IB TOK topics can feel wide open at first. Theory of Knowledge asks you to examine how knowledge is built, tested and shared across disciplines. This page explains the question types in the essay and exhibition, the framework used to analyse them, and practical steps for clear, well-supported responses.
TOK assessment centres on two kinds of questions: the prescribed essay titles released each exam session and the Internal Assessment prompts used for the exhibition. Both ask you to move beyond description and into analysis of knowledge claims, perspectives and implications. Knowing which kind of question you are facing shapes how you plan, which examples you gather and how you structure your thinking.
Essay titles are broad, open-ended statements that invite comparison across Areas of Knowledge. Exhibition prompts are specific questions linked to three objects you choose, asking you to show how TOK concepts appear in real-world contexts. The prescribed titles change each session, while the exhibition uses fixed IA prompts. In both cases, a claim needs clear justification rather than simple assertion.
Use this page as a map. Jump to essay titles, exhibition prompts or the approach tips, whichever you need first. Each part includes short example questions set apart from the explanations, so you can see what a TOK question looks like before you try writing your own.
Students who search for TOK essay topics are usually looking at the prescribed titles. Titles are released for each exam session, and you select one and write a response that explores the knowledge questions inside it. Reading IB TOK titles as invitations to analyse, rather than prompts to summarise a subject, is the first habit worth building.
The essay has a defined word limit, and that limit shapes the depth and focus of your argument. A narrow, well-developed line of thinking usually serves you better than a long list of loosely connected points.
Strong essays draw on at least two Areas of Knowledge so that you can compare perspectives and methods, and they consider counterclaims, which shows critical thinking and deepens the analysis.
Considering counterclaims shows critical thinking and deepens the analysis. Think of each title as a claim about knowledge that you may test, support, complicate or challenge, as long as you justify every step.
The essay is externally assessed and contributes a major portion of the TOK grade, so it rewards careful planning.
The exhibition asks you to choose one of the IA prompts and connect it to three objects, supported by a commentary. Your choice of prompt matters, because it sets the knowledge question that every object must help you explore. Pick the prompt that gives you the most to say, not the one that sounds easiest.
Each object needs a clear real-world context, and you must show how the prompt manifests in that context. An everyday object can work well when you can explain where it comes from, who uses it and what it shows about how knowledge is created or shared.
The commentary then links each object explicitly to the knowledge question, avoiding simple description of what the object is.
Keep the commentary focused and within the word limit. Spend your words on analysis: what the object shows, what it complicates and how the three objects together build a thoughtful response.
The exhibition is internally assessed and externally moderated for consistency, so clarity and explicit links matter more than clever choices of object.
Knowledge questions are open, general questions about knowledge itself, not about subject content. They use TOK vocabulary such as evidence, certainty, perspective, justification and interpretation. A question about how a historical event unfolded is a history question. A question about how we judge the reliability of historical sources is a knowledge question.
A good knowledge question can be explored across multiple Areas of Knowledge and admits more than one defensible answer. That openness is what makes it a genuine knowledge question rather than a factual query. If a question can be settled by looking something up, it is not yet doing the work TOK needs.
When you analyse a title or prompt, first formulate the core knowledge question, then identify subsidiary questions that structure your response. Subsidiary questions break the larger idea into manageable parts, such as what counts as evidence in one area compared with another. They give your writing a clear path and keep your examples tied to the central issue.
What makes a proof convincing?
How does evidence change accepted explanations?
How do we study human behaviour reliably?
How do we judge the reliability of sources?
Can one interpretation be better than another?
How do tools change what we can know?
How do words shape what we notice?
How do power and perspective shape what counts as knowledge?
How do belief and evidence interact in religious knowledge?
How is knowledge held and transmitted in indigenous traditions?
To explore IB TOK topics, work through the ten Areas of Knowledge: Mathematics, Natural Sciences, Human Sciences, History, The Arts, Knowledge and Technology, Knowledge and Language, Knowledge and Politics, Knowledge and Religion, and Knowledge and Indigenous Societies. For each one, ask how knowledge is produced, tested and challenged there. The ideas above are general illustrations, not prescribed titles.
