IB History Tutoring

The Difficulties of IB History

IB History often proves more challenging than other secondary school history programs, such as A-Level or AP. IB History is an exploratory and evidence-based course that follows a comparative and transnational approach to history. BartyED’s IB History tutors will work on improving the student’s analytical abilities as well as the structure of their essays to improve their chances of achieving top marks.

Despite this often being students’ first formal introduction to historical inquiry, teachers expect students to evaluate history from political, economic, social, and cultural perspectives. Without a IB History tutor, candidates often struggle to find primary sources, develop topics of historical inquiry, or form a mental framework in which to categorise and memorise the broad range of figures and dates thrown at them.  

Without a IB History tutor, candidates are often unequipped and lack experience in writing a logical and cohesive essay structure. They often make mistakes like the following student in the concluding sentences of an IB History essay on the question “Evaluate the role of technology in prolonging the First World War”:

“Basically, technology was very important in prolonging the First World War because artillery is way more effective than muskets! But diplomacy was also important.” 

The student makes important mistakes here which must be pointed out by an expert IB History tutor:

1. The conjunction “basically” is too informal and should never be used to start the conclusion of an IB History essay. Instead, our IB History tutors would recommend students to try “In conclusion” or “In all”.

2. Technology was not defined adequately in the introduction so the IB History examiner is still unclear if the candidate intends to talk only about military technology, or if communications and other technology has been taken into account.

3. The platitude of artillery being effective does not add any analytical weight to the essay and should be removed. It does not link to the question which asks the student to explain why WWI went on as long as it did.

4. The consideration of other factors (diplomacy) is not expanded upon enough, and there is no reference to historical literature.

5. Starting a sentence with “but” is inappropriate in academic English.

After intervention from a BartyED IB History tutor, a student may produce this:

“In conclusion, military technology such as tanks and the machine gun can only help to account for the prolongation of WWI to a limited extent. As Schmidt (1990) contends, domestic crises and internal pressures to win the war on both sides must be taken into account.”

This conclusion is what our IB History tutors would expect our students to write independently after several sessions with us. It is better for the following reasons:

1. It specifically reiterates the argument of the essay.

2. It uses consistently formal academic language. 

3. It acknowledges the nuance of historical study (“to a limited extent”). 

4. Historiography is taken into account and cited. 

Why students need a BartyED IB History Tutor

Our IB History tutors have often been through the IB History programme themselves, and have gone on to earn degrees in History and the Humanities. Therefore, our IB History tutors are uniquely poised and fully equipped to help candidates earn top marks in IB History.

Our IB tutors help students plan History IAs, revise for Papers 1, 2 and 3, and provide them with the skills necessary to find, select, and evaluate primary and secondary sources. The one-on-one nature of our IB History tutoring classes allows tutors to offer candidates the personal and targeted support they are unable to receive in the classroom.

Find out more about other IB subjects we tutor: