How to choose the topics.
  • When you think about topics, don’t do it for the sake of the subject, but for the sake of satisfying your curiosity. In other words, ask yourself ‘what about the world can I learn more of?’ instead of ‘what would be the best topic for your subject? 
    • The former question makes your line of thought more flexible, open, less stressful, and it really helps you settle down to your topic. Read books about science, ask about how things around you work, do a couple of internet research, and if any topic is interesting to you, take time thinking about the physics behind it. 
      • This makes for good personal engagement for your introduction too.
    • Takes notes on things that interest you, from the textbook or your own reading. 
    • Maybe watch Scishow for cool facts, maybe it will give you an idea on something you want to explore further. 
    • NEVER just use a topic the teacher gives you if you have no interest. It may seem easy but you feel very unmotivated to work and it feels like work. If you choose something you are passionate about, you can work for hours upon hours and it is ‘fun’.
  • If you’re stuck, ask yourself a different question again. I’ll tell you a story; one of the reasons why Karl Bentz (inventor of cars) was able to come up with such innovation was because he wasn’t limited within the frame of the question. Instead of asking ‘how can I make a better horse carriage,’ but a broader question ‘how can I make better transportation.’
    • For inspiration, google Google science fair, it may make you feel bad for not doing this but it shows how the students found questions which they wanted to answer.
  • Go to a university’s website and go find the classes, branches and specialists related to that IB subject. Read the summary of the class for ideas on what broad areas you can possibly do. (eg. I found that there is a major for catalytic chemistry, may have a topic in there that is good for IA, I wish I knew about it when I wrote my IA)
  • Take notes on what topics you find interesting when you are studying or when you spot something cool and interesting. 
  • Try flip to the options sections and later chapters for ideas.


Tips for experiment-based group 4 IA(excluding computer science) + psychology:
  • Unlike EE, it is page count max of 12, the spacing does not have to be double, save space as you may have many graphs and tables to insert.
  • It will definitely take more than 10h for you to complete everything so be prepared.
  • Have a trial run(eg. Do the experiment, follow the procedure, maybe with less volume of solution and no repeats) so you can figure out what needs to be improved and to make sure you are able to get good data. 
  • Evaluation is key. Do not make the experiment too perfect(do not control everything or know what is out of your control), there should be flaws to evaluate.
  • Make the methodology very very detailed. A person should be able to read it and replicate your experiment perfectly. Try asking a friend or your parents and see if they understand.
  • Google _____ IA topics online and don’t do them, probably someone else has done it already and is probably overdone.
  • 10 INTERNAL ASSESSMENT (IA) TIPS // IB Advice
  • Learn the ins and outs of excel. 
    • use the functions eg. AVERAGE, 
    • format cells to be red if it is an outlier. 
    • Make a separate page(bottom left) for graphs and other data types. It can be a surprising mess.
    • If you do not want the selected boxes to move for a calculation, type $ like $B$3
    • For long data, freeze planes in the view tab
    • Excel tips for excel 2016 but most things are the same. 

General tips:
  • Ask a lot of questions(nick pick) to your teacher, they are only allowed to give formal feedback once but you can try to get feedback out of them.
Background Picture: ​https://blog.asana.com/2018/02/asana-tips/