Changes to the Extended Essay
For First Assessment 2027
As some of you may be aware, there are significant changes occurring with the CORE component of the extended essay. An updated Guide will be released in the early months of 2025 (slated for February) with the first assessment beginning in May of 2027 (teaching therefore should be from August/September of 2025). Students will have the option of taking an interdisciplinary approach or a subject-specific option. Assessment has been significantly changed as well.
Photo by Federico Beccari on Unsplash
Here is some basic information about the changes:
- stronger emphasis on using an interdisciplinary approach
- the World Studies Essay will be absorbed into a broader, more flexible interdisciplinary pathway
- students have the option of choosing between integrating the lenses of two DP subjects OR focusing on one subject
- categories have been removed from Language A and Language B subjects
- the REFLECTION portion of the experience (still assessed) is now focused more on the growth of the student AND which transferable skills have been acquired
Assessment
This now totals 30 marks and has been devised as follows:
Assessment criteria | Guiding question |
Framework for the essay (6 marks) | Do the research question, research methods and structural conventions followed provide an effective framework for the essay? |
Knowledge and understanding (6 marks) | Does the student demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the subject matter being used in their research? |
Analysis and line of argument (6 marks) | Does the student analyse the information presented in the essay and produce a line of argument? |
Discussion and evaluation (8 marks) | Does the student discuss the findings and evaluate the essay? |
Reflection (4 marks) | Does the student evaluate the effect of the extended essay learning experience on them as a learner? |
For more details, you may visit HERE.