A step-by-step practice frame for the IB Economics internal assessment — the portfolio of three commentaries. Choose recent news articles across Microeconomics, Macroeconomics and The global economy, link each to a different key concept, analyse each with the right diagram, and evaluate within 800 words — with every assessment criterion built in.
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This is roughly how your exported DOCX / PDF will read. Use it to rehearse a focused, well-organised portfolio that applies theory and evaluates within 800 words per commentary.
The IB Economics internal assessment is a portfolio of three commentaries. Each commentary is a maximum of 800 words and analyses a published news article released within roughly the last year and written for a general audience — not an economics journal or a textbook. Across the three commentaries you must cover three different syllabus sections — Microeconomics, Macroeconomics and The global economy — and link each commentary to a different key concept. This examiner-written practice frame walks you through the method step by step — choose three suitable, recent articles across the three sections, map each to a distinct syllabus section and key concept, plan the diagram and the cause-and-effect analysis for each, then write each commentary by applying economic theory to the specific article and evaluating its effects. Each step is paired with the assessment criteria, worked good-and-bad examples and the traps that cost marks, and your portfolio exports to DOCX or PDF. It is free to start: the planning sections are free, and the later sections are a one-time unlock per tool. Sign in to save your work and sync it across devices.
Each commentary is marked out of 14, for 45 marks across the portfolio. The criteria reward relevant, correctly labelled diagrams that the text refers to; accurate and consistent economic terminology; effective application of theory to the specific article; developed analysis that links cause and effect; meaningful use of the chosen key concept; and genuine evaluation. Top-band commentaries apply theory to the article rather than summarising it, build an explicit chain of reasoning around a diagram, and weigh stakeholders, the short and long run, and the assumptions of the model to reach a supported judgement.
The portfolio is built around three deliberately different commentaries. Each links to a different key concept — scarcity, choice, efficiency, equity, economic well-being, sustainability, change, interdependence or intervention — used as an analytical lens rather than a label, and each is supported by at least one relevant diagram, such as a supply-and-demand or externality diagram for Microeconomics, an AD–AS diagram for Macroeconomics, or a world-price tariff diagram for The global economy. Ground every argument in the article, refer explicitly to the diagram, analyse the mechanism by which the policy or event creates its effect, and finish by evaluating.
Each commentary must stay within the 800-word limit and carry a complete cover sheet — the title of the article, its source, the date it was published, the date you accessed it, the word count, the syllabus section and the key concept. It is free to start: the planning sections are free, and the later sections are a one-time unlock per tool. Sign in to save your work and sync it across devices.