IB Physics HL Syllabus: A Complete Breakdown for New Students
The IB Physics HL syllabus is organised into five themes, assessed through two exam papers and one internal assessment, with no separate options paper. That’s the short version. If you started researching this course using notes from an older sibling or a random PDF online, some of what you read is probably out of date, because the syllabus was rebuilt for first examination in May 2025. New IB Physics HL students often walk in expecting the old core-plus-options format. That structure is gone. What replaced it is, in some ways, simpler to plan around, but it demands more from you within each topic. This breakdown covers what’s actually in the IB Physics HL syllabus today, how it’s assessed, and where the weight sits, useful groundwork whether you’re just getting oriented or already thinking ahead to scoring a 7 in IB Physics following breakdown may help. What the IB Physics HL Syllabus Actually Covers The IB Physics HL syllabus groups all content into five themes, labelled A through E. Every student, SL or HL, studies the same five themes. The difference is depth: HL adds extra material inside several of them and includes five topics that only Higher Level students sit. The five themes are: Theme A — Space, Time and Motion. Kinematics, forces, momentum, and energy sit here, along with two HL-only additions: rigid body mechanics and special relativity. Theme B — The Particulate Nature of Matter. This covers thermal physics, gases, and at HL, a full treatment of thermodynamics that SL students don’t sit. Theme C — Wave Behaviour. Wave properties, interference, and standing waves, building toward more advanced optics content at HL. Theme D — Fields. Gravitational, electric and magnetic fields, with electromagnetic induction reserved for HL. Theme E — Nuclear and Quantum Physics. Radioactivity and atomic structure for everyone, plus a dedicated quantum physics topic that only HL students study. Across those five themes sit 24 topics in total, and five of them are HL-exclusive. That’s a meaningful chunk of extra content layered onto the shared core, which is part of why HL carries roughly 240 recommended teaching hours against 150 for SL. Core Content vs the Five HL-Only Topics Because HL students share four-fifths of their syllabus with SL, it helps to know exactly which pieces belong to you alone. The five HL-only topics are rigid body mechanics, special relativity, thermodynamics, electromagnetic induction, and quantum physics. Each one builds directly on an SL topic in the same theme rather than sitting off to the side, so weak SL foundations tend to resurface as HL struggles later in the course. Quantum physics in particular tends to catch students off guard. It leans heavily on abstract reasoning rather than the equation-plugging that works for mechanics, and teachers report it as one of the topics where HL students lose the most avoidable marks. How the IB Physics HL Syllabus Is Assessed There are only two exam papers now, not three. Paper 1 combines multiple-choice questions with a data-based section and no calculator is allowed. Paper 2 is short-answer and extended-response, and it runs for 150 minutes at HL against 90 minutes at SL, reflecting the extra content and the deeper reasoning expected in every answer. The scientific investigation, still commonly called the IA, is worth 20% of your final grade and is built from roughly ten hours of practical class time. It’s an individually designed experiment written up in a report of around 3,000 words, marked by your teacher and moderated externally. Weighting across the three components looks like this: Paper 1 sits at 36%, Paper 2 at 44%, and the IA holds the remaining 20%. Paper 2 carrying the largest share is worth noting, because it rewards sustained, connected reasoning across a topic rather than quick recall, which changes how you should be revising. What Happened to the Old Options Topics If you’ve come across mentions of astrophysics, engineering physics, imaging, or relativity as separate “options” in IB Physics HL, that structure no longer exists. Those topics were folded into the core syllabus or dropped entirely when the course was rebuilt. Relativity, for instance, now sits inside Theme A as an HL-only topic rather than as a standalone option a student could choose or avoid. Every HL student studies the same content now, with no elective specialisation, which removes one decision from your planning but means there’s nowhere to hide from a topic you dislike. Why IB Physics HL Past Papers Need a Careful Read Searching for IB Physics HL past papers is one of the most common things new students do, and it’s a good instinct, but the syllabus change means older papers need to be read with some caution. Anything from before the May 2025 session was written against the old 12-topic, three-paper structure, and while the underlying physics hasn’t changed, the way questions are framed and grouped has. A past paper on “options” content, for example, won’t map onto anything you’ll actually sit. The safest approach is to prioritise the official specimen papers released alongside the new syllabus, then use the first genuine May 2025 papers once your school has access to them. Older papers still have value for practising raw problem-solving on shared topics like mechanics or electricity, just don’t rely on them to judge question style or timing for your real exam. Building a Study Plan Around the New Structure A syllabus this different from what came before rewards a study plan built from scratch rather than one borrowed from an older student. Two things are worth locking in early: a topic-by-topic schedule that respects how much heavier Theme A and Theme E tend to be in teaching hours, and regular short blocks of past-paper practice rather than long cramming sessions close to the exam. Much of the pacing logic behind a solid revision plan for A-Level physics carries over here even across a different board, and the discipline of consistent, timed Paper 2 practice usually does more for a final grade