International Baccalaureate · Mathematics

Plan the Mathematics IA and Extended Essay.

Understand the requirements, develop a focused question and use examples responsibly—for Mathematics AA and AI at SL and HL.

Orientation

From the first idea to a coherent investigation.

A strong mathematical paper does not begin with the most complicated formulas possible. It begins with a clear question, suitable methods and reasoning that can be followed step by step.

Important for every assessment sessionRequirements and assessment criteria can change. PreLearning therefore separates general working guidance from version-specific rules. The current official IB documents and the school's instructions remain authoritative.
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25-point PreCheck for an IA or EE

Send an anonymised paper by email and receive a locally produced, prioritised review. Only a fictional demo is shown online.

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The complete topic list on one page

Compare every suggestion using compact codes for IA or EE, AA or Math AI, SL or HL, personal engagement, equipment and safety.

Open 1037 topics
IA or EE?

Two different forms of mathematical work.

Both require independent thinking and clear mathematics. Their purpose, scope and research demand are not the same.

IA

Exploration within the Mathematics course

The IA is a subject-based investigation within Mathematics AA or AI. It should show how an individual question is explored, communicated and reflected on using appropriate mathematics.

  • connected to course and level
  • clearly bounded exploration
  • internally marked and subject to IB moderation
EE

Independent research paper

The Mathematics EE investigates a focused mathematical question in greater depth. It needs a coherent line of reasoning, appropriate use of sources and critical evaluation of the results.

  • part of the DP Core
  • up to 4,000 words
  • externally assessed by the IB
Working route

Four decisions give the paper direction.

This sequence reduces the risk of choosing an interesting topic without suitable mathematics.

Clarify the interest

Which real or abstract relationship is genuinely interesting?

Focus the question

Which variable, relationship, structure or claim will be investigated?

Check the mathematics

Are the methods, data and tools appropriate and understood well enough?

Evaluate the outcome

What does the result mean, what limits remain and what could be improved?

Academic integrity

Understand similarity and AI detection separately.

Turnitin Similarity, AI Writing and independent detectors answer different questions. Both guides are again fully connected to the IA & EE area.

Independent work

Examples are tools for analysis—not templates to reproduce.

Good examples help students recognise structure, mathematical communication and reflection. The research question, text, derivations, data, figures and code must still emerge from the student's own investigation.

Use examples responsibly

Start with an idea—not a finished template.

The topic finder presents mixed starting points and shows possible mathematics, data and extensions.

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