IB Extended Essay 2027: New Criteria and Planning Guide
By Renzo Diaz·3 min read
The revised Extended Essay, first assessed in May 2027, is marked out of 30 across five criteria — Framework (6), Knowledge and Understanding (6), Analysis and Line of Argument (6), Discussion and Evaluation (8), and Reflection (4) — replacing the previous 34-mark model that much of the advice still circulating online continues to describe. The essay itself stays capped at 4,000 words, supported by a school supervisor.
A family searching for Extended Essay guidance right now is likely to land on material written for the old, 34-mark criteria, since most of what's indexed online predates the 2027 change. Using the wrong rubric to plan or draft against doesn't just waste time — it can shape the essay's whole structure around the wrong priorities.
Much of the advice circulating online still describes the previous 34-mark criteria. The revised criteria total 30.
1. What the revised criteria actually weigh
The new model covers the same broad areas as its predecessor, but the criteria themselves have been redesigned specifically to assess student performance more consistently — not simply relabelled from five old headings to five new ones with the same weight.
| Revised criterion | Marks | The guiding question |
|---|---|---|
| Framework for the essay | 6 | Do the research question, methods and structural conventions provide an effective framework? |
| Knowledge and understanding | 6 | Does the student demonstrate real knowledge and understanding of the subject matter used? |
| Analysis and line of argument | 6 | Does the student analyse the information presented and produce a genuine line of argument? |
| Discussion and evaluation | 8 | Does the student discuss the findings and evaluate the essay itself? |
| Reflection | 4 | Does the student evaluate how the EE experience actually affected them as a learner? The essay can follow a subject-focused pathway or an interdisciplinary one that combines two DP subjects' lenses — which path fits depends on the actual research question, the student's subject preparation, and the supervision realistically available at the school. Neither path is inherently a shortcut to a higher mark. |
2. Begin with the question and the evidence, not the topic
A broad area like "renewable energy" isn't yet a question — it doesn't specify what's actually being researched or what a conclusion would even look like. A workable question identifies the issue, the scope, the evidence realistically available, and the kind of conclusion the student could actually justify with it. Testing the question with a small, real source search before committing to it is worth the time: can the student access enough credible material, and is the scope genuinely manageable inside 4,000 words?
The parent's useful role here is asking the student to explain the question in one minute, not choosing it, drafting the argument, or writing any part of the paper. A student's ability to defend their own choices under questioning is a real part of what this exercise is meant to build.
Ask the student to explain their own question in one minute. That's the parent's role here — not choosing it, and not drafting it.
3. Make the school's actual deadlines explicit
A school's own internal dates for topic approval, supervisor meetings, draft feedback, reflection, and final submission often precede the IB's own external deadline by a meaningful margin — and those internal dates, not a generic calendar from an unrelated source, are what an actual plan should be built against. There's no universal week-by-week schedule that fits every school and every subject, and no legitimate source can honestly promise a specific grade outcome in advance.
At each supervisor meeting, it helps for the student to arrive with a specific decision already made: which sources to trust, how to narrow the scope, what the evidence currently actually supports, and what still remains genuinely uncertain. Keeping dated notes of those decisions as they happen matters — reflection written honestly in the moment is more credible than a polished account composed retrospectively once the whole process is already finished.
4. If the essay is falling behind
The first useful step is determining whether the actual problem is scope, evidence, or writing — because the fix is different for each, and applying the wrong one wastes the time that's already limited. If the question is too broad, more writing only multiplies the underlying problem rather than solving it. If sources are genuinely missing, no amount of outlining can supply evidence that doesn't exist. If the research itself is sound but the argument isn't landing clearly, asking the student to state the specific claim of each section and the evidence behind it usually surfaces exactly where the structure is breaking down.
Bringing that specific diagnosis to the supervisor, rather than a general sense that things are behind, makes it possible to agree a realistic next deliverable. The EE contributes with TOK to a maximum of three core points, and it competes directly for a student's time against subjects that have their own exams and internal assessments — a clear, specific process protects both the essay and everything else on the student's plate.
Sources
The source below is the IB's own current curriculum-update page, checked directly in a browser.