IA & EE guides
The IB Extended Essay, step by step (2027 model)
The Extended Essay is a 4,000-word research essay on a question you choose, and it changed for everyone sitting exams from May 2027. This guide covers the new model: what is assessed, how to choose a question, how the year runs, and the mistakes that cost the most marks.
- 4,000 words max
- About 40 hours
- 30 marks
- 3 reflection sessions
- With TOK: up to 3 points
More in this guide
Topics and research questions
Original example questions for every subject group, with weak and strong pairs.
Criteria explained
The five criteria in plain words, with slips and a checklist for each.
Word count and rules
The 4,000-word limit, the 500-word reflection and how to cut safely.
Annotated outlines
Four original outlines with word budgets and where each criterion is earned.
What changed for May 2027
The IB launched a new Extended Essay in 2025, first assessed in May 2027. If your final exams are in May 2027 or later, the new model is yours. If you are not sure which applies to you, ask your school's EE coordinator.
- Two ways in. A subject-focused essay in one Diploma subject, or an interdisciplinary essay that draws on two subjects. The old World Studies option is folded into the interdisciplinary route.
- New criteria, out of 30. Five criteria replace the old ones, with reflection now marked from a single written statement.
- A new reflection form. The reflection and progress form (RPF) replaces the old RPPF. It records your three sessions and holds one reflective statement of up to 500 words.
The five criteria, in plain words
These are our summaries of what each criterion rewards. Your school can show you the IB's own wording.
| Criterion | Marks | What it rewards, in plain words |
|---|---|---|
| A. Framework for the essay | 6 | A clear, focused question and a sensible plan for answering it: sources and methods that fit, and an essay that is organised around the question. |
| B. Knowledge and understanding | 6 | Accurate subject knowledge, used with the right terms and concepts, and an understanding of where your question sits in the subject. |
| C. Analysis and line of argument | 6 | Turning evidence into an argument that builds step by step towards an answer, instead of a list of facts. |
| D. Discussion and evaluation | 8 | Weighing your evidence and methods: strengths, limits, other interpretations, and how sure your conclusion can be. It carries the most marks. |
| E. Reflection | 4 | Your 500-word reflective statement: how you evaluated your own decisions and how you grew as a researcher. |
Total 30 marks, converted to a grade A to E. With your TOK grade it gives up to 3 Diploma points. You need at least a D in the EE to be awarded the Diploma.
Choosing a subject and a research question
- Start from a subject you takeThe essay is registered under one Diploma subject, even on the interdisciplinary route. Pick the one where you already think well, not the one that sounds impressive.
- Find something you can actually investigateLook for a question where you can collect evidence in a few weeks: data you can measure or find, texts you can read closely, sources you can reach.
- Narrow it until it fits 4,000 words"How does climate change affect cities?" is a book. "How much did the 2019 bus-lane change reduce journey times on one route?" is an essay.
- Make it arguableA good question has more than one reasonable answer, so criterion D has something to weigh.
How the year runs
- About 40 hours of your own work, with 3 to 5 hours of supervision from a teacher at your school.
- Three reflection sessions with your supervisor: one at the start, one in the middle, and a final short interview (the viva voce) after you submit. Each is about 20 to 30 minutes.
- One reflective statement of up to 500 words on the RPF. This is what criterion E marks, so write it as you go, not the night before.
- Hard word limit. Examiners stop reading at 4,000 words. Anything after that earns nothing.
A sample outline
A structure that works for most subject-focused essays. Treat it as a starting point and adapt it to your subject, rather than a template to fill in.
- Introduction (about 400 words)The question, why it matters, and how you will answer it.
- Background and method (about 600 words)The ideas and sources you rely on, and why your method suits the question.
- Analysis (about 2,200 words)Two or three sections, each moving the argument forward with evidence.
- Evaluation and conclusion (about 800 words)What your evidence shows, what it cannot show, and your answer.
Common mistakes that cost marks
- A question that is too broad, so the essay describes instead of argues (criteria A and C).
- Evaluation saved for one paragraph at the end, when criterion D, the biggest, rewards it throughout.
- A reflective statement that retells what you did instead of judging your decisions and what you learned (criterion E).
- Going over 4,000 words and losing the conclusion.
- Uncited help from AI tools. Cite any AI output you use, like any other source.
Our promise
We teach. We never write it for you.
This guide explains how the work is assessed and how to plan it. We never write, edit or rewrite any part of a student's IA or EE, and nor should anyone else: the IB treats work produced or heavily edited by someone else (a person or an AI tool) as not your own. If you use an AI tool for ideas or checking, say so and cite it, as your school will ask.
Coming in 2027
Draft Coach
Upload a draft and get feedback against each criterion, with questions to think about. It will never write or rewrite your essay. Free guides and sample outlines for each subject are on the way.
Written by Ejaz Ahmad, IB teacher since 2015. Checked against the IB's published guide, October 2026. Photon Resources is independent of the IB.