Changes to the World History Topics and Paper 2

At face value, the changes to the World History Topics leave us with the ability to keep things very similar in our curriculum, or modify them wildly if we so prefer.  I am guess that very few of you are going to do the latter, but this is not meant to be dismissive: if you have the prep time, and your school has the resources, there are a lot of interesting ways in which the curriculum can be shifted.

The main content change is the merger of Routes 1 and 2; if you’ve ever read anything I’ve written about the new curriculum, it expressed the delight of IB Coordinators who no longer have to determine which route, HL option and Prescribed Subject.  The HL option will still need to be declared, but the new examination has 12 topics – 4 that come from the previous 20th century world history topics, 4 from the previous Medieval History topics and 4 from the middle, linking part of the curriculum. The topics are:

1. Society and economy (750–1400)

2. Causes and effects of medieval wars (750–1500)

3. Dynasties and rulers (750–1500)

4. Societies in transition (1400–1700)

5. Early Modern states (1450–1789)

6. Causes and effects of Early Modern wars (1500–1750)

7. Origins, development and impact of industrialization (1750–2005)

8. Independence movements (1800–2000)

9. Evolution and development of democratic states (1848–2000)

10. Authoritarian states (20th century)

11. Causes and effects of 20th-century wars

12. The Cold War: Superpower tensions and rivalries (20th century)

The material remains belligerent heavy: you can study wars in all 3 time frames, and the Cold War, and authoritarian states.  However, you could also choose to focus on other aspects of human development: society and economy; industrialization; or the development of democratic movements.

The requirement remains the same: two different topics need to be studied, and you need to cover examples from at least two different regions.  However, there are changes in the details of each subject.  Most substantial is that there is no longer material for detailed study – we have full choice on what we cover, as long as we cover all of the major themes.  This is where it gets tricky, however.  If you choose cause and effects of 20th century wars, you need to ensure that you have enough wars to cover different types of wars – guerrilla, wars between states and civil wars.  How many wars will that amount to?  And for the Cold War, you are expected to cover the entire chronology of the Cold War, examine in detail two Cold War leaders, 2 countries (other than US and USSR) and two Cold War Crises.  What is a Cold War crisis?  Stay tuned, that is a topic for another blog …

The exam is very different: there are only two questions per topic, the questions are entirely open (students choose their own examples) and the essays will now be marked out of 15 points, not the current 20.  However, students still write two essays from two different areas in 90 minutes.

Marking out of 15?  Below is a table of how the marks break down with the new system.  The IB still provides a table and indicates holistic marking, but my students like to identify skills they need to acquire, so I found this model easier for them to navigate:

Essay Rubric for Class of 2017
It is still a work in progress, but it gives a general indication of what needs to be done for grades to rise. (Please side-scroll to see all of the table).

[table id=1 /]

There will be future blogs on the different elements of the exam and the curriculum but this is the overview for today.

See you soon!