IB Maths and Physics IA Timeline: A Parent's Guide

IB Maths and Physics internal assessments are completed over the two-year Diploma, but the real work usually falls between the spring of the first year and the winter of the second. The IB sets only the final submission deadline for schools; every earlier date, from topic choice to first draft, is set by your child's school.

What an IA is.

The internal assessment (IA) is a piece of coursework written during the course, marked first by the school teacher and then checked by the IB. In Maths it is called the exploration, in Physics the scientific investigation. The two years of the Diploma are usually called DP1 and DP2.

Why the school calendar matters more than the IB one.

The IB requires schools to submit IA marks and a sample of work for checking in the months before the May exams (or before November for schools on the November session). Schools then work backwards, so the final internal deadline commonly lands somewhere between December and March of DP2.

The typical sequence.

The table below shows the pattern most schools follow for a May exam session. Your child's school will shift the dates, but the order of the steps is the same everywhere, because it follows IB rules on drafts and feedback.

Two rules that shape the timeline.

First, the teacher may give written feedback on one draft only; after that, the student revises alone. Second, the Extended Essay (a 4,000 word research essay every Diploma student writes) and the IAs in four or five other subjects often fall due in the same months, so Maths and Physics compete for the same weeks.

The internal assessment counts for 20% of the final grade in IB Maths, in both Analysis and Approaches (AA) and Applications and Interpretation (AI), at HL and SL, and 20% in IB Physics at HL and SL. It is the only part of the grade your child completes before the exams, without time pressure.

The terms in plain words.

HL (Higher Level) and SL (Standard Level) are the two depths at which a subject is studied; HL covers more content and harder papers. AA is the more algebraic, proof-based Maths course; AI leans on modelling, statistics and technology. Each subject is graded on a scale from 1 (lowest) to 7 (highest).

How the two IAs differ.

The Maths exploration is a personal investigation of a mathematical idea, 12 to 20 pages long, marked out of 20 across five criteria: Presentation (4 marks), Mathematical communication (4), Personal engagement (3), Reflection (3) and Use of mathematics (6). The Physics investigation is an experiment of the student's own design, reported in at most 3,000 words and marked out of 24 across four criteria worth 6 marks each: Research design, Data analysis, Conclusion and Evaluation.

What your child actually faces.

A typical AA exploration might film a basketball shot, fit the path to a curve such as $y = ax^2 + bx + c$, and then test how well the model predicts where the ball lands. In AA HL, the Use of mathematics criterion expects work at the level of the course, so averages and bar charts alone will not score well.

Why the teacher's mark is not final.

The teacher marks the IA, then the IB checks (moderates) a sample from the school and can move marks up or down for the whole class. The draft also matters earlier: teachers set predicted grades, the grades sent to universities, often in the autumn of DP2. You can read more in how IB predicted grades work and in the full IB internal assessment guide.

A student whose IB Maths or Physics IA is behind schedule has four realistic options: a written catch-up plan, a narrower topic, a conversation with the teacher about the internal deadline, or structured outside teaching. Which one fits comes down to two facts you can check: how many weeks remain, and whether the topic itself works.

Option 1: a written catch-up plan.

This fits a child who is two or three weeks behind with a sound topic. It keeps full ownership with your child and costs nothing, but it only works if the plan is written week by week and checked.

Option 2: narrow the topic.

This fits a child stuck on an over-ambitious idea, such as an exploration on general relativity, or a Physics experiment whose data cannot be collected at school. A narrower question often scores higher, because the Physics Research design criterion rewards a focused, answerable question and the Maths criteria reward depth over breadth.

Option 3: talk to the teacher about the internal deadline.

School deadlines sometimes have room to move after illness or a genuine overload; the IB deadline does not. A short, honest email from your child, copied to you, is more effective than a parent asking for an extension alone.

Option 4: structured outside support.

A tutor can teach the maths or physics behind the topic and explain what each criterion asks for. A tutor cannot write, edit or correct the IA: your child signs a declaration that the work is their own, and the teacher must confirm it.

A worked example: six weeks to a final Maths deadline.

Suppose the first draft came back with the comment that the Reflection and Use of mathematics criteria are weak. A realistic plan looks like this:

• Week 1: reread the teacher's written feedback and list every point to fix.
• Week 2: complete the missing calculations for Use of mathematics.
• Week 3: add reflection after each result: what it means, where the model fails.
• Week 4: reread the whole exploration against all five criteria.
• Week 5: check presentation: page count, labelled graphs, references.
• Week 6: buffer week, then submit a few days early.

Parents help most with an IB Maths or Physics IA by managing time and asking questions, not by touching the content. Put the school's deadlines on a shared calendar, ask your child to explain the topic in two minutes, and check that each milestone is met. The writing, the maths and the physics must stay entirely your child's.

Questions that help.

You do not need to know the subject to ask: What is your research question, in one sentence? What did the teacher say about your draft? Which criterion is your weakest, and what will you do about it this week? A child who answers clearly is usually on track.

Where the line is.

Reading the draft and saying a paragraph is hard to follow is fine. Rewriting sentences, fixing calculations or suggesting the structure is not, and it puts the IA at risk under the IB's academic integrity rules. The same line applies to older siblings and family friends.

Warning signs that call for extra support.

• The topic has changed more than twice after the end of DP1.
• Your child cannot state the research question in one sentence.
• No draft was handed in by the school's first-draft date.
• Physics data is still to be collected after the lab window has closed.
• The mathematics is below the level of the course, for example only averages in AA HL.
• Your child says it is fine but will not show a single page.

One sign on its own is common; two or more together mean it is time to email the teacher this week. For the wider picture of the two years, see our guide to supporting an IB student.

At the start of DP2, ask the school three things: the internal deadlines for the Maths and Physics IA drafts and finals, when predicted grades are set, and whether IA draft marks feed into them. With those dates in hand, you can see at a glance whether your child is on track for both the IB and university applications.

Why the university calendar matters.

Universities receive predicted grades, not final results, when your child applies. UCAS, the UK application system, has a 15 October deadline for Oxford, Cambridge and most medicine courses, so for those applicants predicted grades are fixed early in DP2, often before the IA is finished.

The questions to put in one email.

• What are the first-draft and final deadlines for the Maths and Physics IAs?
• When will predicted grades be set, and does the IA draft count?
• Is my child's Maths or Physics topic suitable for the level (HL or SL)?
• What is the procedure if my child is ill near a deadline?

Your next step.

Send that email this week, add the replies to your calendar, and agree a weekly check-in with your child. If two or more warning signs are already present, ask for a short meeting with the Maths or Physics teacher rather than waiting for the next parents' evening.