The Personal Project isn’t just about the final product—it’s about your learning journey. The process is the key to success! Your goal is to show how you developed your skills, overcame challenges, and reflected on your learning.
📸 Document everything! Take photos, screenshots, notes, and even record short videos of your progress. These will help you later when writing your report!
Heres the Personal Project in a nutshell and how to document along the way
Pick a topic you are passionate about.
Make sure it challenges you and helps you grow.
Define your learning goal (What do you want to learn?) and product goal (What will you create?).
💡 Example: If you love music, your learning goal could be “understanding how to teach drumming,” and your product could be “a drumming tutorial video.”
You can start your project during the summer break and still change it when you come back to school!
Find reliable sources to learn more about your topic.
Take notes, create mind maps, and organize your research.
Plan your timeline (Action Plan): What tasks need to be completed and when.
Create success criteria that show what your product should look like
📝 What to document:
Screenshots of websites, books, or articles you used.
A list of questions you researched.
A timeline or checklist of tasks.
Follow your plan and start working on your product.
Adjust your approach if things don’t go as planned.
Keep track of challenges and how you solve them.
📸 What to document:
Photos/Videos of your progress (e.g., sketches, prototypes, testing).
Screenshots if working digitally.
Reflections on challenges and how you overcame them.
💡 Tip: Set aside time each week to write short reflections!
Think about what you learned and how you grew.
Explain how the project impacted you.
Consider what you would do differently next time.
📝 What to document:
A list of skills you developed.
Before-and-after comparisons of your work.
Final thoughts on how this project changed your perspective.
Think about the success criteria you created for your project. Did you meet your goals?
Reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of your product based on those criteria.
Think about how you could improve the product if you had more time or resources.
📝 What to document:
A breakdown of each success criterion (e.g., "Did my drumming tutorial help beginners learn?").
Specific examples showing how your product meets or doesn’t meet the criteria.
Possible improvements or next steps.
💡 Example: If your success criterion was “the product should be easy to follow,” you could reflect on how your tutorial was structured and whether your audience understood it easily.
Use all the evidence you’ve collected to support your reflections.
Follow the IB criteria carefully.
Show how your process led to your success.
💡 Tip: Your documentation will make writing the report much easier!
✔ Document everything—take photos, screenshots, and notes.
✔ Reflect regularly—write short updates on your progress.
✔ Stay organized—use a planner or checklist to track your tasks.
✔ Enjoy the journey—the Personal Project is your chance to explore what you love!
By focusing on the process, you’ll set yourself up for a strong report and a successful project! 🎯
Gathered throughout the project to document its development
An evolving record of intents, processes, accomplishments
A collection of initial thoughts and developments, brainstorming, possible lines of inquiry and further questions raised
A record of interactions with sources, for example, teachers, supervisors, external contributors
A record of selected, annotated and/or edited research and to maintain a bibliography
A collection of useful information, for example, quotations, pictures, ideas, and photographs
A means of exploring ideas and solutions
A place for evaluating work completed ,reflection on learning
Devised by you in a format that suits your needs
A record of reflections and formative feedback received
Collected daily (unless this is useful for you)
Written up after the process has been completed
Additional work on top of the project; it is part of and supports the project
A diary with detailed writing about what was done (unless this is useful for you)
A single, static document with only one format (unless this is useful for you).
Note: The recording of critical and creative thinking and reflection is more important than neatness and presentation.