INTERNATIONAL

BACCALAUREATE
DIPLOMA PROGRAMME
CHEMISTRY (HIGHER LEVEL)
 OVERVIEW OF IBDP CURRICULUM

• THE IB DIPLOMA PROGRAMME CURRICULUM CONSISTS OF TWO MAIN

COMPONENTS:
1) THE CORE COMPONENT: EXTENDED ESSAY (EE), THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE
(TOK) AND CREATIVITY, ACTIVITY, SERVICE (CAS).
2) THE SUBJECTS: LANGUAGES, SCIENCES, MATHEMATICS ETC…

• THESE COMPONENTS ARE INTERLINKED WITH EACH OTHER BY MEANS OF SKILL-

SETS SUCH AS APPROACHES TO LEARNING, IB LEARNER PROFILES AND
INTERNATIONAL MINDEDNESS.
 DP SUBJECTS

• DIPLOMA PROGRAMME SUBJECTS ARE CLASSIFIED INTO SIX SUBJECT GROUPS:

1) STUDIES IN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
2) LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
3) INDIVIDUALS AND SOCIETIES
4) SCIENCES
5) MATHEMATICS
6) THE ARTS
 SCIENCES IN DP

• THE DP, SCIENCES COME UNDER THE GROUP 4 SUBJECTS.

• THE INDIVIDUAL SUBJECT CURRICULUM IN EACH SCIENCE SUBJECT IS ALIGNED
WITH THE CORE PRINCIPLES OF DP AND ARE GUIDED BY THE COMMON AIMS AND
OBJECTIVES OF THE SUBJECT GROUP.
• WHEN IN IB, WE NOT ONLY LEARN ABOUT THE CONTENT, BUT OUR AMBITION
SHOULD ALSO BE IN BECOMING A BETTER LEARNER AND A BETTER HUMAN
BEING. WHICH IS WHY THE SUBJECTS ARE CONNECTED TO TOK, CAS,
INTERNATIONAL MINDEDNESS; ALL OF WHICH WORKS IN DEVELOPING AND
NURTURING THE IB LEARNER PROFILES.
 GROUP 4 AIMS

• THE AIMS OF ALL GROUP 4 (SCIENCES) SUBJECTS IS TO DEVELOP THE SCIENTIFIC

UNDERSTANDING, THINKING, ENQUIRY AND RESEARCH SKILLS IN EACH
STUDENTS AND ALSO TO MAKE THEM APPRECIATE HOW SCIENCE WORKS AS A
SUBJECT: A BIGGER DOMAIN KNOWN AS “NATURE OF SCIENCE”.

• THE AIM IS ALSO TO MAKE YOU UNDERSTAND AND APPLY THE

INTERCONNECTING NATURE OF THE SUBJECTS AND TO APPRECIATE THE FACT
THAT PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY AND BIOLOGY PUT TOGETHER GIVES YOU A HOLISTIC
UNDERSTANDING OF THE NATURAL PHENOMENA.
 DP CHEMISTRY

• CHEMISTRY IN IB, LIKE MOST OTHER SUBJECTS ARE OFFERED IN TWO LEVELS,
DIFFERING ON THE DEPTH OF THE CONTENT.
• IN STANDARD LEVEL (SL), WE HAVE 150 HOURS OF TEACHING LEARNING
ACTIVITIES, OUT OF WHICH 40 HOURS ARE FOR PRACTICAL WORK.
• THE HIGHER LEVEL (HL) OF THE SUBJECT REQUIRES 240 HOURS OF TEACHING AND
LEARNING ACTIVITIES OUT OF WHICH 60 HOURS SHOULD BE PRACTICAL WORK.
• BOTH HL AND SL HAVE A COMMON SYLLABUS OF CORE TOPICS AND HL STUDENTS
HAVE ADDITIONAL SYLLABUS ON THE SAME TOPICS IN CHEMISTRY.
 SYLLABUS IN HIGHER LEVEL

• THE HL SYLLABUS CONSISTS OF 11 CORE UNITS, 10 ADDITIONAL HIGHER LEVEL SUB-UNITS OF

THE CORE CONTENT AND 1 OPTIONAL (OUT OF 4) UNIT.

• ALL UNITS OF DP CHEMISTRY IS BASED ON THE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE IN GRADE 10 AND NEWER
CONCEPTS IS BUILT FROM PRIOR KNOWLEDGE ONLY.

• THERE WILL BE A HUGE EMPHASIS ON INTER-DISCIPLINARY LINKS WHERE CONCEPTS FROM

OTHER SUBJECTS WILL ALSO BE APPLIED HERE TO BUILD NEWER CONCEPTS IN THIS SUBJECT,
THUS MAKING THE WHOLE LEARNING PROCESS MORE APPLICATION-BASED.
 ASSESSMENT OBJECTIVES
• THE ASSESSMENT COMPONENTS IN DP CHEMISTRY ARE GUIDED BY THE FOLLOWING ASSESSMENT OBJECTIVES THAT
ALIGNS IT WITH THE ETHOS OF IB:
• 1. DEMONSTRATE KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF:
• A. FACTS, CONCEPTS, AND TERMINOLOGY
• B. METHODOLOGIES AND TECHNIQUES
• C. COMMUNICATING SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION.

