IB History Paper 2: how to write the two world history essays

Where Paper 2 sits in IB History (current guide)

For students in DP2 now (exams in 2027). Under the new guide first examined in 2028, summaries report that schools study one Paper 2 thematic study instead of two, with no prescribed examples.

What examiners reward

Paper 2 essays are marked on markbands, which describe the whole essay rather than counting points. The top bands describe an answer that is clearly focused on the question, well structured, supported by accurate and relevant knowledge, and that evaluates different perspectives to reach a reasoned conclusion. Narrative, however accurate, stays in the middle bands because it does not argue.

World history questions often ask you to compare two examples from different regions, to weigh causes or effects, or to judge the importance of one factor. Read the command term and the key words carefully. "Compare and contrast" requires both similarities and differences and works best when the comparison runs through each paragraph, not in two separate halves. "To what extent" requires a judgement on degree, not a yes or no.

A five-minute plan for each essay

1. Underline the command term, the key concepts (cause, consequence, significance, change, continuity, perspective) and any limits in the question, such as dates, regions or "two states".
2. Write your answer to the question in one sentence. This is your thesis, and it goes in the introduction.
3. Choose three or four arguments that support or qualify the thesis. Each becomes a paragraph with a clear topic sentence that answers the question.
4. Under each argument, note two or three precise pieces of evidence: dates, names, figures, policies, events.
5. Note one counter-argument or historian's view you will weigh, and where it goes.
6. Write the conclusion in note form now, so that the essay heads towards it.

A worked thesis for an invented question

Invented question in the style of the authoritarian states topic: "Evaluate the importance of economic factors in the rise to power of one authoritarian leader." The paragraph plan below shows the shape, not a finished essay.

• Thesis: economic crisis created the conditions for the leader's rise, but it was the exploitation of political weakness and the use of propaganda and force that turned opportunity into power.
• Paragraph 1: the economic crisis and its effect on support for existing parties, with specific figures you have learnt for unemployment or inflation.
• Paragraph 2: weakness of the existing political system, with named events and dates.
• Paragraph 3: the leader's methods (propaganda, organisation, use of force), with examples.
• Paragraph 4: evaluation: why economic factors were necessary but not sufficient, with a historian's interpretation if you know one accurately.
• Conclusion: answer "how important" directly, ranking the factors.

Where Paper 2 marks are lost

• Telling the story. Every paragraph should start with an argument, not a date.
• Vague evidence: "many people were unemployed" instead of specific figures, names and dates.
• Two halves instead of a comparison in compare and contrast questions.
• Using historians as decoration. A quotation earns credit only when it is evaluated and used to support or test your argument.
• Uneven time. Both essays carry equal marks; a brilliant first essay and an unfinished second one score less than two good ones.
• Answering a pre-learnt essay instead of the question on the paper.

How one-to-one lessons help with Paper 2

A tutor who teaches IB History works from the two topics your school studies. Lessons alternate between building precise evidence (timelines, case notes, key figures and historians) and essay practice: the student plans a past question on the shared whiteboard in five minutes, writes a timed introduction and one paragraph, and the tutor marks it against the markbands and shows what would move it up a band.

Nearer the exam, the student writes full timed essays at home and the tutor uses the lesson to go through the marking, so feedback is specific to the student's habits.