EE assessment (2025)
Unlike Internal Assessment investigations, Extended Essays are marked by IB examiners. This takes the pressure off when it comes to assessment!
Nonetheless, being a good supervisor means knowing what our students should be aiming for. Here we'll discuss the grade descriptors and criteria for physics.
Theory of Knowledge and the Extended Essay are graded from A to E, with a matrix combining the grades to yield between zero and three IB Diploma points.
In the Extended Essay, students are expected to:
- Demonstrate effective research skills
- Develop a focused and appropriate research question
- Choose a topic that includes the RQ in its scope
- Adhere to structural conventions and communicate ideas
- Engage with relevant research areas, methods and sources
- Understand the topic and the discipline's wider context
- Apply source material
- Use subject-specific terminology and concepts
- Write a consistent and relevant conclusion
- Support arguments with evidence
- Critically evaluate their research
- Reflect on the process
- Discuss evidence of growth and transfer of learning
Students choosing physics should therefore work with physics principles, laws and models they have already learned but extend their understanding. They will identify variables and choose the most appropriate theoretical frameworks for making predictions and analysis. They will measure and/or simulate, perhaps with basic lab equipment, databases, or by mimicking a procedure from an academic paper.
The IB document Extended essay: Subject-specific guidance mentions the following examples for physics:
- Refractive index and concentration or temperature of salt solution
- Motion under gravity
- Velocity-dependent damping
- Flow rate and pipe orientation or nozzle shape
- Instrument resonance and material or shape (e.g. guitar sound and string linear density)
- Electromotive force and rotating magnet parameters
- Scattering of alpha particles in the electric field of a nucleus
- Rolling on an inclined plane
- Period of a pendulum and amplitude
- Efficiency of different lens shapes in focusing solar energy
- Polarization and angle of incidence
- Theoretical simple harmonic oscillator modelling
Students are warned against overly complex topics, e.g. quantum computing.
We are told that examiners will mark positively and apply a best-fit approach, and that faultless performance is not required for a perfect score. Let's look at the marks on the table and see if we can make a checklist for how to get them in physics - one prompt per mark.
Remember that the four marks for reflection come 100% from the reflective statement.
A: Framework for the essay (6 marks)
Do the research question, research methods and structural conventions followed provide an effective framework for the essay?
- Does your research question match the investigation you carried out?
- Does your research question include two variables and the specific body/system/situation?
- Do you have clear headings placed in logical order (e.g. Introduction, Theory, Methodology, Results, Analysis, Discussion, Conclusion, Evaluation)?
- Do you have diagrams supporting communication of theory (e.g. a free-body diagram), experimental/simulated set-up (e.g. a labelled diagram) and analysis (e.g. a graph)?
- Have you explained why your research methods are appropriate for answering your research question?
- Have you cut out everything that doesn't relate to your research question?
B: Knowledge and understanding (6 marks)
Does the student demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the subject matter being used in their research?
- Have you connected physics principles to your body/system/situation?
- Have you explained these physics principles?
- Have you referenced written sources and explained why they were chosen (e.g. when developing a theoretical framework, or finding a database)?
- Have you taken care with accuracy for all principles, theories, laws, terminology and formulae?
- Have you represented physics accurately via diagrams, graphs and formatted equations?
- Have you cut out all background theory that is not necessary to understand the research question and investigation?
C: Analysis and line of argument (6 marks)
Does the student analyse the information presented in the essay and produce a coherent line of argument?
- Is your data processed and presented clearly?
- Are your diagrams and tables labelled, do your graphs have error bars, and have you shown examples of your calculations?
- Have you used appropriate analytical methods, such as curve fitting, statistical tools and/or uncertainty analysis?
- Have you identified patterns, trends and/or anomalies with clear links to physical principles?
- Do you have consistency between your research question, research findings and conclusions?
- Have you ensured that every step in your final report contributes to answering your research question?
D: Discussion and evaluation (8 marks)
Does the student discuss the findings and evaluate the essay?
- Have you included a balanced discussion of the significance of the findings?
- Have you discussed the findings using physics concepts?
- Have you compared your results to established theories or previous studies?
- Have you answered the research question?
- Have you evaluated the effectiveness of the research, including explanations of strengths and limitations?
- Have you used scientific terminology (e.g. accuracy, precision, reliability) when discussing your research methods?
- Have you considered systematic and random errors and their impact on your conclusions?
- Have you suggested improvements and future investigations grounded in physics reasoning?
E: Reflection (4 marks)
Does the student evaluate the effect of the extended essay learning experience on them as a learner?
- Have you included the main ideas discussed in the viva voce and the insights you gained from researching and writing the extended essay?
- Have you included specific examples of your personal growth and the skills you developed through the extended essay?
- Have you explained how the skills and learning from your extended essay could be transferred to other current contexts and used in the future?
- Have you explained how your perspective on the topic changed, how your choices affected the process or outcome, and how these experiences and insights could shape your future thinking and decision-making?
The IB's Support materials for students also includes a more general checklist.
Here we've included the simple things that students might forget, which aren't already explicitly part of the criteria.
- Does your extended essay align with the principles and practices of academic integrity?
- Have you chosen a font suitable for on-screen reading?
- Do the font size and line spacing facilitate on-screen reading?
- Does your title page include your candidate code, title, research question, DP subject(s), interdisciplinary framework (if applicable) and word count?
- Is your table of contents accurate, with page numbers that match the page numbers in the text of your essay
- Are all diagrams, tables and images appropriately numbered and labelled?
- Does the essay have no more than 4,000 words?
- Have you proofread the text for spelling and grammar errors?
- Have you checked that any material presented in the appendices is relevant and necessary?
- Is your reflection form complete and ready for submission?
- Is your reflective statement no more than 500 words long?
- Is your reflective statement written in the same language as the essay?