[AASL][AAHL][AIHL] Foundations of Algebra

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Hey y'all!

This post is aimed at students who have just started IB or planning to take IB AAHL/AIHL courses in the future, as well as future A-level Maths students, but everyone would benefit from doing some more algebra here and there.

Why do we have this booklet? The state of students entering AAHL/AIHL is alarming, especially algebra-wise. Many students managed to get on the course with a 6 at GCSE, which means one could theoretically barely know any algebra and still being allowed to take a very algebra-intensive course. During the course, algebra is like the air we breathe - you do it in most questions, often without prompts and guidance. There'll be no flashing sign saying "you gotta use simultaneous equations to solve this question", it's just "solve this problem" and you gotta figure out what you have to do.

I specifically wanted to focus on algebra because trigonometry can be covered during our recap of the trio (sine rule, cosine rule and area of a triangle) while algebra takes a WHILE to develop the skills and stamina to go through the problem. For those who're interested in psychology, if your working memory is processing the content of the question and algebraic manipulations and a bunch of mundane things at the same time, there's a very high chance you'll experience cognitive overload, i.e., your brain stops working altogether, you rely on your instinct/system 1 and you make loads of errors.

I was thinking about posting this booklet in several sections, but I think it's a better idea to just roll out everything at once. Many of you are taking GCSE exams in the next month or so, so focus on your exams first and then consider spending a couple hours to improve your algebra before day 1 of A-level Maths.

As usual, the document is entirely free of charge. Look around the website for more good stuffs - I'm sure you'll find something useful!

Peace!

Andrew


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