The IB recommends that all Diploma courses, even those at standard level, should be two years long, with a recommended minimum of 150 contact hours. However, the truth is that some teachers are having to teach the course in one year. This is challenging, but perfectly possible.

Here are a few tips to help you do it:

Teach three contexts, rather than four.

Paper 1, Section C is the only place where students will be directly assessed on knowledge of an area of study of a context, and this section comprises two questions, from which students choose only one. So even if one of the questions is on human development, students can choose the other. Paper 1, Section B has two stimulus questions that will have their titles from contexts, but the question content will ask students to apply their knowledge of one of the approaches to a new situation, and will not contain specific context information. So just tell your students to ignore the title and concentrate on the stimulus material. Neither of the other two papers (Paper 2, SL and HL and Paper 3, HL only) has anything that require specific context knowledge.

Make the IA an independent project

Students can do their planning in class and writing at home. The December/January break is a good time for the bulk of the writing to be completed, if possible. This is an individual IA proposal, not group work, but students could present their proposals in small groups for feedback before submitting them to you for review. Students should start with an issue that they feel needs a solution, and then work backwards from that to design either a survey/questionnaire or a semi-structured interview. Both of these are much easier to plan than an experiment or observation. The only data collection tool they will need will involve their designing questions, either mainly closed or Likert-scale to collect quantitative data (survey/questionnaire) or a mixture of closed and open with the possibility of further questions according to the participant’s answers (interview).

Class practicals done in class.

They should be on just one topic, with four different aims, and group work is easiest to organise, with the experiment being run by the teacher, but designed by the students. They can work in groups to design survey questions and interview guides and swap and check them. There is no need to calculate statistics, but practice on Paper 2A questions should be given regularly.

Integrate research methods and concepts

As you teach the contexts, integrate the methods. You will not have time for a separate methods unit at the beginning of the year. Experiments are common for testing learning and cognition, and surveys are often used in human relationships research, for example. These are good opportunities to discuss causality, bias, measurement and responsibility. When looking at the biological approach to health and well-being, perspectives and change give greater understanding and are useful for discussing cross-cultural approaches.

Finally, give students access to the guide and a good textbook and make them as independent as possible – it can speed up things and also make learning more enjoyable for all!