IB survival · 7 min read
IB news and updates: the latest changes for DP students
A dated log of the IB announcements that change something for Diploma students, newest first, each with a plain-English summary and a link to the official page.
On this page
This page tracks the IB announcements that change something for Diploma Programme students: new subject guides and their first assessment dates, changes to papers and coursework, exam schedules, results release times, academic integrity and AI guidance, and the move to digital exams. Every entry is checked on the official page on ibo.org and links to it. The page was last checked on 29 October 2026, and we check it every week; the newest entry is always at the top.
If you only want to know which syllabus you are on, IB syllabus changes has the full subject-by-subject tables.
What has the IB announced recently?
23 October 2026 · November 2026 exams begin
The November 2026 session opened on Friday 23 October with a single paper, and the main timetable runs from Monday 26 October to Friday 13 November 2026. It affects schools that sit the November session and students retaking. It is also the last session before the new Psychology course and the new Extended Essay are first assessed in May 2027.
24 July 2026 · Digital exams page updated
The IB's page on on-screen exams says it is running paper and digital exams in parallel, and that digital exams will at first mirror the existing paper ones. Its assessment overview adds that this starts with a small number of subjects in 2026. Nothing changes for you unless your school is told one of your papers is digital, so ask your coordinator.
6 July 2026 · May 2026 results released
209,607 DP and CP students received results from the May 2026 session, a 3.7% rise on the year before, and the IB gave the global average DP score as 30.88 points.
Source: More than 209,000 IB students worldwide receive their DP and CP results
30 June 2026 · Release times for May 2026 results
The IB confirmed that schools could see May 2026 results in IBIS from 5 July 2026 (08:00 EDT, 13:00 BST, 14:00 CEST, 20:00 SGT, staggered by time zone), and that students could see them on the candidate website from 6 July. Your school can also pass results to you directly.
Source: The IB prepares to release DP and CP student examination results
21 May 2026 · New Systems Transformation course approved for wider pilot
The IB Board approved the next stage of Systems Transformation, a new project-based DP course of 300 hours that counts as two of the six DP courses (the equivalent of two standard-level subjects). It is assessed through project, portfolio and case-study work. Around 20 more schools will pilot it from 2028, and the IB plans to offer it globally from 2030. Nothing changes for students in the DP now; if you start the DP in 2028 or later, ask your school whether it will offer the course.
Source: IB to expand new Systems Transformation course following Board approval
3 April 2026 · New maths courses detailed for 2029
The IB set out the new Analysis and approaches and Applications and interpretation courses: first teaching August 2027, first assessment May 2029. Some content is removed and none added, paper totals drop (SL Papers 1 and 2 to 75 marks, HL to 100, HL Paper 3 to 50 marks and 1 hour), and the IA gets four new criteria shared by SL and HL. Students sitting maths in 2027 or 2028 are not affected.
2 April 2026 · Language B, ab initio and Dance: 2029 courses
New Language B and Language ab initio guides launch in February 2027 for first assessment in May 2029, with the papers and assessment model unchanged and only small rewording in the individual oral descriptors. Dance gets a redesigned course and assessment on the same timeline. Current students are not affected.
Source: Language B updates
24 March 2026 · Curriculum-updates overview refreshed
The IB's overview of curriculum changes now runs to first assessment in May 2029. It groups the changes by first teaching year, and lists a redesigned world religions course, renamed Religion and society, alongside the 2029 maths, language acquisition and dance courses.
Source: Read curriculum updates
19 February 2026 · New History course launched
A new History course launched for first teaching in August 2026 and first assessment in May 2028, so Year 1 students who started in August 2026 are its first cohort. It introduces four concepts, paired case studies and global themes; Paper 3 drops from three essays to two, and the IA loses its reflection section.
Source: History updates
19 February 2026 · AI guidance page updated
The IB's AI page says it will keep relying on human examiners to mark its assessments, and is exploring AI only as a quality check that flags possible marking errors for human review. The rules for students are unchanged: AI-generated material must be credited in the text and in the bibliography, as set out in the academic integrity policy's AI appendix.
