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The Maths IA self-check, one page.
Hand this to a class before the draft deadline. Students mark their own exploration against the five criteria first, which means the draft that reaches you has already had the obvious marks put back in. Free to print, copy and use with any class.
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Maths IA: mark your own draft first
Twenty marks, five criteria. Work through your own exploration and tick only what is actually true of the draft in front of you, not what you intend to do later.
Name _______________________
AA / AI
SL / HL
Date ____________
A · Presentation 4 marks
Does it read as one coherent piece with a clear line of enquiry, rather than sections stapled together?
- My aim is stated near the start, in one sentence, and it says what the exploration will do.
- Every graph and table is referred to in the text. None is just dropped in.
- A reader can see why each section comes where it does.
- Nothing essential is hiding in an appendix.
B · Mathematical communication 4 marks
Is the mathematics itself written correctly? This is not the same as A.
- No calculator notation anywhere. No
x^2, no sqrt.
- Every variable I use is defined before I use it, and used consistently.
- All axes are labelled, with units.
- Degrees and radians are not mixed.
- My rounding is consistent, or I have explained where it changes and why.
C · Personal engagement 3 marks
Is there evidence of me thinking, all the way through? Not a paragraph at the start saying I like the topic.
- I used data I collected or chose myself, rather than the first set I found.
- I adapted a method rather than only applying one.
- There is at least one question I asked myself partway through and then followed.
- Where I made a choice, I said why I made that one and not another.
- Engagement shows up after page three, not only on page one.
D · Reflection 3 marks
Do I stop and think critically about the work, rather than just report it?
- I have said whether a result actually made sense, not only what it was.
- I have said what I would trust about my result and what I would not.
- My limitations say what difference each one would have made, not just that it exists.
- Where something did not fit, I said so instead of quietly leaving it out.
- My conclusion interprets the results. It does not restate them.
E · Use of mathematics 6 marks
The biggest single criterion, and the one your topic decided before you wrote a sentence.
- The mathematics is at the level of my course, not below it.
- I can explain every line of it out loud, without notes.
- I used this mathematics because the problem needed it, not to look ambitious.
- The work is correct, and I have checked it rather than assumed it.
- There is enough mathematics here to fill six marks, not one technique stretched thin.
Criteria explained in my own words. Not IB material and not endorsed by the International Baccalaureate. Always work from the current official guide your school gives you.