Some advice to teachers and students

There is a lot of information to digest about Extended Essays. Students need to score 14/34 in order to gain at least a 'satisfactory' grade (i.e. a grade C). I really believe that all students who work diligently should be capable of this. Currently about 65-70% of students are getting a grade C or better for Chemistry. This should be higher. I thought it might be helpful to provide a list of ten key points to help ensure students get high grades.

Ten points to note (in no particular order) are:

• The Research Question MUST be concerned with chemistry and MUST be clearly worded and sharply focused. Without out this the whole Extended Essay will be on very shaky ground as the whole essay should be based on the Research Question. Remember that the supervisor has some responsibility here.
   
• Students must not just follow the Internal Assessment criteria. They must address ALL the Extended Essay criteria.
   
• The Extended Essay is about research. Students must find out and report what others have done in the area. It is no good just doing 'an investigation' into some problem without putting it into proper context.
   
• Students must develop an argument rather than just write a narrative account. It can be particularly helpful to try to arrive at a solution to a problem by two independent routes as then the merits of the two routes can be compared.
   
• Don't lose marks by failing to address all the criteria correctly. The Check List is extremely useful here. Students must be able to check 'yes' to every point.
   
• Students must demonstrate personal input and initiative. 
   
• When giving experimental details give enough information so that the work could be repeated by others. Acknowledge where the basic experimental method was obtained from. Detail specific equipment such as the make of a visible spectrometer but do not give spurious lists of basic equipment. Also do not include unnecessary photographs. Photographs of student-designed apparatus or chromatograms are helpful - pictures of 'me' doing a titration are not. 
   
• It is not necessary to explain basic chemistry that is covered in the core or AHL programme, but the student must ensure that it is clear that they understand the underlying chemistry and use the correct language and terminology. Chemistry that is not on the core/AHL etc. should be explained and the chemistry underlying specialized techniques should also be explained.
   
• Students must show during the three reflective sessions that they have thought carefully about the whole process and learned from any setbacks.
   
• Back to the first point - make sure the whole essay addresses the RQ and does not wander off into unfocused areas.

I hope this is some help but none of this should be taken just on its own. There are many other important points. I urge you to read the Extended Essay Guide, the Extended Essay Subject Reports and all the material on this website fully.