How many hours per week should I spend on the IB Extended Essay?

Most students do best with a steady baseline rather than occasional intense bursts. A realistic target is 1--2 hours weekly when things are calm, then a modest increase near key deadlines. The point is to keep the IB Extended Essay cognitively “warm” so you do not waste time re-learning your own argument. When exams approach, keep a minimum viable routine: one micro-task, one citation check, or one paragraph edit. This approach protects momentum without sacrificing revision. If you feel unsure, compare your workload expectations with How stressful is IB?.

What if my EE deadline overlaps with mocks or major tests?

Assume overlap will happen and plan for it early. Two to three weeks before the crunch, switch your IB Extended Essay tasks to low-effort, high-impact work: outlining, tightening research question wording, fixing citations, and preparing supervisor questions. During the mock window itself, shrink EE to micro-tasks that fit into 15--25 minutes so you stay moving. Then, immediately after mocks, schedule one longer “restart block” to rebuild flow and finish a meaningful section. If you need strategies for staying sane while performance pressure rises, read How to study for IB exams without burning out.

How do I avoid burnout while juggling the IB Extended Essay and revision?

Burnout is usually a design problem, not a character flaw. When your plan is vague, every task feels endless, and your brain refuses to start. Fix that by time-boxing work, defining the next action, and protecting sleep like it is part of the syllabus. Build recovery into your timetable: short breaks, one lighter evening, and a weekly reset review. RevisionDojo helps here because you can shift from rereading to efficient loops: Study Notes to understand, Flashcards to remember, Questionbank to apply, and Grading tools to correct. If you are already running on fumes, use IB stress: stay motivated without burning out and Avoid burnout in Year 2 of IB.