Maths HL IA

[Harry Yoon]

Hello,

 

I am currently preparing my maths IA and I am doing maths HL.

 

I have thought about a topic to do, but recently I heard that for maths HL students we have to write an IA on out of syllabus topic, a much more advanced maths.

 

Is this true? People who have achieved high marks in Maths HL IA can you please tell me the truth?

Thank you! 

[eross]

Hello,

 

I am currently preparing my maths IA and I am doing maths HL.

 

I have thought about a topic to do, but recently I heard that for maths HL students we have to write an IA on out of syllabus topic, a much more advanced maths.

 

Is this true? People who have achieved high marks in Maths HL IA can you please tell me the truth?

Thank you! 

 

I havent gotten a grade for my IA yet (I'll get it in july with all the rest of the grades) but I know that you don't have to make it on an out of syllabus topic. You CAN, and if you do it well and understand what you're doing that will get you lots of points in criterion E (use of mathematics). BUT if you do it on a topic thats too hard to understand and/or explain, you might lose points in this criterion and in criterion A (communication) because you didn't explain it well. 

 

You can do it on a topic that you've studied in class, but you need to find some new application/exploration with it. Make it personal, relate it to something that you care about/like/have an interest in and make sure you EXPLAIN  and SHOW this connection-- just putting something like "I like music so I did this IA about guitar chords" won't do it. Also, choose a topic that is in the HL syllabus but that is not SL. Choosing an SL topic will get you a maximum of 3/6 points in criterion E. However, you can decide to choose an SL topic and lose 3 points in that criterion, but explain it well and get all the points in the other criteria... that could still earn you 16 or 17 marks out of 20, which isn't bad at all. 

 

In the end it's your choice. You know your math abilities and you know how much time you have/want to put into it. An out of syllabus topic will probably take more work and time, while a topic you covered in class will be less time consuming. Both have potential, it just depends on what you're doing, how you're doing it, and if you explain it well. My advice: read all the criteria and keep them in mind while you work on your IA, so you know how to earn the marks you need. Good luck!