IB Psychology Extended Essay: The 2027 Criteria Applied

By Michael Thompson · Education Specialist; 10 years teaching the IB at Bromsgrove School · Published 4 October 2026 · Updated 6 October 2026

The IB psychology extended essay is a 4,000-word independent investigation assessed under a new five-criterion framework that applies to every student sitting the May 2027 session or later. The updated model replaces the previous 34-mark structure, which is used for the last time in November 2026, and scores work out of 30 marks across five criteria, labelled A to E. A psychology EE must build its argument from published research (collecting your own data is not permitted), so your essay needs a focused, answerable question and a clear line of analysis through the evidence. This guide explains how each criterion plays out in a psychology essay, how to find a strong research question, and how the EE differs from the new psychology internal assessment so you don't confuse the two.

Key Takeaways

In This Article

  1. What the IB Psychology Extended Essay Actually Is
  2. The Five Assessment Criteria and What They Mean for Psychology
  3. Structure: How to Frame a Psychology Extended Essay
  4. Psychology Extended Essay Topic Ideas and Research Questions
  5. How the EE Differs from the New Psychology IA
  6. Reflections, the Viva Voce, and the RPF
  7. What to Do Next

1. What the IB Psychology Extended Essay Actually Is

The IB psychology extended essay is a compulsory, externally assessed component of the Diploma Programme core, submitted as a piece of formal academic writing of up to 4,000 words. Per the IB subject brief, the word limit covers the introduction, body, conclusion, and any quotations. Required elements are: title page, contents page, introduction, body, conclusion, and references and bibliography.

A framework change is coming. November 2026 is the last examination session assessed on the previous model. Every student sitting May 2027 or later works under the updated framework, which the IB's EE updates page describes as launching for first assessment in May 2027.

Two research pathways are available, per the subject brief:

A psychology EE must be based on secondary sources only: the 2027 EE guide describes it as a review of literature, an analysis of peer-reviewed research, and does not permit the collection of primary data. Shape your question so that published studies can answer it.

Subject-specific guidance beyond the subject brief sits in the full EE guide on the IB Programme Resource Centre. Ask your supervisor to share the relevant sections with you before you finalise your topic.

2. The Five Assessment Criteria and What They Mean for Psychology

The IB marks every extended essay on the same five criteria regardless of subject - the chemistry extended essay uses exactly the same table. For the 2027 specification, the marks are set out on the IB's EE updates page as follows:

CriterionLabelMarks
Framework for the essayA6
Knowledge and understandingB6
Analysis and line of argumentC6
Discussion and evaluationD8
ReflectionE4
Total30

The same criteria apply on both pathways (subject-focused and interdisciplinary) and in every subject, including psychology.

Criterion A - Framework (6 marks) asks whether the essay is built around a focused, answerable research question and follows a standard academic structure: introduction, body, and conclusion. In psychology, the question must be framed as a question and be answerable with the evidence you can realistically analyse in 4,000 words. A statement topic reworded as a question at the last minute rarely scores well here.

Criterion B - Knowledge and understanding (6 marks) rewards accurate use of psychological theories and peer-reviewed studies. Knowing a study superficially is not enough; you need to show you understand what the findings actually mean and use subject-specific terminology correctly throughout.

Criterion C - Analysis and line of argument (6 marks) is where description stops and analysis begins. Every analytical point should be tied to a specific source, not asserted generally. The counter-intuitive catch: a long essay that summarises lots of studies but never breaks them down analytically can score lower here than a shorter, tighter one that does.

Criterion D - Discussion and evaluation (8 marks) carries the most weight and is the criterion most students underestimate. The IB's guiding question asks whether you discuss the findings and evaluate the essay. In a psychology essay that means genuine appraisal of the evidence - the strengths and limitations of the studies you cite and any potential bias - and a conclusion that answers your question.

