IB TOK Exhibition Prompts: 35 Knowledge Questions Explained

The TOK Exhibition is built around one prescribed knowledge question, but choosing the right prompt is often the hardest part. The best prompts are specific enough to guide your objects, yet open enough to create genuine TOK analysis. This guide groups all 35 prompts into themes so you can compare them quickly and choose the one that gives your exhibition the clearest direction.

If you are still deciding, use this rule: pick the prompt that gives all three objects a meaningful role. A strong exhibition does not force the same point three times; it shows how each object adds a different angle to the same knowledge question.

How to Choose the Right Prompt

  • Choose a prompt that connects naturally to objects you already know well.
  • Avoid prompts that are too broad unless you can narrow them through a strong context.
  • Look for prompts that let you discuss multiple perspectives, not just one obvious answer.
  • Test whether each object adds something distinct to the prompt before you commit.

The 35 TOK Exhibition Prompts

Knowledge, belief, evidence, and justification

  • 1. What counts as knowledge?
  • 2. Are some types of knowledge more useful than others?
  • 3. What features of knowledge have an impact on its reliability?
  • 4. On what grounds might we doubt a claim?
  • 5. What counts as good evidence for a claim?
  • 8. To what extent is certainty attainable?
  • 19. What counts as a good justification for a claim?
  • 25. How can we distinguish between knowledge, belief and opinion?
  • 31. How can we judge when evidence is adequate?
  • 32. What makes a good explanation?

Organization, communication, and interpretation

  • 6. How does the way that we organize or classify knowledge affect what we know?
  • 9. Are some types of knowledge less open to interpretation than others?
  • 10. What challenges are raised by the dissemination and/or communication of knowledge?
  • 22. What role do experts play in influencing our consumption or acquisition of knowledge?
  • 23. How important are material tools in the production or acquisition of knowledge?
  • 24. How might the context in which knowledge is presented influence whether it is accepted or rejected?
  • 26. Does our knowledge depend on our interactions with other knowers?
  • 29. Who owns knowledge?

Implications, values, and ethics

  • 7. What are the implications of having, or not having, knowledge?
  • 11. Can new knowledge change established values or beliefs?
  • 12. Is bias inevitable in the production of knowledge?
  • 14. Does some knowledge belong only to particular communities of knowers?
  • 15. What constraints are there on the pursuit of knowledge?
  • 16. Should some knowledge not be sought on ethical grounds?
  • 17. Why do we seek knowledge?
  • 27. Does all knowledge impose ethical obligations on those who know it?
  • 28. To what extent is objectivity possible in the production or acquisition of knowledge?
  • 34. In what ways do our values affect our acquisition of knowledge?
  • 35. In what ways do values affect the production of knowledge?

Change, history, culture, and imagination

  • 13. How can we know that current knowledge is an improvement upon past knowledge?
  • 18. Are some things unknowable?
  • 20. What is the relationship between personal experience and knowledge?
  • 21. What is the relationship between knowledge and culture?
  • 30. What role does imagination play in producing knowledge about the world?
  • 33. How is current knowledge shaped by its historical development?

Which Prompts Work Best for Different Objects?

Digital and media objects

Prompts about evidence, communication, bias, context, and interpretation usually work well with social media posts, articles, screenshots, AI outputs, and online platforms.

Historical or cultural objects

Prompts about history, culture, ownership, and communities of knowers are often strongest when your objects have a clear time period or cultural setting.

Personal objects

Prompts about personal experience, values, belief, or implications often fit objects that have direct meaning in your own life, but the commentary still needs TOK analysis rather than autobiography.

Scientific or technical objects

Prompts about reliability, evidence, justification, tools, objectivity, and improvement over time are useful for scientific instruments, data visualizations, lab equipment, or technical artifacts.

Common Mistakes When Picking a Prompt

  • Choosing a prompt because it sounds simple, then struggling to make the objects relevant.
  • Selecting a prompt that only works for one object and stretches badly across the other two.
  • Writing about the object itself without tying it back to the prescribed knowledge question.
  • Using a prompt that invites description instead of analysis.

Using CiteCount for the Exhibition

Your TOK Exhibition commentary is limited to 950 words, so the prompt you choose should leave enough room for balanced analysis across all three objects. CiteCount helps you keep the commentary focused by making it easier to monitor the total word count as you draft and revise.

Final Advice

The best TOK Exhibition prompt is not the most impressive-sounding one. It is the one that helps you build a clear line of thinking through all three objects, with enough tension and complexity to show real TOK understanding.

Quick reminder

Keep your exhibition focused on analysis, not object description. The prompt should drive every paragraph.

Use CiteCount to keep your TOK Exhibition commentary within the 950-word limit while you refine your prompt and objects.

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