Weekly Starter Tasks

3 recall questions per week · 12 weeks × 3 terms · Analysis and Approaches (AA) and Applications and Interpretation (AI), SL and HL. Free for everyone: every week, with the answers and M/A mark schemes.

Looking for the full Warm-ups, Starters & MCQ Plenary Library? Every one of these weekly warm-ups (plus 600 exam-style and 600 MCQ plenary questions across the four IB Math courses) is filterable by category, difficulty and paper in the library — 1,680 questions in total.

Free for teachers and students, no sign-in needed: pick a course and week, show the answers, project it or print it. Want the questions as a list to read through? See the starter questions by week.

Loading this week's starter…

What the IB Maths weekly starters cover

There are three questions a week for 40 teaching weeks in each of the four courses, following the order most schools teach the course in. The first topics each term:

SL AA · Analysis and Approaches. Term 1 (weeks 1–13): Number Systems, Scientific Notation, Algebraic Manipulation, Linear Equations; Term 2 (weeks 14–26): Non-Right-Angled Trigonometry, Radian Measure, Arcs & Sectors, The Unit Circle & Exact Values, Trigonometric Functions & Graphs; Term 3 (weeks 27–40): Normal Distribution, The Derivative, Differentiation Rules, Tangents and Normals.

SL AI · Applications and Interpretation. Term 1 (weeks 1–13): Number & Approximation, Arithmetic Sequences, Geometric Sequences, Financial Mathematics; Term 2 (weeks 14–26): Solving Equations, Modelling Functions, 3D Coordinate Geometry, Right-Angled Trigonometry; Term 3 (weeks 27–40): Conditional Probability, Binomial Distribution, Normal Distribution, Chi-Square Test.

HL AA · Analysis and Approaches. Term 1 (weeks 1–13): Sequences & Series, Exponents & Logarithms, Financial Mathematics, Combinatorics; Term 2 (weeks 14–26): Radians & Reciprocal Trig, Inverse Trig & Identities, Trig Functions & Equations, Vectors; Term 3 (weeks 27–40): Limits & L'Hôpital's Rule, Differentiation Rules, Advanced Differentiation, Function Analysis.

HL AI · Applications and Interpretation. Term 1 (weeks 1–13): Logs & Infinite Geometric Series, Complex Numbers I, Complex Numbers II, Matrices; Term 2 (weeks 14–26): Poisson Distribution, Random Variable Properties, Sampling & Confidence Intervals, Markov Chains; Term 3 (weeks 27–40): .

Using them in a lesson

Put the week's three questions on the board as students arrive, give them about five minutes, then show the answers and the M and A marks. Questions recall earlier work, so a wrong answer tells you what to revisit before the new topic. Choose another week from the list to match where your class is.

The same questions are listed by week on the starter questions page. For practice on each topic: AA SL · AI SL · AA HL · AI HL.

Something went wrong

Weekly Starter Tasks

What the IB Maths weekly starters cover

Using them in a lesson