Criterion E - Reflection (4 marks) applies solely to the 500-word reflective statement submitted on the Reflection and Progress Form (RPF) at the end of the process. The IB subject brief is specific: reflection here means evaluating the effect of the EE experience on you as a learner, not summarising your argument.

The practical implication is clear: allocate your planning effort in proportion to the marks. Criterion D alone accounts for more than a quarter of the total score, so depth of evaluation matters more than breadth of coverage.

3. Structure: How to Frame a Psychology Extended Essay

The IB EE subject brief sets out six required elements for the final submission: title page, contents page, introduction, body, conclusion, and references and bibliography. The 4,000-word limit covers the introduction, body, conclusion, and any quotations - the title page, contents page, and reference list sit outside the count.

The IB requires an introduction, body and conclusion. Under the 2027 criteria, structure is assessed in Criterion A (Framework for the essay), and a clear structure also helps the examiner follow your line of argument (Criterion C) and your discussion (Criterion D). That means a poorly signposted essay loses marks in multiple places, not just one.

What each part needs to do

Introduction. A useful introduction covers five things:

That last point is worth noting. Signalling your evaluative approach upfront is not a spoiler; it tells the examiner that you understand the limits of the evidence before you present it.

Main body. Each analytical point should be supported by specific evidence from your sources. Description alone does not satisfy Criterion C.

Conclusion. It must follow from the analysis in the body. Introducing new material or claims at this stage undermines the essay's internal logic and will be visible to any examiner reading for Criterion D.

Across all three parts, treat the studies you discuss with care. Accurately representing what a piece of research found, and being honest about its limits, is basic academic integrity - and it strengthens your evaluation rather than weakening it.

4. Psychology Extended Essay Topic Ideas and Research Questions

The IB provides one official sample research question for psychology in the subject brief: 'Is mindfulness or cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) the more effective means of coping with stress?' The recommended approach is to analyse research that directly compares the two treatments, leading to a well-evidenced conclusion. (IB EE Subject Brief)

That question is worth studying carefully. Notice what it does: it sets up a direct comparison between two named interventions, anchors the outcome measure (coping with stress), and can be answered entirely from peer-reviewed literature. That is the template.

Topic ideas across the four psychology contexts

The 2027 Psychology course organises content around four contexts. An IB psychology extended essay sits naturally within any of them. The research questions below are written for this guide, not IB questions.

ContextIllustrative research question (written for this guide)
Health and well-beingDoes sleep deprivation affect cognitive performance differently in adolescents compared with adults, as measured by attention tasks?
Human developmentTo what extent does attachment style in early childhood predict social competence in middle childhood, according to longitudinal research?
Human relationshipsHow do social media use patterns relate to loneliness in university students, as evidenced by self-report studies?
Learning and cognitionIs retrieval practice or restudying the more effective strategy for long-term retention of declarative knowledge?

Using the six course concepts to focus your question

The new course names six concepts: bias, causality, change, measurement, perspective, responsibility. These are not decoration. They map directly onto evaluation angles that strengthen Criterion D (Discussion and Evaluation, weighted at 8 of 30 marks).

Framing your research question so that one or two of these concepts run through it gives your analysis a coherent evaluative thread from the start, rather than adding criticism as an afterthought.

Checklist: testing your research question before you commit

Use these four checks before agreeing a question with your supervisor.

Be aware that a question that looks narrow can still be too broad if the comparison literature is sprawling. The CBT-versus-mindfulness sample question works precisely because it targets a defined outcome (stress) with two named treatments, making source selection tractable within the word count.

5. How the EE Differs from the New Psychology IA

The IB psychology extended essay and the new Internal Assessment are both psychology tasks, but they test entirely different skills and should not be confused with each other.

From May 2027, the psychology IA is a research proposal rather than a practical report. Per the IBO, it is worth 24 marks, counting for 30% of the final grade at SL and 20% at HL. The proposal must be built around one of the four class-practical methods tied to the four contexts: interview, observation, survey/questionnaire, or experiment. It is internally assessed by your teacher.

