Hey, just wanted to ask all the IB students out here about my extended essay.

My question is, is it possible to do my EE in an SL subject or on a subject that is not a part of the IB curriculum like Peace and Conflict or world religions. Or is it only in my HLs ?

Reply 1

iswearitsjustme

Hi! Ex IB student here

EE is an arduous process which requires an in-depth knowledge on a particular subject. It is possible to do EE from SL subjects (I have a friend who did that and he did pretty okay) and it depends on your school as some schools generally don't allow for it. It is possible to do a topic outside of the curriculum and in most cases, it is considered favourable.

Reply 2

managementftw

Hey I'm in IB2 and I agree with iswearitsjustme :smile:

You can do it in SL i guess, but my school wanted us to do it in an HL subject because you tend to end up knowing more about it, plus you can cover certain aspects of your EE in class! As for topic, it really is up to you!

Reply 3

BenjaminChhabria

Hey, thanks for the advice. But my godforsaken school does not offer english at a higher level, therefore i was compelled to take it at a standard level. I am really interested in english literature. Is there any possibility for an extended essay in Literature ?

Reply 4

managementftw

Hmm, I'm sure its doable!! As long as you have a good supervisor who knows what he/she is doing, you can deffo do it SL.

Reply 5

nicholasflamel

Yes I believe it is entirely possible to do your EE in your SL subjects. There are no IB regulations that prevent you from doing so (you can even do an EE in a subject you don't study, as long as it is an official subject offered by the IBDP), and if teachers say otherwise, you should mount your case.

I honestly don't agree with the idea of forcing people to do their EEs in their HL subjects. I mean, yes, it would be preferable, but in no way should doing an EE in an SL subject disadvantage the student.

Just because you take the subject at SL, doesn't mean you are any "dumber" at that subject! Take English, for instance, just because you take it at SL doesn't mean you have poorer analytical or linguistic skills. The SL/HL delineations are there for other purpose, and not merely to limit what you can and cannot do your EE in. Even if you took English HL, your EE is not likely going to overlap what you did in class!

Moreover, the EE guide states that the content and investigation of your topic should be more substantial than what is covered in the syllabus of your chosen subject anyway. For subjects like Group 4 (sciences), anything that lies squarely in the confines of the syllabus would be considered too trite for an EE topic. You would not score highly for the last criterion (Holistic) if you do so. In brief, if you were serious about your EE, your investigation should exceed the expectations of both SL and HL at that subject.