IB Diploma Computer Science

IB DP Computer Science

Taught to the new guide, first assessed May 2027, with the internal assessment supported properly instead of left to the last term.

Ongoing DP support, joinable any month IB Diploma Programme students taking Computer Science at SL or HL 2 live classes/week + coursework and IA support Course-completion certificate from Modern Age Coders

Syllabus updated July 2026

IB DP Computer Science (New Guide, First Assessment 2027)

Flexible course duration

Duration depends on the student's background and pace. Beginners (kids / teens): typically 6 to 9 months. Adults with prior knowledge: often shorter, with an accelerated path.

Standard pace6 to 9 months
AcceleratedAdd class frequency to finish faster

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Program Overview

IB Computer Science changed. The new Diploma Programme guide was launched in February 2025 for first teaching in August 2025, with first assessment in May 2027, and the differences are not cosmetic. Paper 3 has been removed entirely at both SL and HL. The options are gone. The case study is now covered by both SL and HL students and is assessed within Paper 1. Databases and object-oriented programming are now studied at both levels, not just HL. Any course still built around the old structure is preparing students for an examination that no longer exists.

This course follows the new guide as it stands. The syllabus is organised around two themes: concepts in computer science, and computational thinking and problem-solving. Theme A covers computer fundamentals, networks, databases and machine learning. Theme B is where students learn to actually solve problems with code, which is what Paper 2 tests.

The programme is built for how the Diploma actually runs. Theory is taught in the syllabus's own order so it lines up with school teaching, the case study is worked properly rather than skimmed the term before the exam, and the internal assessment, the computational solution, is supported from planning through to documentation, with the new emphasis on evidencing the computational thinking process. For Paper 2 we teach Python by default and support Java, since the new guide runs two separate versions of that paper and schools choose one at department level.

What Makes This Program Different

  • Taught to the NEW guide (first teaching 2025, first assessment May 2027): Paper 3 removed, options gone, case study inside Paper 1, databases and OOP at both SL and HL
  • The internal assessment is supported from the start, not rescued at the end, including the new emphasis on documenting the computational thinking process
  • The case study is worked in depth, because it now applies to SL students too and is assessed in Paper 1
  • Paper 2 taught in the language your school chose: Python by default, Java supported, since the guide runs two separate versions of the paper
  • Real programming, not slideware: students write and run code every week, which is the only thing that makes Paper 2 tractable
  • Live, small batches with work reviewed on the spot, and SL and HL students taught to their own level

Your Learning Journey

Phase 1
Theme A part one: computer fundamentals, system architecture and networks, with the ethical issues woven through
Phase 2
Theme A part two: databases and SQL, then machine learning and AI, plus the annual case study
Phase 3
Theme B: computational thinking, algorithms and OOP in Python or Java, the internal assessment, then full exam practice

Career Progression

1
Strong SL or HL grades across Paper 1 and Paper 2 under the new assessment model
2
An internal assessment that is genuinely the student's own work and properly documented
3
Real programming ability in Python or Java rather than exam-only familiarity
4
A strong base for a computer science or engineering degree application
5
Computational thinking that transfers into every other Diploma subject

Detailed Course Curriculum

Explore the complete week-by-week breakdown of what you'll learn in this comprehensive program.

Topics Covered
  • The components of a computer system and how they interact
  • Primary and secondary memory, and why the distinction matters
  • System software versus application software
  • The role of the operating system as a resource manager
  • Reading a system description and identifying what each part contributes
Projects You Build
  • Map a described real system end to end, labelling every hardware and software component
Practice & Assignments

10 structured questions in IB command-term style

Topics Covered
  • CPU architecture, registers and buses
  • The machine instruction cycle, step by step
  • Cache and how it affects real performance
  • Binary representation and why everything reduces to it
  • Comparing architectures on evidence rather than assertion
Projects You Build
  • Trace a full instruction cycle and explain each stage in your own words
Practice & Assignments

10 architecture questions including compare and evaluate commands

Topics Covered
  • Representing numbers, text, images and sound in binary
  • Abstraction as the central idea of the whole course
  • Why abstraction makes large systems possible
  • Identifying the level of abstraction in a described system
  • Using precise language, which the IB rewards heavily
Projects You Build
  • Describe one everyday system at three different levels of abstraction
Practice & Assignments

10 representation and abstraction questions

Assessment

A timed check on computer fundamentals, marked against IB command terms

Topics Covered
  • The ethical dimension the guide expects you to weave through every topic
  • Privacy, surveillance, data ownership and digital divide
  • Building a balanced argument with real stakeholders named
  • Why one-sided answers cap your marks on evaluate questions
  • Linking ethics to the specific technology in the question
Projects You Build
  • Write a balanced evaluation of one real computing controversy, naming stakeholders on both sides
Practice & Assignments

