The IB demands research and analytical skills — across your IAs, EE, TOK and English — that no other school system really prepares you for. So if that stuff doesn't come naturally to you, how do people actually adjust? The encouraging answer: these are learned skills, not personality traits.
Research and analysis aren't innate talents
They're skills with a process behind them. Plenty of strong researchers weren't research people before the IB — some of their lowest early grades were in English, and they were predicted a C in the EE, only for those to become their strongest areas. The more you write essays, research topics, get feedback and make mistakes, the more the process becomes second nature.
Treat research as something separate from school
If you develop genuine curiosity about things and build the habit of asking "why?" and "how do we know this?", research stops being an intimidating school task. It becomes a way of satisfying your own curiosity — which is exactly the mindset the EE rewards.
What analysis and evaluation actually are
Strip away the jargon: analysis is just making sense of information and finding patterns. Evaluation is weighing the strengths and weaknesses of those findings. Once you do both consistently, research stops feeling like randomly collecting sources and starts feeling like building an argument — which is the whole point.
Key Takeaways
- Research and analysis are learnable skills, not innate talent
- They improve through reps: writing, researching, feedback, and mistakes
- Build genuine curiosity — ask "why?" and "how do we know this?"
- Analysis = finding patterns; evaluation = weighing strengths and weaknesses
- Done consistently, research becomes building an argument, not collecting sources
Free guide
The fastest skill gain is learning to analyse instead of describe. Here's how.