Unlike the science IAs, the Economics Internal Assessment isn’t a single experiment — it’s a portfolio of three commentaries, each based on a real published news article, each covering a different unit of the syllabus (typically microeconomics, macroeconomics, and one from international economics or the global economy). Understanding the required structure is the fastest way to raise your score, because the format is rigid and heavily rewarded when followed precisely.
The Required Structure of Each Commentary
Each commentary should follow this order:
- Introduction — identify the economic issue and the key economic term(s) you’ll be using, referencing the article briefly.
- Diagram(s) — at least one correctly labeled, relevant economic diagram (supply and demand, PPC, cost curves, etc.), fully integrated into your explanation, not just pasted in.
- Explanation of theory — using appropriate terminology to explain the economic concept shown in the diagram.
- Application to the article — explicitly linking the theory back to the specific facts and figures in the news article.
- Evaluation — a genuine economic judgment: short-run vs long-run effects, who benefits and who loses, alternative viewpoints, or the limitations of the model used.
Word Count Rules You Cannot Ignore
Each commentary has a strict word limit (check your current subject guide, as this is periodically updated by the IB — historically around 800 words per commentary). Titles, diagram labels, and references are typically not included in the word count, but the written analysis is. Examiners stop reading once the word limit is exceeded, so anything beyond it is simply never assessed.
Example: Weak vs Strong Application
Weak application: «The price of coffee went up because of a supply shock, as shown in the diagram.»
Strong application: «As shown in Figure 1, the poor harvest in Brazil described in the article caused a leftward shift of the supply curve from S1 to S2, raising the equilibrium price from P1 to P2 and reducing the equilibrium quantity from Q1 to Q2. This matches the article’s reported 18% rise in wholesale coffee prices between March and June.»
Notice the second version references specific data from the article and ties it explicitly to the shift shown in the diagram — this is exactly what separates a 5 from a 7 in the Application criterion.
Choosing the Right Article for Each Commentary
- The article must be recent (published within the timeframe specified in your subject guide, generally the final 12 months before submission).
- It must clearly relate to a specific, identifiable economic concept — avoid articles that are purely descriptive with no underlying economic mechanism to analyze.
- Each of your three commentaries must cover a different section of the syllabus, so plan which article goes with which unit before you start writing, not after.
Evaluation: Where Most Marks Are Lost
A generic evaluation («the government should intervene») scores poorly. A strong evaluation weighs up a genuine trade-off: for example, discussing whether a price ceiling solves the affordability problem described in the article but creates a shortage, and considering whether the short-run benefit outweighs the long-run distortion — ideally referencing a real stakeholder mentioned in the article.
Quick Pre-Submission Checklist
- Three commentaries, each from a different syllabus section
- Each within the word limit
- At least one correctly labeled diagram per commentary, explicitly referenced in the text
- Real data from the article used in the application section
- A genuine evaluative judgment, not just a restatement of the theory