To score well in the IB Economics Internal Assessment, make every part of each commentary serve an assessment criterion. Select an article that supports a clear economic model, apply that model to specific evidence, explain accurate diagrams, use a key concept as an analytical lens, and finish with a balanced, supported judgement. A sophisticated topic cannot compensate for weak application or descriptive writing.
The Economics IA is not a conventional research investigation with primary data or a formal methodology section. It is a portfolio of concise economic commentaries demonstrating how effectively you can analyse real events. The following IB Economics internal assessment tips explain the official requirements, criteria, structure, common pitfalls, and connections with exam preparation.
Current IB Economics IA requirements
Both SL and HL students complete the same internal assessment task: a portfolio of three commentaries, each based on a published news-media extract. The portfolio contributes 30% of the final grade at SL and 20% at HL, and the guide allocates approximately 20 teaching hours to the task.
Each commentary must:
- Be no longer than 800 words.
- Address a different syllabus unit: Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, and The global economy.
- Use a different one of the nine prescribed key concepts.
- Be based on an article from published news media.
- Use a different news source from the other commentaries.
- Use an article published no earlier than one year before the commentary is written.
The nine key concepts are scarcity, choice, efficiency, equity, economic well-being, sustainability, change, interdependence, and intervention. The introductory unit is not one of the three portfolio units.
The three commentaries earn up to 14 marks each, while Criterion F contributes another 3 marks for the portfolio, producing a maximum of 45 marks. Teachers initially assess the work, after which the IB externally moderates a sample.
How the Economics IA criteria award marks
| Criterion | Marks | What strong work demonstrates |
|---|---|---|
| A: Diagrams | 3 | Relevant, accurate, correctly labelled diagrams with full explanations |
| B: Terminology | 2 | Relevant economic terminology used accurately throughout |
| C: Application and analysis | 3 | Economic theory applied effectively to the article's specific circumstances |
| D: Key concept | 3 | A clearly identified key concept whose relationship to the article is fully explained |
| E: Evaluation | 3 | Judgements supported by effective, balanced economic reasoning |
| F: Rubric requirements | 3 | Portfolio compliance concerning units, sources, and article dates |
Diagrams must perform analytical work
A diagram earns marks through relevance, accuracy, labelling, and explanation, not merely through its presence. Label axes, curves, initial and new equilibria, shifts, quantities, prices, and welfare areas as appropriate. Contextual labels such as “market for sugary drinks in Country X” are more useful than generic labels.
Refer to every important change in the prose. Explain why a curve shifts, how equilibrium changes, and what that means for stakeholders or economic objectives. One fully relevant diagram can be better than two repetitive ones, so a fixed requirement to include two diagrams is common advice rather than an IB rule.
Terminology should be precise rather than excessive
Use terms such as allocative efficiency, negative consumption externality, indirect tax, or cost-push inflation where they accurately describe the case. Define specialist terms when clarification helps, but do not spend scarce words defining every familiar expression. Criterion B rewards appropriate use throughout, not a glossary in the opening paragraph.
Application and analysis must remain article-specific
Application means connecting theory to the article's country, market, policy, figures, and affected groups. Analysis then develops the causal relationships. A strong chain might state that an indirect tax raises firms' marginal costs, shifts supply left, raises the consumer price, reduces equilibrium quantity, and may reduce overconsumption associated with an externality.
Avoid generic paragraphs that could be attached to any article about taxation. Use the article's details to establish why the model applies and to examine how large or uncertain the predicted effect may be.
The key concept is a lens, not a label
Identifying intervention or equity in the introduction is insufficient. Return to the concept when interpreting the policy, stakeholder effects, and final judgement. For example, a tax may improve efficiency by internalizing an external cost while worsening equity if it takes a larger proportion of income from lower-income households.
Evaluation requires supported judgement
Evaluation is not a list of advantages and disadvantages. Consider assumptions, stakeholder effects, short-run and long-run outcomes, elasticity, implementation difficulties, unintended consequences, and alternative policies. Then decide which effects matter most and explain the conditions under which the policy is likely to succeed.
How to select a strong IA article
Article selection determines how naturally you can satisfy the criteria. A useful article usually contains a clearly identifiable economic issue, a policy or market change, affected stakeholders, and enough factual detail to support contextual analysis.
Prefer an article that allows you to answer these questions before drafting:
- Which syllabus theory explains the event?
- Which diagram would represent the change accurately?
- What evidence can I apply directly?
- Which stakeholders gain or lose?
- What assumptions or uncertainties can I evaluate?
- Which unused key concept provides a meaningful lens?
General news reporting often leaves analytical space for the student. An article that already provides extensive economic analysis can encourage summary or paraphrase rather than independent reasoning. Save a stable copy showing the headline, source, author, publication date, and relevant extract, and highlight the relevant portion if the original is lengthy.
