A strong vertical planning IB course document shows how learning progresses from the beginning of Year 1 to final assessment in Year 2. It maps content, conceptual understanding, subject skills, approaches to learning, internal assessment, examination practice, and revision across the whole course.
The most effective plan is a shared, adjustable course map built backward from the current subject guide and assessment model. It should be detailed enough to reveal gaps but concise enough for teachers to review and update regularly.
What vertical planning means in an IB course
Vertical planning describes the intentional progression of knowledge, understanding, skills, and assessment demands over time. Instead of treating each unit as an isolated block, teachers identify how early learning prepares students for increasingly complex and independent performance.
The IB's Programme standards and practices requires schools to organize learning within and across programme years and articulate the curriculum vertically and horizontally. Horizontal planning considers what students experience simultaneously across subjects, including workload, TOK connections, and coursework deadlines.
The IB does not prescribe one universal spreadsheet or two-year sequence. Schools determine unit order and internal deadlines, provided the course follows the applicable subject guide and programme requirements.
Begin with the official course requirements
Before assigning topics to terms, identify the non-negotiable endpoints. Consult the current subject guide, assessment outline, prescribed content, assessment objectives, command terms, and updates for the cohort's examination session.
The IB recommends 150 teaching hours for SL and 240 teaching hours for HL, as stated on the official DP curriculum page. These are recommended teaching hours, not instructions to divide the syllabus equally between two years. Planning must reflect the actual timetable, holidays, examinations, interruptions, and reduced teaching time near the end of Year 2.
Create a requirements audit covering:
- Prescribed topics, themes, works, options, or practical work
- SL and HL distinctions
- Subject aims and assessment objectives
- External and internal assessment components
- Required skills, techniques, and experiences
- Academic integrity and citation expectations
- The examination session and syllabus version
Do not treat a textbook's chapter order as the curriculum. The subject guide defines requirements; the textbook is only one teaching resource.
Build the two-year course map backward
Backward design begins with the performances students must eventually demonstrate. Teachers then identify acceptable evidence and plan the knowledge, practice, and feedback needed to reach those outcomes.
Place major fixed events on the calendar first:
- Final examinations or the end of formal teaching
- Mock examinations and predicted-grade assessments
- IA milestones, authentication, and internal deadlines
- Practical, oral, performance, or fieldwork periods
- Holidays, trips, and timetable disruptions
- Protected revision and contingency time
Confirm official procedures with the DP coordinator and current IB documentation. School deadlines are normally earlier than IB submission points because teachers need time for feedback where permitted, authentication, marking, standardization, and administration.
Then work backward from each major performance. Before writing a complete timed evaluative response, for example, students should have interpreted the command term, examined models, constructed individual paragraphs, completed scaffolded responses, and attempted an independent response.
Connect content, skills, and evidence
One row per unit or teaching block usually gives a course map enough detail without turning it into a daily lesson plan.
| Planning field | What to record |
|---|---|
| Time | Term, weeks, realistic contact hours, and contingency |
| Content | Guide-aligned topics, concepts, texts, or techniques |
| Understanding | What students should explain, connect, or transfer |
| Skills and ATL | Observable subject and approaches to learning behaviours |
| Evidence | Diagnostic, formative, summative, or coursework assessment |
| Level distinction | Shared learning and additional HL depth or content |
| Connections | Prior learning, TOK, other subjects, and wider contexts |
| Reflection | Actual pacing, evidence, misconceptions, and adjustments |
Avoid labels such as “critical thinking” without defining the expected behaviour. A more useful entry is “compare the credibility of two sources using origin, method, and corroboration.”
Sequence learning for progression
Position units according to prerequisites, conceptual connections, cognitive demand, and opportunities for later retrieval. Difficult material should not automatically be postponed until Year 2, especially when later units or the IA depend on it.
For each unit, ask:
- What prior knowledge does it require?
- Which later learning depends on it?
- Where will its central ideas be revisited?
- What assessment provides meaningful evidence?
A productive sequence introduces foundational material, revisits it in another context, and later requires independent transfer. Reserve contingency time as well. A plan using every available lesson cannot accommodate reteaching, school events, absence, or slower coursework development.
Map ATL and subject skills across both years
The five approaches to learning, or ATL, categories are thinking, communication, social, self-management, and research. The official DP approaches to teaching and learning resource explains their role in supporting learning and assessment preparation.
ATL categories should not be decorative labels. Map each important skill through a clear progression:
| Stage | Expected progression |
|---|---|
| Introduce | Teacher models the process and explains criteria |
| Practise | Students apply it with prompts or partial scaffolding |
| Consolidate | Support decreases and contexts vary |
| Transfer | Students adapt the skill to unfamiliar tasks |
| Demonstrate | Students perform independently under appropriate conditions |
For research, students might learn to frame a focused question and evaluate sources before completing a short guided investigation. They can later plan, document, and reflect on increasingly independent work. This prepares them for coursework without making every earlier task a miniature IA.
Create a balanced assessment and IA pathway
DP courses combine external and internal components, as outlined on the IB's assessment and examinations page. The map should include diagnostic assessment, low-stakes formative checks, school summative assessment, and preparation for authentic IB components.
Assessment should become more cumulative and independent. Year 1 might include short responses, guided investigations, partial papers, and single-criterion tasks. Year 2 should increasingly include mixed-topic questions, complete performances, full papers, and realistic time constraints.
Place the IA in the map as milestones rather than one deadline. Depending on the subject, these could include method instruction, topic exploration, proposal approval, data collection, drafting, permitted feedback, revision, authentication, and submission. Schedule prerequisite skills before independent work begins, and coordinate deadlines across departments to reduce workload collisions.
Teachers can use the RevisionDojo Questionbank to assemble topic and paper practice. Every task should still be checked professionally against the current guide, intended difficulty, and skill identified in the map.
Coordinate, review, and simplify the plan
A vertical plan should remain usable when staffing changes. Record common expectations for terminology, command terms, practical routines, assessment conditions, and independence at each stage. Teachers need comparable outcomes and checkpoints, not identical daily lessons.
Review the map after major units, at the end of Year 1, after mocks, and after the examination session. Compare the intended, taught, and assessed curriculum, noting actual hours, misconceptions, performance evidence, and necessary changes.
Common planning errors include:
- Listing topics without skills or assessment evidence
- Leaving all examination practice until Year 2
- Treating SL as merely a shortened HL course
- Starting the IA before prerequisite skills are secure
- Planning by calendar weeks rather than contact hours
- Making the document too complex to update
Conclusion
Effective two-year course mapping begins with official requirements and works backward from final performance. It sequences content according to prerequisites, develops skills through decreasing support, integrates manageable IA milestones, and protects time for cumulative revision.
The result should be concise, collaborative, and responsive to evidence. RevisionDojo can support implementation through the Questionbank, Study Notes, Mock Exams, coursework resources, and Jojo AI, while teachers retain responsibility for curricular and assessment decisions.