Last Edited: 05/31/2023

Please message me at jasoncorrin142@gmail.com for any edits, suggestions,

comments, queries, or appreciation. Thanks!

A guide to: “Philosophy”

except it’s “Math Studies”
(Theory of Knowledge)

Made with love by kirani#3546 (Lex) and ablue ❀#8857 (Chonky)

Dedicated to Chef Norbury, The TOK Helpers of The IB Discord

Server, and other members who contributed resources, time,
energy into making this project what it is. This would not be
possible without all your help. From the bottom of our hearts- we
thank you.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents

The Rundown
Knowledge Questions
Knowledge questions first and foremost, are about knowledge.
Knowledge questions are also open – so they shouldn’t have ‘an answer’
like those boring questions you get in other IB subjects.
And knowledge questions should be general.
Knowledge Claims
First-order knowledge claims:
Second-order knowledge claims:
Real-Life Situations
1. Real (duh).
2. A situation, not an example or a hypothetical
3. Ideally significant
Areas of Knowledge

ASSESMENTS
TOK Essay
Introduction:
Ideal Structure for the Body:
Conclusion:
Further Advice:
TOK Exhibition [2022 first assessment]
TOK is so confusing though… (an FAQ)

Useful Resources
The Rundown
Hi there! Welcome to this guide on Theory of Knowledge. I’m Alex, resident TOK
helper at your service. I hope this guide is able to help you understand the core
of TOK and each of the assessments’ inner workings. I’m basically writing this to
address several FAQs I see floating around the TOK channel, and to help you
understand more about a subject that’s quite unintuitive to learn. This guide’s
gonna focus on answering any worries about the basic foundation of TOK (KQs,
KCs, RLSes) + How you can prepare for your assessments + some useful
resources you can look to in completing the TOK Of course, it’s not the most
comprehensive of guides, but it basically sums up most of the core parts of TOK
:)

So, Theory of Knowledge. Why does it even exist? More importantly, how do we
know that it exists? After all, that is the main focus of TOK- how we know what
we know. Every single question, claim, and situation in Theory of Knowledge
boils down to that. In TOK, you learn a deeper level of why you're learning what
you're learning and how to think critically about it! If done well, it should be
largely discussion-based with some debates. 99% of my experience in TOK class
was us discussing certain TOK-y topics and debating it amongst each other. It's
about as interdisciplinary as the IB gets, so expect to see references to a lot of
subjects but the concept of knowledge itself is really the focus. And I know that
TOK is… incredibly unstructured and could work much better in theory, but we
can get through it, yeah? That’s what this guide is for, after all.

TOK is ⅓ of the core subjects (with the others being CAS and EE) - and along
with your EE, accounts for 3 total points of your grade. So it’s a pretty core part of
your overall IB grade.You have 2 assessments: the exhibition and the essay. The
weighting of these assessments/how much these assessment have over your soul
is as follows (taken from the IB subject briefs):

Type of Weightin
Assessment g

External Assessment:
TOK Essay One essay on a title chosen from a list of 67%
six prescribed titles.
 Internal Assessment:
A written commentary on how TOK
TOK Presentation manifests in the real world through three 33%
chosen objects, students can pick from 35
IA prompts.

Knowledge Questions
This is the number one thing that most people will ask about in the TOK channel-
how to make a knowledge question. On the surface, it should be easy- just make
a question about knowledge. But unfortunately, it’s not as simple as that. The
TOK syllabus says ‘an essay or presentation that does not identify and treat a
knowledge question has missed the point’. Obviously, this is kind of a big deal.
So how do we make a knowledge question?

Knowledge questions first and foremost, are about knowledge.

This is super important- while knowledge questions don’t always have to
explicitly relate to knowledge, you should at least be able to see the connection
to knowledge clearly. And sometimes, questions about knowledge are confused
with questions asking for knowledge. For example- ‘When was Angela Merkel
born?’ is not about knowledge or knowing- it’s asking for knowledge. That’s not
what we want here. We want something like ‘Is history always biased?’ Now that’s
getting somewhere because it’s about knowledge in general.

Knowledge questions are also open – so they shouldn’t have ‘an

answer’ like those boring questions you get in other IB subjects.
You don’t really take a stand in TOK- you merely explore the possibilities and
gather what those might mean for knowledge. Open KQs invite different ways of
exploring the ideas as they raise different lines of investigation. They basically
open up different perspectives, different ways of looking at knowledge.
And knowledge questions should be general.
Look back to the previous knowledge question I created- the question applies to
all of history, not just something like WWII or The Cold War, for example. This is
pretty significant- you might not be able to apply your KQ to knowledge in
general if it’s too specific to one AOK or WOK. Usually, by general, I mean that it
could be applied to any particular examples of knowledge- concepts, methods,
applications, etc.There should be no definitive or certain conclusion drawn in
your question- it should be something that can be generalized and applied to
different perspectives.

