IB Physics Syllabus

Introduction

The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme is made up of a core and six subject groups.  The core has three compulsory elements:

• Theory of Knowledge
• Extended Essay
• Creativity, Activity and Service

There are six subject groups:

• Studies in Language and Literature
• Language Acquisition
• Individuals and Societies
• Sciences
• Mathematics
• Arts

Physics falls into the Sciences (Group four), and can be studied at Standard or Higher Level.  Each student can take three, or maximum four, at Higher Level and the remaining three, or two, at Standard Level.  Standard Level subjects require 150 hours of teaching whereas Higher Level subjects require 240 hours of teaching.

Physics is the most fundamental of the sciences, as it seeks to explain the universe from the very smallest particles to the vast distances between galaxies.

Despite the exciting and extraordinary development of ideas throughout the history of Physics, observations remain essential to the very core of the subject. Models are developed to try to understand observations, and these themselves can become theories that attempt to explain the observations.

IB Physics syllabus details

The Physics syllabus has a number of core elements to both Standard and Higher Level.  At Higher Level some topics are studied in greater depth and also there is additional material to study.  The breakdown of topics for Standard and Higher Level are shown below.

Syllabus component	Standard Level (Hours)	Higher Level (Hours)
Core	95	95
1. Measurements and Uncertainties	5	5
2. Mechanics	22	22
3. Thermal Physics	11	11
4. Waves	15	15
5. Electricity and Magnetism	15	15
6. Circular Motion and Gravitation	5	5
7. Atomic, Nuclear and Particle Physics	14	14
8. Energy Production	8	8
Additional Higher Level (AHL)		60
9. Wave Phenomena		17
10. Fields		11
11. Electromagnetic Induction		16
12. Quantum and Nuclear Physics		16
Option (Choose one)	15	25
A. Relativity	15	25
B. Engineering Physics	15	25
C. Imaging	15	25
D. Astrophysics	15	25
Practical scheme of work	40	60
Practical activities	20	40
Individual investigation (internal assessment – IA)	10	10
Group 4 project	10	10
Total teaching hours	150	240

Assessment objectives for IB Physics

The assessment objectives for Physics reflect those parts of the aims that will be formally assessed either internally or externally. The assessments will centre upon the nature of science and have the following four objectives:

1. Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

1. facts, concepts and terminology
2. methodologies and techniques
3. communicating scientific information

2. Apply:

1. facts, concepts and terminology
2. methodologies and techniques
3. methods of communicating scientific information.

3. Formulate, analyse and evaluate:

1. hypotheses, research questions and predictions
2. methodologies and techniques
3. primary and secondary data
4. scientific explanations.

4. Demonstrate the appropriate research, experimental and personal skills necessary to carry out insightful and ethical investigations.

How is IB Physics assessed?

The Standard Level (SL) and Higher Level (HL) have 80% externally assessed and 20% internally assessed.  The external assessment of Physics consists of three written papers.

In paper 1 there are 30 (at SL) or 40 (at HL) multiple-choice questions.  For SL and HL Paper 1 has 10% of the paper covering objectives 1 and 2 and 10% of the paper covering objective 3.  The overall weighting of paper 1 for both SL and HL is 20%.

Paper 2 contains short-answer and extended-response questions on the core (and Additional Higher Level material at HL).  For SL Paper 2 has 20% of the paper covering objectives 1 and 2 and 20% of the paper covering objective 3 giving an overall weighting of 40% for paper 2.  For HL Paper 2 has 18% of the paper covering objectives 1 and 2 and 18% of the paper covering objective 3 giving an overall weighting of 36% for paper 2.

Paper 3 has two sections; Section A contains one data-based question and several short-answer questions on experimental work on the core (and AHL material at HL).  Section B contains short-answer and extended-response questions from each of the four options.  For SL Paper 3 has 10% of the paper covering objectives 1 and 2 and 10% of the paper covering objective 3 giving an overall weighting of 20% for paper 3.  For HL Paper 3 has 12% of the paper covering objectives 1 and 2 and 12% of the paper covering objective 3 giving an overall weighting of 24% for paper 3.

