IB Mock Results in Maths and Physics: A Parent's Guide

An IB mock grade in Maths or Physics tells you how your child performed on one set of past or school-written papers, on one day, several months before the final exams. It is converted to the IB 1 to 7 scale using grade boundaries chosen by the school, and it leaves out the internal assessment entirely.

Where the mock sits in the year.

The IB Diploma (DP) runs over two years, and most schools hold mocks in the second year, between December and February for a May exam session. Your child usually has not finished the syllabus yet, so some topics on the mock may have been taught weeks earlier and never revised.

Who sets the boundaries.

The IB publishes official grade boundaries only after each real session, and they move from session to session. For a mock, the school picks its own conversion, often borrowed from a past session and sometimes deliberately strict to motivate students. Two schools can turn the same raw score into different grades.

What is missing.

In IB Mathematics and IB Physics, the internal assessment (IA, the coursework project marked by the teacher and moderated by the IB) counts for 20% of the final grade. The mock does not include it. A strong IA can lift a borderline exam performance, and a weak one can pull it down.

How it connects to the predicted grade.

At many schools the mock is one of the inputs for the predicted grade, the teacher's estimate sent to universities. How that estimate is built, and how to raise it, is covered in our guide to IB predicted grades; here the focus is reading the mock itself.

Read an IB mock paper by paper, because each paper tests a different skill. In Maths, Paper 1 and Paper 2 differ in calculator use (for AA) and Paper 3 exists only at HL. In Physics, Paper 1A is multiple choice, Paper 1B is data analysis and Paper 2 is long written problems.

IB Mathematics, AA and AI.

IB Maths comes in two courses: Analysis and Approaches (AA, more algebra and proof) and Applications and Interpretation (AI, more statistics and modelling). Each is offered at Standard Level (SL) or Higher Level (HL, more content and an extra paper). In AA, Paper 1 forbids the graphing calculator (GDC) and Paper 2 requires it; in AI, both papers allow the GDC. HL students also sit Paper 3, a one hour paper of longer problem-solving questions.

IB Physics.

Since the May 2025 session, IB Physics has two exam papers. Paper 1 is split into 1A, multiple-choice questions, and 1B, questions built on experimental data. Paper 2 contains longer structured questions across the syllabus. SL and HL sit the same structure, with HL papers longer and covering extra topics.

What a gap between papers means.

A Maths AA student who scores well on Paper 2 but poorly on Paper 1 often understands the ideas but relies on the calculator for arithmetic, exact values or algebraic manipulation. For example, Paper 1 may ask for $\sin\frac{\pi}{6}$ or to solve $\log_2 x = 5$ by hand, which a GDC would do instantly. That is a fixable skill, not a lack of ability.

In Physics, strong Paper 1A but weak Paper 1B usually means the child knows the facts but struggles to read graphs, uncertainties and tables.

A low IB mock grade comes from knowledge errors, exam technique errors, or both. A knowledge error means the child did not know the method or the concept. A technique error means they knew it but lost marks on timing, missing working, units, significant figures or misreading the command word.

Why the distinction matters.

IB mark schemes award method marks (M) for a correct approach and accuracy marks (A) for the correct answer, and examiners can follow through an earlier mistake. A child who writes only a final answer can lose method marks even when the answer is right. That is technique, and a few weeks of focused practice usually fix it.

A worked reading, step by step.

Imagine a Physics student who loses marks on a kinematics question asking for the final speed of a cart.

• Step 1: check the method. They wrote $v = u + at$ and substituted correctly. Knowledge is there.
• Step 2: check the answer. They used a time in milliseconds without converting to seconds, so the result is wrong by a factor of 1000. That is a technique error (units).
• Step 3: check the next question, which asked them to "explain" a result. They gave a number with no reasoning. The command word "explain" demands a cause, so marks were lost on technique again.
• Step 4: tally. If most lost marks look like steps 2 and 3, the content is sound and the fix is exam practice, not reteaching.

When it is knowledge.

If the script shows blank answers, wrong formulas or a whole topic missed (for example calculus in Maths AA or electric fields in Physics), the gap is content. One missing topic is normal at mock time; the same gaps spread across Paper 1 and Paper 2 deserve a closer look.

After a disappointing IB mock in Maths or Physics, a parent has four realistic options: let it go, talk to the school, consider a change of level from HL to SL, or bring in a tutor. The right choice depends on the type of errors, the distance from the university target and the months left.

Let it go.

If the lost marks are mostly technique, the topics missed have not been revised yet, and the grade is within one point of the target, the mock has done its job. Your child needs a revision plan, not an intervention. Our IB exam preparation strategy shows how to build one around past papers.

Talk to the school.

Book a meeting with the subject teacher when the grade is two or more points below the target or you cannot tell what went wrong. Ask three questions: which topics cost the most marks, whether the predicted grade will change, and how the IA is going. The DP coordinator (the person who manages the Diploma at the school) is the right contact for questions about level changes and registration.

Change level.

Moving from HL to SL is a serious decision with university consequences: many engineering, physics and economics courses ask for Maths AA HL, and some ask for Physics HL. Check the entry requirements in our guide to IB score requirements for top universities before deciding. Schools also set internal deadlines for level changes, so ask early.

Bring in a tutor.

Extra help makes sense when the knowledge gaps repeat across papers, when the child has lost confidence, or when the school cannot give individual time. A good tutor starts from the marked mock, not from page one of the textbook.

A parent helps most after an IB mock by organising, not teaching: ask your child to explain the marked script to you, help them turn lost marks into a weekly revision list, and protect regular time for timed past papers. You do not need to know the Maths or Physics to do any of this.

Let your child be the expert.

Ask them to walk you through three questions they got wrong and say, for each one, whether they did not know it or knew it and slipped. Explaining a mistake out loud is one of the fastest ways to fix it, and it tells you whether they understand their own result.

Keep the plan visible.

A simple list on paper works: topic, paper, date practised. Past papers and mark schemes are the core of IB revision, and our page on where to find IB past papers explains which are reliable. A practice paper is only useful if your child marks it against the official mark scheme afterwards.

Warning signs that call for extra support.

Watch for these, rather than for one low number:

• the same topics missed in the mock and in class tests;
• avoiding Maths or Physics homework, or long evenings with little progress;
• the IA deadline approaching with no draft;
• statements like "I am just not a maths person" after years of doing well.

Any two of these together are a good reason to talk to the teacher this month, not after the next report.