When you look at the IB Chemistry Subject Guide much of the first 19 pages or so is taken up with material which is essentially the same for all Group 4 subjects and chemistry really only comes into its own with the syllabus which starts on page 20. Quite helpfully the syllabus is actually given three times. It starts with a syllabus outline (see below), this is then followed by the syllabus content and finally the detailed syllabus is given which also contains guidance for the teacher.

Syllabus overview

Background and rationale

In the past (up until 1997) there was an IB Standard Level only subject called Applied Chemistry in addition to Higher Level and Standard Level Chemistry. Applied Chemistry was essentially chemistry and society and at one point several of us met to decide what basic understanding of chemistry a student needed if they were going to be ‘chemically literate’ and be able to apply their chemistry to the problems of society. We came up with eleven separate topics which formed the core of Applied Chemistry and essentially these are the core topics of today – the only real change is that one topic ‘States of Matter’ has been replaced by ‘Measurement and data processing’. Applied Chemistry had another major influence on today’s syllabus too –the current options originate from Applied Chemistry as in the past Chemistry at both Standard Level and Higher Level was just a theoretical subject with no options.

Current syllabus