6 extended-response ethics questions, peer reviewed

Topics Covered
  • LAN, WAN and the topologies that matter
  • Client-server and peer-to-peer models compared
  • Network hardware and what each device is responsible for
  • Bandwidth, latency and what actually limits real performance
  • Choosing and justifying a network design for a scenario
Projects You Build
  • Design a network for a described organisation and justify every choice
Practice & Assignments

10 network-design questions with justification marks

Topics Covered
  • Why protocols exist and what would happen without them
  • Layers, packets and packet switching
  • TCP/IP and HTTP at the depth the guide requires
  • Error handling and flow control in plain terms
  • Tracing a request across a network
Projects You Build
  • Trace a single web request across the layers, naming the protocol at each step
Practice & Assignments

10 protocol questions at exam standard

Topics Covered
  • Threats: malware, phishing, denial of service, interception, social engineering
  • Encryption, symmetric and asymmetric, explained precisely
  • Authentication, access control and firewalls
  • Matching a defence to a specific threat, which is where the marks are
  • The human factor, usually the real vulnerability
Projects You Build
  • Produce a security assessment for a described system with prioritised, justified recommendations
Practice & Assignments

10 threat-and-mitigation scenarios

Assessment

End-of-phase test on networks and security

Topics Covered
  • What cloud computing actually is, beyond the marketing
  • Service and deployment models at guide depth
  • The genuine advantages and the genuine risks
  • Data sovereignty and the ethical questions it raises
  • Evaluating whether cloud is right for a described organisation
Projects You Build
  • Write a balanced recommendation on moving a described organisation to the cloud
Practice & Assignments

8 evaluation questions on cloud adoption

Topics Covered
  • Tables, records, fields, primary and foreign keys
  • Relationships and why they prevent duplicated data
  • Normalisation at the level the guide expects
  • Reading and drawing an entity relationship diagram
  • Why databases are now examined at SL as well as HL
Projects You Build
  • Design a normalised relational schema for a described scenario and draw its ER diagram
Practice & Assignments

8 schema-design tasks with keys and relationships identified

Topics Covered
  • SELECT, FROM, WHERE, ORDER BY
  • Aggregate functions and GROUP BY
  • Joining tables to answer a real question
  • INSERT, UPDATE and DELETE
  • Turning a written requirement into the query that satisfies it
Projects You Build
  • Build a working database and write the queries that answer real questions about it
Practice & Assignments

12 SQL problems building from single conditions to joins and aggregation

Topics Covered
  • Data integrity, validation and consistency
  • Transactions and why they matter
  • Backup, recovery and redundancy
  • Data protection and the ethics of holding personal data
  • Connecting database design to the privacy questions from Phase 1
Projects You Build
  • Audit a described database for integrity and privacy risks and recommend fixes
Practice & Assignments

8 integrity and ethics questions

Assessment

A timed check on databases and SQL

Topics Covered
  • What machine learning is, and how it differs from ordinary programming
  • Supervised and unsupervised learning at guide depth
  • Training data, features and why data quality decides outcomes
  • Bias in data and its real consequences
  • Where AI is genuinely appropriate and where it is not
Projects You Build
  • Explain how a described ML system reaches a decision, then identify where bias could enter
Practice & Assignments

10 machine-learning questions including an ethics evaluation

Topics Covered
  • How the case study now sits inside Paper 1 for both SL and HL
  • Reading the case study actively rather than passively
  • Building a glossary of its specific terminology
  • Researching the underlying technology properly
  • Anticipating the question types the case study invites
Projects You Build
  • Produce a full annotated summary and terminology glossary for the current case study
Practice & Assignments

Structured questions drawn directly from the case study material

Topics Covered
  • Linking case study technology back to Theme A concepts
  • Preparing evidence-based extended answers
  • Handling unfamiliar terminology under exam pressure
  • Evaluating solutions proposed within the case study
  • Practising the specific command terms it attracts
Projects You Build
  • Write two full extended responses on the case study and mark them against the criteria
Practice & Assignments

Timed case-study responses with feedback

Assessment

A timed case-study section under Paper 1 conditions

Topics Covered
  • Decomposition, pattern recognition, abstraction and algorithm design
  • Thinking through a problem before writing any code
  • Representing a solution as pseudocode and as a flowchart
  • Tracing an algorithm accurately with a trace table
  • Why this thinking is now explicitly assessed in the IA
Projects You Build
  • Take one problem from analysis through to a fully traced algorithm, documenting each thinking step
Practice & Assignments

10 algorithm-design and trace-table tasks

Topics Covered
  • Standard algorithms: searching and sorting
  • Comparing algorithms on efficiency rather than preference
  • Arrays and collections and when each is right
  • Recursion at the depth the guide expects
  • Explaining why one algorithm beats another for a given case
Projects You Build
  • Implement and compare two searching or sorting algorithms on the same data and report the difference
Practice & Assignments

