Andrew's IB Maths Vault

Survival Papers (AdventurousAndrew and christina77) Survival Papers focus on the core topics that we consider crucial for a grade (level) 5 student. If you're consistently smashing these papers, getting a 5 on the real exam should be relatively straightforward. Papers 1A , 1B , 1C , 1D and 2A are available at the moment with the respective markschemes and scoring guides.   The Survival Guide will be posted in late April. Booster Papers Less straightforward than Survival Papers, more manageable than a typical Andrew's mock exam, hopefully on par with a typical past paper: here you go! Unit Tests Quadratics Trig relationships Sequences and series Intro to probability Probability distributions

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 are...

Hello hello hello! As you know we'll talk about trig equations after trig functions.  After a short hiatus due to me unable to comprehend thermo, I'm now temporarily  back with an ENTIRE (yes, entire) module on trig equations. Have fun with it. Answers included at the end. Link: Where are we going, where have we been? In our journey on trigonometry so far, we started with Pythagorean theorem and right-angled trigonometry. Extending our definition to larger angles, we develop the sine and cosine rules for non-right triangles and then to the entire unit circle.  The "point on the circle" model gives rise to our trigonometric functions, namely, sine and cosine functions. We did a bunch of transformations to fit our function with our data, which is then used to predict future values. The question arises: is there a way we could solve some  equations without using a calculator? Answer: special trig values. More details on that soon. Why are we interested in special trig v...

Hey y'all. For the last few days, I've seen some students struggling with conditional probability on the IB server. This isn't news or anything; conditional probabilities are usually poorly done overall, especially the SL folks. This post summarises what commonly show up on examiners' reports and how you can avoid it. The concept of probability in IB is ENORMOUS, so I'll just focus on basic probability and combined probability. A solid foundation in this would ensure a good shot at solving the more complex, massive-tree-diagram-wordy-thingy questions. Basics of probability (1) giving answers which were greater than 1 You've probably heard of this statement 283187 times, but it's surprising the number of students who "innocently" report a probability of 2.0 due to a calculation error when dealing with decimals. Honestly. If y'all ever  report a probability greater than 1, I'd leave the room and SCREAM because you didn't pay attention to ...

Hey y'all! Due to not-so-popular demand I'm back with two series of tests for AISL and AIHL. I admit I've ignored the AI folks for a while, and this is my futile attempt to make up for it. c: AIHL Statistics and intro to prob: AIHL Statistics and intro to prob ANSWERS: AISL Statistics and intro to prob: AISL Statistics and intro to prob ANSWERS: AIHL Probability distributions: AIHL Probability distributions ANSWERS: AISL Probability distributions: AISL Probability distributions ANSWERS: Stay safe y'all. If you hate online school or just life  in general, remember that everything will be alright. Love, Andrew Credits:  AdventurousAndrew#7499

Here it is, the last part of this module. It is the summary of everything we've done so far, from identifying features to sketching devilish functions. And no way is better than ending this module with MORE questions that y'all can have a go at. Disclaimer, as usual: the questions are inspired by the books I've got my hands on, so it's normal if you find some questions similar to your textbook. The next module on trigonometric equations should be posted soon. I'm still in the process of writing the answers to the questions argh . It's gonna be a good ride. Thanks for tuning in with what I've posted over the last two weeks! Credits: AdventurousAndrew#7499

First post in 2022! Hey there. If you're looking for more trig functions torture fun, hang on tight. Today we'll put the properties of trig functions into solving more realistic problems. Surprisingly these questions are generally very poorly  done, simply because Kids cannot map the relative height on the wheel with the height of the trig functions Kids cannot interpret the properties of trig functions properly because the wordings are bad Kids' understanding of functions is weak, leading to their inability to recognise what  to do and what to substitute where and 7749 other reasons. Here's my two cents that might help y'all to avoid the common misconceptions, especially the second bullet point. You should be very  solid at properties of trig functions before reading on. Credits:  AdventurousAndrew#7499 

