IB IA Timeline: Plan Every Deadline Without Collisions

Six subjects can mean six Internal Assessments moving at completely different speeds.

Your Biology experiment might need weeks of data collection. Your History investigation may still be stuck at the research question. Your Mathematics exploration could be ready for a first draft while another subject has not even introduced its IA yet.

Then the Extended Essay enters the calendar.

Then TOK.

Then mock examinations.

The problem is rarely that an IB student has one impossible deadline. The problem is that several manageable deadlines become impossible when they arrive together.

That is why the most useful IA plan is not a deadline list. It is a two year working calendar that shows when each assessment should move from idea to research, from research to draft, and from draft to final submission.

This guide gives you that calendar.

One important rule comes first: your school's IA deadline is the deadline you should work toward.

Schools normally set their own internal deadlines before work must be processed for IB submission. Do not find a later date online and assume you have extra time. Your teacher and Diploma Programme coordinator should be your source for the dates that apply to you.

The calendar below is therefore a planning model, not an official IB submission schedule.

The IA Timeline You Actually Need

A useful IA timeline has five stages:

1. Topic and question
2. Research, investigation, or data collection
3. Analysis and first draft
4. Feedback and revision
5. Final checks and submission

The exact content of those stages changes by subject, but the logic remains remarkably consistent.

RevisionDojo's IA timeline guide similarly treats the IA as a sequence rather than a single writing task. Revision Village's IA resources also organise support around the full process, from choosing a topic and refining a question through analysis, evaluation, and final presentation.

That process matters because the most dangerous planning mistake is writing "Finish Biology IA" in your calendar.

That is not one task.

It may include designing an investigation, checking feasibility, collecting data, repeating failed trials, processing results, evaluating limitations, writing, receiving feedback, and revising.

Plan those separately.

DP1, September to October: Build the Master Calendar

Do not begin by deciding which IA to write first.

Begin by building one calendar for everything.

Ask each subject teacher when they expect to introduce the IA, when topic proposals are likely to be due, when a first draft may be expected, and when the school wants the final version.

Add your known Extended Essay milestones and TOK work to the same calendar.

You are looking for collisions.

If Mathematics, Biology, and History all appear to require first drafts within the same three week period, the solution is not to wait until that period and work harder. The solution is to move one of them forward several months earlier.

This is also the right point to create one IA folder for each subject and save the assessment criteria, teacher instructions, research notes, draft versions, and source records in one place.

Lanterna's IA planning checklist makes the same broader point: time spent choosing the question, understanding the required structure, and planning before writing can prevent major rework later.

DP1, November to December: Start the Slowest IA First

Not all IAs have the same time risk.

A science investigation can be delayed by equipment, methodology problems, unusable results, or the need to repeat data collection.

A research heavy humanities IA can stall because the question is too broad or because suitable sources are difficult to obtain.

A Mathematics exploration can stall when an interesting idea does not actually produce enough meaningful mathematics.

Your first priority should therefore be the IA with the greatest dependency on things you cannot complete in one evening.

For Biology, Chemistry, and Physics, use this period to move from a general topic toward a feasible investigation. Check whether you can obtain the materials, measurements, data, and time required before becoming attached to the idea.

For History, move from a broad area of interest toward a focused question and begin collecting sources early.

For Mathematics, test whether the proposed topic gives you enough mathematical depth before committing to the full exploration.

For subjects built around commentaries, investigations, oral work, portfolios, or other formats, confirm the subject requirements with your teacher before building your schedule around assumptions.

DP1, January to February: Lock Research Questions and Methods

By this stage, your goal is not to have every IA finished.

Your goal is to remove uncertainty.

A weak research question creates delays later because every subsequent decision becomes harder. You do not know what evidence to collect, what analysis belongs in the paper, or what your conclusion should actually answer.

Use January and February to pressure test your IA questions.

Ask:

1. Is the question specific enough?
2. Can I realistically answer it with the time and resources available?
3. Does it fit the subject's assessment requirements?
4. Will the evidence or data I collect actually help answer it?
5. Do I understand what successful analysis would look like?

This is particularly important in Mathematics. The structure and progression of a Mathematics IA are not identical to a science investigation or History IA. The Clastify Mathematics IA structure guide is one example of why students should plan according to the subject rather than force every IA into the same template.

DP1, March to April: Collect Before You Write

This should be the main investigation period for at least one or two subjects.

For the sciences, complete as much primary data collection as your school schedule allows.

For History, deepen the source base and begin organising evidence around the investigation rather than simply collecting more material.

For Mathematics, develop the mathematical process, test calculations, produce relevant representations, and identify where interpretation will be needed.

The important rule is simple:

Do not start polishing prose while the investigation itself is still unstable.

A beautifully written introduction will not rescue an experiment with unusable data or a research question that no longer matches the evidence.

At the same time, do not wait until all investigation is complete before taking any notes. Keep a running record of decisions, limitations, changes in method, useful sources, and observations. These details are easy to forget months later.

DP1, May to June: Finish One IA Earlier Than Feels Necessary

If your school schedule permits it, aim to take at least one IA substantially through the drafting process before DP1 ends.

This one decision can change the shape of DP2.

The goal is not to rush every assessment. It is to remove one major piece of coursework from the period when the Extended Essay, TOK, applications, mock examinations, and several other IAs begin competing for attention.

Choose the IA that is furthest advanced.

For a science IA, that may mean completing analysis and evaluation while your experiment is still fresh in your mind.

For History, it may mean writing the investigation while your source notes are already organised.

For Mathematics, it may mean turning the mathematical exploration into a coherent first draft.

Do not create six half finished IAs just to say you have started everything.

