19 June 2026 · 7 min read
IB Economics IA: How to Write a 7-Scoring Commentary
The IB Economics IA is three commentaries worth a significant share of your grade — and it is almost entirely within your control. Here is how top-band students approach it.
Pick the right articles
Choose recent news articles (ideally within the last year) that clearly map to a single part of the syllabus. Each of your three commentaries should cover a different unit — for example one micro, one macro, one global.
- Use a real, dated news source — not an opinion blog
- Make sure the article has enough economics to analyse
Apply a diagram and a key concept
Each commentary should be anchored by an accurate, fully labelled diagram and an explicit link to a key concept. This is where many students lose easy marks — the diagram is either missing, generic, or never referenced in the writing.
Evaluate, don't just describe
The top band needs genuine evaluation: short vs long run, stakeholder effects, assumptions questioned, and a justified judgement. Describing the article is not enough.
Respect the word count and rubric
Stay within 800 words per commentary and check your work against the official rubric before submitting. Wadhwa Institute mentors the full IA process for IB Economics students in Gurugram and online — book a free consultation for structured feedback.
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