IB survival · 10 min read
IB syllabus changes: which DP subjects are changing and when
Every DP subject group in one place: which guide you are on, which changes are announced with their first teaching and first assessment dates, and what to do with past papers from the old course.
On this page
- Which IB subjects change in which exam session?
- Are Language A and Language B changing? (groups 1 and 2)
- Which individuals and societies subjects are changing? (group 3)
- Which science subjects are changing? (group 4)
- Is there a new IB maths syllabus? (group 5)
- Are the arts changing? (group 6)
- Are the Extended Essay, TOK and CAS changing?
- Is the IB adding a new interdisciplinary course?
- How do I know which syllabus I am on?
- What should I do with old past papers?
If you sit your exams in May 2027, five courses are brand new for you: Psychology, Computer science, Design technology, Visual arts and the Extended Essay are all first assessed in that session. Biology, Chemistry and Physics changed in 2025, and ESS and Global Politics in 2026. Maths is not changing for current students: the new Analysis and approaches and Applications and interpretation courses are first assessed in May 2029. The first change for students sitting exams in May 2028 is History, which has a new course from that session.
The tables below go group by group. Dates come from the IB's curriculum-updates pages and subject documents on ibo.org, checked on 25 October 2026; the sources are listed at the end. "No change listed" means the IB's curriculum-updates page did not list a new course for that subject when we checked. It does not rule out an announcement later.
Which IB subjects change in which exam session?
| First assessed | New courses | Who it affects |
|---|---|---|
| May 2025 | Biology, Chemistry, Physics | Everyone sitting these from 2025, including you |
| May 2026 | ESS, Global politics, Sports, exercise and health science | Everyone sitting these from 2026, including you |
| May 2027 | Psychology, Computer science, Design technology, Visual arts, Extended Essay | Students who started the DP in August 2025 |
| May 2028 | History | Students who started the DP in August 2026 |
| May 2029 | Maths AA and AI, Language B, Language ab initio, Dance, Religion and society | Students starting the DP in August 2027 |
The pattern behind these dates: a new guide is published in February, first taught that August, and first examined two years later in May.
Are Language A and Language B changing? (groups 1 and 2)
| Subject | Current guide first assessed | Next change | What changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Language A (literature; language and literature) | 2021 | No change listed | – |
| Language B | Sat by 2027 and 2028 candidates | First teaching Aug 2027, first assessment May 2029 | The assessment model, the papers and the five themes stay the same. The guide is rewritten more clearly, with stronger links to critical thinking and conceptual understanding. Some individual oral descriptors are reworded slightly. |
| Language ab initio | Sat by 2027 and 2028 candidates | First teaching Aug 2027, first assessment May 2029 | As for Language B: papers and assessment model unchanged, guide clarified, small rewording in the oral descriptors. |
For Language B and ab initio, even the 2029 change is mostly in how the course is taught. Past papers from the current course remain good practice.
Which individuals and societies subjects are changing? (group 3)
| Subject | Current guide first assessed | Next change | What changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Economics | 2022 | No change listed | The IB's HL subject brief describes the current course as last assessed in 2029, but no replacement had been announced when we checked. |
| Business management | 2024 | No change listed | – |
| Geography | 2019 | No change listed | – |
| History | 2017 | Launched Feb 2026, first teaching Aug 2026, first assessment May 2028 | Four named concepts. Paired case studies replace the prescribed subjects, global themes replace the world history topics, and HL studies two regional in-depth topics. Paper 2 gains a concept question; Paper 3 asks for two essays instead of three. The IA loses its reflection section and allows up to seven sources. |
| Global politics | New course, May 2026 | – | HL students research global political challenges and sit a new stimulus-based Paper 3. The HL oral is gone. The IA is the engagement project. |
| Psychology | New course, May 2027 | – | Six concepts, the three approaches and research methods, and four compulsory contexts replacing the options. A new HL Paper 3 on data analysis is worth 30%. The IA becomes a research proposal (24 marks) that you design but do not carry out. |
| World religions | Current course | Redesigned as Religion and society: first teaching Aug 2027, first assessment May 2029 | New name and focus on religious communities in their social and historical context, with redesigned papers and IA. |
November 2026 is the last session before the new Psychology course is first assessed. If you are retaking Psychology after that, the IB's rule is that retakes follow the new curriculum, and your coordinator will tell you what that means for your IA.
