IB puts limits on what supervisors can do both in terms of TIME as well as WHAT THEY ARE ALLOWED TO HELP WITH.

Supervisors may not give you a research question, or tell you what to write.

Supervisors may not go through the research for you.

Supervisors are encouraged to help you understand when an idea or concept is incorrect, but they are not meant to give you the correction. (It's the difference between, "Are you sure about the idea you describe in this section?" and "This idea is not expressed correctly, it should be ________." The former is ok, the latter is not.

Supervisors are not meant to give you heavy annotations or notes on your draft; don't expect to get a lot of notes or feedback, and you should expect that many of the notes you do get require you to think and interpret what should be done in response.

In terms of time, students and supervisors may not spend more than 5 hours together actively discussing the essay. This time limit does not account for the time a supervisor spends making comments on a draft. The time includes the three official meetings that are required by IB as well as any other meetings or reflection sessions that the student and supervisor choose to set up on their own.

Supervisors are your most important resource for subject-specific advice and help with the methodology of your essay. In most subjects, you have not started any of your IAs by the time the EE process begins, so this may be the first time that you are diving into research in that subject. Furthermore, the EE goes farther than any IA, so the importance of research and methodology is far more significant in an EE than in an IA.

It is recommended that students not constantly try to talk to their supervisors about the EE, since there is a 5 hour limit. However, it would be good to have monthly or bi-monthly check-ins. I generally feel that the three manadatory meetings are not enough, and there is usually a lot of value in having a check-in session several weeks before each official meeting to make sure that you have what you need when it's time to formally meet (and then do one of the required reflections.)

In most cases, the supervisor is one of your subject teachers, so you should already see them several hours per week for class. Briefly update them during a break between periods, write a quick email, etc.

You should also keep your Researcher's Reflection Space on ManageBac up-to-date. Every 2-3 weeks, try to put some notes, links to research you're using, and maybe little pieces of writing (when we begin the writing process) into the RRS. The EE Coordinator can access this and your supervisor can see it, as well. This is a way to keep these adults informed without the need for direct communication. If I, as a supervisor, see that one of my advisees is keeping their RRS up-to-date that helps me stay informed on what they're looking at, and I'll be more happy to leave them be and not bug them.