Recently the IBO has made some significant changes to the IB Chemistry curriculum. This blog will break down important components of the new IB Chemistry curriculum so that you know what you are in for and how to best prepare for success.
Syllabus structure:
The new syllabus highly focuses on two main themes in Chemistry: Structure and reactivity. The table below shows the topics covered in each of the themes.
All teaching and learning are based on these two themes to allow students to draw greater connections between every topic. Both Standard Level (SL) and Higher Level (HL) students study both main themes with higher level students studying additional content in each topic.
IB Chemistry Assessments
In terms of assessment format, there will be internal assessments and external assessments for all Chemistry students.
Internal assessments make up 20% of the total grade. Students will be required to work in groups of two or three to design and run their own experiments. Students will collect data and produce a report which will be internally assessed by the school's teacher and externally moderated by IBO examiners. This means the school's teacher will mark the work out of a score of 24 and the IBO examiners will review the work and moderate your teacher's given mark if necessary.
External assessments make up 80% of the total grade. Both SL and HL students will be sitting two papers, Paper 1 and Paper 2 during the final exam period, in which Paper 1 takes up 36% and Paper 2 takes up 44% of your total grade respectively.
Paper 1 is divided into Paper 1A and Paper 1B. Paper 1A is composed of multiple choice questions and Paper 1B is composed of short response data analysis questions on experimental techniques. The paper aims to examine a student's ability to analyse results through experimental data and their insight into the rationale of chemical experiments. The writing time for SL students will be 1 hour 30 minutes and 2 hours for HL students.
Paper 2 is composed of short responses and extended response questions. Questions are primarily based on course content from the two main themes, reactivity and structure. This paper examines students’ understanding of the course content and their ability to communicate scientifically.
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Tips to scoring top marks in your IB Chemistry final exam
The first assessment of the new Chemistry curriculum is in 2025, this means we don’t have any official exam papers written by IBO for reference. Although the curriculum and assessment format has made some significant changes, in terms of the content covered it was quite similar so there are some strategies and tips that can be followed to better prepare for the final exam.
Tip 1: Identify the topic
My first tip would be when you first read a question, you need to first identify what topic the question is asking you about. Although this process sounds straightforward, this process will allow you to draw about everything that you have learnt from the topic so that you’re fully prepared to answer the question with relevant knowledge points. It will be difficult for you to write down anything, which then harder to score marks in the question if you are unable to retrieve the relevant topic. Sometimes, the same question may be tested together with 2 topics and the process of identifying the specific topic will aid you to tackle the question with less distraction.
Tip 2: Use key words
Another tip to score most of the marks from questions is the use of key terms. IB marking scheme tends to be very simple and they highlight the use of key terms in the answers. For example, the use of delocalised electrons is a keyword to use when answering questions about the features of benzene. The way that examiners give you marks in IB Chemistry is that if they see key terms in your answers that match the marking scheme, you will be awarded marks. So the trick here is to be precise with your answers, this will not only save you time but also help the marker to quickly identify key terms to give you marks.
Tip 3: Use the Data booklet
The data booklet contains important and useful information that can help with your exam. The most important thing is to familiarise yourself with your data booklet so that you know what information will be useful to you when doing your question.
IB Chemistry is a challenging subject but it is definitely a rewarding subject that will aid you in your further tertiary studies. If you feel you need extra support through your IB Chemistry journey sign up for a free 7-day trial to our online IB Chemistry High Performance Program.
FAQs
Q: Should I pick Standard level or higher level Chemistry?
A: You don’t have to pick standard or higher level until around the end of first year IB, so there’s time for you to explore which pathway would suit you better, for example, your career path, your study load in other subjects
Q: How much time should I dedicate every week to keep on top of all the chem content?
A: I usually spend two hours every weekend reviewing the content I’ve done throughout the week. Personally, I find this process really useful as it can not only refresh my mind about the previous content I’ve done but also better prepare me for the upcoming content.
Q: When should I start thinking about the ideas for my internal assessment?
A: It is always a good practice to link the current topic to possible ideas of scientific experimentation. I would describe this process as trying to investigate the relationship between different variables, and this will help generate possible ideas for the internal assessment
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Written by KIS Academics Tutor for IB Maths AA SL, Chemistry HL and SL, Economics SL, Lai Yin Yip. Lai Yin is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Biomedicine at the University of Melbourne. You can view Lai Yin’s profile here and request him as a tutor.
