IB History Study Guide
Covers IB History prescribed subjects, world history topics, and HL regional options. Emphasizes source analysis skills, essay structure, and command terms: the keys to top marks.
The Prep Den IB History study guide is your complete companion for revising the course: full topic-by-topic coverage, spaced-repetition flashcards, practice quizzes with worked explanations, a key-terms bank, and exam-technique tips. Use it as your main study guide or as a supplement to your textbook and class notes.
Topics Covered
What you get
Course Architecture: First Assessment 2028
THE BIG PICTURE. This guide covers the IB History syllabus for first assessment 2028 (published February 2026). It applies to students starting the Diploma Programme in 2026 onwards. (If you began the DP in 2024 or 2025, switch the curriculum toggle at the top of this page to "First Assessed 2020.") The 2028 course is organised around four inquiry contexts (focused study, thematic study, regional study at HL, historical investigation), four specified concepts (cause/consequence, continuity/change, perspectives, significance), and four named historical skills: each one centred on a specific assessment.
Sample Flashcards
How are the four 2028 historical skills aligned with the assessment components?
ONE-TO-ONE ALIGNMENT in the 2028 curriculum:
- PAPER 1 / FOCUSED STUDY → USING SOURCES. Reading sources for content; analysing how context (origin, purpose, audience) shapes value; synthesising multiple-source perspectives.
- PAPER 2 / THEMATIC STUDY → MAKING CONNECTIONS. Analysing similarities, difference…
What are the FOUR specified historical concepts in the 2028 curriculum?
- Cause and consequence: multiple, interrelated, short/long-term reasons and results; actors interact with conditions; outcomes never inevitable.
- Continuity and change: happen simultaneously and interwoven; both rapid and slow patterns; experienced positively or negatively depending on who is affected…
Sample Key Terms
Focused Study (2028)
One of five paired short studies (each with two examples) for Paper 1 source-based assessment. Centred on the skill of using sources.
Thematic Study (2028)
One of four broad options (Conflict / Innovation and transformation / Authoritarian rule / Popular movements) for Paper 2. Each line of inquiry requires at least two examples from different regions.
Regional Study (HL only, 2028)
HL students choose one of four regions and study two of twelve regional options within it. Assessed via Paper 3, centred on evaluating arguments.
What's Covered
- Course Architecture: First Assessment 2028
- The Four Specified Historical Concepts
- Paper 1: Source Analysis (Using Sources)
- Paper 2: Essays & Making Connections
- Paper 3: HL Regional Study (Evaluating Arguments)
- HL Regional Study: The Americas
- Americas 1: Indigenous Societies (c. 750–1500)
- Americas 2: Colonialism & Slavery (c. 1492–1830)
- Americas 3: Independence Movements (1763–1860)
- Americas 4: The US Civil War (1840–1877)
- Americas 5: Formation of Modern Nations (1860–1929)
- Americas 6: The Mexican Revolution (1884–1940)
- Americas 7: The Great Depression (c. 1920–1939)
- Americas 8: Emergence in Global Affairs (1880–1945)
- Americas 9: The Cold War (1945–1991)
- Americas 10: Political Developments in Latin America (1934–2020)
- Americas 11: Social Movements (1945–2020)
- Americas 12: Political Developments in the USA & Canada (1960–2020)
- HL Regional Study: Europe
- Europe 1: Medieval Kingdoms & Empires (c. 750–1400)
- Europe 2: Renaissance & Reformation (c. 1350–1700)
- Europe 3: Enlightenment & Absolutism (1600–1800)
- Europe 4: The French Revolution (1774–1815)
- Europe 5: Unification of Germany & Italy (1815–1871)
