IB Diploma · Years 12-13
IB Psychology tutors
Built around the biological, cognitive and sociocultural approaches, with an Internal Assessment requiring a replicated experiment and a full report. HL adds extra options and depth, and the IA methodology needs to be settled early rather than improvised.
- USD 30-36 per hour
- One-to-one, online
- Free 1-hour trial class
What IB Diploma actually demands
Six subjects plus Theory of Knowledge, the Extended Essay and CAS. The workload is the defining feature, and the Internal Assessments, coursework worth a substantial share of each subject grade, are what most often slip.
Chosen by many students expecting a discussion subject and found to be a science with a heavy research-methods and statistics component. The marks sit in evaluating studies, not in recounting them.
Where IB Psychology students lose marks
- Studies described in detail with almost no evaluation, where evaluation carries most of the marks
- Research methods and statistics treated as a separate unit rather than as something examined throughout
- Ethical issues listed generically instead of applied to the specific study in the question
- Essay structure that never reaches a conclusion, because the debate was presented but never resolved
Is this the right subject at this level?
Students heading for psychology, medicine, education or social science degrees, and anyone whose essays summarise studies accurately and still land in the middle band. It suits students comfortable with statistics and research design, which is a larger part of the subject than its reputation suggests.
What it costs
USD 30-36 per 60-minute one-to-one lesson at IB Diploma, the same rate in every city we teach in. Billed monthly against lessons actually taught, with no prepaid blocks and no minimum commitment.
Paired lessons (2 students) are USD 21-25 per student. Small group lessons (up to 6 students) are USD 15-18 per student. What each format is good for is here.
How we teach it
One-to-one, online, with a shared whiteboard. The first thing we establish is the exact syllabus the student is entered for: schools do not always publish the version they actually enter, and preparing for the wrong paper structure wastes a term.
After that the work is diagnostic: a past paper under timed conditions, marked together against the published scheme, to find out where the marks are genuinely going. That is almost always more useful than covering the syllabus again more slowly. The full process is here.
Psychology: questions parents ask
Is Psychology a science subject?
Yes, and students are often surprised by how much. Research methods and statistics are examined throughout rather than as a single unit, and university psychology is dominated by them. It is not the discussion-based subject its reputation suggests.
Why do detailed essays still score mid-band?
Because description is cheap and evaluation is where the marks are. A student who describes three studies thoroughly and evaluates none will sit in the middle band no matter how accurate the description. One evaluative sentence per descriptive one is the habit to build.
How should the studies be revised?
By what each one demonstrates and where it is vulnerable, not by their procedural details. Questions ask students to use studies as evidence in an argument, which requires knowing their limitations as well as their findings.