The Extended Essay is a 4,000-word independent research piece, conducted under the guidance of a school supervisor, externally graded by IBO examiners against criteria that include analysis, evaluation, and reflection on the research process. The student chooses a research question of their own design. The student decides on the methodology. The student writes the essay in their own time over roughly a year, with three formal reflection sessions at defined milestones and a strict cap of three to five hours of total supervisor contact time. This structure mirrors an undergraduate dissertation in miniature.
The IBO has reformed the Extended Essay. Students sitting their EE in May 2026 are assessed under the previous structure. Students sitting their EE in May 2027 onwards, including all current Year 11 students and incoming DP students, are assessed under a new structure that takes the research-project framing further. Under the new structure, the analytical and evaluative criteria carry 14 of 30 marks, around 47 percent of the total. The Presentation criterion, which previously rewarded essay-writing craft, has been removed entirely, leaving a marking scheme that grades the student on the quality of their argument and the depth of their evaluation rather than on how the essay reads.
The shift makes the difference between the two approaches starker than it was before. A student who treats the EE as a long school essay writes 4,000 words on a topic and submits. A student who treats it as a research project produces work that is structurally different: a focused research question, a clear analytical line, sustained engagement with counter-positions, and an evaluation that takes seriously the limitations of what was found. Under the new structure, the second approach is rewarded by a marking scheme that has been deliberately rebalanced toward the work of analysis and evaluation.
This editorial explains what the EE is, how its assessment is structured under the new and outgoing structures, how it contributes to the IB Diploma score, and where students most often get it wrong. The content is descriptive, not prescriptive. We explain how the EE works rather than coach the student through writing it.
The students who arrive at Harland in their second IB year asking about EE support are usually within weeks of the first full draft. They have a research question. They have read some material. What they often cannot do is treat the essay as a research argument: state a defensible position, marshal evidence around it, engage seriously with what would weaken the position, and evaluate what their findings actually demonstrate.
The pattern repeats across cohorts. Students treat the EE as a 4,000-word writing assignment and produce extended description rather than argument. They cite many sources but evaluate few of them. They report findings without examining the limitations of how those findings were obtained. The reflection sessions and the reflective statement, where the IBO is most directly assessing how the student approached the research, often get filled in at the end as if they were administrative paperwork. Under the old structure, that approach lost the student around 18 percent of the EE grade. Under the new structure, the analytical and evaluative criteria carrying nearly half the grade make the cost of treating the EE as a writing assignment higher still.
The students whose EEs read strongest tend not to be those who chose the most ambitious topics. They tend to be those who treated the work as a research project from the first reflection session onwards: a focused question, a defensible methodology, a clear engagement with what could be argued against the position, and an honest evaluation of what the work managed to show.
The structural facts every IB Diploma student and parent should know about the Extended Essay. Figures from the IBO Extended Essay guide and Diploma Programme passing criteria.
The Extended Essay is delivered through three components: the essay itself (4,000 words maximum), the supervisor relationship (with formal reflection sessions at three defined milestones), and the reflective statement (where the student documents the research process). All three are part of the formal assessment. The IBO has reformed the assessment structure for first assessment in May 2027. The sections below describe the new structure as the primary framework, with an acknowledgment block for the May 2026 cohort sitting under the previous structure.
The student selects a research question, registers the EE in a specific subject, and writes a 4,000-word research essay over roughly a year. Examiners stop reading at the 4,000-word mark, so any conclusion or evaluation that exceeds the limit is not assessed. The word count covers the main text (introduction, body, conclusion) and any quotations within it. Excluded from the count are the title page, contents page, citations, bibliography, appendices, maps, charts, and diagrams.
The mandatory components of the submitted EE are the title page (without identifying information for the student or school, since the EE is marked anonymously), a contents page if subheadings are used, the introduction, body, conclusion, reference list, and the reflection form. The abstract that was a required component before May 2018 has been retired and is not part of the current submission.
Each EE student is assigned a supervisor, typically a teacher at the student's school. The IBO caps total supervisor contact time at three to five hours across the entire project, including the three mandatory reflection sessions. The supervisor provides guidance on the research question, methodology, and structure, and gives feedback on one full draft. The supervisor does not write or substantively edit the essay. The cap mirrors supervision in graduate-level academic research, not classroom teaching practice.
