The 2027 IB Psychology syllabus: What DP coordinators need to plan for now

Introduction

The IB published the 2027 Psychology guide, and it rebuilt the course end to end. Core and Options is gone, the IA is unrecognisable, and HL gets three new extensions. For DP coordinators, the question is no longer "what changed?" but "what do I have to do this term so my first cohort is ready in May 2027?"

The 2027 IB Psychology syllabus is an inquiry-driven framework that IB DP schools use to teach through six core concepts applied across four real-world contexts, which means coordinators have to rebuild schemes of work, mocks, and the IA before the first cohort sits Paper 1 in May 2027.

TL;DR: 2027 IB Psychology Syllabus

What's actually changing in the 2027 IB Psychology syllabus

The 2027 IB Psychology syllabus is the biggest revision since the course began. The three cores plus Options menu have been replaced by one integrated framework. Every paper, every practical, and the IA are built on the new model.

This is not a content refresh. It rewrites how the course is taught, examined, and resourced.

To pin down what is genuinely new, paper by paper, criterion by criterion, I worked through the IB's Psychology DP resources for last assessment 2026 and first assessment 2027 side by side. What follows is that read, translated into the decisions DP coordinators and Heads of School are about to make.

The new course structure: Concepts x Content x Contexts

Six concepts thread through both years, three perspectives plus research methods make up the knowledge base, and four contexts are where it all gets applied. Course content is taught through the context, not alongside it.

In the old syllabus, a teacher might teach the cognitive approach, then bolt on an Options topic. In the 2027 model, "how we learn and forget" is taught inside the cognition and learning context, with three perspectives and the relevant methods used to investigate it. Existing schemes of work cannot just have a new cover sheet glued on.

Six concepts that now run through the entire course

The six concepts of bias, causality, change, measurement, perspective, and responsibility are the backbone of the 2027 IB Psychology syllabus. They are introduced in Year 1, revisited in every context, and form the criteria students use to evaluate research in Paper 2 Section B.

The transferability is what makes them powerful. A student who has learned to interrogate bias in a memory study can use the same lens on a TOK essay, an SAT analysis passage, a TOEFL Independent Writing prompt, or a first-year university psychology paper. The intent of the concept-led design is psychological literacy: the same critical questions about evidence, regardless of subject or exam.

For coordinators, this is where teacher training pays back fastest. The six concepts have to be taught the same way in every classroom by Term 2.

What Paper 1, Paper 2, and Paper 3 look like

The 2027 external assessment is built around two skills only: application and evaluation. There is no section in any paper where students recall an Option topic and apply it in isolation.

Paper 1 (SL and HL, 90 minutes): short-answer and application questions integrating two of three content areas, plus an extended response on the concepts.

Paper 2 (SL and HL, 90 minutes): Section A applies practicals knowledge; Section B presents an unseen research paper to evaluate using the six concepts.

Paper 3 (HL only, 105 minutes): a source-based paper on the HL extensions with chart reading and data processing.

A 2025-style mock is misleading practice for a 2027 cohort. Mocks have to match the new format from the first internal assessment cycle, not the final mock before exams.

The Internal Assessment shift: designing research, not running it

The most striking change is the IA. Students no longer run a small-scale experiment. They produce a research proposal of up to 2,200 words, designing an investigation into a population of interest using one of four methods (experiment, interview, observation, questionnaire). The deliverable is a defensible design, not a completed study.

This reduces admin load and raises cognitive demand. Less time on participant scheduling and ethics applications; more time in the design lab, formulating problems, choosing methods, and defending samples. The IA window can shift earlier, ethics becomes a teaching moment, and the IA file at moderation looks like a portfolio of designs rather than experimental reports.

HL extensions: culture, motivation, technology

The three HL extensions are embedded inside all four contexts rather than added as a separate section. Culture examines cross-cultural variation; motivation cuts across cognitive and sociocultural perspectives; technology connects the course to the world Year 2 students live in (attention economy, digital communication, AI in learning).

Combined with Paper 3's data demands, HL pushes toward research literacy as a stand-alone outcome. By the end of Year 2, HL students should be able to read a modern research paper, critique its design, and interpret its charts.

What this means for resource planning

Six steps for your next Psychology department meeting:

1. Audit existing resources against the four contexts. Anything that does not fit a context cleanly is a 2024-syllabus artefact. Most schools find 40–60% of materials need reframing.

2. Rebuild Year 1 schemes of work around contexts, not approaches. Map the six concepts explicitly across every unit.

3. Plan four practicals across the four contexts. The practical bank becomes the primary revision resource for Paper 2 Section A.

4. Rewrite the IA workflow document. New timeline (no data-collection block), new moderation guidance, new proposal template before the first Year 2 briefing.

5. Schedule teacher training on the six concepts before Term 2. A half-day workshop with worked exemplars prevents six versions of the same course.

6. Set up on-screen Paper 3 practice from Term 1 of Year 2. Sources, charts, and timed data interpretation, not paper revision. See our IB DP digital exams 2026 transition guide for the wider on-screen exam context, and the coordinator's guide to IB DP assessment principles for how to keep mocks aligned with IBO standards.

How AssessPrep supports the 2027 IB Psychology syllabus

For DP coordinators preparing for the 2027 IB Psychology syllabus, AssessPrep is the on-screen assessment platform purpose-built for IB DP, with an 18,000+ IB DP question bank, AI authoring for context-led questions, and a secure browser that mirrors the IBO digital exam interface, used by 800+ IB and Cambridge schools across 85+ countries.

In practice, the platform covers three of the six planning steps: a head start on Paper 1 and Paper 2 Section B style questions framed around the six concepts, AI authoring that builds new context-led questions in minutes, and authentic on-screen practice for Paper 3. Schools like the International School of Geneva (Ecolint) and Vienna International School already run digital readiness on it for IB DP.

Start a 30-day free trial with your Psychology team this term.

Conclusion

The 2027 IB Psychology syllabus is not a maintenance update. It changes the structure, the IA, the HL extensions, and every paper, and the first cohort sits Paper 1 in twelve months. Coordinators who plan term by term from now will run a confident first sitting. The transferable skills the new course builds, evaluating evidence, reading research, interrogating bias, also carry into TOEFL, SAT, and university-level work, which is the bigger long-term win.

Key takeaways

• Concepts x Content x Contexts replaces Core + Options. Schemes, mocks, and IAs need rebuilding.

• Six concepts thread through every unit. Train the team before Term 2.

• The IA is now a research proposal up to 2,200 words. Rewrite the department's IA handbook.

• Paper 3 (HL) is 105 minutes, source-based, data-heavy. On-screen practice from Term 1 of Year 2.

• The same evaluative skills carry into TOEFL, SAT, and undergraduate work, not just IB exams.