IB Extended Essay Examples — What Real High-Scoring EEs Look Like

The Extended Essay is one of the most intimidating pieces of work in the IB Diploma Programme. At 4,000 words, it is longer than anything most 16–17-year-olds have ever written, and the open-ended format — choose your own topic, design your own research question, argue your own thesis — leaves many students paralysed. The best way to break through that paralysis is to study strong IB extended essay examples and understand why they worked, not just what they said.

This guide walks through what examiners actually reward, gives you concrete example research questions by subject, shows the most common mistakes that drag scores down, and explains the mindset shift that separates a C-grade EE from one that earns a coveted A.

What Makes a High-Scoring IB Extended Essay?

The IB grades Extended Essays against five criteria: Focus and Method (Criterion A), Knowledge and Understanding (B), Critical Thinking (C), Presentation (D), and Engagement (E). Total marks available are 34. An A requires roughly 28+ marks; most students earning a B or C lose the majority of their marks on Criterion C — critical thinking.

Examiners are not looking for a Wikipedia-style overview of a topic. They want to see a student take a narrow, specific question and subject it to sustained, disciplined analysis. The difference between a mediocre essay and an excellent one almost always comes down to three things:

• Specificity of the research question. Vague questions produce vague answers. A question like "How does social media affect mental health?" cannot be answered in 4,000 words. A question like "To what extent did Instagram's algorithmic feed, introduced in 2016, correlate with self-reported anxiety scores among UK adolescent girls aged 14–17?" is narrow enough to actually investigate.
• A genuine argument. High-scoring EEs take a position and defend it with evidence. They do not merely present information from both sides and conclude "it is complicated."
• Engagement with counter-evidence. A sophisticated essay acknowledges evidence that challenges its thesis, explains why it does not overturn the argument, and emerges stronger for it.

IB Extended Essay Examples by Subject

Economics Extended Essay Examples

Economics EEs are popular because students feel comfortable with theory, but they are frequently penalised for being too theoretical and not empirical enough. Strong Economics EEs apply specific microeconomic or macroeconomic concepts to a real, local, measurable situation.

• "To what extent did the introduction of the sugar tax in the UK (2018) reduce consumption of high-sugar soft drinks among 10–16-year-olds?" — This works because it picks a specific policy, a specific country, a specific demographic, and a specific measurable outcome.
• "How effective has price-cap regulation been in limiting profit margins for energy retailers in Germany following the 2021–2022 energy crisis?" — Strong because it uses a defined time window, a defined mechanism, and quantifiable profitability data.
• "To what extent does monopsony power explain wage stagnation among supermarket shelf-stackers in regional Australia, 2015–2023?" — Excellent because it applies a specific market structure theory to a concrete labour market with accessible wage data.

History Extended Essay Examples

History EEs must be based on events that ended at least ten years before submission. The best ones focus on historiographical debate.

• "To what extent was Stalin's collectivisation policy driven by ideological commitment to Marxism rather than pragmatic economic necessity, 1929–1933?"
• "How significant was the role of Japanese-American internment in shaping domestic opposition to civil liberties restrictions in post-war America?"
• "To what extent did the Berlin Airlift (1948–1949) represent a turning point in Western Cold War strategy, rather than a continuation of pre-existing policy?"

Biology Extended Essay Examples

Biology EEs that score highest usually involve a self-designed experiment or primary data collection.

• "How does the concentration of caffeine in growth medium affect the germination rate and early root elongation of Vigna radiata (mung bean) seeds?"
• "To what extent does the gut microbiome composition of Crohn's disease patients differ from healthy controls, and what implications does this have for probiotic therapy?"
• "What is the relationship between ambient light intensity and the rate of photosynthesis in Elodea canadensis measured by oxygen bubble production?"

English Extended Essay Examples

English EEs require close textual analysis focused on literary technique and its effect on meaning.

• "How does Kazuo Ishiguro use unreliable first-person narration in Never Let Me Go to explore complicity in systemic injustice?"
• "In what ways does the figurative language of confinement in Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar construct the novel's critique of 1950s American femininity?"
• "How does Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's use of code-switching in Americanah function as a marker of cultural identity negotiation?"

Psychology Extended Essay Examples

• "To what extent does the evidence from twin studies support a genetic basis for schizophrenia over environmental explanations?"
• "How reliable is eyewitness testimony as legal evidence, in light of psychological research on memory reconstruction?"

Physics Extended Essay Examples

• "How does the angle of incidence of a laser beam on a diffraction grating affect the spacing of interference fringes, and how well does this conform to the grating equation?"
• "To what extent can the coefficient of drag of a model car be accurately determined using a ballistic pendulum method compared to manufacturer specifications?"

What Kills an Extended Essay Score

The "Big Topic" Trap

The single most common reason for a low score is a research question that is too broad. "What caused World War One?" is a doctoral dissertation, not a 4,000-word essay. Examiners can spot this within the first 300 words, and the score for Criterion A rarely recovers.

Description Masquerading as Analysis

Many students describe what sources say without evaluating why it matters. Criterion C — critical thinking — accounts for 12 of the 34 available marks. In History, engage with historiography. In Biology, discuss limitations of your method. In Economics, apply theory to real data.

A Weak Conclusion

The conclusion must directly and explicitly answer the research question. It should not introduce new evidence or vaguely state "the issue is complex." A strong conclusion names the answer, acknowledges the strongest counter-argument, and identifies what further research would be needed.

Weak Sources

Using Wikipedia or student essay banks as primary sources signals to the examiner that the student did not engage seriously with academic literature. For Sciences, peer-reviewed journals are expected. For Humanities, scholarly books and academic journals set the standard.

Before You Submit: Get Feedback on Your Draft

One of the hardest parts of the EE process is getting objective feedback. Your supervisor may be encouraging but not specific. By the time you have spent months on a topic, it is almost impossible to read your own essay with fresh eyes.

IBLens is an AI tool built specifically for IB students that analyses your Extended Essay draft against the official IB criteria — giving you criterion-by-criterion feedback on Focus and Method, Critical Thinking, and Knowledge and Understanding before you hand it in. It identifies where your argument loses coherence, where your sources need strengthening, and whether your conclusion actually answers your research question.

Final Checklist Before Submitting

• Does your research question appear word-for-word in your introduction and conclusion?
• Is every paragraph contributing to your argument, or are some just providing background?
• Have you engaged with at least one significant counter-argument?
• Are all sources academic-quality and correctly cited?
• Is your word count between 3,800 and 4,000 words?
• Does your conclusion explicitly answer the research question?
• Have you completed your RPPF with genuine reflection?

The Extended Essay rewards students who treat it as an intellectual exercise. Choose a question you are genuinely curious about, narrow it until it feels almost too specific, and build an argument you are willing to defend.