Knowledge Claims
And then there’s knowledge claims. Knowledge claims are basically your
statements about knowledge- your points about the KQ. There are two types of
knowledge claims in TOK.

First-order knowledge claims:

These are claims made within specific areas of knowledge, usually about how the
world works. An example of a first-order knowledge claim is “a right triangle has
a 90-degree angle.” This is a first-order knowledge claim because it firmly talks
about knowledge in mathematics.

Second-order knowledge claims:

I like to think of these as knowledge claims about knowledge (or areas of
knowledge) or as people would usually think of that kinda stuff, meta. For
example, take the claim “Mathematical knowledge is certain.” As this claim is
about mathematical knowledge (examining knowledge), it’s a second-order claim.

As a note, this kind of first-order/second-order claim applies to knowledge

questions as well :)

Real-Life Situations
Real-Life Situations (RLS) are well, the base of TOK. If KQs are the pillars, RLSes
are the uh... floor it was built on. Okay, no- scrap that analogy. In truth, they are
the main feature that differentiates the presentation from the essay. Real-life
situations can often be used as examples or evidence in the essay, but these are
used to illustrate an idea or reinforce an argument. In the presentation, the
real-life situation is the foundation. Essentially meaning that if the RLS isn’t
good, then no way will your arguments and counter-arguments be any good either
in the presentation.

The RLS can be drawn from multiple types of sources. It could be something that
has interested you in your own life or something relevant to where you live.
Alternatively, you can also extract RLSes from wider international or even global
scale concerns.

Read articles, research news websites, watch interesting videos- anything that
engages you into thinking about knowledge. Remember that your RLS is going to
be rigorously analyzed using the tools of TOK. When choosing your RLS, try to
see if there are any AOKs/WOKs that naturally pair with the RLS. Whatever source
you draw your RLS from, here are some things to consider when choosing it. Your
RLS should be:

1. Real (duh).
You must also make sure that your RLS is concise and clear. Remember, you only
have 10 minutes for the whole thing if you’re alone, so you cannot choose an RLS
that takes like 8 minutes to describe. That will definitely affect the level of
analysis you will be able to do in your presentation.

2. A situation, not an example or a hypothetical

Something has to take place in your RLS to actually be a situation! And make
sure that the situation you chose is compelling, it will be way easier for you to
describe and analyze your RLS if it’s something you are interested in.

3. Ideally significant
(something that naturally offers different perspectives/counter-arguments),
preferably not a personal anecdote. The RLS should be something concrete and
honestly controversial, and having a personal anecdote just doesn’t guarantee
that same level of depth. You want a relevant RLS that you can apply to a wider
context beyond the original situation you had.
Areas of Knowledge
I don’t want to focus much on AOKs, because they can be rather distracting from
the core parts of TOK- but they’re still pretty essential to things like the essay
and the presentation.

Areas of Knowledge are branches of knowledge- each of which have a distinct

way of gaining and producing knowledge. There are 8: Mathematics, The Natural
Sciences, The Human Sciences, The Arts, History, Ethics, Religious Knowledge
Systems, and Indigenous Knowledge systems. They can usually be explored
through the knowledge framework (a more in-depth version of which can be
found in the IB Subject Guide)- which identifies the characteristics of each area
of knowledge as a kind of system.

The Knowledge Framework is composed of 5 main parts that are supposed to

help you better understand the structure of an AOK and even compare AOKs with
others:

1. Scope and Applications - what makes the knowledge in this AOK

important, what the main questions are in this Area of Knowledge, and
what problems can be solved by applying knowledge from that particular
AOK. Basically the subject matter of an AOK.
2. Concepts/Language - How language plays a role in the production of
knowledge in this AOK- what the roles of terminology and key terms are
and how they build onto the AOKs and produce different ways of thinking
about the world.
3. Methodology - The methods each AOK uses and how those methods
generate knowledge, certain methods that are important and others less
so, even the constraints on the methods used- such as ethical constraints.
4. Historical Development - How the AOK has changed over time and made
conceptual developments and advancements in its methodology, how
historical events and factors have had a big impact on the development of
a specific AOK.
5. Links to Personal Knowledge - Why this AOK is significant to an
individual, and how it contributes to our own understanding of the world,
what it means for us.
ASSESSMENTS

TOK Essay
The TOK essay is always about knowledge (how we come to know things). You’re
basically given a prompt and through the essay- you must address that prompt. It
might help to think of the essay as though you're showing the most interesting
bits of a conversation between two smart people, about how we know what we
know. I’ll set you up by giving you an ideal structure for the essay.