We're already halfway through this unit. This part is known to be pretty challenging, as you're now asked to use everything you've learned in the previous sections to sketch a function or finding the equation of the function. When I was taught trigonometric functions, this totally freaked me out just due to the sheer amount of stuff you gotta keep in mind, so section 3 was made to give you some practice on the specific skills (finding the period/amplitude/phase change/max/min) prior to tackling this beast. It also marks the beginning of our all-time fave Drills . You should give yourself 8 minutes, without  calculator, to answer the all questions. The drills can be found on the LAST page of this document. Answers to the drills are also in the Answers for this unit. Credits:  AdventurousAndrew#7499

This section is devoted to thinking more about the transformations of basic trigonometric functions and recognising the roles of each factor in the transformation. By breaking it down to subcomponents like this, you have a much lower odd of being totally overwhelmed when you're asked to sketch the graph of a complicated-looking trig function. Credits:  AdventurousAndrew#7499 

In this second part, we'll start discussing the graphs of basic sinusoidal functions. Many of you have been exposed to trigonometric functions at GCSE and this section will simply extend your understanding of trigonometric graphs. We won't get into too much details yet - that's for later parts. c: Credits:  AdventurousAndrew#7499

Without any further ado, here's the first part of this unit. Simply a prerequisite check to make sure y'all have the basics or go brush up on them if necessary. Part 1 Answers Credits:  AdventurousAndrew#7499

All the resources below are published absolutely free of charge. If you want to say thank you or support me in any other way, click  here . Since the beginning of the winter break, I've finally found time to write an entire unit of trigonometry for y'all. I've thought about doing this for ages, but then life gets in the way and I'm just so knackered after doing everything else. Introducing the grande finale . I'll be doing a small experiment right now: instead of posting the booklet in one shot, I've broken it down into several subtopics and I'll post one subtopic at a time, three times a week: Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Structure of the booklet Each booklet starts with a prereq check, then a couple subtopics (more on that below), then an end-of-topic revision and quiz.  The booklet I'll be posting is the second  out of the four booklets that I plan to write on trigonometry: relationships, functions , identities and equations.    Structure of each sub...

This is the first time we have the FULL HOUSE on this website! It's Tuesday and I'm back with FOUR (yes, four) tests this round mainly because they're pretty much identical  for all courses on sequences and series. Even though I do expect that most people have covered this topic by now, including M23s (god I'm old), this should still be a challenging for everyone, especially AISL. I feel kinda bad for not writing a totally different paper for ya, but I'm treating you guys in the same way as the AASL kiddos because the two courses are supposed to be equivalent . Since I'm in the mood to write stuffs, there might  be another post re Optimisation using calculus, something I've had a chance to teach yesterday. This is a poorly done topic most of the time  - so I think my advice can help some people out. Alright, boys and girls and bis and everyone in between, behold. AAHL AAHL Answers AIHL AIHL Answers AASL AASL Answers AISL AISL Answers If you have any question...

Hello hoomans, Are y'all looking for more IB practice papers  after you've exhausted a large collection of past papers you could get your hands on? Do you want to try papers that are (generally) above and beyond what you'd expect on the actual exam?  I've uploaded all the goodies I've ever written for my own mock server (at  http://discord.gg/SHBFEAf39Y ) for the last two exam sessions. Note that Nov 2020 was the last sitting of the old syllabi but you'll find most of the questions very useful for the current courses. Papers will eventually be added to the Google Drive after each mock session. Just in case you're new to the website or you haven't had time to take the mocks, here are some reasons why you should try the papers out. Challenging If you talk to people who have tried my mock before, it isn't uncommon to see people reporting that they've lost a couple brain cells.  I'm known to be a hard exam writer so this isn't news to me, but...

First off, sorry y'all for changing Tuesday Tests  into Thursday Tests. At least there's still alliteration so not all is lost. This week we'll have Trig Relationships for AISL and AIHL. Despite the name, we also cover trig functions (in AISL) and Voronoi diagrams (for both courses). Usual T&Cs apply - y'all probably familiar with this by now. AISL: AISL Answers: AIHL: AIHL 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

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.