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How long did it take for you to finish the Extended Essay?


scstdnt

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I have done the experiment before and wrote it up under independent research. 12 hours for 5 days it took.

And criteria for that research were extremely high ranked by my teacher, so much that I extended it to my G4 project and now for the third time I am going to do my EE on a similar extension.

The initial experiment, just the write up, took 12 hours average (sometimes longer) for 5 days.

Despite that I have done this before, it will take only longer this time around as I will attempt to beef up on statistical analysis of my results even more so than before.

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Writing the actual essay didn't take too long. It was more the research for it. I did mine in film so I watched it maybe 3 or 4 times taking notes of anyhting I could possibly think of. Then I started collecting every possible book I could of film terms, and techniques. Then I got a bunch of books on Alfred Hitchcock, since I was doing his film 'Psycho'. Then I had to organize all the useful stuff from teh completely irrelevant. This all took from April when our class went to a universty library to get books up until December when I actually had my first rough draft.

I also procrastinated a lot, so it could probably be done faster, depending on your subject I suppose. Though counting up all teh time I wrote it up would probabaly equal about 4 or 5 days. Though that was spread over about a month. I waited until the last minute to finish it completely. Don't do that. Not a good idea. AIm to finish it like 2 weeks before you need to actually hand it. Then you can always have to time to fix things up if you don't think it sounds right.

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It took me quite some time to find all the resources I needed and puzzle over my question, but in the end I used just one of my resources from all that searching, and didn't write my question until I'd finished the essay! :P Wasted time, ahah. When I wrote it, I wrote it all in one go for about... 2 and a half days. I didn't take many breaks, just to go for a bike ride, eat and sleep, I guess, as I was up against the deadline. I did mine in Philosophy, and it was actually very hard to write the thing because it has to be one massive coherent argument, and ideally you have to be 'scoring' or explaining points with everything you write.

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I did mine in Computer Science. I'd say it was about 2-3 weeks of constant research during the summer (because I was looking into a field of Computer Science which isn't mentioned in the syllabus, so I had a lot to learn about it). It then took me about 7-9 days to write the program I needed. Time spent actually writing the essay I'd say was about 1 week.

Edited by Redstar
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I did a history essay:

I began researching mine as soon as I settled on a topic which was half way through my first year. Just gather books and have a general idea of what you are searching for. Over the summer holidays you should be reading and taking notes on all your sources. Focus on a title that intrests you, where you can also discuss differences of opinions between sources. My EE was due in the first week of second term year 12, so during first term I wrote my essay by nights. It probably took me about 5 hours each night for a week to get the bulk written and then another week toformat. present, have it checked and refined. THIS IS NOT A LAST MINUTE JOB! Save the stress and actually enjoy your topic. Start early so you have time to make sure what you are doing is enjoyable. If you are passionate about what you have done, that will be reflected in your viva voce, and the IBO will store alot by what your supervisor has written. Leave yourself time to reflect upon your essay. Remember essay 'holistic judgement' is a marking criterea.

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well i was incredibly lazy, and only started researching in late IB1/summer hols

because i wasn't taking it seriously it took me around 2 months to bother reading some books on the financial crisis etc

and i started collecting articles as well (have 3 folders full of them)

but the actual writing took me 5 intensive days and 4 nights

oh and i did mine on economics and since i was talking about the global financial crisis, i needed ALOT of research and info before i could actually start writing (but i still got the final draft done XD but it's been 'bout a month and the teacher still hasn't read it D:)

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If you are passionate about what you have done, that will be reflected in your viva voce, and the IBO will store alot by what your supervisor has written. Leave yourself time to reflect upon your essay. Remember essay 'holistic judgement' is a marking criterea.

I second this :) Some sort of sob story or juicy article of personal interest you can drop into the ear of your supervisor as they write the viva voce is always going to bump up that holistic judgement mark. It makes them read personal connection and therefore greater depth into your essay, because it becomes something of a personal exploration.

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Mine is in philosophy, and I haven't handed it in yet, but I'm pretty happy with it this far.

November: Started to think about topic

February: Found a topic, realized it didn't work, and found a new one

March: Found a question

March-April: Researched

May: Wrote an outline

June: Spend three days writing it, left it for a week, finished it during another 2 days

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