One nearly complete IA is often more valuable than six documents containing an introduction.

The DP1 Summer: Create Space for DP2

The summer between DP1 and DP2 is the best buffer in the entire Diploma Programme.

Use it carefully.

You may not be able to complete formal IA work without teacher guidance, and you should always follow your school's rules about feedback and independent work. But you can often organise research, review teacher comments already received, clean datasets, check references, plan the next steps, and prepare questions for your first meeting back.

This is also when you should examine the Extended Essay.

If your EE is still demanding major research at the same time that several IAs are moving into drafting, your DP2 calendar is already becoming crowded.

The aim is to enter DP2 with fewer unresolved projects than you left DP1 with.

DP2, August to September: The First Collision Point

This is where planning becomes operational.

Make a list of every major task expected before the end of the calendar year.

Include:

• IA drafts
• IA data collection that is still unfinished
• Extended Essay milestones
• TOK tasks
• University applications
• School assessments
• Predicted grade tests
• Mock preparation

Now identify the weeks where more than two major deliverables overlap.

Those weeks need intervention.

Move drafting forward. Finish data collection earlier. Schedule research sessions before ordinary homework expands to fill the available time.

A useful principle is to work backward from your school deadline, not from the last possible submission date.

Your final submission date should not also be the day you finish the content.

Create room for proofreading, citations, formatting, file problems, and the possibility that something still needs correction.

DP2, October to November: Drafting Season

By this point, most unfinished IAs should be in one of three states:

1. First draft in progress
2. Teacher feedback received
3. Revision in progress

If an IA is still at the topic selection stage, it now deserves immediate attention.

This is also where students frequently make a scheduling error. They treat teacher feedback as the end of the process.

It is not.

Feedback creates another task block.

If your teacher returns a draft with substantial comments, you may need several focused sessions to interpret those comments, decide what to change, revise the analysis, check the criteria again, and proofread the new version.

When planning a first draft deadline, immediately reserve revision time after it.

DP2, December to January: Protect the Collision Zone

This is the period where IA planning has to consider the rest of the Diploma Programme.

The Extended Essay and TOK can demand substantial attention. Mock examinations may be approaching. University applications can also absorb hours that never appear on a subject timetable.

If three major pieces of coursework land within the same fortnight, do not divide your attention equally between all three every day.

Sequence them.

Decide which project must reach a finished state first, complete that stage, then move the next project forward.

Constantly switching between a Mathematics IA, History IA, TOK essay, and Extended Essay can create the feeling of being extremely busy while very little actually reaches completion.

Your goal during this period is not balance.

It is controlled completion.

DP2, February Onward: Submission Should Be Boring

A good final IA submission should feel uneventful.

You should not be changing the research question.

You should not be discovering that citations are missing.

You should not be rewriting half the analysis at midnight.

The final stage should be administrative and editorial.

Check the required file format. Review citations and references. Confirm that tables, graphs, figures, headings, and appendices follow your subject and school requirements. Read the assessment criteria once more. Proofread the actual file you intend to submit.

Then submit according to your school's instructions.

This is why planning months earlier matters. The final deadline should be the end of the process, not the moment the process finally becomes urgent.

A Subject by Subject Order That Reduces Risk

There is no universal order that every IB student should follow, but some IAs benefit more from early starts.

Sciences: Prioritise feasibility and data collection early. Experiments create dependencies that writing based assessments may not.

History: Start source discovery and question refinement early. A narrow question with strong sources can make the later investigation much easier to manage.

Mathematics: Test the mathematical potential of the topic early. Do not spend months developing an idea only to discover that the mathematics is too limited.

Language and literature subjects: Confirm the exact assessment format and school schedule early so preparation can be distributed around heavier research based IAs.

Individuals and societies subjects: Separate source gathering or data collection from the final writing stage. Do not allow research to continue indefinitely simply because more material exists.

Arts and other portfolio based subjects: Treat evidence creation, process documentation, reflection, and final presentation as separate calendar items rather than one final deadline.

Your own six subject calendar should reflect the assessments you actually take.

The Three Deadline Rule

There is one simple warning sign worth adding to your calendar.

If three substantial IB deliverables fall within the same fourteen day period, assume there is a problem.

That could be:

• Biology IA final
• Extended Essay final
• TOK essay draft

Or:

• Mathematics IA draft
• History IA final
• Physics IA analysis

The exact combination does not matter.

Move one forward before the collision arrives.

This is the difference between deadline management and deadline reaction.

Your School Deadline Matters More Than an Online Date

Students often search "When is the IA due?" as though the answer will be one universal date.

For your daily planning, that is the wrong question.

Ask:

When does my school require my final version?

Schools need time to manage assessment processes and submit required work. Your teachers and coordinator may therefore set deadlines well before anything you find described as an IB deadline.

Treat the school date as fixed unless your school tells you otherwise.

Do not build your strategy around the possibility of extra time.

Final Takeaway

A strong IA timeline does not make the assessments easier.

It makes them stop competing with one another.

Start by mapping all six subjects, the Extended Essay, and TOK on one calendar. Move investigations with data or research dependencies earlier. Aim to complete at least one substantial IA before DP2 becomes crowded. Reserve revision time after every first draft. Treat any fortnight containing three major deadlines as a collision that needs to be fixed in advance.

Most importantly, stop thinking of an IA as one deadline.

Every IA is a sequence.

Plan the sequence, and the deadline becomes much less frightening.

Related Blogs

Consider linking this article internally to:

• Physics IA guide
• Biology IA guide
• History IA guide
• IB Internal Assessment mistakes guide
• IB Diploma timeline guide

For broader Diploma Programme study support, direct students to the Koncepts DP student page.