On Oct. 26 and 27, juniors in the International Baccalaureate program partook in Extended Essay Mentoring, an event run by the IB Executive Council meant to prepare juniors in acclimating to the demands of the IB program. This event in particular paired seniors with juniors in the auditorium in order to help guide new essay challengers. The seniors selected their pair based off their own choice of Extended Essay IB subject from last year, ranging from the arts to world language.
Shortly after, the students were given a presentation on their EE and reminded of their one-on-one EE research meeting with their supervisor that they must coordinate. The IB Exec Council informed them about the restrictions on artificial intelligence usage, elaborated on the uses of AI and focused on helping students use the new tools available to them to aid in their research process.
With the new rendition of the 2025-2026 school year, came new changes from last year, most importantly, that of the integration of AI tools such as elicit.com and researchrabbit.com to help in the realm of source searching. Students had all sorts of opinions on the actual utility of these programs and new sources.
Juniors were gifted with the opportunity of speaking to those that have already taken on the challenge of the EE and the auditorium became a space of upperclassmen collaboration. How did Cavaliers feel during the mentoring session and did it influence the understanding or direction for their Extended Essay?
“I was definitely nervous, but the EE mentoring really helped me narrow down my question to a more specific choice. My mentor was incredibly useful with that. They helped me formulate a new research question entirely for my topic and it really helped out. I got more research than I did for my previous question in just one hour,” junior Mia Chacin-Vera said.
“I did not feel very confident about my EE, it was a complicated situation with my supervisor, but my senior was able to solve a lot. While they did work on a language EE, I don’t think they specifically worked with the teacher herself. But in any case, they were helpful in a lot of ways such as with the outline, suggesting sources, finding where I could get those sources and the general structure. She definitely helped me a lot in the aspect of finding resources and her experience was invaluable in my preparation process,” junior Carolina Planes said.
The Extended Essay guidelines have changed in recent, a new rule stating that students’ EEs must be arguable has brought about controversy. Was the new requirement of the EE rubric an obstacle students were able to overcome during their mentoring session and do they think it is a valid addition to the grading system?
“It was quite an obstacle, my question was not arguable and so I had to change. My senior helped me reshape my perspective. I realized I didn’t like the original route I was taking and found a much more efficient one. On the topic of the new rule, I feel it does not truly fit what the EE is meant for. I think that if it’s a research paper it should be based off an argument, however, it’s not much of problem after the mentoring and I believe that’s the case for most students,” junior Mia Chacin-Vera said.
What does the Extended Essay process teach students beyond research for example, in independence, time management or collaboration?
“I would say that the EE process helps students learn how to time manage because since it is such a big project many students are forced to plan long term for the first time in their lives. They learn the process of setting sub-goals and working towards them, eventually accomplishing something important,” junior Abel Alonso said.
AI is seeping into education and causing commotion. How are AI research tools transforming the way students take on research and the investigative processes?
“Research Rabbit is really helpful, not only for the EE, but also for other subjects at school. It’s programmed to give you lots of sources. You could definitely get sources from other sites, but I think research rabbit and elicit is far more reliable and efficient. It facilitates the process of gathering evidence and allows you to focus more on your argument. I can polish up my main points instead of having to worry about committing hours upon hours of investigation,” junior Carolina Planes said.
How were Cavaliers’ experiences like, coming back and helping your fellow underclassmen, did it change a lot from when it was their time to be mentored?
“It makes me happy because I wish the seniors that helped me out last year were actually useful. I think the program has become a better version of itself. The seniors are just helpful, with experience they can tell you which teachers to contact and which not to. I wish mine told me about the supervisor that I got. The fact that they’re encouraging the juniors to use AI for sources and other helpful things, I believe it’s a good change moving forward. For us seniors last year, they were completely against the use of AI and the new approach seems a lot more resourceful,” senior Linus Boettcher said.
