The most independent thing you'll write in the Diploma

The Extended Essay (EE) is roughly 4,000 words of independent research on a question you largely set yourself, with far less day-to-day steering than a normal subject assignment. That independence is exactly why it catches people out early. There's no fixed prompt to respond to, so the first real job is coming up with a good one yourself.

Narrow beats broad, every time

"The causes of the First World War" isn't an Extended Essay topic. It's a textbook chapter, and far too broad to say anything original about in 4,000 words. "To what extent did [a specific, narrow factor] influence [a specific, narrow event]" is closer to the shape a workable topic actually takes. If your topic could be the title of a published book, it's too broad. If only you, with your own sources and your own argument, could answer it, you've got the right size.

The research question is the most important sentence you'll write

Everything else in the essay exists to answer this one question, so it's worth spending real time getting it right before you start writing in earnest. A strong research question is specific, answerable with the sources you can actually get hold of, and genuinely open to debate. It shouldn't have one obvious factual answer.

Working with your supervisor

Your supervisor's job is to guide your process, not to write your essay for you or hand you the answer. IB rules are strict about supervisors not over-directing the work. Come to meetings with concrete questions and a specific plan to discuss, not "what should I do next", and keep a record of your supervision meetings as you go. That record often feeds into the reflections part of the assessment.

A realistic timeline

  • Early on: explore two or three possible topics before committing to one. Switching topics gets much harder once you're deep into research.
  • Once committed: nail down your exact research question before doing extensive research, so your reading is targeted rather than scattered.
  • Mid-process: write a full first draft well before the final deadline and leave real time for revision. The EE rewards redrafting more than almost any other IB component.
  • Final stretch: focus on argument and structure, not on piling in more content. A tighter, better-argued essay beats a longer, looser one every time.

The most common pitfall

The single most common weakness in EEs is being descriptive rather than analytical: summarising what sources say instead of building your own argument from them. Every section should be doing something with the evidence, not just presenting it.

Revising alongside the EE

The EE runs alongside your normal subject revision, not instead of it, so ring-fence specific time for it rather than letting subject exam questions and exam papers quietly crowd it out. ExamPass.ai's exam question history makes it easy to check you're still on track with your subjects even while EE deadlines are eating into your headspace.