Is the Extended Essay meaningful?

For those who aren’t familiar with the Extended Essay, it is a 4000-word independent and self-directed piece of research, written under the supervision of an advisor from the subject of choice. Although it is one of the many components of the IB curriculum, is it really that meaningful? On the one hand, it provides practical preparation for undergraduate research as well as provides an opportunity for students to investigate a topic of special interest to them that relates to one of the student’s six subjects. This research allows them to develop their skills in formulating an accurate research question, engaging in a specific topic, communicating ideas and developing their argument. The truth is that the extended essay wouldn’t be such a stressful and tedious task if IB students weren’t so overwhelmed with all their IAs, WTs, CAS, TOK, FOAs IOCs, IOPs, College Apps, and reaching a balance between school and sanity.

The Extended Essay is often characterized by seniors as “a waste of time” or as an anonymous source describes “one word: useless”. Additionally, senior Michelle Z. states that “the school’s deadline is too early to the IB’s”, ultimately leaving the students with less time to work on the EE even though the final submission to the IB is only in January. But when asking this question to Ms. Martin-Bauer, her emphatic response was “the EE is what makes the IB different from just going to school because you actually have to manage yourself to a certain degree”. However, coming from an IB coordinator, this response is a given and can be considered biased, thus, leading us to discard this claim, because as the EE taught us, biased sources cannot be trusted. 😉