IB DP Economics IA Studio — Portfolio of three commentaries (SL and HL)

A step-by-step helper for the IB DP Economics internal assessment — the portfolio of three commentaries — at SL and HL. IA Studio takes you from “I have no idea what to write about” to a complete first draft — one small step at a time. You do the thinking and the writing; the app asks the right questions, checks your work against the assessment criteria and keeps you on track with your school’s deadlines.

For students at any school. Built for the current Economics guide (first assessment 2022): three commentaries on news articles, each marked on five criteria (14 marks), plus 3 marks for the rubric rules — 45 marks in all, with 800 words at most per commentary. Includes 47 topic ideas with suggestions for every country, an engagement journal, an original annotated example and email reminders before each deadline.

The 9 steps

1. Find article ideas — browse 47 article search ideas by unit and pick the areas you will watch.
2. Portfolio plan: units and key concepts — plan a different unit and a different key concept for each commentary.
3. Your three news articles — record your three news articles with checks for date, outlet and unit.
4. Article check and diagram plan — check each article and plan your diagrams, then send the plan to your teacher (Checkpoint 1).
5. Write — commentary 1 — write the commentary with prompts, a diagram box and an 800-word limit.
6. Write — commentary 2 — write the commentary with prompts, a diagram box and an 800-word limit.
7. Write — commentary 3 — write the commentary with prompts, a diagram box and an 800-word limit.
8. Self-check — mark yourself honestly against the criteria.
9. Build your portfolio — download Word or PDF with a cover sheet for each commentary, then send your draft (Checkpoint 2).

How to start

1. Log in (or create a free account) and enrol — one enrolment gives you 12 months of access. Enrolment is free with the code STADIRA100 until 30 April 2027. If your school has a Stadira licence, enter your teacher’s class code in the box on this page instead: you join free.
2. Open the lesson Open IA Studio.
3. Choose SL or HL and your exam session.
4. Choose your country (any of 200) — the studio suggests topics that fit it straight away. If your topic is about another country, choose that too: published sources can come from anywhere, while fieldwork, surveys and interviews stay where you live.
5. Enter your school name. If your teacher gave you a class code, enter it: your teacher then sees your progress, approves your plan and gives draft feedback here. No code? Work on your own: set your own deadlines and show your plan and draft to your teacher.

Working with your teacher

• Plan approval — your teacher approves your plan before you go further, or sends it back with a note saying what to change.
• One round of draft feedback, as the IB allows — dated and kept with your work so you can come back to it.
• Your school’s dates — schools set their own deadlines at any time of year. Your class dates, and any extension your teacher gives you, show in the studio with email reminders before each one.
• Email updates when your teacher approves your plan, returns it or sends feedback.
• Final version — record the date you handed your work in to your school and confirm that it is your own work, your sources are credited and any AI use is declared. IA Studio does not send work to the IB; your school does that.

Your work is safe

Your work saves to your own account automatically, so you can continue on any device. If your connection drops or you are signed out, nothing is overwritten — the studio tells you and waits. If you work on two devices, it asks which copy to keep. IA Studio never writes your work for you — it is designed to keep the work genuinely yours, as the IB requires.

AI-free by design. IA Studio never writes or suggests your content — every word is yours. Do your research wherever you like (your library, databases, news websites, interviews). If you use an AI tool outside the studio, record it in the built-in AI-use log; it goes into your work as your AI-use declaration, as the IB requires.

For teachers

Set up a free teacher dashboard at stadira.com/ia-teacher/. Create class codes, see each student’s progress and work so far, approve plans, give draft feedback from your own comment bank, set class deadlines and individual extensions, record final marks and authenticity, and download your class as a CSV file. Students see only their own work; student names are shown only to their own teacher.