The Extended Essay is an independent research project completed by all RCN students as part of the IB Diploma Programme. For many students, it is the most challenging assignment that they will encounter in their school career: the workload is estimated at 40 hours, there is a 4000-word limit and students have access to just 4 hours of guidance from a subject-specialist supervisor.

Saying this, the benefits of engaging in the Extended Essay process are enormous. Students’ planning, management, writing, argumentation, research, reflection and communication skills are strengthened. The Extended Essay mimics undergraduate-level research in the relevant subject area, which means (for example) that Literature students perform textual analysis, Language Acquisition students present their ideas in a foreign language, Individuals & Societies students explore contemporary and/or global issues from multiple well-defined perspectives and Science students carry out investigations. And the Extended Essay remains refreshingly low-stakes in the IB Diploma overall; the skill level is high, but the maximum points available are relatively low.

This week, Emma (Academic Programme Leader) launched the Extended Essay with all First Year students in her first Academic Skills session of the year. She discussed the importance of choosing the right discipline for the Extended Essay and shared her insights on how to experience a balanced IB Diploma overall. Students also had the opportunity to find out why we carry out end-of-year internal exams in the First Year, with Emma explaining the value of assessment in any learning process and how teachers will learn more about how to support individuals and classes.

The RCN community also enjoyed the EEvening, which is an hour in which Second Years are on hand to present their work and share their experiences of undertaking an Extended Essay while First Years consider a range of Extended Essay subjects and ask questions in an informal setting. We hope that students are able to make informed decisions and know that our teachers’ diverse expertise will enable us to find the best possible match between our students and their supervisors.