Introduction:
Set the background for the essay- introduce the prompt, settle distinctions of
interpretation for the question, define your terms as needed. Throughout your
essay, you want to focus on ONE possible interpretation of the question/prompt.
This is important because you only have 1600 words, there have to be limitations
on what you write down.

When you define a term, it must be a reasonable one, something that fits already
existing definitions. The intro should be around 200 words or less- not that long.
End it with your thesis, which should be your position or summary about the
question being asked. In the end, what is your stance on the prompt? Why?
Despite what? Give a BRIEF answer to these questions in one or two sentences
at the very end of your introduction. Any relevant AOKs/WOKs can also be
addressed.

In brief, just define the parts of the title, state your developments: claims and
counters and why these developments are justified- leave your analysis for the
body.

Ideal Structure for the Body:

1. Argument(s) for your position on this claim/development.

For any claim you make, support the claim with reasoning and justification that’s
appropriate to the prompt. Support your claims with particular real life situations,
and give an explanation of how and why they support the claim. This explanation
is essential to any good example. Discuss further implications of the claim
explicitly (if the claim is true, then…). Your discussion should eventually contrast
your answer with other possible answers, leading to…

2. Counter-argument(s) against your position on the claim/development.

Explain the strongest argument you have against your claim, supported with
justification + an example. This provides an alternative perspective on the issue
– and if you can explicitly label this perspective, that’s even better! If you end up
convincing yourself, restructure your essay to reflect that (this shows growth as a
knower + learner, IB gives brownie points for that). Note: I’d like to say that it
does not have to be the exact opposite of your claim but rather just a different
perspective/alternate take which shows you’re taking into consideration different
perspectives.

3. Synthesize/Reconcile your arguments.

Explain probable flaws/biases about the counterargument(s) and perspectives
that can be taken from it, such that your eventual position is your thesis that you
stated in +the intro. This should take the form of extensive discussion of the
implications of the counterargument (e.g., ‘if the counterclaim is true…’, or
perhaps more complexly, ‘if the justification for the counterclaim holds in this
case, then it should hold in these unacceptable cases).

Conclusion:
This should tie together the points made in the previous paragraphs. So
summarize your main points. Then, you can explore the implications your
findings hold for knowledge, what your conclusions mean for knowledge in
general. Alongside that, you should also reflect on your growth as a TOK learner,
and what you've learned through your evaluation of the PT. Do you still have the
same perspective of the PT at the end of your process? Or has it changed? I've
been shown the difference between an A grade and D grade TOK essay before-
and the difference was that style of reflection, and how much growth and insight
it showed.

Further Advice:
AOKs arise in the course of discussing the accuracy of the claim as applied to
particular AOKs, with associated real life examples. Usually WOKs arise in the
course of discussing evidence and justification for those claims within an AOK.
Personally, I’d rather that someone stick to one or the other because using both
may complicate your essay even further and make it hard to understand. But if
you do think that your claims withs WOKs and AOKs are clearly stated and can be
used, then it’s completely alright to go with it!

This is not a (bad) literature essay; you don't get extra credit for flowery language,
loquacious vocabulary, or using thirty words when four would do the job. For the
essay, your thesis should show in one or two sentences what you will conclude
overall. You should have no 'discoveries' or 'surprise theses' in your text. That
makes things even more confusing.

Moreover, for each paragraph, an initial topic sentence or two stating clearly
what you mean to say in that paragraph and why will make things even clearer for
the examiners. Anyone should be able to read the structure of your essay from
your topic sentences, know what KQs you consider, know what your position is on
all of the KQs that you consider, and know a one line argument for that position.

TOK Exhibition [2022 first assessment]

So the TOK Exhibition is a newbie. I’ve never done this assessment so please
forgive me if I mess this up- I’m basing all this information off advice given in
the TOK channel + the official TOK guide. So here’s my take on this assessment-
hopefully better than the pres cause well, the presentation sucks ass. Sorry not
sorry. If you’re M22 onwards, the exhibition is the replacement of the TOK
Presentation- and it comprises 33% of the final grade. Basically, the exhibition
wants you to assess how you can apply TOK concepts to the real world. The goal
is to see how TOK manifests itself in the real world, as shown through these
objects. The exhibition can act as a live or virtual exhibition of three objects
based on one "IA prompt". You should choose one prompt from a list of prompts
given by the IB (which I’ll just link at the end of this section)and find three
objects or images of objects that relate to that prompt.

