IB Biology Exam Breakdown

Paper 1: Multiple Choice – SL & HL 20%

This exam paper tests all of your core syllabus knowledge through multiple choice questions. Each question has 4 answer options (A/B/C/D). Questions can take any form including diagrams, images and tables.

You are not allowed a calculator or data booklet.

Paper 2: Written Response – SL 40%, HL 36%

This exam paper tests all of your core syllabus knowledge through two sections. Section A contains shorter answer questions, where each question has multiple parts (I/ii/iii). Section B contains a choice of 3 extended response sets, where each set is made of 3 longer questions (often 2,6,8 marks). Candidates choose which extended response set(s) to answer.

You are allowed a calculator and a data booklet.

Paper 3: Data Analysis – SL 20%, HL 24%

This exam paper tests your experimental skills and all of your option topic knowledge, through two sections. Section A contains shorter answer questions on experiments or data (using examples from the core syllabus), where each question has multiple parts (I/ii/iii). Section B contains shorter answer questions on the option topics, where each question also has multiple parts (I/ii/iii). Candidates choose which option topic to answer based on their class curriculum.

You are allowed a calculator and a data booklet.