Managing EE, TOK and IA deadlines together

The hardest part of the IB often isn't any single task — it's that the Extended Essay, TOK and six Internal Assessments all run at once, on top of lessons. The students who cope don't work harder; they plan earlier, breaking big tasks into staged milestones on a single timeline.

Put everything on one timeline

At the start of the final year, gather every internal deadline — EE drafts and reflections, the TOK essay and exhibition, all six IAs — onto a single calendar. Seeing the whole load at once is what prevents the late-night pile-ups; surprises happen when deadlines live in six different places.

Stage the big tasks

Break each large task into milestones with their own dates: for the EE, that's research question → outline → data/research → first draft → final. Working back from each official deadline, set personal milestones earlier. A 4,000-word essay is daunting; “write the methodology section by Friday” is not.

Sequence by deadline and dependency

Do the earliest-deadline and the slowest tasks first. Anything needing data collection, fieldwork or a supervisor's input can't be compressed at the end, so start those early. Quick, self-contained tasks can flex around them. Don't let an easy IA crowd out an EE that needs months.

Protect your revision

Coursework tends to expand to fill all available time, eating into exam preparation. Set a target to have the bulk of IAs and the EE done before the final revision period, so the run-up to exams is for revision, not unfinished coursework. Build in buffer time — something always takes longer than planned.