Complete Guide to New IB Maths Courses

Choosing what maths to study is confusing for many, you’re not alone! Whether you’ve chosen your maths class for next year or not, I thought it would be helpful to create a super simple guide to the new IB maths courses. Read on for an easy explanation!

What can I choose?

You can choose between Maths: Analysis and Approaches and Maths: Applications and Interpretation. Both subjects will be offered at SL and HL. The SL maths courses mean 150 hours of classes, whilst a HL maths course is taught over 240 hours (remember, these class hours are spread over two years – phew!!!). Knowing the amount of time you’ll be spending on a subject is a good way to decide which level to take. Think to yourself: do I really want to have 240 hours of maths, or am I more suited to 150 hours? But what differentiates (maths joke, get it) the two courses is how they approach mathematics. Here’s a quick break down of the two subjects:

As I often tell pre IB students, when choosing your IB subjects it’s a great idea to think a bit further ahead to what you might want to study at University. So, when choosing which of these maths options (and at which level) to take, don’t be scared to approach your maths teacher or IB Coordinator for advice. If you have a subject or course in mind for University, ask for their opinion as to which maths option might be best!

Subject Breakdown

Five topics will be covered in each of the new maths courses. These are:

• Number and algebra – check out this link to Khan Academy’s great algebra content
• Functions
• Geometry and trigonometry
• Statistics and probability – click here to watch our free IB maths course on statistics
• Calculus

However, the emphasis on each of these topics varies depending on the maths course and what level you’re studying. This handy graph provides a summary of each course and its weighting of the five topics:

For more details on the maths subject breakdown, check out this blog from the IBO.

Additional Materials

Some of you may have already come across the legendary GDC, also known as the graphic display calculator (or ‘the brick’ as I liked to call it). Well don’t you worry, because this bad boy is once again a requirement for the new maths courses. Get ready to lug this unnecessarily huge calculator around school for at least two years.

I hope this blog has given you a quick guide to the changes regarding the IB maths courses. If you’re still unsure as to which of the new courses is right for you, don’t hesitate to speak with your maths teacher or IB Coordinator. They should be able to help you make the right choice!