Three formal reflection sessions are required at defined milestones. The Initial Session takes place in Year 1 of the DP, typically March, when the research question is being shaped. The Interim Session takes place around September of Year 2, midway through writing. The Final Session, known as the Viva Voce, takes place after the essay has been submitted to the supervisor, typically November of Year 2.
The IBO requires the student to document their reflection on the research process. Under the new structure (first assessment May 2027), the student submits a single 500-word reflective statement on the Reflection and Progress Form (RPF) after the final viva voce. Under the previous structure (last assessment May 2026), the student wrote three separate reflections totalling 500 words on the Reflections on Planning and Progress Form (RPPF), one at each reflection session.
Under both structures, the reflection is part of the formal assessment, not optional or supplementary. A blank or missing reflection submission scores zero on the relevant criterion. The IBO retains the term "viva voce" for the final reflection session under the new structure. The term has not been retired.
The IBO published a new Extended Essay guide in February 2025 that takes effect for first assessment in May 2027. All current Year 11 students, all incoming DP students, and all subsequent cohorts will be assessed under the new structure. Current Year 12 students sat their EE for May 2026 under the previous structure. The two structures share the 4,000-word limit, the supervisor cap, the three reflection sessions, and the basic shape of the assessment, but the marking scheme has been rebalanced.
Two changes matter most under the new structure. First, the Presentation criterion that previously rewarded essay-writing craft has been removed entirely. The grade no longer reflects how the essay reads. It reflects what the essay argues. Second, the analytical and evaluative criteria (C and D combined) now carry 14 of 30 marks, around 47 percent of the total, up from Critical thinking's 12 of 34 (around 35 percent) under the previous structure. Argument and evaluation are more dominant in the new marking scheme than in any earlier version of the EE.
Under both structures, students are awarded a letter grade from A to E based on mark thresholds. The grade thresholds have been recalibrated for the new mark total but the letter-grade output is the same.
The IBO clarified its position on AI tools in a 2023 statement and reinforced it through subsequent academic integrity guidance. The principle the IBO has repeated, frequently quoted in educator commentary, is:
If the student used AI to help them learn, it is OK; if the student used AI to pretend they did something they did not, then this is not OK. IBO commentary on AI tools and academic integrity
For the Extended Essay specifically, this means AI tools may be used for brainstorming, outlining, and editing assistance, provided that any AI-generated text, image, or data is clearly disclosed in the body of the essay (with the prompt and the date) and added to the bibliography.
Two limits matter. AI cannot be used to generate the substantive analysis or argument. Doing so is academic misconduct. The research question itself must be developed in consultation with the supervisor, not handed to a model. Within those limits, AI sits alongside other reference tools, subject to the same disclosure expectations.
The Extended Essay is not graded by universities directly. The EE contributes to the IB Diploma score in two ways. It feeds into the TOK and EE bonus matrix, which can add up to 3 points to the diploma's 45-point total. It can also cause diploma failure under specific circumstances. Selective universities, particularly Oxford and Cambridge, reference EE work in interviews when the topic relates to the applicant's intended course.
The TOK essay grade and the EE grade combine in the IBO core points matrix to award 0 to 3 additional points toward the diploma. The two grades are read as a pair, not separately. The matrix has been stable since May 2015 and was not changed by the 2027 EE reform. A student needs at least one A and one B (or two A's) to earn the full 3 points. Two B's earn 1 point. Any C in either component reduces the bonus toward 0. A grade of D in either component earns no bonus points. A grade of E in either component earns no bonus points and creates a possible diploma failure condition.
The total diploma score is 42 points from the six subjects (each scored 1 to 7) plus up to 3 bonus points from the TOK and EE matrix, for a maximum of 45. For most students, the matrix is the difference between a diploma score that opens a particular university door and one that does not. A student moving from C/C (0 points) to A/B (3 points) on TOK and EE shifts their total by 3 points, which is the difference between, for example, a 38 and a 41.
Many sources describe an E in the EE as an automatic diploma failure. The IBO's actual passing criteria are more nuanced. The threshold depends on the student's total diploma points and on whether the E falls in the EE only or in both the EE and TOK.
For most students, a D grade or higher in the EE, paired with adequate performance in TOK, prevents the EE from causing a diploma issue. The danger zone is below 28 total diploma points combined with weak performance in either core component.
Selective UK universities, particularly Oxford and Cambridge, do not specify minimum EE grades or specific EE subject requirements as part of formal admissions offers. The IB Diploma core, taken as a whole, is described in Oxbridge admissions guidance as preparation for the independent research expected at university. EE work is referenced in admissions interviews, particularly when the EE topic relates to the applicant's intended course of study.
