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For grade boundary information, please refer to tGherade boundaries for Diploma programme coordinatorsdocument available on the PRC.

Extended essay

General guidance

Thisgeneral extended essay (EEr)eport is to be read in conjunction with the May 2021 subject reports for specific EE subjects. Where specific EE subject reports do not exist (for example, for subjects where cohort sizes are too small to provide constructiveeefdback without identifying single schools or students), then this report acts as guidance that summarizes the key points made, and issues encountered, by EE principal examiners across all subjects.

As stated in theAssessment Proceduredsocument,the nature ofthe EE task does not changeand as such subject reports are not produced each session unless new problems arise or new subjects are added. The May 2021EE subject reportsremainwholly applicableuntil the next set of EE subject reportsare produced (May 2024).

Candidate performance against each criterion

Criterion A: focus and method

A number ofstudents omit either the research question or the title. While this is not penalised explicitly, both the research question and title are requirementsstuofficientlyfocus the investigation, and as such the omission of one or bothwould be considered onbalance with the othercriterion requirement.s Supervisors should ensure that students understand t f h u e nction of the reseacrh question, title and topic which is clearly outlined in the EE guide.

A good number of students successfulfloyrmulatedresearch questions that helepd them to retain focus throughout the essa.yHowever,there are still students who select broad resrecah questions that are not appropriate for a4000-word task, and that do not allow them to deal with the criteria to the depth required. There were good examples of effective introductions that served to outline the topic, title, research question, methodtso be used and sources to consulWt. hile the focus and method need also to

be sustained throughout the essay, the introduction is a good place for a student to state their aims.

Students must ensure that the topic for investigation is academically wo.rTthhye availability ofenough

stages.

The selection of sources must consider what the student needs to do with the sourctehsey need to be appropriate for the research question,but they must also be appropriate to use to support knowledge and understanding, and argument, analysis and evaluation.

As a student reaches the end of their EE,it is worthwhile critically revisiting the research quetsotieonnsure that the wording of the question remains appropriate. If thesesay has answered a slightly different

research question, students should be encouraged to revisit the question and make amendments as necessary.The research question should therefeorbe considered provisional until the EE is compleIttei.s

not advisable however to leave the research question to the end of the process completely, as this results in an unfocused and usually narrative, general essay.

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Criterion B: knowledge and undersatnding

Most students had areasonable understandingof their topic, thoughthis was not alwayssupported by sources, and as such theyoftenread asgeneralizations without academic underpinnin.gSstudents must remember to use and apply their selected souersc to support their knowledge and understanding. Unsubstantiated claims can lead to lower marks for this criterion.

Subject specific terminology is often w-eullsed, but students should also thinkabout incorporating subject specific concepts and theories too.

Criterion C: critical thinking

Students who did notproduce a sufficiently focused research questiostnruggled here,as they tried to answer too broad a quesiot n in terms of analysis and evaluatiotno the depth required by this criterion. Those who did notincorporate sources effectively would likely have received low maarkgsainst this criterion. Argument, analysis and evaluation are all speculative and unstuabnstiated unless they are effectively supported by selected sources. Schools must help students understand the transition from reporting and description to analysis and evaluation. Too often, students did not evidence these higher order skills, and as suchtheir performance against criterion C would often be impactMedo.re guidance is available in the EE guideand TSMincludingguiding questionsto help students understand the demands

of the criterion, and an unpacking of the criterion requirements.

Criterion D: presentation

A number of studentsubmit workwhich is lacking in terms of formal presentation requirements. It is vital that the requirements are shared with students, and these are clearly stated inE t E h g e uide.

Success in terms ofpresentation consists of producing an essay which is visually appea,ltinhgis means properly formatted and neatly set o,uftulfillingthe requirements of producing a cover page which consists of atitle, aresearch question(phrased as a questio)nand a word countS. tudentsare also required to make sure an accurately numberedtable ofcontents and pagination are provided as well asoarfmal conclusion and abibliography.