17 November 2025 · Release times for November 2025 results
The IB announced that schools would receive November 2025 results in IBIS from 19:00 GMT on 16 December 2025, and that students could see theirs on the candidate website six hours later. Schools could choose to delay student access by up to 48 hours.
Source: The IB prepares to release DP and CP students' examination results
Which IB changes affect my exam session?
Most announcements only matter to students who have not started the DP yet. This is the short version for the cohorts in school now.
| Your session | What is new for you | What is not |
|---|---|---|
| November 2026 | The 2025 sciences and the 2026 ESS and Global Politics courses | You are still on the old Psychology course and the old EE model |
| May 2027 (Year 2) | New Psychology, Computer science, Design technology, Visual arts and Extended Essay; the 2025 sciences; the 2026 ESS and Global Politics | Maths, Language A, Language B, History, TOK |
| May 2028 (Year 1) | Everything above, plus the new History course | Maths, Language B and ab initio (these change in 2029) |
| May 2029 (starting August 2027) | New Maths AA and AI, Language B, ab initio, Dance, Religion and society | – |
If you are retaking a subject whose course has changed, the IB's rule is that you follow the new curriculum; your coordinator will tell you whether your IA marks carry over.
What is coming next?
Dates we know about, and gaps we are watching. Each moves into the log above once the IB publishes it.
- 13 November 2026: last day of the November 2026 exams.
- November 2026 results: release times not yet announced. Last year the IB announced them in mid-November.
- May 2027 exam timetable: 26 April to 18 May 2027, from the IB's final schedule as schools have published it. The IB's own exam schedule page still listed sessions only up to November 2026 on 26 October 2026. Your own papers, clashes and a revision plan: IB exam schedule May 2027.
- 2028 and 2030: the new Systems Transformation course goes to a wider pilot of around 20 more schools in 2028, with a global offering planned for 2030. See IB syllabus changes.
- 13 January 2027, 18:00 UK time: UCAS deadline for most 2027-entry UK courses. Not an IB date, but it falls in the middle of Year 2.
- May 2027: first assessment of the new Psychology, Computer science, Design technology and Visual arts courses and the 30-mark Extended Essay. The first grade boundaries for these will come only after that session; see IB grade boundaries for how boundaries work.
How do we check and date these entries?
- Official pages only. An entry goes in only after we have read it on ibo.org or an official IB document. Other sites help us spot changes, but we never log something on their word.
- The date is the IB's date. We use the publication date on an IB news item, the date an event happens (an exam session or results release), or the "last updated" date the IB shows on a curriculum page. The IB sometimes refreshes many pages on one day, so we log a page update only when it says something new for students.
- Plain English, not IB wording. The summaries are ours. When the detail matters, such as for your coursework or a deadline, read the source and ask your coordinator.
- School rules sit on top. Your school sets internal deadlines, mock dates and rules for things like AI use within the IB's policy. A change here never overrides what your school tells you.
For the AI rules in full, see AI rules in the IB. For where everything sits across the two years, see the IB Diploma timeline.
Sources
- IB: Read curriculum updates
- IB: Exam schedule
- IB: Assessment and exams
- IB: Getting results
- IB: Retaking examinations
- IB: Academic integrity policy (updated March 2023)
- Each log entry links to its own ibo.org source above.
Questions students ask
When are IB results released?
The IB confirms exact times shortly before each release. For the May 2026 session, students could see results from 6 July 2026. For November 2025, schools received results from 19:00 GMT on 16 December 2025 and students six hours later.
Has the May 2027 exam timetable been published?
Schools have the IB's final May 2027 schedule, and several have published it; our May 2027 exam planner is built on it. On 26 October 2026 the IB's own exam schedule page still listed sessions only up to November 2026, so confirm your papers with your coordinator.
Is the IB moving to digital exams?
Gradually. The IB says it is running paper and digital exams in parallel, starting with a small number of subjects in 2026, and that digital exams will at first mirror the paper ones. Your coordinator knows whether any of your papers are on screen.
Has the IB changed its rules on AI?
Not in the last year. The IB's AI page, updated in February 2026, still points to the AI appendix added to the academic integrity policy in March 2023: AI output must be credited in the text and the bibliography. The IB also says human examiners will keep marking its exams.
