IB Computer Science Tutoring, SL and HL
IB Computer Science is two subjects in one course: theme A asks students to explain how computers, networks, databases and machine learning work, while theme B asks them to design and read programs in Java or Python. Students who can code often write thin theory answers, and students who revise theory well often freeze when a question asks them to complete or correct an algorithm.
Short answer
IB Computer Science is offered online, one-to-one.
A private lesson runs 90 minutes and starts at USD 95 per lesson; lessons are booked singly or in packages.
IB group classes are private groups of three or more friends, who agree the start date with us.
From USD 95 per lesson
- SL and HL assessment from the IB’s own subject brief
- Live online lessons of 90 minutes
- From USD 95 per lesson
How IB Computer Science is assessed
External papers set and marked by the IB, and an internal assessment marked by your teacher and moderated by the IB. Standard Level and Higher Level differ in length, weighting and, at HL, in the extra paper or component. Figures are from the IB’s own subject brief, linked below.
International Baccalaureate
IB Diploma Programme · Computer Science · subject brief, first assessment 2027
| Component | SL: weight and length | HL: weight and length | What it involves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paper 1 | 35% · 1 hour 15 min | 40% · 2 hours | Questions on the four topics of theme A, “Concepts of computer science”, plus three questions on the pre-released case study. |
| Paper 2 | 35% · 1 hour 15 min | 40% · 2 hours | Questions on theme B, “Computational thinking and problem-solving”, with additional HL questions on object-oriented programming and abstract data types. Code is written in Java or Python. |
| Internal assessment | 30% · 35 hours | 20% · 35 hours | The computational solution: a program built to solve a real-world problem the student chooses. |
Checked on 24 September 2026
Paper names are the IB’s own. Internal assessment time is the teaching time the IB allocates to it, not an exam.
The IB Computer Science syllabus
Topic names are left in English, as they appear on the paper and in the mark scheme.
Theme A: Concepts of computer science
A1 Computer fundamentals · A2 Networks · A3 Databases · A4 Machine learning
Theme B: Computational thinking and problem-solving
B1 Computational thinking · B2 Programming · B3 Object-oriented programming · B4 Abstract data types (HL)
Case study
A pre-released case study examined in Paper 1
Where IB Computer Science marks are usually lost
Code that is almost right
Programming questions punish small errors that a computer would catch at once: a loop that stops one element early, an index that starts at the wrong end, a variable updated outside the loop that needs it, an empty list that was never considered. Students who only find bugs by running their code struggle when a question asks them to trace an algorithm by hand and state exactly what it outputs.
Buzzwords in place of mechanisms
Theme A answers on networks, databases and machine learning lose marks when they name a concept without saying how it works. “It is more secure”, “the data is encrypted” or “the model learns from data” earns little on an explain question. Examiners want the steps of the process, the reason it achieves its purpose, and, where the command term asks for it, a weighed judgement of its limitations.
Generic answers to case-study questions
Paper 1 includes questions on the case study, which the course uses to bring an emerging technology into the syllabus. Students who prepare it as a list of definitions write answers that could apply to any system and miss the marks for applying ideas to the organisation, users and constraints in the scenario. Where a question asks about effects on people, it needs specific consequences, not general statements about privacy.
The IB Computer Science internal assessment
The internal assessment is the computational solution: the student chooses a real-world problem and develops a program to solve it, using the concepts and skills of the course and the computational thinking process. That means specifying the problem and its success criteria, breaking it into manageable parts, designing and building the solution, then testing and evaluating it against those criteria. A tutor can help a student choose a problem with enough depth to use the course’s concepts properly, write success criteria that can actually be tested, and plan a testing strategy that shows whether each criterion has been met.
A tutor can explain the criteria, question a draft and point to what is weak. The research, the writing and every decision in it stay the student’s own, as the awarding body’s rules require.
How we teach IB Computer Science
A tutor works in the language the student’s school has chosen, Java or Python, and keeps to it, since programming questions on Paper 2 come in equivalent versions for each. Lessons on theme B alternate between writing short programs and tracing given ones on paper with trace tables, so that loops, arrays, searching and sorting are understood rather than remembered. Object-oriented programming is built up through small classes the student designs, and HL students add abstract data types. Theme A topics are taught as mechanisms — how a packet travels, how a query retrieves records, how a model is trained and tested — with each explanation rehearsed against IB command terms. The case study is read early and revisited, so its vocabulary and scenario are familiar well before the exam.
There is no separate diagnostic, because there is no single test that stands in for two years of a school syllabus. The first lesson is the assessment: the tutor works through your recent marked work, past-paper questions from your own specification, and the units your school has already covered, and reads current level, gaps, exam technique and where school work stands. It is a normal paid lesson and it teaches as it assesses.
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