There are two parts to the exhibition. First is the presentation aspect, where
y’know you present your object: you “exhibit” it. Everyone can do this part
differently- it comes down to what your teachers and school makes you do.
Second part is the part nobody wants, a 950 word written commentary- and this,
this is what contributes to those sweet, sweet IB marks. This part is gonna give
you advice on how to choose objects and how to write a commentary, straight
from my own research and scrounging all throughout the IB Discord Server.
SO. Lemme start with advice given by Ms. Norbury on how to choose objects for
this exhibition. First, you want to make sure that all the object you’ve chosen,
alongside how you frame it, genuinely connects to the question. Don’t stray from
the KQ, and even if the connection between the KQ and objects you’ve chosen is
quite meh, just explain and analyze it as best as you can. Secondly, make each
object represent different perspectives on the KQ. Similarly to how you wouldn’t
have three claims in the essay supporting the same exact idea, you don’t want
your three exhibition objects to demonstrate your KQ’s real-world connection in
the exact same way either.

Finally, make sure your objects are REAL, SPECIFIC, and highly CONTEXTUAL. It
can’t be that your object is just something as vague as “fire”. This is not specific
in any way, shape or form. Ms. Norbury says that any one of the “eternal flames”
that have enlisted in the world would’ve been a better example, considering the
contextual significance surrounding whatever one was chosen. The more specific
the object, the better.

So yeah, you have to create a document with the title of your IA prompt, the
images of the three objects, as a commentary on each object and its specific
real-world context. The commentary should justify the inclusion of the object in
the exhibition and explain the links to the IA prompt. I’m not that familiar with
the exhibition as I am but a lowly M20 Alumni- but that’s essentially the
breakdown of it. A link to the IA Prompts + the exact details of the exhibition are
linked in the resources section of this guide.

Tips:
1. LINK YOUR OBJECT TO THE PROMPT! LINK! (seriously, please link them)
2. Remember to signpost!
3. Don’t compare your objects to each other!

TOK is so confusing though… (an FAQ)

How to choose your three objects:

From PochIB/Pochi#3391:
1. What prompt did you pick? What scope did you pick? Do you have any
idea how to answer it? If you do, good! If you don’t, then answer it.
 2. Break down your answer into 3 parts. Try and come up with individual
“topic statements”, as if you were doing a Language A essay.
3. What do you think of when the topics brush by your head? Anything cross
your mind? Perhaps take random objects in your room and try and relate
it to your kq.
4. Write a bunch of things down and see what they have in common. Then
maybe look online for a “specific version” of that object, if you’re going
too general.
5. Once you finish all the above, you should have your objects.

Try to choose objects that are different from each other (they would also more
likely offer different context and arguments). So don’t go for 3 types of stationary,
3 different books, or 3 paintings.

How to structure each of the three object commentaries:

1. What is this object (The Mona Lisa is a painting by Leonardo Da Vinci)
2. Real-world context (It was painted when, what was the art era? Like
impressionism, etc, the fact that it is “the most well-known painting in the
world”, where is it now, who is it a painting of, what medium, maybe why it
has become so famous as well? And also how it took a long time
(200/300 years?) before it’s value was recognised, outside of his
hometown)
3. Link it to the prompt (The Mona Lisa relates to the prompt because…)
Connection to the prompt is super key to attaining high marks in the
exhibition
4. Justify its inclusion and contribution (This object’s inclusion in the
exhibition shows…[the argument]) Why the Mona Lisa, and not The Starry
Night?

Do I need an introduction?
No, but if you do, you should include definitions of key words in the prompt
you’ve chosen, that will help develop/clarify your arguments. So for say, prompt
24: How might the context in which knowledge is presented influence whether it
is accepted or rejected? You would define what “context” refers to, what type of
knowledge is considered to be “accepted” knowledge, and what type of
knowledge you consider to be “rejected”. These definitions shouldn’t just be
dictionary definitions, but a TOK definition that helps further your argument.
There would be a difference in your arguments later on with these two
definitions:
Accepted knowledge: knowledge agreed on and approved by its primary
stakeholders
Accepted knowledge: knowledge agreed on and approved by every single person

What is the specific real-world context?

