Choosing the appropriate internal assessment (IA) for your mathematics IB class can seem somewhat problematic. We understand that you want to “WOW” whoever marks your paper to ensure you receive the best grade possible.
To decrease the stress caused by selecting a good and well-rounded internal assessment for mathematics, you’ll want to familiarise yourself with the below. Here we discuss various IAs which have proven themselves to be high scorers.
The best topics for your maths internal assessment
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then you will know the Best Mathematics Internal Assessment Topics
1. The time needed to crack a password
The first and most interesting internal assessment we want to discuss for mathematics is cracking a password. A subject like this is superb, as it’s something that may make us second-think what passwords we opt-in for.
During the Internal assessment, you’ll want to explore how long it’ll take you to guess a password of numbers, letters (lower and uppercase), and special characters. The best papers that explore this topic tend to uncover the speed of cracking specific digit passwords. For example, how long will it take you to crack a four-character password, five, ten, and so forth.
The conclusion should really come down to how safe each password is and the time taken to crack in contrast with the number of characters within the code. Without a doubt, this is one of the more fascinating internal assessments due to how regularly we use passwords within our lives.
2. Rock, paper, and scissors: which should you choose?
If knowing the mathematics behind cracking passwords isn’t something you want to conduct an assessment on, you may want to head back to your childhood. Yes, you can perform an internal assessment with one of the most prevalent childhood games, rock, paper and scissors.
You may have thought your entire life that rock, paper and scissors is purely a matter of luck. After all, they all share the same probability of a 1/3. However, studies have shown that mathematics can exploit human psychology and provide you a significant edge when playing the game.
The only downside to this internal assessment is data. To obtain relevant data for this study, you’ll need various candidates to play multiple rock, paper, and scissor games. If you want to understand this study better, check out this famous one from Zhijian Wang.
When studying this assessment, the whole goal is to determine whether or not you can mathematically know what hand to display to enhance your chances of winning.
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3. The similarities between mathematics and photography
Another exciting topic you’re able to explore is the similarities that both mathematics and photography display. Typically, this is the relationship between both the geometric sequence and the camera’s aperture, but you could also discuss shutter speed, lens diameter, and the rule of
thirds.
Needless to say, the most popular and exciting topics are about both geometric sequences and the camera’s aperture. During this assessment, you’ll want to explore one of the most widely used sequences in photography, the f-stop. The f-stop primary focuses on the lens’s focal length and how much light you allow into the sensor via the aperture opening.
4. Modeling a virus and its spread
Moving further down the list, and the following internal assessment is all about modelling a virus and its spread. Considering our current situation with covid-19, you have a lot of highly detailed data, making research somewhat easier.
During this internal assessment, you’ll want to showcase the speed a virus can spread and how long it can wipe out an entire population, depending on its mortality rate. Although this has been a go-to idea for many mathematics IA’s, it could be fascinating with the newly presented data.
If you want to gain a better insight into modelling a virus and its spread, check out this highly detailed piece from the NCBI.
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5. Understanding the patterns of Pascal’s triangle
Lastly, another internal assessment you can conduct is understanding and showcasing the patterns found in Pascal’s triangle. This type of study has been a popular choice for years and is something that has a vast amount of helpful information online.
When developing this piece, you can either highly detail one pattern you’ve found within Pascal’s triangle or review a broad amount. To get a better understanding of this, here are some pattern recommendations.
• The symmetrical nature of the triangle
• How each row of digits form powers of 11
• How a Sierpinski triangle can be formed from a pascal’s triangle
As you can see, there are various internal assessments you can opt-in for that’ll get you an exceptional score if conducted correctly. To increase your chances of success, you may want to become knowledgeable on the below:
What makes an excellent internal assessment in mathematics?
A good topic to study for your IB mathematics internal assessment is crucial. However, having an excellent topic may not be enough. You also need to conduct the piece well. Here are some tips on how you’re able to achieve that:
1. When developing an internal assessment, you’ll want to use simple and clear language. Remember, whoever is presented the study will need to understand it in simple terms. Failing this could cost you valuable marks.
2. The essay needs to be around six to twelve pages, so you’ll want to select a topic that can easily surpass this recommended range.
3. It would help if you also had an interesting topic. This will help both you and the reader become more engaged with the internal assessment.
4. If you can, try to make it fresh. Presenting a different maths internal assessment than the rest of your class/group will undoubtedly increase your marks.
5. Lastly, make sure your internal assessment has a clear connection with either one or more mathematical fields—for example, calculus, geometry, probability, or statistics, etc.
Hopefully, after reading the above, your imagination is switched on, and you’re eager to start developing your internal assessment for mathematics.
So, what are you waiting for? Start conducting some research, gather data, and begin finalising your essay.
