Constructing Commentaries
Pre-IB Economics (CIE 3M7) - The Individual and the Economy
Commentary Practice Article
Read this article as preparation for writing your own commentary.
Commentary Writing Exercise
Use the following article to construct a commentary. Make sure you use the commentary planner first to organize your thoughts/ideas and develop a strategy for writing your commentary.
Scoring the Commentary
Check out the sample commentary (and commentary planner used to effectively prepare for the writing process) based on the article: "Inaction on $100 Oil is Likely to Backfire".*
*You are strongly encouraged to print and save this material for reference when preparing yor own commentary!
Additional Commentary Writing Aids & Resources
Grade 11 pre-IB economics students are also encouraged to use the multitude of commentary resources such as samples, cover pages and writing strategies available at the 'Internal Assessment - 2022' page. While this page is set up for grade 12 IB economics students, the tools and resources available at this page will be of great benefit to grade 11 pre-IB students as well.
A Useful Tool for Retaining Web Page Articles
Try this nifty tool for converting web pages to PDF files so that any articles you wish to use or save do not disappear later when needed. This tool could also be utilized to store a selection of articles related to a particular unit of study so that you can select the most appropriate article when your commentary deadline approaches. Recall: save the URL and other source information of the article for your cover page.
Retrieving Articles via EBSCO
Students may be able to obtain recent articles from various periodicals through the TDSB ebsco link. Note: you must be signed in through your TDSB student account for access to this resource.
Sample Commentary
See below for an additional sample of a commentary (graded by IB moderators).
- click here for a quality article & commentary containing solid evaluation undertaken by the student to support analysis & arguments based on sound economic principles and ideas
- check the scoring rubric for the sample commentary (graded by IB moderators)
- (note - economic concepts within the sample may be new to pre-IB students but the structure, format and presentation of the commentary will aid the preparation of your own work
- A sample of an exemplary student commentary prepared in Jan. 2021
- see scoring rubric with comments for this commentary
Additional samples available at the Internal Assessment (2022) page. See student sample portfolios with grades by IB moderators.