Students should note that the provision of a table of contents which goes beyond a very basic structure introduction,main body,c

the main areas being investigated in the essay (indicatebdy subheadings) along with accurate page numbers for these sections. Subheadings that are noted on the contents page should also appear in the main body of the essa.yThis approach facilitates the reading andohcerence of the essay.

Criterion E: engagement

s reflections only.The essay itself and supervisor comment serve as context attesting to authenticity of the reflections, but do not impact the mark aweda.rdThe three reflections combined must be no longer than 500 words. Examiners will not read bey5o0n0dwords, so students should be given the opportunity to edtihte reflections at the end of the process to meet the word count, however,thesubstance of the reflcetions must not be changed so that they remain authentic reflective summaries.

It is really important that students and supervisors are aware ofp th ro e tocols for submitting the RPP,Fas a mark of0is automatically awarded for criterionwEhereby:

The RPPF is not submitted
The RPPF is written in a different languagtehan the essay

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Where a student changes registration language during the EE process, they must ensure that all their preceding reflections are translated into the final language of submission. This applies to retake candidates too where some of their reflections may sbtiellvalid and applicable.

Students should be encouraged, through the questions asked by the supervisor during the reflection sessions, to think critically about the process that they have been through, rather than putting forward a simple description ofhte actions that have been taken, or summarizing the conclusions of their essay.

has been given to them by their supervisor.

Important reminders

Extended essay website

Schools are reminded that the EE website is updated with clarifications periodically. Therefore, if schools

they are working with the latest versio. nSchools are recommended to use the html guide for reference, so that they are always viewing the correct and current content.

Anonymizing work

sj340

care to refer to the student by name in their comment

Similarly, students should not refer to theuirpservisor (or other staff member) by name in their reflections or in any acknowledgments. Any acknowledgements made by the student should withhold information that could identify the school, or its location.

Response language

submission (essay and RPPF) must be in the same languagethat of EE registration. For example, a History EE in French would be written fully (essay and RPPF) in French. Similarly, a Spanish A EE would be written fully in Spanish, while an Arabic B EEuwldobe written fully in Arabic. This is in keeping with condition 10.3 of the General Regulations. An RPPF written in another language would be awarded a mark o0ffor criterion E. Schools are reminded that it is their responsibility to check that the corerct essay and supporting RPPF is uploaded for each candidate, and that both documents are appropriate and clearly visible. Amendments to uploads based on sc-ihdoeonltified errors

will only be accepted prior to issue of results for the session in questIinosnt.ances of maladministration caused by upload errors and identified after issue of results cannot be rectified and taken into consideration in any remark.

Predicted grades

Coordinators are required to submit a predicted grade for each candidate. Theasdeegsrmust be entered on IBIS by20 April/20 October. For the EE, the grades are on a scale oftAo E, withA being the highest

grade. The EE is externally assessed, so supervisors must not mark the essays and arrive at a number to translate into a grade.rPedicted grades for all subjects must be based on the qualitative grade descriptors for the subject in question,which are available on the EE website. Grade boundaries are subject to change, even for fixed tasks. Predicted gradveersusactual grade accurcay is improved when predictions are correctly based on the descriptors.

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Academic honesty and the EE

Referencing and bibliographies are only assessed against criterion D based on their visu-aolultay(eg consistent presentation of referencing footnotesn) da presence e( g bibliography as a structural requirement). The content and completeness of a reference or bibliography is not assessed, but,

further investigation by the IB. If there is no attempt at an attribution in the body of an essay, or if the minimum bibliographic requirements are not met then the IB will record the details and monitor schools accordingly.

Students must be reminded ofhte importance of academic honesty and the proper referencing of sources. The minimum information requirements for the IB (superseding any refer-esntyclee specifics) are outlined on the final page of theEffective Citing and Referencindgocument, availableon the Programme Resources

Centre. Insufficient references are escalated to the IB to check for authenticity of work, and could cause a delay in issuing marks and grades. Schools that permit insufficient referencing practices are recorded and monitored.

Reliance on external resources

Irrespective of the subject, the extended essay must be a complete piece of independent research, modelled on an academic journal/research paper, which can exist and be understood on its own, without the need to accessexternal links, such as hyperlinks, or accompanying material such as DVDs.