Which science subjects are changing? (group 4)
| Subject | Current guide first assessed | Next change | What changed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Biology | 2025 (first taught Aug 2023) | No change listed | Options and Paper 3 removed. Two papers: Paper 1 (1A multiple choice and 1B data-based, 36%) and Paper 2 (44%). The IA is the scientific investigation, up to 3,000 words, 20%. |
| Chemistry | 2025 (first taught Aug 2023) | No change listed | Same two-paper model and IA as Biology. Content reorganised into Structure and Reactivity. |
| Physics | 2025 (first taught Aug 2023) | No change listed | New course on the same timeline, with the same IA as Biology and Chemistry. |
| ESS | New course, May 2026 | – | Now offered at HL as well as SL, with three HL lenses: environmental law, environmental and ecological economics, environmental ethics. The IA gains a criterion on tensions between perspectives and allows small groups. |
| Computer science | New course, May 2027 | – | Two themes: concepts of computer science, and computational thinking and problem-solving. Options and Paper 3 removed; a machine learning topic added, and the case study, previously HL only, now studied at SL too. Java or Python. The IA, the computational solution, is 30% at SL and 20% at HL. |
| Design technology | New course, May 2027 | – | Paper 3 and the options removed. The IA is a design project redesigning an existing product, up to 3,500 words. |
| Sports, exercise and health science | New course, May 2026 | – | Three themes, options removed, Papers 1A, 1B and 2, IA report up to 3,200 words. |
For the 2025 sciences, the guide most teachers mean by "the new syllabus" is the one with topic codes like A1.1 (Biology) or Structure 1.2 (Chemistry). The IB Biology exam format and IB Chemistry exam format guides cover the papers in detail.
Is there a new IB maths syllabus? (group 5)
| Subject | Current guide first assessed | Next change | What changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maths: analysis and approaches | 2021 | Launch Feb 2027, first teaching Aug 2027, first assessment May 2029 | Nothing added. SL loses financial applications and bivariate data; HL also loses proof by counterexample and Euler's method. SL Papers 1 and 2 go from 80 to 75 marks, HL Papers 1 and 2 from 110 to 100, and HL Paper 3 from 55 marks and 1 h 15 min to 50 marks and 1 hour. New IA criteria shared by SL and HL: problem specification, abstraction, computation, interpretation. |
| Maths: applications and interpretation | 2021 | First teaching Aug 2027, first assessment May 2029 | Nothing added. SL loses logarithms and the trapezoidal rule; HL loses complex numbers, the vector product, the Poisson distribution and three hypothesis tests. Same paper and IA changes as AA. |
If you sit maths in 2027 or 2028, none of this applies to you. Your papers, your formula booklet and your IA criteria are the current ones, and every past paper from May 2021 onwards matches your course. Be wary of revision sites already dropping financial maths or bivariate statistics: they are still examinable for you.
Are the arts changing? (group 6)
| Subject | Current guide first assessed | Next change | What changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visual arts | New course, May 2027 (old course last assessed 2026) | – | Three tasks. A shared art-making inquiry portfolio; a connection study at SL replacing the comparative study; a new artist project at HL. Five resolved artworks for the IA at both levels, and no exhibition documentation. |
| Dance | Current course | Launch Feb 2027, first teaching Aug 2027, first assessment May 2029 | New components (investigating, experimenting, presenting, plus an HL dance project) and new weightings. |
| Theatre; literature and performance | Current course | Listed on the IB's updates page without dates when we checked | Could not be confirmed. |
Are the Extended Essay, TOK and CAS changing?
| Core element | Current model | Next change | What changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Extended Essay | New model first assessed May 2027 (launched Feb 2025) | – | Two pathways, subject-focused or interdisciplinary; world studies folded into the interdisciplinary pathway. Redesigned criteria, out of 30, including Framework for the essay (6) and Reflection (4). Categories removed from language A and B essays. |
| Theory of Knowledge | First assessed 2022 | No change listed | – |
| CAS | Current guide | No change listed | – |
If you submit in November 2026, you are still on the old EE model. The 2027 Extended Essay guide and EE criteria explained cover the new model.
