IB MYP Mathematics eAssessment: Task-by-Task Exam Preparation

The full syllabus guide sets out what the 2-hour on-screen eAssessment covers – three tasks, each drawing on different criteria, worth 31-35 marks each. These notes prepare you task by task, with a worked practice scenario, alongside the subject overview and assessment revision notes already on the site.

Task 1: Knowing and understanding (criteria A and C)

This task tests whether you can select and apply mathematics – from any of the four branches (numerical and abstract reasoning, thinking with models, spatial reasoning, reasoning with data) – to solve problems in both familiar and unfamiliar situations. The exam-preparation priority here is breadth: because the task can draw on any branch, revision that only deepens one or two favourite branches leaves real gaps. Build a short self-audit list covering all four branches and rate your confidence in each honestly before allocating remaining revision time, rather than assuming even coverage.

Task 2: Investigating patterns (criteria B and C)

This task asks you to work through a mathematical investigation as a risk-taker, inquirer and critical thinker – typically starting from a simple case, identifying a pattern, expressing that pattern algebraically, and then testing whether it holds generally. The exam-preparation skill that separates strong from weak answers here is not spotting a pattern (most candidates can do this) but justifying and testing it: state the pattern as a general rule, then explicitly check it against a case you have not yet used, rather than stopping once the rule “looks right” for the cases already tried.

Task 3: Applying mathematics in real-life contexts (criteria C and D)

This task transfers theoretical knowledge into a real-world situation, requiring valid conclusions and reflection on results, and is where extended written justification is most often required.

Worked practice scenario

A community garden tracks how many volunteers arrive over the first few Saturdays it is open. The data is modelled by the equation V = -2t^2 + 16t, where V is the number of volunteers and t is the number of Saturdays since opening (t = 0 on the first Saturday).

• Calculate step: substitute t = 3 into the model. V = -2(9) + 16(3) = -18 + 48 = 30 volunteers.
• Validity step (the step most students skip): check whether the model stays realistic across the range it is being used for. Because the model is quadratic with a negative leading coefficient, it eventually predicts a decreasing, then negative, number of volunteers as t grows – solving -2t^2 + 16t = 0 gives t = 0 or t = 8, so the model predicts zero volunteers by the eighth Saturday and negative volunteers beyond that, which is not a realistic real-world outcome. A complete answer states this limitation explicitly: the model is only a reasonable fit for a limited range of t (roughly the first few Saturdays), not for predicting attendance indefinitely into the future.
• Extended task (standard mathematics): use the model to state the maximum number of volunteers and when it occurs, by finding the turning point (t = 4, giving V = 32).
• Extended task (extended mathematics): solve the model algebraically for t given a target volunteer number – for example, find the two values of t at which V = 30 (solving -2t^2 + 16t = 30 gives t = 3 or t = 5), and explain why there are two valid answers rather than one.

This calculate-then-critically-evaluate structure – arrive at a number, then explicitly comment on whether that number is realistic given the model’s limitations – runs through Task 3 generally, not just in this one example.

Task-by-task exam checklist

• Before the exam: rate your confidence across all four branches, not just your strongest one; practise stating a general rule from a pattern and then testing it against an unused case; practise writing a one- or two-sentence validity comment after every real-world calculation you do in revision, so it becomes automatic rather than an afterthought in the exam itself.
• During the exam: show full working and correct mathematical notation on every task, since criterion C (communicating) is assessed across all three tasks, not confined to one; on Task 3, never submit a bare final number without at least one sentence addressing whether the result is realistic; on Task 2, write out the general pattern explicitly in algebraic form before moving on, rather than leaving it implicit in your working.
• Extended mathematics students specifically: expect Task 3’s algebraic-solving requirement (as in the worked scenario’s second value of t) in addition to the standard substitution-based question, and practise recognising when a quadratic or other model genuinely has two valid real-world solutions versus only one.

Self-test

1. Which criteria does Task 1 (Knowing and understanding) draw on, and what does “familiar and unfamiliar situations” mean for how you should revise?
2. In Task 2, what is the difference between spotting a pattern and justifying one?
3. Using the worked scenario’s model V = -2t^2 + 16t, what is the maximum number of volunteers predicted, and at what value of t does it occur?
4. Why is a bare calculated answer, with no validity comment, an incomplete response on Task 3?
5. Which criterion is assessed across all three eAssessment tasks rather than confined to one?

Answers: 1. Criteria A and C; because the task can draw on any of the four branches in either familiar or unfamiliar situations, revision needs to cover all four branches rather than only the ones you find most comfortable. 2. Spotting a pattern means noticing it holds for the cases you have tried; justifying it means expressing it as a general rule and explicitly testing that rule against a case you have not yet used. 3. 32 volunteers, occurring at t = 4 (the turning point of the quadratic model). 4. Because Task 3 specifically rewards drawing a valid, well-justified conclusion from a real-life situation, not just arriving at a numeric answer – a model can produce a mathematically correct number that is not a realistic real-world result, and the task expects you to recognise and state that. 5. Criterion C (communicating).

Official syllabus

International Baccalaureate Organization, Middle Years Programme Subject Brief – Mathematics, from 2020, first assessment 2022 – the same source already cited by the full syllabus guide, which first described the three eAssessment tasks and their mark allocations from it. The worked practice scenario above is an original example written for this resource, modelled on the task style the official brief describes, not a reproduction of any specific past or sample eAssessment question.