With three weeks to go, revise from your mistakes rather than from your notes. Sit one timed paper to find your gaps, spend the next fortnight fixing the biggest of them with exam-style questions and full papers, and use the last few days to sharpen and rest. For the November 2026 session, Paper 1 for every IB Maths course is on Monday 9 November, so if you start on Monday 19 October you have exactly 21 days.
This post sets out how I would spend those three weeks with a student in front of me. If you want the day-by-day version with a link for every task, there is one for each course: AA SL, AA HL, AI SL and AI HL.
Your November 2026 dates
| Paper | Date | Courses |
|---|---|---|
| Paper 1 | Monday 9 November, afternoon | AA and AI, SL and HL |
| Paper 2 | Tuesday 10 November, morning | AA and AI, SL and HL |
| Paper 3 | Friday 13 November, afternoon | AA HL and AI HL only |
SL papers are 1 hour 30 minutes and HL Papers 1 and 2 are 2 hours. Paper 1 and Paper 2 are on consecutive days, so you will not have time to revise between them. Plan for that now. The full table, with sources, is on our IB Maths exam dates page.
Week 1: find out what is actually costing you marks
Day 1: rate every topic. Go through your syllabus and mark each topic red, amber or green. Be honest: amber means "I can do it with my notes open", not "I did it last year".
Day 2: sit a timed Paper 1. Do it in one sitting, at the real length, with no calculator for AA. Then mark it strictly against the markscheme. Every lost mark goes on a list with three columns: the question, the topic, and why you lost it (did not know the method, slip, wrong form, ran out of time).
Days 3 to 7: fix the reds, biggest first. Take the topics that lost you the most marks and work through exam-style questions on each, easiest to hardest. Read the worked solution only after a genuine attempt. At the end of the week, redo every question on your list without looking.
The "why" column matters more than the topic column. A student who loses marks to slips needs a different week from one who cannot start the integration questions.
Week 2: full papers, marked like the real thing
This is the week to get used to the clock. Sit Paper 1 early in the week and Paper 2 later in the week, both timed, and mark each one the next day. Use the gaps between papers for topic questions on whatever the papers exposed.
When you mark, go line by line. IB markschemes give method marks (M), accuracy marks (A) and reasoning marks (R), and a wrong final answer can still earn most of the marks if the method is on the page. If you have not read it yet, our guide to how mark schemes work explains every code in about ten minutes.
For the calculator papers, practise switching your GDC into exam mode and back, and check the angle setting before every paper. The calculator exam mode guide has the steps for each model.
Week 3: sharpen, then rest
Sit one more full paper at the start of the week. After that, stop doing new papers. Spend the remaining days redoing the questions on your mistakes list, learning the formulas that are not in the booklet, and reading through command terms such as "show that" and "hence", which each ask for something different.
The day before Paper 1, do something light: one short topic, check your equipment, and get an early night. One more hour of revision late at night is worth less than the sleep.
A worked example: the kind of mark that slips away
Here is a question of the sort that appears on AA Paper 1. Most students know the method. The marks are lost in the last line.
Example · Paper 1 style · 5 marks
Solve $\log_2 x + \log_2 (x - 2) = 3$.
Solution
Combine the logs with the product law:
$$\log_2 \big(x(x-2)\big) = 3$$
Rewrite in exponential form: $x(x - 2) = 2^3 = 8$.
So $x^2 - 2x - 8 = 0$, which factorises as $(x - 4)(x + 2) = 0$, giving $x = 4$ or $x = -2$.
Now check each value in the original equation. When $x = -2$, $\log_2 x$ is not defined, because you cannot take the log of a negative number. So $x = -2$ is rejected, and the only solution is $x = 4$.
Students who stop at "$x = 4$ or $x = -2$" lose the final mark. Students who cross out $-2$ without saying why can lose it too. Write the reason in words. That kind of loss belongs in the "why" column of your list, and you fix it by doing five more questions where you have to reject a solution.
What to stop doing
Three habits feel productive but are not worth much in the last three weeks.
- Rewriting your notes. If you have notes, use them to look things up while you answer questions, and leave it at that.
- Watching worked solutions without trying first. It feels like understanding. In the exam, the page is blank.
- Starting new resources. Pick one source of exam-style questions and one set of papers and finish them, rather than sampling ten.
How long each day?
There is no magic number, and it depends on how many other subjects you are sitting. A useful shape is one focused block of maths most days, long enough to do a set of questions properly and mark them, rather than a long session once a week. On full-paper days, the paper plus the marking is the day's maths.
If you are behind
If week 1 shows a lot of red, do not try to cover everything. Pick the topics that appear most often on your papers and that you can realistically fix, and make sure the "easy" marks on every paper are secure: answers in the right form, exact values on Paper 1, correct rounding on Paper 2. Those marks are available to everyone.
Save your plan
A free account (no card) adds 5 more practice questions on every topic with instant feedback, full worked answers on free questions, and your streak and progress on any device. On the 3-week plans it also saves your ticks, and the study planner builds a timetable from your own weak topics. Create a free account, then open the plan for your course.
Start today
Rate your topics, then book a 90-minute slot (or 2 hours at HL) in the next two days for a timed Paper 1. Everything else in the three weeks is built from what that paper shows you.
Practise this topic
FAQ
Is 3 weeks enough time to revise for IB Maths?
It is enough to make a real difference if you spend it on timed papers and on the questions you get wrong, rather than on rereading notes. Three weeks will not teach a course from scratch, so put your time into the topics that are costing you the most marks.
When is IB Maths Paper 1 in November 2026?
Monday 9 November 2026, in the afternoon, for AA and AI at SL and HL. Paper 2 is on the morning of Tuesday 10 November, and HL Paper 3 is on the afternoon of Friday 13 November. Your IB coordinator confirms local start times.
Should I do past papers or topic questions in the last three weeks?
Both, in that order of importance. Full timed papers show you what to fix; topic questions fix it. A good rhythm is one full paper every few days and topic practice on the days in between.
A free day-by-day plan for AA SL, AA HL, AI SL and AI HL, counted back from Paper 1 on 9 November 2026, with a link to the right page for every task.
Open your 3-week plan →