The internal assessment is an integral part of the course and is compulsory for both SL and HL students.  The internal assessment carries a weighting of 20% for both SL and HL.  It enables students to demonstrate the application of their skills and knowledge, also to pursue their personal interests, without the time limitations and other constraints that are associated with written examinations.  The internal assessment requirements at SL and at HL are the same.

How to get a Level 7 in IB Physics: 7 top tips

Don’t be fooled into thinking Physics is an easy subject – it is not!  That said, it is one of the subjects in which IB pupils obtain the highest percentage of grade 7.  In the May 2015 examinations, Physics had the second highest percentage of students achieving grade 7 at both Higher and Standard level for group 4 subjects; of those studying at Higher Level, 29.5% obtained a 7 (415 students out of 1,408) and for Standard Level 15.0% (193 out of 1,285 candidates).

The grade 7 IB descriptor for sciences says you must be able to do the following for the external assessment:

• Display comprehensive knowledge of factual information in the syllabus, with a thorough command of concepts and principles.
• Select and apply relevant information, concepts and principles in a wide variety of contexts.
• Analyse and evaluate quantitative and/or qualitative data thoroughly.
• Construct detailed explanations of complex phenomena and make appropriate predictions.
• Solve most quantitative and/or qualitative problems proficiently.
• Communicate logically and concisely using appropriate terminology and conventions.
• Show insight or originality.

And for the internal assessment:

• Demonstrate personal skills, perseverance and responsibility in a wide variety of investigative activities in a very consistent manner.
• Work very well within a team and approach investigations in an ethical manner, paying full attention to environmental impact.
• Display competence in a wide range of investigative techniques, pay considerable attention to safety, and be fully capable of working independently.

To ensure you can tick off each of these descriptors and obtain that magical grade 7 in Physics, try following these 7 top tips:

1. Know and understand the IB Physics syllabus

Everything that can be examined is in the syllabus!  If a question is written and cannot be directly linked to the syllabus, then it is removed.  You need to know every aspect of the syllabus in great detail to avoid any nasty surprises in the exam.  Whenever you are studying, revising or attempting a past paper, ALWAYS have the syllabus open at the correct page.

2. Colour code and make comments on the IB Physics syllabus

Print out your syllabus in sections containing all the different topics.  When you are studying, make notes on each part of the syllabus.  Highlight each section with a coding system to tell you if you are completely knowledgeable (green), partially understand (orange) or have no idea (red).  The colour system is for three areas; do you understand the notes, can you complete past paper questions and do you need to use it for your internal assessment.

3. Stop and think before you move to the next section

If your colour coding from the last point is orange or red, then STOP and THINK.  Why don’t you understand something?  Is it a principle, aspect or particular question? Or something else?  The physics syllabus builds on previous ideas as it is structured.  If you do not know or appreciate a fundamental feature, then the rest of the building blocks will be difficult to understand.  You must make sure the topic is coded green before you move on, which may mean asking for help.  Look in your guide, check out a book or the internet, ask your teacher or get external help.

4. Manage your time wisely

If you are organised and efficient with your time, then you will obtain better grades compared to other students.  Efficient time management can be the difference between two grades.  It is important to remove distractions and it is important to take breaks.  Your brain cannot function hour after hour without a break or refuelling.  Here is an idea that works for me:  I sit at my desk, get out my work and turn on my computer and mobile.  For the first ten minutes I check everything and anything on my computer and mobile.  My brain now tells me I do not need to worry about emails, text messages or social media because I have checked.  Unless I am using my computer to work I turn off my mobile and computer because I do not want any distractions.  You need peace and quiet to work properly.