US selective universities typically do not weight the EE separately as part of admissions reading. IB Diploma scores feed into US admissions as an overall grade, not via component-level review. Where the EE surfaces in US admissions, it is usually because the student references their research experience in a personal essay or supplementary writing, not because the admissions reader independently evaluates the EE.
For Asian universities including NUS, NTU Singapore, HKU, and HKUST, the EE is not a formal admissions requirement separate from the diploma score. Students applying to these institutions through IB Diploma routes are evaluated on overall diploma performance.
Students register the Extended Essay in a single subject, drawn from the IB Diploma Programme subject groups, with the available subject list published in the Diploma Programme Assessment Procedures for the relevant examination session. Most students register the EE in a subject they are taking, often at HL. The subject choice carries structural consequences: each subject has subject-specific guidance affecting how the universal assessment criteria are interpreted.
The six IB subject groups are Group 1 (Studies in Language and Literature), Group 2 (Language Acquisition), Group 3 (Individuals and Societies), Group 4 (Sciences), Group 5 (Mathematics), and Group 6 (The Arts). EEs may be registered in subjects from any of the six groups. Group 3 covers Business Management, Digital Society, Economics, Geography, Global Politics, History, Philosophy, Psychology, Social and Cultural Anthropology, and World Religions. Group 4 covers Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Computer Science, Design Technology, Environmental Systems and Societies, and Sports, Exercise and Health Science. Group 6 covers Dance, Film, Literature and Performance, Music, Theatre, and Visual Arts.
The new structure introduces a clear distinction between two formal pathways. The Subject-focused pathway registers the EE in a single DP subject, the most common case. The Interdisciplinary pathway integrates two DP subjects to address a topic of global significance, replacing and absorbing the previous World Studies pathway. The Interdisciplinary pathway is built around six global themes that previously framed World Studies. They cover conflict and peace, culture and identity, environmental and economic sustainability, equality and inequality, health and development, and science and technology.
Group 1 and Group 2 EEs are structurally distinct. A Group 1 (Studies in Language and Literature) EE is a literary or linguistic analysis written in the student's strongest language, and treats the student as a sophisticated reader of texts in their first language. A Group 2 (Language Acquisition) EE is written in a language the student is acquiring as a second language, and requires sufficient command of that language to produce 4,000 words of academic analysis in it. The structural distinction matters for student choice but does not make one pathway easier than the other.
The five assessment criteria are universal across all subject choices, but each subject has subject-specific guidance affecting how each criterion is interpreted. In a History EE, "analysis and line of argument" emphasizes source evaluation and historiographical context. In a Biology EE, the same criterion emphasizes experimental design, data analysis, and methodological soundness. A Visual Arts EE applies the same criterion to critical engagement with the artwork and its context. Under the new structure, the IBO has consolidated subject-specific guidance into broader subject-group guides for greater consistency across subjects within a group.
No EE is right or wrong in isolation. The patterns below describe approaches that, in our experience, tend to weaken the work the IBO marking scheme is designed to reward.
No Taipei school in the IB Diploma cluster publishes EE-specific outcome data (subject distributions, grade distributions, exemplar essays) through public-facing channels. The observations below are based on Harland's experience working with students from these programs alongside what each school publicly states about its IB Diploma offering.
The three Taipei schools currently delivering the IB Diploma to upper-secondary students are Taipei American School (TAS), Taipei European School (TES), and Kang Chiao International School (KCIS). All three are IBO-authorized for the Diploma Program. None publish EE-specific results.
EE provision varies more across schools than TOK provision does. The Extended Essay is a year-long independent project requiring coordinator infrastructure, supervisor matching, pacing structure, and reflection-session scheduling. Schools with established DP programs typically have dedicated EE coordinators and structured EE writing weeks across the calendar. Schools with newer or smaller DP cohorts may handle EE supervision more informally. This variation is real, but it does not equate to a quality judgment about any specific school.
Harland Education is not an IBO-authorized IB Diploma school. For most students, the school is the primary site of EE supervision, and we work alongside, providing focused support on research, structure, and the analytical work the assessment rewards. For homeschooled candidates, where the supervision arrangement is different, we can play a more central role.
If your child is in the IB Diploma Program and the EE process is underway or about to start, the value of focused support depends on where they are in the timeline and what kind of work the EE is becoming. The conversation is the right place to start.
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