Is the IB adding a new interdisciplinary course?
| Course | Status | Next step | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|
| Systems Transformation | Piloted in four IB schools; next phase approved by the IB Board in May 2026 | Wider pilot in around 20 more schools from 2028; global offering planned for 2030 | New interdisciplinary DP course, 300 hours, counting as two of the six DP courses (equivalent to two standard-level courses). Students work across disciplines on real-world issues and are assessed on project, portfolio and case-study work. |
No current DP student is affected. It matters if you start the DP in 2028 or later and your school joins the pilot or offers the course from 2030.
How do I know which syllabus I am on?
- Start from your exam session. Find your subject in the tables above. If your session is the "first assessed" one or later, you are on the new course.
- Check the guide's title page. Every IB subject guide says "first assessment" and a year on its cover. Ask your teacher which edition the class uses.
- Check the topic codes. Current Biology uses codes like C1.2; the old course used numbered topics such as 2.8. Current Psychology is organised by contexts, not options. If your textbook's chapters do not match your teacher's topic list, the book may be for the old course.
- If you are retaking, assume the new curriculum applies and ask your coordinator about IA marks.
What should I do with old past papers?
Old papers are still useful for content that has not changed. They are misleading for timing and structure. Rules of thumb:
- Biology, Chemistry, Physics (papers before 2025): skip all option and Paper 3 questions. Old Paper 1 multiple choice is good practice on shared content, but old papers were not split into 1A and 1B, so use 2025 onwards papers and specimens to practise timing. Data-based questions from old Paper 2 still train the skill Paper 1B tests.
- Psychology (papers before 2027): the old short-answer and essay questions can test your knowledge of studies and approaches, but the new Paper 1, Paper 2 and HL Paper 3 look nothing like them. Use specimen papers for structure.
- ESS (papers before 2026): old papers were SL only. The Paper 1 case-study style is similar; HL questions using the lenses are new.
- Global Politics (papers before 2026): old Paper 1 questions are still useful source-analysis practice. The thematic studies were revised and HL Paper 3 is new, so check each essay question against your current syllabus.
- Maths: use papers from May 2021 onwards. Pre-2021 papers were for different courses, so check each question's topic before using it.
- Extended Essay: exemplars marked out of 34 tell you about research questions and argument, not about the new criteria or the RPF.
Get past papers through your school or the IB's store, and do not share them publicly. Where to find IB past papers explains the legal options. For the latest announcements, see IB news and updates, which we check every week.
Sources (all checked 25 October 2026)
- IB: Read curriculum updates (last updated 24 March 2026)
- History updates (19 February 2026)
- Psychology updates (19 February 2026)
- Computer science updates (19 February 2026)
- ESS updates (19 February 2026)
- Global politics updates (19 February 2026)
- Mathematics: analysis and approaches updates and applications and interpretation updates (3 April 2026)
- Language B updates (2 April 2026) and Language ab initio updates
- DP extended essay updates
- Visual arts updates and the visual arts course page
- Design technology updates, SEHS updates, Dance updates (2 April 2026), Religion and society update
- Biology subject brief, first assessment 2025, Chemistry subject brief, first assessment 2025 and the Biology course page
- IB blog: sciences posts (Physics first assessment 2025)
- Economics HL subject brief, Business management HL subject brief (French edition), Geography subject brief (Japanese edition), History HL subject brief
- Language A: literature guide, first assessment 2021 and the TOK subject brief, first assessment 2022
- Retaking examinations
- IB to expand new Systems Transformation course following Board approval (checked 29 October 2026)
Questions students ask
Is there a new IB maths syllabus?
Yes, but not for current students. New Analysis and approaches and Applications and interpretation courses are first taught in August 2027 and first assessed in May 2029. If you sit exams in 2027 or 2028, you are on the current course, first assessed in 2021.
Is IB Biology changing again?
The current Biology course was first taught in August 2023 and first assessed in May 2025, and it is the course for 2026, 2027 and 2028 candidates. The IB's curriculum-updates page listed no new Biology course when we checked on 25 October 2026.
Which IB subjects change in 2027?
Psychology, Computer science, Design technology, Visual arts and the Extended Essay all have new courses first assessed in May 2027. Students who started the DP in August 2025 are on these new versions.
Can I still use old past papers?
Yes, for content that is still on the syllabus. Skip questions on removed topics or options, and do not use old papers to practise timing when the paper structure has changed. Your teacher can tell you which years match your course.