Study hard and efficiently in blocks of 30-45 minutes then take a ten-minute break to walk about, have a snack or even check your dreaded mobile!  Get back to it and do not do more than 4 sessions before you stop for one hour and have a rest and something to eat.  Always keep a drink with you when you are working.  Parkinson’s law states a task will take as long as you have allowed – if you tell yourself it will take a day then it will take a day but if you are efficient and say it will take half a day then you will complete the task in half the time.  You also need to be disciplined – the cycle is: make notes, understand notes, attempt practice questions, attempt past paper questions with notes, revise, attempt past paper questions without notes.  If you get to the end and understand then tick green and move on.  If you do not understand then find out where the problem lies and repeat the cycle.

5. Complete at least 5 IB Physics past papers

Do not be fooled into thinking you can get a 7 in physics without doing past paper questions.  You need to complete at least the last five years’ and preferably the last seven years’.  An important fact is that the syllabus can be changed and you may come across a question you cannot do.  You need to check the reason why and if it is because the syllabus has changed cross out the question and move on.  Remember your paper MUST be linked to the current syllabus and there are only so many question types and problems that can be written.  If you have completed and understood the last seven years of papers then most types of questions will be covered.  There is no substitute for attempting past paper questions and do not forget to complete a number of past papers in timed conditions.  If you get to a question you cannot do or get wrong remember the cycle in the last section and remember to get help.

6. Mark schemes and the examiner’s report

Perhaps mentioning the examiner’s report as number 6 is not a good place as it should be one of the first documents to read.  It is full of detail and importantly highlights areas where students make mistakes or did not understand.  Read it, print it and make notes on the examiner’s report.

Mark schemes need to be treated carefully.  It is no good looking at a question and then writing down the answer by using the mark scheme.  If you do this, you will not get a grade 7 in the examination.  You need to attempt the question, preferably in a timed environment, and then check your answer against the mark scheme.  If the answer is correct then move on but, if it is wrong, you need to understand your mistake and attempt a similar past paper question.  Check the answer and move on if correct but if it is wrong again then you need to get help.

7. Maximise your IB Physics internal assessment

One of the easiest ways to maximise your grade is to get the highest possible mark in your internal assessment.  You do not have a time pressure and you will be given plenty of opportunities to improve your score.  Take full advantage of getting the highest possible mark.  You must check your guide carefully for the exact requirements and ask your teacher if you are not sure about anything. See later for more ideas.

In summary, Physics may be a tough subject but it is highly respected.  If you get yourself organised, motivated and disciplined there is no reason why, following the above points, you cannot obtain a grade 7 in Physics.

IB Physics Internal Assessments (IAs)

Your physics IA is going to count for 20% of your final marks so it is crucial to get it right and to put the effort in. Before you start thinking about your research question, make sure that you understand the IA requirements!

How to get started with the IB Physics IA

You should be familiar with the IA Physics Guide, where they are laid out in detail. Your teacher will also give you useful input and guidance. Make sure especially that you understand the importance of academic honesty. If you reference another’s work, you must include this in your citations. Your teacher may provide comments on one draft of your work but no more. Study the assessment criteria and discuss them with your teacher if you are unsure what they mean. Make sure that the material is commensurate with the level of your course (SL or HL).

IB Physics IA assessment requirements

I recommend looking at the IB website where some examples of assessed student work are available for you to browse. You can view the student’s own work, the examiner’s annotations, and comments here. It is a great way to understand better what constitutes a good or a bad IA, understand the criteria fully, and work out how to avoid common mistakes. Have a think about the practicals you have already carried out. Which ones did you particularly enjoy and find interesting? More importantly, what equipment is available in your school laboratory?

Which area of physics are you interested in studying and what motivates your interest? You could make links to academic curiosity, global issues like the environment (in the case of environmental physics), your hobbies, etc.

Here is a breakdown of how different IA ideas may be divided by topic; it may help you to consider the different areas of the syllabus, which may be broadly organised as follows.

• Mechanics and energy
• Thermal physics
• Oscillations and waves
• Electricity and magnetism
• Radioactivity

Don’t forget the option topics:

• Astronomy and Space
• Imaging
• Engineering
• Relativity

Types of IB Physics IAs

Ideas for IAs may also be divided up into the following types.

