Andrew's Guide to IB Mathematics Universe

Pacing. The key difference between a 6 and a 7. Somewhat important to other grades as well though not as much as the 6/7 borderline. You've heard a lot of people telling you different things about pacing, i.e., how fast you should answer a question on the exam, with the most popular advice is "spending a mark a minute".  I'm not entirely convinced that's the best strategy. Grades 6/7 borderline If you're shooting for a 6 or 7, you're more likely to breeze through the first couple questions of each section. A 4-marker may take you a minute to do because you're well-prepared for anything at the lower end. This does not  mean you should rush to finish the easy questions, because a mark you dropped here has to be made up with a mark from a question further down the line, but you'll find yourself having a lot of spare time after breezing through more than half of the paper.  The harder questions at the end of each section (AA) or paper (AI): you're ...

Hi y'all. After a brief hiatus I'm back with Tuesday Tests. This time around we'll have *drumrolls please*  trigonometry.  I know many of you hate trig so I deliberately made the test pretty challenging to set you up well for the more demanding trig units and/or calculus. Main topics covered include: - the trio (sine rule, cosine rule, area of a triangle) - sectors, radians and exact values - applications - angle of elevation and bearings - basic trig equations and the Pythagorean identity. It's a bit long for 45 minutes but you've learned this from probably all the tests I've written anyway. :P Usual TOC apply. AASL: AASL Answers: AAHL: AAHL Answers: Credits:   AdventurousAndrew#7499

It's Tuesday Tests and I'm back with two more tests for AISL and AIHL folks. The AIHL test is pretty similar to the AA tests because y'all need a solid foundation of algebra to do well in the course. AISL is different in nature. I recognise that not everyone needs to master algebra to the same level as AIHL and that you don't really need too much algebra to get a high 7. By this I don't mean AISL is in any way inferior to AASL; it's simply a difference in the focus of the course.  So here you go. AISL: AISL Answers: AIHL: AIHL Answers: Usual TOCs apply. Question 2 in section 5 was taken from Dr Frost Maths. Credit: AdventurousAndrew#7499

Hiya! It’s Andrew, it’s Saturday and I’m back with another long-ish blogpost.   Today’s blogpost title is greatly inspired by Kieran Mackle, a podcaster whose focus is on primary education and has nothing to do with IB. I just found the title interesting. x   Ah yes, today we’ll talk about time management. An age-old problem. From a very personal perspective, I think we’re increasingly obsessed with time management that we sometimes spend more time planning the things we’d do instead of actually getting them done. It really doesn’t have to be this way.   All of us living on this planet have 24 hours, no more, no less. Some people would advocate overwork yourself to get more work done. I firmly disagree, simply because it isn’t sustainable for me. Those who know me probably know that I hang out with my friends very often but I still get shit done at an acceptable level. This post is simply a place for me to share my thoughts and tips on how to get shit done ...

Hi cuties, It's Tuesday and I'm back with two unit tests. This time around they're on quadratics for AASL and AAHL. For many of you, the first unit of the course will be quadratics. Despite its name, there's stuff on the common topics you'd see in the first few weeks of classes, like standard form, surds, index laws, equations and simultaneous equations. If you know me, it's not the first time I've said these words: algebra is the most  important thing you need to do well in AAHL. The same thing can be said for AASL or AIHL. Other topics are important too but everything  falls apart when the algebra skills are lacking. Algebra should be a natural thing like breathing, because you won't survive a day of AAHL without algebra. NB: In some schools, your permission to stay in the course depends on how well you perform on the first test, probably 3-4 weeks into the course. We'd need WAY more than 3-4 weeks to cover the content on these tests, so you need ...

Saturday’s somewhat-long-blogpost: Using past papers effectively and a brief introduction to designing assessments It’s a Sunday afternoon and you have nothing better to do than printing past IB exams ready for a long grinding session. Or you’re trying to calm down your own full-blown panik stations after doing my trivial mock exams. Whichever camp you’re in, a question you may ask yourself is how to get the most out of these papers. Don’t worry,  I’ve got your back.   When to use past papers? Perhaps a couple months before the exam, ideally when you’ve finished most of the content. No sooner than that.   If you’re used to doing past paper questions, you tend to focus on the particular types of questions that crop up rather than the concept(s) behind them. Just a tiny little tweak and you may find yourself panicking because you haven’t been “prepared” for that question. No, exams are not supposed to be predictable and no, you’re only panicking because you don’...

Here are two  tests on AIHL Differentiation and Integration with MS! Although it seems like I've neglected you guys since I keep throwing stuff out about AA courses, you're still on the back of my mind. Writing these tests are quite tricky because I'm always playing on the edge - a creative spin can throw a question out of the syllabus. Usual TOCs apply. Credit to AdventurousAndrew#7499.