Overview of IB Standard Level (SL) Physics

The IB Standard Level (SL) Physics course is designed to provide a fundamental understanding of physics and experience with associated scientific skills, requiring a total of 150 teaching hours. The course is structured around concept-based learning, focusing on the overarching themes of energy, particles, and forces.

Syllabus Structure and Teaching Hour(110 Hours)

The SL syllabus is divided into five core themes, which exclude the higher-level (HL) only topics such as rigid body mechanics, special relativity, thermodynamics, induction, and quantum physics.

• A. Space, time and motion (27 hours): Covers kinematics, forces and momentum, and work, energy, and power.
• B. The particulate nature of matter (24 hours): Includes thermal energy transfers, the greenhouse effect, gas laws, and current and circuits.
• C. Wave behaviour (17 hours): Focuses on simple harmonic motion, the wave model, wave phenomena, standing waves and resonance, and the Doppler effect.
• D. Fields (19 hours): Explores gravitational fields, electric and magnetic fields, and motion in electromagnetic fields.
• E. Nuclear and quantum physics (23 hours): Covers the structure of the atom, radioactive decay, fission, and fusion and stars.

Experimental Programme (40 Hours)

Integral to the course is the experimental programme, which encourages inquiry-based learning and the development of practical skills.

• Practical work: 20 hours dedicated to hands-on laboratory work, simulations, and modeling.
• Collaborative sciences project: 10 hours for an interdisciplinary project addressing real-world problems.
• Scientific investigation: 10 hours for an individual, open-ended research task that forms the Internal Assessment.

Assessment Outline

Student achievement is measured through both external examinations and internal coursework.