• 2. APPLY:
• A. FACTS, CONCEPTS, AND TERMINOLOGY
• B. METHODOLOGIES AND TECHNIQUES
• C. METHODS OF COMMUNICATING SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION.

• 3. FORMULATE, ANALYZE AND EVALUATE:

• A. HYPOTHESES, RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND PREDICTIONS
• B. METHODOLOGIES AND TECHNIQUES
• C. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY DATA D. SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATIONS
 ASSESSMENT STRUCTURE

• ALL SCIENCES, INCLUDING CHEMISTRY, HAVE BOTH INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL

ASSESSMENT COMPONENTS.
• THE INTERNAL ASSESSMENT COMPONENT REQUIRES DP CANDIDATES TO PLAN,
EXECUTE AND REPORT A PRACTICAL INVESTIGATION AND IN HAS 20%
WEIGHTAGE OF THE TOTAL MARKS.
• THE INVESTIGATION WORK SUBMITTED BY THE CANDIDATE IS INTERNALLY
MARKED AND FURTHER MODERATED BY EXTERNAL EXAMINER ACROSS THE
ASSESSMENT CRITERIA.
• THE EXTERNAL ASSESSMENT COMPONENTS INVOLVES 3 WRITTEN EXAMINATION
PAPERS AND CARRIES THE REMAINING 80% WEIGHTAGE OF THE TOTAL MARKS.
ASSESSMENT OVERVIEW: HL PAPER 1
ASSESSMENT OVERVIEW: HL PAPER 2
ASSESSMENT OVERVIEW: HL PAPER 3
 PRACTICAL WORK IN DP CHEMISTRY

• IN CHEMISTRY SL, THE INDIVIDUAL UNITS ARE ASSOCIATED WITH PRACTICAL

ACTIVITIES AND THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PRACTICAL WORK IS TO COMPLEMENT
THEORETICAL LEARNING.
• OUT OF THE 40 HOURS OF PRACTICAL ACTIVITY (OVER 2 YEARS), WE ARE
EXPECTED TO DEVELOP THE FOURTH ASSESSMENT OBJECTIVE OF DP:
“DEMONSTRATE THE APPROPRIATE RESEARCH, EXPERIMENTAL, AND PERSONAL
SKILLS NECESSARY TO CARRY OUT INSIGHTFUL AND ETHICAL INVESTIGATIONS.”
• THE OBJECTIVE IS FULFILLED BY MEANS OF PRESCRIBED AND ADDITIONAL
PRACTICAL WORKS, THE COLLABORATIVE GROUP 4 PROJECT AND THE
INDIVIDUAL INVESTIGATION (IA).
ASSESSMENT OVERVIEW: INDIVIDUAL
INVESTIGATION
 THE GROUP 4 PROJECT

• THE GROUP 4 PROJECT IS A COLLABORATIVE ACTIVITY WHERE STUDENTS FROM

DIFFERENT GROUP 4 SUBJECTS, WITHIN OR BETWEEN SCHOOLS, WORK TOGETHER.
• IT ALLOWS FOR CONCEPTS AND PERCEPTIONS FROM ACROSS DISCIPLINES TO BE SHARED
WHILE APPRECIATING THE ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL AND ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS OF
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY.
• IT CAN BE PRACTICALLY OR THEORETICALLY BASED AND AIMS TO DEVELOP AN
UNDERSTANDING OF THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINES AND THEIR
INFLUENCE ON OTHER AREAS OF KNOWLEDGE.
• THE EMPHASIS IS ON INTERDISCIPLINARY COOPERATION AND THE SCIENTIFIC PROCESSES.
 MARKING AND GRADING IN DP

• THE TOTAL MARKS OBTAINED IN DIFFERENT COMPONENTS ARE SCALED

UP/DOWN ACCORDING TO THE RESPECTIVE WEIGHTAGE TO PRODUCE A SCALED
TOTAL (OUT OF 100).
• THE SCALED TOTAL IS THEN PLACED ACROSS A GRADE BOUNDARY.
• THE GRADE BOUNDARY IS A FLEXIBLE DOCUMENT AND GRADES ARE DECIDED
AS A COMBINATION OF DIFFICULTY LEVEL OF PAPER (BOTH IN TERMS OF
CONTENT AND CONCEPT), OVERALL PERFORMANCE LEVEL OF CLASS AND THE
GRADE DESCRIPTORS SET BY IB.
• GRADE BOUNDARIES OF IN-SCHOOL AND FINAL EXAMINATIONS ARE NOT
NECESSARILY THE SAME.
 CONNECTION WITH CORE

• EXTENDED ESSAY IN CHEMISTRY:

INDEPENDENT AND ORIGINAL RESEARCH WORK ON PRACTICAL OR
THEORETICAL FIELD
• THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE:
CHEMISTRY WILL PROVIDE EXCELLENT EXAMPLES FOR TOK ESSAY AND
EXHIBITION
• CREATIVITY, ACTIVITY, SERVICE (CAS):
CREATIVITY AND SERVICE PORTFOLIO CAN BE BUILT THROUGH SENIOR
CHEMIST STA
“
“MAN ONLY EXISTS WHEN HE THINKS”

– JACQUES-HENRI MEISTER.
”
EDUCATION IS NOT ABOUT ABSORBING KNOWLEDGE WITHOUT EVER QUESTIONING IT