeatedly until you get them right.
- Memorize the contents
There are so many things to memorize in this subject that you could forget things easily especially during long breaks. In order to make sure your knowledge stays in your head, you might want to solve practice questions often with your notes and/or draw diagrams with labels without looking at your notes.
3.3 How to prepare for the final exam
The best way to prepare for the final exam is to solve the questions in past papers over and over again. The first thing you want to do while solving past questions is to know how much time you should spend on each section in a paper. The second thing is to know exactly what you need to write in your answer by checking criteria because you don’t want to waste time by writing things that examiners are not looking for.
4. Tips for IA in IB Biology
In Biology, students carry out an individual investigation as the Internal Assessment. Although the working processes for the IA could be different between schools, they are all given a certain amount of time to set a research question, conduct research to assess it and write a paper about the investigation.
The topic for IA doesn’t have to be something from the course, but the level should match with your course otherwise you will not have enough time or papers to finish your research.
When writing your paper, make sure you use appropriate graphs or tables to effectively show your work and basic knowledge including error bars appropriately.
It’s also important to check the criteria regularly to make sure your paper is on the right track with everything required and nothing unnecessary. This way you can use your time wisely without having to check everything all at once and realize something that is not right afterwards.
5. Tips for EE in IB Biology
If you decide to write the Extended Essay for the Group 4 subjects including Biology, you can choose whether the research is based on the original experiment or based solely on literature. However, you can not choose the theme that is already examined. So, it might be hard to come up with the original theme or you might not get your desired results. Also, it might take some time to collect data from literature such as dissertations if your EE is based on literature. You will then need to analyze the collected data in your own view and conclude your research.
In any case, you will need data from multiple sources and your opinions on them, which makes it relatively hard to get a good score with EE in Biology. In order to get a high score, you will want to make a plan that takes account of unexpected situations and make sure that you can carry out your investigation. Similar to other subjects, you can also talk with your teacher at school, your tutor, or anyone about the investigation to know your own view on the topic.