How to get a grade-A

TOK essay
Know your stance

Prompts are called prompts for a reason. What

are your initial thoughts after reading your
selected title? Do you agree? Or disagree? Or
do you kind of see both sides?

As always in TOK, there is no exact black-white

right or wrong, but knowing and articulating
your stance can aid in presenting a clear
argument that boosts your essay score.
How to get a grade-A
TOK essay
Think before you write

TOK essay titles are designed to make you

think. Sometimes, a student can get so
immersed in writing their essay that when they
look up and go back to read it, it makes
absolutely no sense.

Your thoughts should be coherent and flow

from one to another; in other words, your
essay should not be a hodgepodge of
sporadic thoughts. Take time to carefully
outline and explore each point before moving
on to the next.
How to get a grade-A
TOK essay
Know your strengths

If you’re submitting a TOK essay, then I’m

going to assume you’re an IB Diploma student.
This means that you are well-versed in certain
areas but also have some knowledge in
others (there’s a reason why IB Diploma
students take six subjects). What are your
higher levels? What are your standard levels?
What topics do you plan on studying in
university?

In writing a TOK essay, it is important to play

to strengths to try to write about areas of
knowledge that you are most familiar with or
know quite a bit about. For example, you
could write about art without taking IB Art HL,
as long as you have some knowledge on a
particular facet of art.
How to get a grade-A
TOK essay
Connect and
connect and connect

Again, your essay is not a haphazard mind

map with lines drawn all over the page; it
should be connecting one idea to the next. It
should flow logically. Aside from essay flow,
“connect” here also encompasses the act of
connecting your thoughts on the prompt with
things in your life.

Whether it be something you learnt in class or

something you read in a magazine, a good
essay will be relevant to our world and
showcases the interdisciplinary global citizen
the IB program strives to create.