The first three involve hands-on laboratory work. The last two don’t. Most IAs are based on the student’s own measurements but if you are confident that you know what you are doing, using a database or a simulation as a basis for your IA is possible.

I’d recommend that if you are not so confident, you stick to conducting your own practical.

• The measurement of a physical quantity such as the charge on the electron, or the permeability of free space or the demonstration of a physical law (Wein’s Law for example).
• Evaluating a relationship between two variables such as projectile launch angle and range, how the intensity of a light source varies with distance, how the speed of sound varies with temperature, how the efficiency of a motor changes with its power or how the power output of a solar cell varies with the thickness of cellophane laid on it, how the resonant frequency of a cantilever depends on its length.
• The measurement of the properties of materials or devices such as the specific energy of fuels, the work functions of metals, the time constant of a capacitor and so on.
• Computer simulations such as the computer simulation of a gas in order to investigate the gas laws, the simulation of a black body to determine Wein’s law or computer simulations of electromagnetism.
• Using an existing database to explore: for example, determining the circumstellar habitat around different classes of stars.

Developing your own IB Physics IA

Now I’ve discussed the different types of IA and some examples, let’s see how you can come up with ideas of your own. You might like to brainstorm ideas with fellow students to see what ideas you can come up with and discuss with them why they may or may not be good choices. It is important for you to construct a sensible research question. You must be able to define dependent and independent variables as well as control variables for any experiment you conduct, simulation you carry out or database you analyse.

First of all, decide on an area of interest. I will give some more specific examples of IAs listed by topic. This is where your level of personal engagement will shine through. Integrate the evidence of your personal engagement in your IA. Don’t make a specific section on it. Choose your independent variable (this must be measurable and concrete). Then choose your dependent variable, again something that can be measured. Be precise. Which variables will need controlling? Can you think of any reason why this experiment might be particularly challenging? Don’t make life hard for yourself. Then try to write your research question. Here you should focus on only one independent variable.

Here are some suggestions by topic.

Mechanics and energy IB Physics IA ideas

• How does the terminal velocity of a ball bearing depend on the temperature of the fluid it falls through?
• How does the spring constant of a spring depend on temperature?
• How does the energy of a pumped storage system depend on the height of the drop?
• How does the vibrational frequency of a cantilever depend on its mass?
• How does the pressure in a fluid depend on depth?

Thermal physics IB Physics IA ideas

• How does the rate of evaporation of water depend on surface area?
• Determine the specific heat capacity of a solid.
• How does the resistance of a conductor depend on temperature?

Oscillations and waves IB Physics IA ideas

• How does the intensity of a light source vary with distance?
• How does the refractive index of light in a solution depend on its concentration?
• How does the fundamental frequency of a string depend on its mass per unit length?
• How does the speed of sound in a solid depend on temperature?

Electricity and magnetism IB Physics IA ideas

• How does the efficiency of a motor depend on its power input?
• Determine the time constant of a capacitor-resistor circuit.
• Investigate the relationship between the efficiency of a diode rectifier with temperature.
• Determine the relationship between the emf induced in a coil and the rate of change of the flux linkage.

Other ideas for IB Physics IAs

Why does cling wrapping cling? 

You will need to measure some parameters of the film. You should notice that it will pick up small pieces of paper, so we are dealing with Static electricity. Oddly, when plastics were first developed, a very thin conductive substance was added to the process to conduct the static electricity away. One day someone realised that the clinginess of the plastic was a potential benefit – and cling film was born. It was cheaper to make – no special layer had to be added- but it could be sold for more!

The pitch of xylophone bars of different materials

You will need to analyse what determines the pitch of a xylophone bar, or indeed any object that you might hit. You could build identically sized bars of different materials and measure the frequency of the note, or you could try to tune bars of different materials to the same note/ frequency. The trick here is that the resonant frequency of an object depends on its dimensions, but also on the speed of sound in that material. Denser objects will have a higher speed of sound than less dense objects, and so the pitch will vary for identically sized objects of different densities.