Ways of knowing, including reason, emotion, perception and language, are tools you can use to look at any area. Ask how reason shapes a claim in mathematics, how perception limits an observation in the sciences, or how language frames a political argument. Pairing an area with a way of knowing often reveals a sharper question than the area alone.
Try comparing two areas on the same idea, such as evidence or certainty. The contrast between them is often where the strongest analysis begins, and it gives you the comparison across areas that essays ask for.
Most students begin with a broad topic or a piece of subject content and need to lift it into a knowledge question. Start by removing the specific detail: names, dates, formulas and case-specific facts belong in your examples, not in the question. Then ask what the topic shows about how we know, decide or justify something.
Next, add TOK vocabulary. Words like evidence, certainty, perspective, justification and interpretation turn a topic into a question about knowledge. Finally, test the result: could two thoughtful people defend different answers, and could you explore it in more than one Area of Knowledge? If so, you have a workable question.
Before and after (illustrative): a subject-based question such as "How did scientists work out how a medicine works?" becomes "How do we decide when evidence is strong enough to justify a claim?" The second version is general, open and usable across several areas, while the first stays inside one subject.
Common mistakes are easy to spot once you know them. Many responses describe examples instead of analysing what they show. Others rely on one Area of Knowledge, treat a knowledge question as a subject question, or skip counterclaims because they feel risky. Another frequent problem is making claims without justification.
After drafting, read each paragraph and ask three things: what knowledge claim does it make, what supports it, and what could challenge it? If you cannot answer all three, the paragraph probably needs more analysis. If you would like to talk a draft through with someone, the consultation form below is the next step.
Tutoring can help you discuss which title to choose, think about the Areas of Knowledge it opens and test whether you have real examples and room for counterclaims.
Work with a tutor to remove subject detail, add TOK vocabulary and test whether your question is open, general and explorable across areas.
Build a clear structure by breaking the core question into subsidiary questions that guide your examples and analysis.
Talk through object choices, real-world contexts and how to link each object explicitly to the knowledge question in your commentary.
Working through IB TOK questions alone can leave you unsure whether a question is truly open or whether your examples do enough analytical work. Online IB tutoring from experienced subject tutors gives you someone to talk ideas through with, test your reasoning against and ask about anything that feels unclear.
Tutoring can support several parts of TOK preparation: comparing essay titles, turning a topic into a knowledge question, planning an essay around subsidiary questions, and choosing and discussing exhibition objects. The aim is to help you think more clearly and write in your own voice, not to replace your own ideas.
To get started, use the consultation form to tell us where you are in Theory of Knowledge and what you would like help with.
Read every title slowly, highlight the key terms and note which Areas of Knowledge each one opens up. Choose the title where you can find real examples, see at least two Areas of Knowledge in play and imagine a reasonable counterclaim. A title that lets you disagree with it thoughtfully usually gives you more to analyse.
Start with the Areas of Knowledge and ask how knowledge is produced, tested and challenged in each. Then pair an area with a way of knowing, such as reason or perception, to find a sharper angle. Finally, turn the topic into an open knowledge question that uses TOK vocabulary and can be answered in more than one defensible way.
Essay titles are broad, open-ended statements released for each exam session, and you choose one to explore across Areas of Knowledge. Exhibition prompts are fixed IA questions that you connect to three objects with real-world contexts. Both ask for analysis rather than description, but the exhibition is more tightly tied to specific objects.
A good knowledge question is open and general, and it is about knowledge rather than subject content. It uses TOK vocabulary such as evidence, certainty, perspective, justification or interpretation. It can be explored in more than one Area of Knowledge, and it admits more than one defensible answer rather than a single factual one.
A strong essay draws on at least two Areas of Knowledge, so you can compare perspectives and methods. Using more is not automatically better. Choose areas where you have real examples, and develop them in enough depth to support your argument and test it against counterclaims within the word limit.
Yes. Tutoring can help you discuss which prompt to choose, think about objects with clear real-world contexts and check that your commentary links each object to the knowledge question instead of describing it. To begin, send the consultation form and describe what you need.
If you would like support with essay titles, knowledge questions or exhibition objects, fill in the consultation form and tell us where you are in Theory of Knowledge.