Real life factors that give your object significance. Types of context: cultural,
historical, sociopolitical, economical context.
Say you chose a picture of soldiers during WWII as your object. If you didn’t
discuss the specific real-world context, a picture is a picture. There would be no
difference between that picture taken during WWII and a selfie you and your
friends took a week ago. What gives the picture taken in WWII significance with
respect to your prompt? The real-world context would be about the fact that it
was taken during WWII. What were these soldiers subjected to? Why did WWII
happen? Which country are these soldiers fighting for? Do they look young? Why
were they going out to war at such a young age? What are the soldiers doing in
the picture? What expression are they showing? What happened that caused
them to show such expression? Do they look thin? Did WWII cause food
shortages for some countries? – But keep it related to your prompt, and don’t
stray too far. Talking about what the object is, and its specific real-world context
should be about a third of each object’s commentary.

Do I have to discuss my objects’ personal relevance?

Personal relevance isn’t required and isn’t mentioned in the assessment criteria
either. However, your teacher might see it as important, in which case you should
include personal relevance, as they are marking it.

What on earth are the core/optional themes?

The themes (even the core one) are all optional and you can disregard them. The
IB “strongly recommends” basing your objects on a theme to narrow down your
choice of objects and give focus your exhibition. If your teacher wants you to
base it on a theme, then do so, since the exhibition is internally assessed.

Do I need a conclusion?
No, a conclusion is not required. But, if you have words left, your conclusion could
be a brief statement that summarises how your 3 objects offer 3 (different)
points. Make it succinct!
Things to help you save word count:
1. Don’t restate your prompts and objects in your intro (if you have one)
The title of your essay should be the prompt you’ve chosen, and you introduce
your objects as you go along, as a title to an accompanying image. So restating
your prompts and objects are only wasting those precious words, not contributing
to your analysis or marks!

2. Title, Object titles, In-text/Full Citations DO NOT count

Not really something to help you “save” but just a heads up – your word count
doesn’t include the prompt title, the individual object titles, any in-text citations
(object citation and commentary citation), or the full citations at the very bottom.
So cite all you want! Oh and while we’re on the topic of citations – there is no
specific citation method that the IB wants. Just make sure it’s consistent across
your other subjects. If you used MLA for your Chem, Math, Econ IAs (etc), use it
for TOK as well.

Whats the easiest promp-

DEPENDS! on each person, and how you see the prompt. Read through all 35 and
see which ones interest you. If none of them do, which of them can you think of
an idea for? If nothing comes to mind for a particular prompt, then it’s probably
not the prompt for you. There are 35 prompts for a reason!

Resources are contradicting my teacher’s feedback…

At the end of the day, your teacher is marking your exhibition, and the other TOK
teachers will be moderating them, and a few is also moderated by the IB. But
since the primary examiner is your TOK teacher, always listen to them! Someone
said that their teacher told them that all three of your objects should “agree” with
the prompt and make the same point, and while this contradicts most resources
on the TOK exhibition, if your TOK teacher says so, then do so. It might be worth
bringing it up with them, with some evidence (the TOK guide for example) but if
they won’t listen/asking isn’t possible, then just stick to what they say.

How many drafts?

Your teacher can give you feedback on one full draft of your exhibition. Your
peers can read through it and give feedback too.

How do I get better at TOK?

 1. Read exemplars essays, exhibitions – helps you understand how to
approach TOK, as well as how to deliver your ideas with brevity in a
manner that is easy to digest.
2. Have TOK convos with your friends – sounds bleh but once you get into it,
sometimes it can be really interesting to view TOK concepts from
different perspectives, and you can learn a lot from these convos! It can
also further your understanding.

All in all, we know TOK is incredibly confusing and hard to understand- TOK is
honestly the most messed-up subject in the IB curriculum, where IB could've
done a better job of structuring the skeleton of TOK- but all we can do is deal
with it. That's what this guide is for. In the end, you'll probably end up attaching
to TOK with time- soon enough, the subject will be a little less confusing because
you've had time to digest its contents.

Give yourself time man, don’t expect yourself to immediately know everything
about a subject that can’t even explain itself- you're allowed to go all completely
wtf is this shit on the IB curriculum. Don't panic, if you don't understand anything
or your TOK teacher is incompetent- feel free to ask me or any other TOK Helper
for clarifications on how TOK and its assessments work. TOK sucks, but its not
impossible to get through. You can do this, mate.

Good luck.

Useful Resources (under construction)

(if you have any others, feel free to let me know!)

Official IB Resources:
IB TOK Subject Guide

Exemplars:
Exemplar TOK Essay 10/10

Assessment Specific Stuff:

Structure of a TOK Essay
TOK Essay Reflection Examples

Other Resources:
How to make Knowledge Questions
In-depth on AOKs + Knowledge Framework
M22 Syllabus Changes
Mr. Hoyes TOK Website!!!
SoHowDoWeKnow Website
Some Useful TOK Terminology