IB TOK tutors in the UK & online

Theory of Knowledge can move a UK offer: Oxford, King's College London and UCL all count the points from TOK and the Extended Essay towards the totals they set. TOK specialists, teachers and recent IB graduates coach Diploma students across the UK through the exhibition in DP1 and the essay in DP2, challenging each idea instead of supplying one. One-to-one online lessons in UK time, from £58 an hour.

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TOK tutors available to UK families

A good TOK lesson feels like a debate with someone who knows the marking. Our TOK tutors include specialists and teachers who have taught the course and graduates who took it recently, and each one challenges a claim until it holds.

Matilde

Matilde

IB graduate

IB TOK Tutor45/45 IB graduateUniversity of Cambridge3+ years' IB tutoring

My name is Matilde. I completed the IB in 2021 with a score of 45 before coming up to the University of Cambridge, where I read Human, Social and Political Sciences and graduated at the top of my cohort. I am currently completing an MPhil in Social Anthropology at Cambridge, and will be progressing to a PhD in October. I have now been tutoring IB students for over three years. Alongside this, I have worked as an editor for the Cambridge Journal of Political Affairs and with a number of student-focused non-profits. As a result, I have a lot of good experience helping students improve their performance around exams! My approach to tutoring is deliberately flexible, as I recognise that each student brings their own strengths and ways of learning. That said, I do try to incorporate elements of the Oxbridge tutorial style, which I think lends itself particularly well to one-to-one teaching: encouraging students to engage critically with material and develop confidence in their own analytical voice.

  • English Literature
  • History
  • Global Politics
  • English Lang & Lit
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Helena

Helena

IB graduate

IB TOK Tutor45/45 IB graduateUniversity of Oxford4 years' IB tutoring

I'm Hela, an IB graduate with 45 points who now studies Neuropsychiatry at University of Oxford. Previously I have received a first-class bachelors degree from St Andrews University. I received 7s from all of my studies, and I have been an IB tutor for the past 4 years, teaching mainly Biology and Mathematics AA and AI, both at a SL and HL. Despite having done these subjects at a university level, I remember studying them back in high school and how stressful and sometimes complicated the concepts were. Thus, I pride myself on being a patient tutor, that takes time whenever a concept needs to be explained in more detail, whilst at the same time providing further learning opportunities (recommending further readings/ competitions) for students who want to do explore a topic in more depth. Outside of tutoring I am an avid runner and rower and love to paint in my free time.

  • Biology
  • Maths AA
  • Maths AI
  • TOK
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Eva

Eva

IB specialist

IB TOK TutorHead of EnglishIB workshop leader

I’m Eva — Head of English, IB Examiner, and Workshop Leader with over 20 years of international experience teaching and tutoring English, German, and French. I hold a PhD in English and Comparative Literature and a Master’s in French and Comparative Literature. For the past 10 years, I’ve also been part of the IB Educator Network, leading workshops and mentoring teachers around the world. I teach all IB language courses — Language A, B, and Ab Initio — as well as the MYP, and I guide students through their Extended Essays with care and precision. My tutoring sessions are designed to make language learning clear, personal, and inspiring. I love helping students find confidence in expressing themselves — whether it’s mastering essay structure, refining analysis, or simply finding joy in language. Languages are my lifelong passion — I speak several and continue learning Mandarin Chinese. A German who’s lived in Paris, Johannesburg, and now Cyprus, I bring a truly global perspective. When I’m not teaching, you’ll find me jogging, swimming, travelling, or exploring art — always learning, always curious.

  • English Literature
  • English Lang & Lit
  • German A Lit
  • Extended Essay
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Narayani

Narayani

IB specialist

IB TOK Tutor20+ years' teaching

I am a qualified and experienced IB MYP/DP History and Theory of Knowledge teacher. I have 20 years of teaching experience. I am also an IB History Extended Essay and Paper 2 examiner since 2010.

  • History
  • TOK
  • Extended Essay
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Caterina

Caterina

IB graduate

IB TOK Tutor44/45 IB graduateLSE

I’m Caterina, an IB graduate with 44 points, now studying International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science. I achieved 7s in Higher Level History, Global Politics and English Language & Literature, and Standard Level Spanish B. I have been tutoring IB students for over three years. I teach History, Global Politics, English Language & Literature and Spanish B, as well as Italian ab initio and Italian B, as Italian is my mother tongue. I am also a research assistant at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), where I conduct policy research on Europe and the Americas. My teaching approach is exam-focused and practical. I incorporate past papers, clear strategies for command terms and mark schemes, and provide structured feedback. I also support IAs, the Extended Essay and TOK essays and presentations. I provide timed practice to build confidence and precision. Sessions are interactive and supportive, so students feel comfortable asking questions and shaping how we work together. Together, we will build a study plan tailored to your goals and learning style. Outside of tutoring, I enjoy theatre and film, and having lived in six countries, I try to offer a global perspective in our sessions.

  • History
  • Global Politics
  • English Lang & Lit
  • Internal Assessment
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Scott

Scott

IB specialist

IB TOK Tutor15+ years' teaching

I'm Scott, Currently based in Southern Germany teaching Geography at both MYP and DP (SL/HL), I have also taught TOK and I am an examiner for Environmental Systems and Societies (ESS) since 2011. I'm in my 16th year of teaching. Throughout this time I've also supervised 10 personal projects in MYP and over 50 Extended Essays in a range of DP subject areas. I specialise in joining the dots between concepts and content across the entirety of the respective syllabus. I am an enthusiastic international educator with interests in leading service and experiential learning to develop authentic approaches and attitudes toward a holistic lifelong education beyond the classroom.

