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IB Global Politics Grade Distribution

Latest data: May 2026Provisional

In May 2026, 35.4% of IB Global Politics HL students and 23.4% of SL students got a 6 or 7. The most common grade was 5 at both HL (34.2%) and SL (30.1%).

Compared with May 2025, the grade 6 or 7 rate was down from 35.9% at HL and down from 23.9% at SL.

Global Politics grade distribution by session

The share of students at each grade at HL and SL in every session since November 2021, newest first, with the mean grade and number of students. The chart shows May 2026.

Share of IB Global Politics students at each grade at HL and SL, May 2026.
IB Global Politics grade distribution by session and level, newest first
Session and level1234567N6 or 7Mean gradeStudents
May 2026 HLprovisional0.21.54.722.434.229.36.11.635.45.06,894
May 2026 SLprovisional0.21.910.628.230.119.34.15.623.44.74,602
November 2025 HL0.00.07.629.935.022.73.51.226.24.8655
November 2025 SL0.06.222.733.525.98.41.51.89.94.1609
May 2025 HL0.31.15.019.037.030.35.61.735.95.16,263
May 2025 SL0.23.611.921.833.217.56.45.523.94.74,111
November 2024 HL0.00.45.925.936.323.07.31.130.35.0699
November 2024 SL0.02.610.826.541.613.13.61.816.74.6389
May 2024 HL0.11.55.321.536.128.36.01.234.35.05,298
May 2024 SL0.23.411.523.529.719.67.64.627.24.83,503
November 2023 HL0.00.65.825.036.524.26.31.630.55.0504
November 2023 SL0.01.710.929.338.112.65.81.718.44.7294
May 2023 HL0.01.14.819.338.030.06.8—36.85.114,707
May 2023 SL0.02.911.821.934.621.57.4—28.94.823,152
November 2022 HL0.00.02.319.032.133.812.8—46.65.36397
November 2022 SL0.40.813.823.238.213.010.6—23.64.79249
May 2022 HL0.11.03.617.533.929.614.4—44.05.304,263
May 2022 SL2.00.09.315.736.623.612.8—36.45.092,557
November 2021 HL10.20.00.00.030.937.921.1—59.05.70289
November 2021 SL3.70.00.014.635.429.317.1—46.45.41166

Percentage of students at each grade, as published. The grade 6 or 7 rate is the two shares added.

  • These bulletins print no N (no grade) column, so grades 1-7 are shares of the students who received a grade, and N is shown as —. (November 2021, May 2022, November 2022, May 2023)
  • These bulletins include N (no grade) in the total, so grades 1-7 add up to less than 100% and are measured on a slightly different basis from sessions without an N column. (November 2023, May 2024, November 2024, May 2025, November 2025, May 2026)
  • Grade cells the bulletin leaves blank are shown as 0.0%. (November 2021, May 2022, November 2022, May 2023, May 2024, May 2025)
  • The IB states that these results combine examination and non-examination assessment routes, which were used during the COVID-19 disruption. (May 2022)

How Global Politics grades changed since May 2025

The share of students at each grade in May 2026, and how it changed from May 2025, in percentage points.

IB Global Politics grade shares, May 2026, and the change from May 2025
GradeHL May 2026HL changeSL May 2026SL change
76.1%+0.54.1%−2.3
629.3%−1.019.3%+1.8
534.2%−2.830.1%−3.1
422.4%+3.428.2%+6.4
34.7%−0.310.6%−1.3
21.5%+0.41.9%−1.7
10.2%−0.10.2%0.0
6 or 735.4%−0.523.4%−0.5

May 2026 figures are provisional.

  • Grade cells the bulletin leaves blank are shown as 0.0%. (May 2025)

Global Politics grade 6 or 7 rate by session

The share of students awarded a 6 or 7 at HL and SL in every session since November 2021. Solid lines are May sessions and dashed lines November, a much smaller session. For 7s alone, see what percentage of students get a 7 in IB Global Politics.

Share of IB Global Politics students awarded a 6 or 7 at HL and SL by year, May and November sessions.
IB Global Politics grade 6 or 7 rate by session, newest first, with the change from a year earlier
SessionHLHL changeSLSL change
May 2026provisional35.4%−0.523.4%−0.5
November 202526.2%−4.19.9%−6.8
May 202535.9%+1.623.9%−3.3
November 202430.3%−0.216.7%−1.7
May 202434.3%—27.2%—
November 202330.5%—18.4%—
May 202336.8%−7.228.9%−7.5
November 202246.6%−12.423.6%−22.8
May 202244.0%—36.4%—
November 202159.0%—46.4%—

Change: the difference from the same session a year earlier, May from May and November from November, in percentage points.

—: no result for that session, or none a year earlier to compare it with.

Grade shares from November 2023 count students with no grade (N) and earlier ones don't, so changes across that point aren't shown.

More Global Politics statistics

Compare with other subjects

Source and methodology

These statistics are from the International Baccalaureate's statistical bulletins. The latest data shown is from the May 2026 assessment session.

About this data

  • May and November are separate assessment sessions. November is much smaller and mostly taken by schools in the southern hemisphere, so its figures aren't directly comparable with May's.
  • The May 2026 figures are from the IB's provisional bulletin and may change when the final bulletin is published.
  • Older bulletins call the people sitting the exams “candidates” and newer ones “students”. This site says “students” throughout.
  • “<10” means the IB didn't publish the exact number because fewer than 10 students took the subject. These figures are never estimated or counted as zero.
  • The grade 7 rate is the share of students the bulletin reports at grade 7. The grade 6 or 7 rate is calculated by IBonomics by adding the published shares for grades 6 and 7. Every other figure is as published.
  • From November 2023 the bulletins include students who received no grade (N) in each subject's percentages, so grades 1 to 7 add up to slightly less than 100%. Earlier bulletins give percentages of graded students only.
  • Bulletins up to May 2023 print figures to two decimal places and later ones to one. Each figure is shown as printed, and changes are compared at the lower precision.

IBonomics is not affiliated with or endorsed by the International Baccalaureate.