Andrew's IB Maths Vault

Hiya! Second part of 2025's holidays special: TMUA Practice Tests! I've written three tests - hopefully in ascending level of difficulty. If you (or your students, if you're a teacher) are taking the TMUA and looking for easier questions than past papers, look no more. This is the first of the trilogy: Booster Paper A. For those new to the website: Booster Papers are designed to be easier than the real paper. This is no exception - apart from a couple crackers most questions on this test are totally accessible to aspiring TMUA candidates.  The test covers most topics on the TMUA specification .  Worked solutions will be uploaded shortly. May the odd be ever in your favour.  Andrew  

Hiya! Here's the Christmas present!  Following Synoptic 1 two weeks ago, here's the first instalment of Synoptic 2. Same structure, same level of difficulty. No more handholding folks. The test contains questions from the first 11 units in the course - so that's basically more than a year's worth of content.  May the odds be ever in your favour.  AAHL: AAHL MS: AASL: AASL MS: Andrew  

Hiya! This is the first post in the series to help students prepare for the TMUA. This is an admission test taken by students applying to some UK universities for mathy programs. TMUA deserves a section on its own because it's a combination of quick thinking and algebraic/calculus fluency. Unlike STEP/MAT that evaluates more extended thinking, TMUA measures whether a candidate can function under pressure and whether the basic motor skills are in place to tackle a large quantity of questions in a relatively short amount of time (20 questions in 75 minutes) - and many questions require a trick or some level of intuition. Today's post focuses on the motor skills. A well-prepared candidate should be able to answer each question in about 2 minutes, or all 77 questions here in less than 3 hours - that will give them buffer to work on harder, unpredictable questions reserved for those aiming at 9.0. Questions are arranged in the same order as the syllabus for Part I, roughly following...

Hiya! Starting 2026, I'll be slowly adding a new series of tests: Synoptic! There are  three  synoptic units: Synoptic 1 (covering the first 8 units), Synoptic 2 (covering the first 11 units) and Synoptic 3 (covering the first 14 units). All Synoptic tests are cumulative , providing more opportunities to draw various parts of the syllabus together. The number for the Synoptic will restart at v2.1 and eventually get to v2.5 - so expect a TON of Synoptic tests coming this year.   Structure of the test For HL: a   few short questions followed by two long questions. For SL: a few short questions, 2 medium-length questions and one long question. Due to the synoptic nature of the tests, you are  not  required to reach a minimum number of points on any particular section.  Without any further ado, here are the tests!     [test description] AAHL: AAHL MS: AASL: AASL MS: Andrew  

This page contains all the Synoptic unit tests I've ever written. Synoptic is a new series that I've recently added to provide students with more opportunities to practice solving section B-style questions and recapping content that they have not seen in a hot while. There are three synoptic tests, all of which are cumulative. The content for each unit test is outlined below. To do well on Synoptic tests, one must understand the content covered inside out - and be ready to apply them in unfamiliar situations. The short answer questions are similar to Section A questions on the real exam. The medium questions (SL only) are a stepping stone to the hard questions (1 for SL, 2 for HL), in which you're expected to draw from various parts of the course. It is totally expected that these unit tests are harder than usual.  I try my best to combine the topics, sometimes in the most unexpected ways, to test how far you can apply what you've learned. The links shall be updated on...

Hiya! Just another few tests before we close off 2025. Today we'll focus on logarithms. 3 standards, 12 questions, one hour. From log identities to log functions.    If you're looking for more personalised support, don't hesitate to reach out and complete the form ! I'm @adventurousandrew on Discord.       AAHL: AAHL MS: AASL: AASL MS: Andrew