  • ESS
  • Geography
  • TOK
  • Extended Essay
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Core points in UK offers

How UK universities count TOK and Extended Essay points

Most UK offers for IB students are points totals out of 45, and a Diploma total always includes up to 3 core points from TOK and the Extended Essay. Oxford says so in its offer wording, King's College London states that its point score includes TOK and the EE, and UCL adds up to three bonus points for them to the score out of 45.

Cambridge and LSE also quote their offers out of 45, without a separate TOK or EE condition. Other universities give IB point totals without saying either way, so read each course page. In practice, a student with 37 points from six subjects relies on the core to reach an offer of 39 or 40.

The core decides the Diploma too. The TOK and EE grades combine on a matrix into 0 to 3 points, and an E in either is a failing condition, whatever the subject grades; our explainer on the core points matrix shows each combination.

In the universities' own words

How core points enter UK IB offers, 2027 entry
Oxford“38, 39 or 40 points (depending on the course) including core points”
King’s College LondonIts point score “includes points for Theory of Knowledge (TOK) and the Extended Essay (EE)”
UCLUp to three bonus points for TOK and the EE, counted in the score “out of 45”
Cambridge“41-42 points out of 45”, with no separate TOK or EE condition
LSEThe IB “is scored out of 45 points”; requirements range from 37 to 39
UCAS TariffTOK and the EE scored separately: grade A 12 points, B 10, C 8, D 6, E 4

Most selective universities state IB offers in points rather than Tariff. Full offers are on our Oxford and London pages.

How TOK is assessed

Exhibition and essay: the two pieces TOK grades

Theory of Knowledge is graded on two pieces of work: an exhibition, marked by your school and moderated by the IB, worth a third of the grade, and an externally marked essay of up to 1,600 words worth the other two-thirds.

The exhibition links three objects you choose to one of 35 prompts set by the IB, in no more than 950 words, and is usually done in DP1. The essay answers one of six prescribed titles released for each exam session; many schools collect it between October and January of DP2, the same winter as interviews and mocks that our IA page lays out.

Some guides still describe a TOK oral presentation. The exhibition replaced it, so practice built around a presentation is out of date; our article on how the exhibition differs explains the change.

Academic honesty

Where a TOK tutor's help ends

Your title, your three objects and every sentence of your commentary and essay have to be your own; the IB's academic integrity policy rules out anyone else writing or editing them.

Lessons are argument instead: stating a knowledge question precisely, finding the best counterclaim to your own view, swapping a hypothetical example for a real one. Your TOK teacher gives formal feedback on one draft of the essay and records three planning interactions with you, and a tutor helps you make good use of them.

Free resources

TOK guides from our tutors

All free IB resources
Reviews

What students say about their TOK tutoring

“Without Louis help I know for sure that I would have failed my TOK essay, and his help during the lessons and after (through email) has been a great support system throughout my journey in TOK. He helped me with grammar and digging deeper into the ideas I had, fully allowing me to decide on my own what I wanted to say but helping me to communicate that more effectively.”
“A good TOK tutor” Theory of Knowledge
“Javeria has helped me majorly in navigating my way through the IB Diploma. She provided assistance and tips on writing my TOK Essay, which helped me achieve a very good result. Moreover, she significantly helped me feel confident ahead of the IB English Lang&Lit exams.”
“Javeria Tamim's help” Theory of Knowledge
Grade 6 to 7
“Mr Akintoye helped me shift my focus on the areas which needed more attention rather than the topics I already felt good in. He helped me realize my mistakes in mock exam papers by grading them together and showing the mind of an examiner.”
Mete K., student Skagerak International School · Class of 2025 · Mathematics: Analysis & Approaches

The leading IB tutoring platform, trusted by 20,000+ IB students

Read other families' accounts in the Lanterna reviews.

FAQs

TOK tutoring questions from UK families

Do TOK lessons make a difference to a UK university offer?

They can, because the points do. Core points are part of the total in many UK offers, Oxford's, KCL's and UCL's among them, and a higher TOK grade can add a core point depending on the Extended Essay grade it is combined with. No tutor can guarantee a grade; lessons aim to make your child's argument precise enough to earn the higher band, and to keep well clear of the E that would cost the Diploma.

How can a student in London or Surrey find a TOK tutor?

Through Lanterna, online. We match students with tutors who know Theory of Knowledge well, from teachers who have taught it to graduates who took it recently, and lessons run one to one in UK time, so a student at a school in London or Surrey has the same choice as one anywhere else in the UK and can keep one tutor from the exhibition to the essay.

Can a tutor help my child choose between the prescribed titles?

Yes, by testing them rather than picking one. In a lesson your child can sketch a claim and the strongest objection for two or three titles and see which gives the sharpest argument with real examples. The choice, and every word that follows, stays with your child; our guide to the prescribed titles is a good starting point.

Is it worth booking TOK lessons for the DP1 exhibition?

Often, yes. The exhibition is a third of the TOK grade and is usually finished in DP1, before UCAS and the DP2 essay crowd the timetable. A couple of lessons on how three objects connect to one prompt, and on justifying each link in few words, can settle that third early.

My child finds TOK vague. What does a lesson actually involve?

Argument with a purpose. A typical lesson takes one of your child's claims, asks what knowledge question sits underneath it, looks for a real case that supports it and another that cuts against it, and ends with the claim restated more precisely than before. Your child does the thinking and the writing; the tutor keeps asking the next question.

Should TOK and Extended Essay lessons be planned together, and what do they cost?

It helps, since the two grades combine into the core points. Lessons cost from £58 an hour; many students book a short block for the exhibition in DP1 and another for the essay in DP2, alongside Extended Essay lessons at the research-question stage. The price tiers are on our home page.

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