The most independent piece of work 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 direction than a normal subject assignment. That independence is exactly why it trips students up early — there's no fixed prompt to respond to, so the first real task is generating a good one yourself.

Narrow beats broad, every time

"The causes of the First World War" is not an Extended Essay topic — it's a textbook chapter, 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 the shape a workable topic actually takes. If your topic could be the title of a published book, it's too broad; if it can only be answered by you, with your own specific sources and argument, it's the right size.

The research question is the single 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 actually available to you, and genuinely open to debate or analysis — not a question with 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 right answer — IB rules are specifically 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, since this often feeds into the reflections component of the assessment.

A realistic timeline

  • Early on: explore 2-3 possible topics broadly 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, leaving real time for revision — the EE rewards redrafting more than almost any other IB component.
  • Final stretch: focus on argument and structure, not just adding more content — a tighter, better-argued essay outperforms a longer, looser one.

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 it's worth ring-fencing specific time for it rather than letting subject quizzes and papers quietly crowd it out. ExamPass.ai's quiz history makes it easy to see you're still on track with your subjects even while EE deadlines are taking up mental space.