IB Coursework: IA & EE by Subject

Internal Assessments and the Extended Essay are marked against published criteria, and the students who score highest are the ones who write to those criteria from the first draft. These guides take one piece of coursework in one subject at a time: the criteria with the marks each carries, what the top band actually requires in plain language, how a 7-level (or A-grade) piece differs from a middling one, and the handful of mistakes that cost the most marks.

The Internal Assessment guides cover the sciences (Biology, Chemistry, Physics) under the criteria in force from first assessment 2025, both Mathematics explorations, Business Management, Economics, History and Psychology, plus the English A individual oral. The Extended Essay guides start with the five criteria that apply to every subject and then go subject by subject - Physics, Biology, Economics, Business Management, English A and Global Politics - on research questions, evidence and where essays in that subject typically lose marks.

Read the criteria guide for your subject before you start drafting, then use the self-check at the top of each page against your draft. The subject guides in IB Subject Guides cover the syllabus and exams; the core guides cover TOK and the points matrix.

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