IBonomicsMaster Your IB Economics IA
Understand the portfolio requirements, choose stronger articles, structure your commentaries and learn what each assessment criterion is looking for.
3
Commentaries
Across different areas of the syllabus.
800
Words each
A strict limit makes focused analysis essential.
45
Marks in total
Across the commentary and portfolio criteria.
IA toolkit
Work through your IA step by step
Each guide focuses on a different part of the Internal Assessment process.
Find a strong IA article
Learn what makes an article suitable for analysis, diagrams and evaluation.
Structure your commentary
Follow a clear framework from your introduction through analysis, evaluation and conclusion.
Study example IAs
Compare real student commentaries and see how strong economic analysis is put together.
Portfolio requirements
What your IA portfolio contains
Your Internal Assessment is a portfolio of three commentaries that apply economics to real-world news.
Core components
Three commentaries based on three different news articles.
Each commentary must cover a different syllabus unit, covering Micro, Macro and Global Economics.
Each commentary must use a different key concept as its analytical lens.
Weighting and time
Worth 30% for SL and 20% for HL of the final grade.
The IA is allocated 20 hours of teaching time.
Articles
Article and source rules
The articles you choose form the foundation of each commentary.
Different source for each
Each of your three articles must come from a different news source.
Contemporary
Articles must be published no more than one year before you write the commentary.
Published media
Use newspapers, journals or internet news sites. TV and radio broadcasts are not permitted.
Individual selection
You must select your own articles. Teachers cannot provide the same articles to the class.
Writing limit
800 words per commentary
Each commentary has a strict 800-word limit. Moderators will not read beyond the permitted limit.
Included in the word count
- Main body of the commentary
- Definitions of economic terms
- Direct quotations from sources
Not included in the word count
- Diagrams and their headings or labels
- Tables of statistical data
- In-body citations
- References in footnotes or endnotes
Assessment
How the IA is marked
Criteria A–E are assessed for each commentary. Criterion F applies to the portfolio as a whole.
| Criterion | Focus | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| A: Diagrams | Relevant, accurate, correctly labelled and fully explained diagrams. | 3 |
| B: Terminology | Appropriate use of relevant economic terminology throughout. | 2 |
| C: Application & Analysis | Applying relevant theory to the article with effective economic analysis. | 3 |
| D: Key Concept | Identifying a key concept and fully explaining its link to the article. | 3 |
| E: Evaluation | Making judgments supported by effective and balanced reasoning. | 3 |
| F: Rubric Requirements | Meeting the three portfolio rules: different unit, different source and contemporary article for each commentary. | 3 |
Academic integrity
Your work must remain your own
Examples, tools and outside sources can support your learning, but the analysis you submit must be authentic.
IB plagiarism requirement
Authentic work
Your commentary must contain your own economic reasoning and original analysis.
Acknowledge sources
Sources, quotations and ideas from others must be properly acknowledged.
Academic integrity
AI and language models
Avoid
- Copying and pasting AI-generated text
- Using AI to write complete sections of the commentary
Supportive uses
- Brainstorming ideas or economic concepts
- Checking grammar and language
Across the syllabus
Build a balanced IA portfolio
Your commentaries span three different areas of IB Economics.
Unit 2
Microeconomics
Unit 3
Macroeconomics
Unit 4