IB Diploma · session May 2027

Mathematics: applications and interpretation

Guide first assessed in May 2021, which is the guide May 2027 and May 2028 candidates sit.

Mocks: in the future, hold tight!

Topic 1

The theory The syllabus content of this unit, explained in order. Read → Worked examples Answers written the way a scheme rewards, with the commentary that explains the marks. Read → Practice test A timed test on this unit, with the marks shown against each part. Read → Mark scheme What earns each mark, point by point, and what is accepted instead. Read →

The course in one page

The course in one page. Standard and higher level, for the guide first assessed in May 2021, which is the guide May 2027 and May 2028 candidates sit. The next AI course is first taught from August 2027 and first assessed in May 2029.

What the course is

Applications and interpretation is the modelling course. Where analysis and approaches asks you to prove a result exactly, this course hands you a real situation and asks which mathematics fits it, what the answer means, and how much to trust it.

That difference shows up most clearly in one rule: a graphic display calculator is required on every paper, at both levels. There is no non-calculator paper. You are never being tested on whether you can compute — you are being tested on whether you set the computation up correctly and can say what the output means.

Choose it if you want mathematics for economics, biology, geography, psychology, design or business. It is not the easier course; it is a different one, and it is markedly heavier on statistics.

The five topics

	Topic	What it is really about
1	Number and algebra	Approximation and error, sequences, and financial mathematics.
2	Functions	Choosing a model to fit data, then reading the model back into context.
3	Geometry and trigonometry	Real triangles, 3D solids, and — distinctively — Voronoi diagrams.
4	Statistics and probability	The largest topic. Sampling, correlation, and formal hypothesis testing.
5	Calculus	Rate of change and area, used to describe how a modelled quantity behaves.

The papers

	Standard level	Higher level
Paper 1	90 min, 80 marks, technology required	120 min, 110 marks, technology required
Paper 2	90 min, 80 marks, technology required	120 min, 110 marks, technology required
Paper 3	—	75 min, 55 marks, two extended-response problems

Paper 3 is higher level only and is the most distinctive assessment in either mathematics course: two long, scaffolded investigations where later parts depend on earlier ones and the final part usually asks you to comment on the model's limitations. Reading the whole question before starting part (a) matters more here than anywhere else in the DP.

How it is marked

Marks come in three kinds — M for method, A for accuracy, R for reasoning — and one convention on this course is worth more marks than any other single fact:

Unless told otherwise, give answers to three significant figures. Not two, not four, not "as many as the calculator showed". An otherwise perfect answer written as 4.7 when 4.72 was required loses the accuracy mark. Work to full calculator accuracy throughout and round once, at the end — rounding at an intermediate step and carrying it forward is the standard way to be out in the third figure.

Exact answers are always acceptable where they are exact. π/3 never loses a mark.

Assessment objectives

		Roughly
AO1	Knowledge and understanding	recall and routine technique
AO2	Problem solving	choosing a model or method when none is named
AO3	Communication and reasoning	interpretation, justification, notation

The AO3 marks on this course are disproportionately about interpretation in context. A question that ends "…comment on your answer" or "…in the context of the model" wants a sentence about the situation, not about the mathematics. "The gradient is 2.4" scores nothing; "the population grows by about 2.4 thousand per year" scores the mark.

Command words, and what each one obliges you to write

Word	What must appear on the page
Write down	The answer alone. No working expected; no method marks available.
Find / Calculate	Answer with enough working to show where it came from.
Determine	As find, with a decision or justification attached.
Show that	A route from the given start to the given end. The answer is printed, so all marks are in the steps.
Hence	You must use the previous part. A fresh method scores zero.
Estimate	A value from a model or a sample, usually with an implied comment on reliability.
Comment on / Interpret	A sentence about the situation, in its units. Pure mathematics scores nothing.
Sketch	Shape, intercepts and asymptotes, labelled.
State	A short factual answer, no justification needed.

Educerie · written from the published IB Diploma Programme structure for Mathematics: applications and interpretation, first assessment 2021, the guide in force for the May 2027 and May 2028 sessions. Original text. Paper durations and mark totals checked against the May 2027 examination schedule. Last reviewed 9 September 2026.