The EE sits on the opposite side of almost every one of those features:

FeaturePsychology IAPsychology EE
AssessmentInternal (teacher-marked)External (IB examiner)
DataDesigns a study that would collect dataAnswers a question from published research only (no primary data)
PurposeResearch design skillsIndependent scholarly inquiry

The sharpest practical distinction is the data question. The IA asks you to design a study that would collect data. The EE has to answer its own research question with evidence, which in a psychology EE means analysing existing published research only.

A common trap: students who write a strong IA sometimes arrive at the EE expecting to propose a study or adapt their IA method. That misreads the task. The EE has to answer its research question, not plan research that would answer it. Confirm this distinction with your supervisor before you settle on an EE direction.

6. Reflections, the Viva Voce, and the RPF

The reflective element of the IB Extended Essay is more structured than most students expect. Per the IB EE subject brief, three formal reflection sessions with a supervisor are mandatory throughout the process, not optional check-ins. The third and final session is the viva voce, a conversation of about 20-30 minutes between student and supervisor that serves two purposes: confirming academic integrity and giving the student space to reflect on what the research experience actually taught them.

Timing matters here. The 500-word reflective statement on the Reflection and Progress Form (RPF) is written at the end of the process, after the viva voce, not accumulated across all three sessions. That single statement is what Criterion E is assessed against, carrying 4 of the 30 available marks. The criterion focuses specifically on how the EE experience affected you as a learner, not on summarising your argument or defending your conclusions.

For a psychology EE, this distinction matters. The strongest reflective statements do not restate what the essay argued. They address how engaging with peer-reviewed research changed the student's thinking, or what the limits of the published evidence revealed about the research process itself.

Finally, the EE does not stand alone in your diploma score. Per the subject brief, the EE combines with Theory of Knowledge (TOK) for a maximum of three additional diploma points.

7. What to Do Next

The most useful thing you can do this week is draft a candidate research question and run it through the four-point checklist from section 4: is it framed as a question, is it answerable with evidence you can realistically get, is it focused enough for 4,000 words, and does it connect to a clear psychological context? Most early drafts fail on focus, not ambition.

Then contact your EE supervisor and ask them to share the subject-specific psychology guidance from the IB Programme Resource Centre. That document is where the detailed subject rules for the 2027 criteria sit, and access is restricted to teachers and coordinators. You will not find it through a public search. Your supervisor can walk through it with you at your first reflection session.

Draft your research question before that meeting. Arrive with something concrete to test.

FAQ

How long is the IB psychology extended essay?

The EE has a strict upper limit of 4,000 words, covering the introduction, body, conclusion, and any quotations; the title page, contents page, and references do not count toward this total.

What is the extended essay in IB and how is it assessed for psychology?

The EE is a compulsory, externally assessed piece of formal academic writing; from May 2027 it is marked out of 30 across five criteria - Framework for the essay, Knowledge and understanding, Analysis and line of argument, Discussion and evaluation, and Reflection.

Can I collect primary data for my IB psychology extended essay?

No. The 2027 EE guide states that a psychology extended essay must be based on secondary sources only, and collecting primary data is not permitted; build your essay on published, peer-reviewed research.

What is the viva voce in the IB extended essay?

The viva voce is the final mandatory reflection session - a 20-30 minute conversation between the student and their supervisor, used to check academic integrity and allow the student to reflect on the research process.

Are there grade boundaries for the new IB extended essay?

No grade boundaries for the new 30-mark scale have been published; they will not be available until after the first May 2027 session results, expected 6 July 2027.

How is the IB psychology extended essay different from the psychology IA?

The EE is a 4,000-word externally assessed essay that answers a research question by analysing published research, while the new psychology IA (from May 2027) is an internally assessed research proposal worth 24 marks that proposes a study using one of the four class-practical methods.

References