What is the range limit for a string telephone?

This sounds fun to try. What do we need to look at? If the volume at the receiver does not drop to zero in the classroom, we may not be able to find a long enough piece of string to directly answer the question. Next step is to try the rugby pitch! But if we can measure the volume of the received sound at different distances, we can plot a graph of the attenuation of the sound. We will need to control the volume of the input and be able to measure the volume of the output. Both of these objectives can be achieved today with a couple of smartphones. 

Humidity and the speed of sound in air

First up we will need a method to measure the speed of sound. There are many ways to do this, but a good method is to use two microphones a measured distance apart, and attach them to two channels of an oscilloscope. The distance divided by the measured time difference between the peaks of the signal gives us the speed. If we can arrange for an enclosed tube between the microphones, we can then control the temperature and humidity on the tube and see how the speed varies.  An extension to the experiment would be to use a pump to see how air pressure varies the speed of sound as well.

The speed of sound in salt and fresh water

As above, but with waterproof microphones.

An efficient thermopile

What is a thermopile, and what is the effect? This is an interesting phenomenon and is being used to this day by Nasa to power the Voyager spacecraft and the Curiosity rover on Mars, to name two examples. It is also mentioned in the film/book ‘The Martian’ by Andy Weir. Basically, two different metals are bound together, as simple as connecting 2 pieces of copper wire onto a piece of stainless steel wire and applying heat to one of the junctions. The voltage produced is very small, but if you connect many in series you can get more voltage. Using a voltmeter and an ammeter you can measure how much voltage and how much current for a given temperature. Or more importantly the temperature difference between the two junctions. You can measure various changes in current against different conditions. it certainly would be worth finding out if more heat does generate more voltage and/ or current, or if you reach a peak. Mechanically you can also investigate how to keep the cool junction cool, to maintain the temperature difference. You could also measure how much heat energy is being radiated, and therefore lost.

Jacob’s Ladder

This is a fun experiment to build and watch, but health and safety need to be considered as the voltage is very high. In nearly all the original horror movies of the 1950’s there was always a mandatory Jacob’s ladder operating in the mad professors lab. Why was never really explained, but as Frankenstein’s monster was usually brought to life by static electricity (lightning), it was potentially useful. The idea is to get a spark between two wires, which at room temperature and pressure and a gap of 1 cm requires at least 30,000Volts. The created spark heats and ionises the air, and the hot ions rise, allowing the spark to now jump a wider gap. So it is fun to see how high and far you can get the spark to jump once the ladder has started. There are lots of opportunities to experiment and control the temperature and pressure and humidity of the air between the sides of the ladder. It will make a big difference if you can control the flow of air in the room. The more the ladder is shielded from air currents, the better it will work.

Vibration in a wire carrying AC electricity

This is an interesting topic as we can use it to show understanding of electricity, currents, induced magnetic fields, resonance and simple harmonic motion and sound. In fact the experiment is basically to build a very simple loudspeaker, because the wire will vibrate at the frequency of the AC current passing through it – be it a sine wave or an amplified MP3 file.

Here are some other topic suggestions that you can research yourself:

• Negative resistance phenomena
• Practical uses of the Hall effect
• Eddy current heating
• Paramagnetism
• Rainbows
• Schlieren photography
• Moiré fringes as measuring devices
• Triboluminescence
• Phosphenes
• Holography
• Producing a hologram
• Thin-film interference
• Kaleidoscopes
• Anamorphic art
• Tyndall figures
• Tyndall scattering and the sunset
• The Geissler tube
• A Wilson cloud chamber
• Celt stones
• Skipping stones
• The Marangoni effect
• Leidenfrost phenomena
• Lichtenberg figures
• Fraunhofer patterns
• The effect of cooling fins
• Maxwell’s spot
• Kanizsa figures
• The McCollough effect
• The Pockels effect: or Pockels electro-optic effect, produces double refraction in certain crystals when a constant or varying electric field is applied.