IB Maths AA SL: Drilling Both Papers and the Internal Assessment

TUTORZONE EXAM DRILL GUIDE · IB MATHS AA SL: METHOD MARKS, THE CALCULATOR LINE, THE IA

AA SL is not marked on speed but on a complete method: formula, substitution, simplification, conclusion each carry their own step, and a skipped line loses marks even when the answer is right. The two papers differ over the calculator, one demands hand computation throughout while the other expects graphing as a check, and the internal assessment asks you to pose your own investigation. This page is the drilling method only – the 12-week split, the order to write each question, timing and the error log.

IB Maths AA SL Paper 2 drilling technique: decide first whether the question wants the GDC or algebra – roots, intersections, definite integrals, normal probabilities and inverse functions go to the GDC; proofs, simplification and exact values still need written steps. Give every numerical answer to three significant figures (one decimal place for angles) with units. Check Section A before moving on, because Section B builds on it.

Subject-specific weighting for this timetable: Weeks 1-3: format the method. Four lines per question, formula, substitution, simplification, conclusion with units, and count the four lines before checking the answer.\nWeeks 4-6: the hand-computation paper. Drill surds, fractions, logarithms and exact trig values, one timed paper a week, and redo only three questions of each wrong type rather than copying the paper out again.\nWeeks 7-9: the calculator paper. Work by hand first, then check with the machine, and stop to find the reason whenever the two disagree; graph questions always state the window and how the intersection was read.\nWeeks 10-12: the IA and overall pace. Build one small investigation on a real data set and sit a full paper a fortnight, adding to the error log only the types that repeat.

Three columns, one topic per page: the question and what it actually asks, whether prove, solve or explain; the move that lost the mark, whether a skipped step, a missing unit or domain, or a wrong calculator setting; and the fixed four lines for next time, written out for that question. Three entries in one column and ten questions of that type get redone in a single sitting.

The assessment arrangements for AA have been stable, but the mix of question types shifts each session, so drill topics first: ten questions each on functions, trigonometry, calculus and statistics before sitting any paper end to end. Full papers are for timing and for deciding what to leave, never for predicting this session. Where an older question uses a tool no longer in the current course, skip it rather than arguing with it.

Is this page a mock paper or a drilling guide?
This is the IB Mathematics AA SL drilling guide: assessment structure, drill order, a 12-week timetable, pacing, common mark losses and the error-log method. For questions with answers, use the IB Mathematics AA SL mock papers linked under Related.

By topic or by year first?
By topic. Eight to ten years of the same topic back to back is what exposes repeating errors; going straight to whole papers just repeats the same batch under time pressure.

How should the error log be written?
Do not copy out questions. Per error record four things: question reference, which step failed (concept, wording, calculation), what the mark scheme requires, and the correct action next time.

Should SL students drill HL questions?
Not as papers. After finishing a topic, read two or three HL extension questions for their phrasing and to test where the concept ends; the marks themselves come from complete method lines on SL papers.

Can the IA be left to the last three months?
Better not. An investigation needs time to collect data and refit the model; leaving only the writing means no room to recover when the data refuse the first hypothesis. Have the first round of data collected before week ten.

Original mock: IB Mathematics AA SL mock paper with answers; more practice in the practice area.