IB Philosophy Tutoring, SL and HL
IB Philosophy is marked on the quality of reasoning rather than on recall, so a student who knows exactly what Kant or Mill argued still scores poorly without building and evaluating an argument of their own. The writing has to be precise as well, because one vague term or unclear step can undo an otherwise sound essay.
Short answer
IB Philosophy 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 Philosophy 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 · Philosophy · subject brief, first assessment 2025
| Component | SL: weight and length | HL: weight and length | What it involves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paper 1 | 50% · 1 hour 45 min | 40% · 2 hours 30 min | A stimulus-based question on the core theme and thematic essays on the optional themes (one at SL, two at HL). |
| Paper 2 | 25% · 1 hour | 20% · 1 hour | Extended response on the prescribed philosophical text. |
| Paper 3 (HL only) | HL only | 20% · 1 hour 15 min | Response to an unseen 800-word philosophical text on a contemporary issue. |
| Internal assessment | 25% · 20 hours | 20% · 20 hours | A 2,000-word philosophical analysis of a non-philosophical stimulus. |
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 Philosophy syllabus
Topic names are left in English, as they appear on the paper and in the mark scheme.
Core theme
Being human
Optional themes
Chosen by the school from the published list, e.g. ethics, political philosophy, philosophy of religion, epistemology
Prescribed text
One text chosen from the IB’s prescribed list
HL extension
Philosophical activity applied to an unseen contemporary text
Where IB Philosophy marks are usually lost
Reporting philosophers instead of doing philosophy
Many essays turn into summaries: what one thinker said, then what another said. The assessment objectives ask students to evaluate arguments, discuss points of view and come to reasoned conclusions. Marks go to essays that test a position, raise a strong counter-argument, respond to it and reach a judgement the student has actually argued for, with the philosophers serving the argument rather than replacing it.
Missing the issue in the stimulus
The core theme question starts from a stimulus. Students often describe the stimulus at length, or write a prepared essay that ignores it. The task is to identify a philosophical issue the stimulus raises about being human, state it clearly and then explore it with arguments and counter-arguments. A precise, well-chosen issue makes the rest of the answer much easier to control and keeps every paragraph relevant.
Explaining the text without evaluating it
Paper 2 tests the prescribed text, and the IB’s sample questions ask students first to explain an idea from it and then to evaluate it. Students who know the text well often spend too long on explanation and leave the evaluation thin. Strong answers explain accurately in the author’s own terms, then test the idea with objections, examples and other perspectives before reaching a view.
The IB Philosophy internal assessment
The internal assessment is a philosophical analysis of a non-philosophical stimulus. The student identifies a philosophical issue the stimulus raises and analyses it using philosophical ideas and arguments, considering different perspectives and reaching a reasoned conclusion; the task also asks for evidence of research, organisation and referencing. A tutor helps the student test whether a stimulus genuinely raises an issue worth analysing, sharpen that issue into a precise focus, and understand what each criterion rewards.
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 Philosophy
A tutor teaches philosophy as an activity: each lesson centres on a question, an argument to reconstruct and objections to answer. For the core theme, the student builds reasoned positions on what it means to be human and practises turning unfamiliar stimuli into clear philosophical issues. Optional themes are studied through the debates the school has chosen, with key terms defined precisely and tested against examples. The prescribed text is read closely, passage by passage, and the student explains its arguments aloud before writing about them. Essays are planned with a thesis, a counter-argument and a response, then rewritten after feedback. HL students practise reading unseen texts on contemporary issues and discussing what philosophical activity is, how it works and why it matters.
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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