10 algorithm and efficiency questions

Topics Covered
  • Variables, data types, input and output
  • Selection and iteration, and nesting them cleanly
  • Writing readable code that a marker can follow
  • Python by default, Java supported, matching the version of Paper 2 your school chose
  • Debugging as a method rather than guesswork
Projects You Build
  • Write and run a complete program that solves a described problem end to end
Practice & Assignments

12 short programs, each tested with your own test data

Topics Covered
  • Arrays, lists and dictionaries or maps
  • Two-dimensional structures and traversing them
  • Reading from and writing to files
  • Choosing the right structure for the problem
  • Handling errors and unexpected input
Projects You Build
  • Build a program that loads data from a file, processes it and writes a result
Practice & Assignments

10 data-structure and file-handling programs

Topics Covered
  • Classes and objects, and why OOP exists
  • Encapsulation with private fields and accessor methods
  • Inheritance and polymorphism at guide depth
  • Designing a small class hierarchy for a real problem
  • Why OOP is now studied at both SL and HL under the new guide
Projects You Build
  • Design and implement a small object-oriented solution with at least two related classes
Practice & Assignments

8 OOP design-and-implement tasks

Assessment

A timed programming assessment covering structures and OOP

Topics Covered
  • What the computational solution actually requires
  • Choosing a problem with a real client and genuine scope
  • Planning: success criteria, record of tasks, design
  • The new emphasis on evidencing the computational thinking process
  • Common IA mistakes that cost marks before a line of code is written
Projects You Build
  • Agree an IA problem with a real client and complete the planning and design documentation
Practice & Assignments

Draft planning documents reviewed against the assessment criteria

Topics Covered
  • Developing the solution in stages against the success criteria
  • Documenting techniques used, with justification
  • Evidencing the computational thinking process as the new guide expects
  • Testing with real data and recording the outcomes
  • Keeping the record of tasks honest and current
Projects You Build
  • Build the working solution and complete the development documentation
Practice & Assignments

Weekly IA checkpoints against the published criteria

Topics Covered
  • Evaluating the solution against every success criterion
  • Client feedback and honest recommendations for improvement
  • Producing the required video demonstration
  • Final checks on structure, evidence and word limits
  • Academic honesty and correct referencing
Projects You Build
  • Complete and submit the full internal assessment package
Practice & Assignments

Final IA review against every criterion

Assessment

Full IA marked against the official criteria with written feedback

Topics Covered
  • How Paper 1 is structured under the new assessment model
  • IB command terms: state, describe, explain, compare, evaluate, and what each is worth
  • Structuring an extended response so every mark is reachable
  • Handling the case study section confidently
  • Managing time so the long questions are not rushed
Projects You Build
  • A full timed Paper 1, reviewed question by question with every miss tagged by cause
Practice & Assignments

Two timed Paper 1 attempts, fully reviewed

Topics Covered
  • How Paper 2 tests algorithmic thinking rather than recall
  • Writing correct code by hand under time
  • Reading the problem properly before starting to write
  • Full timed mocks on both papers under real conditions
  • Turning the error log into a final revision plan
Projects You Build
  • Two complete mock examinations across both papers, each fully reviewed
Practice & Assignments

Repeated full mocks until pacing and accuracy are consistent

Assessment

Final full mock on both papers, benchmarked against the target grade

Projects You'll Build

Build a professional portfolio with 50+ projects real-world projects.

Technologies & Skills You'll Master

Comprehensive coverage of the entire modern web development stack.

Career Outcomes & Opportunities

Transform your career with industry-ready skills and job placement support.

Prerequisites

Title
What Your Child Needs to Start
Items
Enrolment in the IB Diploma Programme taking Computer Science at SL or HL,A computer that can run Python or Java, which we help set up in the first class,No prior programming experience is required; everything is taught from the basics,A willingness to write code every week, since Paper 2 and the IA both depend on it

Who Is This Course For?

Title
Who This Course Is For
Items
IB DP students taking Computer Science at SL or HL under the new guide,Students whose school teaching is moving faster than their understanding,Students who are stuck on the internal assessment or have not started it,Strong students aiming for a 6 or 7 who want the theory and the code both solid,Students who need the case study worked properly rather than skimmed

Career Paths After Completion

Strong SL or HL Computer Science grades under the new assessment model
A completed internal assessment that is genuinely the student's own work
Real programming ability in Python or Java
A credible foundation for a computer science or engineering degree application
Computational thinking that transfers across the whole Diploma

Course Guarantees

Title
Our Commitment to You
Items
Taught to the NEW guide, first assessed May 2027, not the retired structure,Every class is live and small, taught by a real mentor, never a recorded video,The internal assessment is supported from planning to submission, not rescued at the end,SL and HL students are taught to their own level within the batch,A free demo class first, so you can judge the teaching before you pay anything

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