A practical structure for an 800-word commentary
The IB does not prescribe mandatory headings or a fixed word allocation. The following structure is a practical recommendation because it creates a logical progression from context to judgement.
| Stage | Main purpose |
|---|---|
| Context and concept | Identify the issue, policy, article evidence, and key concept concisely |
| Theory and diagram | Introduce the relevant model and explain every important diagram feature |
| Applied analysis | Develop a case-specific chain of causes and consequences |
| Evaluation | Test assumptions, compare stakeholders and time periods, and consider alternatives |
| Judgement | Reach a qualified conclusion supported by the preceding analysis |
Do not devote a long introduction to retelling the article. The moderator receives the extract, so summary consumes words without demonstrating much economics. Introduce only the context needed to make the subsequent theory understandable.
A useful paragraph method is claim, economic mechanism, article evidence, implication. For example, claim that a subsidy may increase renewable-energy production, explain how lower production costs shift supply, connect the shift to the subsidy announced in the article, and discuss the resulting implications for price, output, government expenditure, and sustainability.
Turning analysis into evaluation
Suppose an article reports a tax on sugary drinks. Your analysis might use a negative consumption externality diagram and a tax diagram to explain overconsumption, welfare loss, and the intended reduction in quantity demanded.
Evaluation should then test that prediction:
- If demand is price inelastic, consumption may fall only slightly while consumers bear much of the tax.
- Lower-income households may face a proportionally larger burden, creating an equity concern.
- Producers may reformulate products, making the long-run effect larger than the initial diagram suggests.
- Tax revenue could fund healthcare or information campaigns, but this depends on government decisions.
- Regulation, education, or subsidies for healthier substitutes may complement the tax.
The final judgement should prioritize these points. You might conclude that the tax is likely to improve efficiency over time, but that its effectiveness depends on its size, consumer responsiveness, product substitution, and the use of revenue.
Common mistakes that lower Economics IA marks
The most damaging mistakes usually concern method rather than knowledge:
- Summarising the article instead of applying economic theory.
- Including diagrams without explaining their shifts and outcomes.
- Using generic diagrams that are not adapted to the article.
- Mentioning a key concept only in the introduction.
- Treating evaluation as unsupported personal opinion.
- Listing stakeholder effects without comparing their significance.
- Exceeding 800 words and placing essential analysis beyond the limit.
- Using articles that violate the date, source, or unit requirements.
- Adding advanced theory that is inaccurate or irrelevant.
Check the official guide and your teacher's instructions for cover sheets, article presentation, references, and word-count conventions. These administrative details should be completed accurately, but they cannot replace strong economics.
How exam practice improves IA writing
The IA and examinations reward many of the same skills: accurate diagrams, precise terminology, application to real contexts, developed causal reasoning, and justified evaluation. Reviewing worked solutions helps you see how a knowledgeable economist moves from a claim to a model, then to analysis and judgement.
After attempting an exam question, compare your response with a worked solution one paragraph at a time. Identify where the solution defines selectively, explains a diagram, establishes a causal chain, applies evidence, and qualifies its conclusion. Then transfer that pattern to your commentary without copying content or phrasing.
RevisionDojo's IB Economics resources and Economics Questionbank support this process with per-question practice, worked explanations, and video-based review. The important step is active comparison: diagnose what your answer omitted, revise it, and attempt a similar question again.
A reliable drafting and review process
Begin by annotating the article for policies, numerical evidence, stakeholders, and possible economic consequences. Sketch the diagrams before writing so that your argument develops around the correct model rather than forcing a diagram into finished prose.
On the first review, check economic accuracy and causal reasoning. On the second, use the criteria as a checklist and highlight evidence for diagrams, terminology, application, the key concept, and evaluation in different colours. On the final review, remove summary, repetition, unnecessary definitions, and unsupported claims.
You can compare your work with the IB Economics IA guide, Economics coursework guidance, and annotated Economics exemplars. The Economics IA Grader can help identify criterion-level weaknesses, but Jojo AI should support revision rather than write the submitted commentary for you. Your work must remain your own and comply with your school's academic-integrity requirements.
Conclusion
A high-scoring Economics IA is focused, contextual, and analytical. Choose compliant articles that support clear models, explain diagrams completely, integrate a different key concept into each commentary, and make balanced judgements grounded in economic reasoning. Careful worked-solution review strengthens the same skills needed in both the IA and final examinations, so RevisionDojo's Economics Questionbank, per-question video solutions, exemplars, and IA feedback tools are useful starting points for targeted improvement.
Sources and referenced URLs
- Official IB overview of Diploma Programme Economics
- Current Economics guide, first assessment 2022
- Hodder Education Economics internal assessment guidance
- IB discussion of the current DP Economics course
- RevisionDojo IB Economics IA guide
- RevisionDojo Economics coursework guides
- RevisionDojo Economics IA Grader
- RevisionDojo Economics coursework exemplars
- RevisionDojo IB Economics resources
- RevisionDojo Economics Questionbank
- RevisionDojo guide to seven high-scoring Economics IA practices