- Europe 6: Europe and the First World War (1871–1923)
- Europe 7: The Russian Revolution (1855–1924)
- Europe 8: European Totalitarianism (1918–1941)
- Europe 9: Europe and the Second World War (1918–1949)
- Europe 10: Democracy, Authoritarianism & Conflict in Spain (c. 1920–2020)
- Europe 11: The USSR & Post-Soviet Russia (1945–2020)
- Europe 12: Europe During & After the Cold War (1945–2020)
- HL Regional Study: Africa and the Middle East
- Africa & ME 1: The Abbasid Caliphate & the Crusades (750–1291)
- Africa & ME 2: Pre-colonial Sub-Saharan States (c. 800–1945)
- Africa & ME 3: The African Slave Trade (1500–1900)
- Africa & ME 4: The Ottoman Empire & the Creation of Türkiye (c. 1790–1938)
- Africa & ME 5: Imperialism & the Partition of Africa (c. 1840–1920)
- Africa & ME 6: South Africa (1867–2020)
- Africa & ME 7: Rwanda & the Congo (c. 1875–2003)
- Africa & ME 8: Colonialism in Six African Colonies (1890–1980)
- Africa & ME 9: Conflict in the Middle East (1896–2020)
- Africa & ME 10: African Independence Movements (c. 1900–2000)
- Africa & ME 11: Revolution & Reform in the Middle East (c. 1945–2020)
- Africa & ME 12: Modern African States (c. 1945–2020)
- HL Regional Study: Asia and Oceania
- Asia & Oceania 1: Asian Kingdoms & Empires (750–1500)
- Asia & Oceania 2: The Mughal Empire & the East India Company (1526–1858)
- Asia & Oceania 3: Challenges to Imperial Rule in China (1736–1911)
- Asia & Oceania 4: Australia & New Zealand (c. 1770–2020)
- Asia & Oceania 5: Korea (1840–1945)
- Asia & Oceania 6: Independence of India (1857–1964)
- Asia & Oceania 7: Independent States in Southeast Asia (1900–1990)
- Asia & Oceania 8: Emergence of Modern China (1910–1949)
- Asia & Oceania 9: Politics & Economy in Japan (1912–2020)
- Asia & Oceania 10: The Central Asian Republics (1917–2020)
- Asia & Oceania 11: The Cold War in Asia (1949–2002)
- Asia & Oceania 12: The People's Republic of China (1949–2020)
- Historical Investigation (IA): Asking Questions
- Conflict: Thematic Study (Wars, Revolutions, Cold War)
- Authoritarian Rule: Thematic Study (Dictatorships, Empires, Colonial Rule)
- Innovation and Transformation: Thematic Study
- Popular Movements: Thematic Study
- Focused Study 1: Climate and Innovation (Norse + Aztec)
- Focused Study 2: Independence and Identity (Haiti + Kenya)
- Focused Study 3: Political and Economic Transitions (Meiji + Russian Federation)
- Focused Study 4: Conflict and Displacement (Post-war Europe + Indochina)
- Focused Study 5: Protest and Change (US Feminism + Tunisia)
- Course Architecture: First Assessment 2020
- Paper 1: Source Analysis (OPCVL)
- Paper 2 & Paper 3: Essay Technique
- Historical Investigation (Internal Assessment)
- PS1: Military Leaders: Genghis Khan & Richard I
- PS2: Conquest and its Impact: Fall of Granada (1492) & Conquest of Mexico/Peru (1519–1551)
- PS3: The Move to Global War: Japanese & German-Italian Expansion
- PS4: Rights and Protest: US Civil Rights & Apartheid South Africa
- PS5: Conflict and Intervention: Rwanda 1990–98 & Kosovo 1989–2002
- WHT 1: Society and Economy (750–1400)
- WHT 2: Causes and Effects of Wars (750–1500)
- WHT 3: Dynasties and Rulers (750–1500)
- WHT 4: Societies in Transition (1400–1700)
- WHT 5: Early Modern States (1450–1789)
- WHT 6: Causes and Effects of Early Modern Wars (1500–1750)
- WHT 7: Origins, Development and Impact of Industrialisation (1750–2005)
- WHT 8: Independence Movements (1800–2000)
- WHT 9: Emergence and Development of Democratic States (1848–2000)
- WHT 10: Authoritarian States (20th Century)
- WHT 11: Causes and Effects of 20th-Century Wars
- WHT 12: The Cold War (Superpower Tensions and Rivalries)
88 topics · 621+ flashcards · quizzes & matching games included
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