3. Prescribed Subjects for Paper 1
There are 5 prescribed subjects to choose from for Paper 1 which range from Medieval to Modern and can provide a starting point for designing your IB history programme. You can go on to choose Paper 2 and Paper 3 topics that complement and overlap with your Paper 1 topic, or, alternatively, you can choose a topic for Paper 1 that is completely different to the rest of the course e.g. this can be your medieval unit while the rest of the course focuses on 20th Century!
Each prescribed subject consists of two case studies; both of these case studies must be studied.
Questions will always be set on one of the case studies - but will not alternate between years so it will be impossible to predict!
Full details of each prescribed subject can be found here
You can find examiners' reports on Paper 1 here.
The range of topics that you can choose for Paper 1 are as follows:
PS1: Military Leaders
This prescribed subject covers the military leaders of Genghis Khan and Richard I.An outline of the key themes is given below. Full details of this prescribed subject can be found here.
PS2: Conquest and its impact
This topic covers the final stages of Muslim rule in Spain in the late 15th Century and the conquest of Mexico and Peru in the 16th Century.The main themes for this topic are outlined below but the full...
PS3: The Move to Global War
This topic covers the causes of World War Two both in Europe and in Asia. An outline of the course is given below but the full details can be found on the OCC here.It is important that you read the IB...
PS4: Rights and Protest
This topic covers the struggle for rights and freedoms in the USA and in South Africa. The main themes for this topic are outlined below but the full syllabus can be found on the OCC here
PS5: Conflict and Intervention
This prescribed topic focuses on two case studies which show the impact of both intervention and non-intervention in two very different conflicts. The main themes for this topic are outlined below but...