Source: https://www.ibo.org/university-admission/latest-curriculum-updates/computer-science-updates/
The new DP computer science course will be launched in February 2025 for first teaching in August 2025. First assessment will take place in May 2027.
Below you will find an overview of the course updates. For a technical breakdown of the DP curriculum and assessment methods for this course, read the computer science subject brief.
You also can view information on the current computer science course.
To view all subject briefs, visit the DP curriculum page.
Overview of the new course
The content of the course has been revised to ensure that the focus is computer science and not information technology. This supports students in developing the skills to apply their knowledge of problem-solving in computer science to different contexts, being able to study computer science at the university level and developing their computing skills in future careers.
DP computer science requires an understanding of the fundamental concepts of computing systems and the computational thinking process to solve problems in the real world. The course is organized into two key themes:
A: Concepts of computer science
B: Computational thinking and problem-solving
Theme A focuses on how computing systems work, and Theme B focuses on how students can use computing systems to solve real-world problems. The course is future-facing and includes a topic on machine learning. There also is a case study so that emerging technologies can be considered during the lifetime of the course. Finally, the course has a practical programme that consists of the development of a computational solution and a collaborative science project.
|
Component |
Recommended teaching hours |
|
|
|
SL |
HL |
|
Syllabus content A: Concepts of computer science A.1 Computer fundamentals A.2 Networks A.3 Databases A.4 Machine learning B: Computational thinking and problem solving B.1 Computational thinking B.2 Programming B.3 Object Oriented Programming (OOP) B.4 Abstract data types (HL only) |
105 38
|
195 72
|
|
Case study |
15 |
30 |
|
Internal assessment The computational solution |
35 35 |
35 35 |
|
Collaborative sciences project |
10 |
10 |
|
Total teaching hours |
150 |
240 |
