Are you allowed to do your EE topic on a subject that you aren't taking?

[Bottled_Lightning]

My school doesn't offer Psychology and I would really like to do my EE on a topic that incorporates some psychology. Could I do this? Is it harder to do the EE on a topic that you aren't studying?

[Sandwich]

You CAN do an EE in a subject you're not taking, however you do have to realise a few things...

1. You need to try and find a supervisor who knows what they're doing in terms of Psychology! The knowing what they're doing part will be hugely helpful to you, for starters - also many teachers don't like the idea of supervising and helping somebody in an area they're not comfortable with, so you have a challenge potentially in terms of finding somebody to fill the role of supervisor. It's work for the teacher and reflects back on them if you do badly, so it's pretty understandable to find quite a few of them reluctant to jump in the deep end with you. My advice would be target ones whose subject is most similar to Psychology, who teach Psych for other qualifications (besides IB, if you have any such teachers) or who did it at Uni. Or who like you a lot and you reckon they'd try very hard

2. IB subjects tend to have a specific approach in terms of how subjects are treated. For instance, unless you take IB Philosophy I'd bet a small amount of money that you'd not really have a clue as to the style and approach you need, or what is and what isn't a decent type of question. It depends on the subject as to how specific the approach is (for instance, History and English and so on can only really have one approach, so it's not such a big deal for those subjects...) but if you've never studied it, you have the potential to come unstuck on this one. Either don't do it, or make sure you research exactly what is required of you. Read the Psychology examples from the 50 Excellent Extended Essay exemplar pack (google it!) and read the subject-specific guidelines very thoroughly in the EE guide. VERY thoroughly!

With some stuff like Psychology and Philosophy (as prime examples) the academic subject =/= what people commonly perceive it to be. I didn't do Psychology to know, but I did do Philosophy and know that a hell of a lot of 'philosophical' questions people have wouldn't cut it as EE questions. So yeah, you can do an EE in it despite not studying it (and I know some people who did so and got As) but you have to really work to make sure you're on-message. The IB has very clear cut ideas as to what it does/doesn't consider within the bounds of particular subject areas, so stick to them like Superglue.

Hope that helps a bit.

[Bottled_Lightning]

Thanks! That helps a lot, I have a few teachers in mind that I think would be willing to supervise if I asked. As for the structure of the essay itself, I'll look up some examples if I chose to do it on a psych topic.

[Proletariat]

If your supervisor hasn't taught specifically IB Psychology, I would avoid choosing the subject. Otherwise it'd be a little too much gambling for my personal comfort, even if one looks at old Psych EEs and goes over the subject-specific rubric with a fine comb.

[Bottled_Lightning]

I think I'll discuss it more with the coordinator, I might just end up making the main focus on a subject I'm taking, and leave the psychology for support to the points later in the essay.

[Proletariat]

I think I'll discuss it more with the coordinator, I might just end up making the main focus on a subject I'm taking, and leave the psychology for support to the points later in the essay.

Well, do keep in mind that IB usually frowns upon cross-disciplinary EE RQs; I don't know what you're planning when you say "psychology for support", but just wanted to point that out.