Examiners will not access any material contained in an external source when assessing an essay. Material that is pertinent to the argument being made must be contained in the esistaseylf to be considered by examiners in their assessment of it.

As with appendices, if information central to the argument is included in the external link, it is treated as though the point has not been made and as such could affect different criterirae, fxoample, criterion C (critical thinking), depending on the quality of the other analyses.

Referencing sources not in the language of submission

An extended essay can use sources in languages other than that of submission where appropriate. In these situations, the IB advises that the sources be used as necessary, and that

When referred to in the body of the extended essay as a quotation, the translation is gaivnednthe original quotation is placed as a footnote.
When a source is acknowledged in the bibliography, it should be referenced in its original language. Where there is no official published translation, the student should write a brief summary alonghseide t source in the language of submission of a) the title, b) name of the author, c) the focus of the work and

d) any other relevant details. This way, the examiner can assess the relevance and suitability of the source as required.

The translation of the txet should be done by the student if there is no official translation.The supervisor should help ensure as best as possible that the translation is accurate and representative of the original text. If the student finds the translation taskbeyond their caabpilities, then it is advisable not to include that source in his/her research. In selecting sources, the nature of the subject in question needs to be considered for example, in a language acquisition essay, it is vital that students work mostly with authentic materials in the target language.

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Language A essays

Effective first submission for assessment May 2021, EEs submitted in studies in language and literature

se. Students can

base their essays on different texts by the same author.

Please note that the regulation applies to all students without exception, including those retaking the EE

this rule for each of their students.cAoordinator or supervisor attests to the adherence to this regulation via the authentication of work via the eCoursework portal. Work should not be authenticated and submitted if the rule has not been followed; doing so would constitute school malpra.ctice

If a school discovers that a student has overlooked the requirement, then the student must redo their essay regardless of where they are in the process, revisiting any reflection entries as necessary. Please contact IB Answers if an extension is requedir to facilitate the rewriting.

Language B essays

and therefore subject to the caps for criteria A, B and C are the use of artifacts listed inlatnhgeuage

investigation. Such essays are inappproriate-they will generally be descriptive, speculative essays, and it is a self-penalizing approach from the outset.

RPPFs for language acquisition/language Bsubjects

As statedearlier in this repor,tthe essay and RPPF must be written in the samenlgauage. As with the requirement for a student to have a sufficient grasp of language before embarking on an EE in that response language, the same applies for the RPPF. Schools must bear in mind the requirements and demands of the RPPF when advising studetsnon response languages. As with the essay itself, the quality of the language is not explicitly assessed, that said, where linguistic ability impedes coherence then this could impact assessment of criteria A, B, C and E.

Fieldwork and secondary researhc

The document entitledManaging Sciences and Geography Extended Essays without lab work or fieldiswork available on the EE page of the programme resource centre. This document contains advice on research methods that use secondary data and suggestions of useful web resou.rces

Retake candidates

Students retaking the EE must ensure that their workis sifgicnantly changed. Without significant chan,ge the new session mark is likely to remain the same.

Retake candidates must include an EE/RPPF. Failure to submit the form wilrlesult in criterion E being awarded a mark of 0. To permit a s-imxonth or twelve-month retake in a completely different subject, the school must be sure that the process can be followed correctly, including reflection sessions, and that it is not detrimental to the candidate. Depending on the nature of the changes to the EE, E th E e /RPPFmay still

be largely appropriate or may need revisiting. If the EE is improved only,sthtuedent should be given the opportunity to have a new final reflection session. If the changes saurbstantial,e then they may need to revisit earlier reflections and retake the sessions again with their supervisor. Changes in registration are

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permitted, bu requirements.

Change of subject

discrepancybetween the registration and the actual subject of the EE is identified, the coordinator must contact the IB and request a change to the subject for which the EE is registered. The EE for a candidate should not be uploaded until the registration change is

screen is updated. Failure to do this will result in the EE being assessed as the original subject for which it was registered.

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