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Topic selection is the first step of your math IA journey. A high-achieving math IA topic is unique, mathematically rigorous, and personally engaging. Most importantly, fully understanding the topic and executing the production of a well-written investigation should be manageable within the student’s academic aptitude. This is why the topic selection process can be troublesome for both students and teachers; finding the right topic that is just difficult enough to be intellectually stimulating, yet not too difficult to be beyond the student’s capabilities is an arduous drill that takes everyone involved on a roller coaster of emotions (e.g. excitement at the discovery of a topic, quickly followed by disappointment as one realizes one or more disqualifying factors for the topic). Teachers often reject a student's initial topic that does not fulfill the aforementioned criteria. Common reasons for topic rejection include:
If your topic is rejected, it is crucial to understand the specific reason. How can we lower the likelihood of a topic being rejected? And how can we wisely respond to topic rejection?

Overlapping topics with classmates

Your teacher may decline your topic if other classmates are already working on a similar topic. Some teachers may utilize a first come, first served policy when two students pitch similar research questions. Hence, you should start brainstorming as soon as possible and check with your teacher before writing the first draft to avoid overlapping with your classmates. Nevertheless, if your topic is rejected due to overlapping, you should try pivoting to a similar topic or you should quickly develop a new topic.

Cliché

Come on, we know everyone and their cousins did (Susceptible-Infected-Recovered) SIR epidemic modeling during the COVID years.
Are you sure you want a simple linear regression model to serve as the pinnacle highlight of your knowledge and understanding as an AA HL student?
A successful math IA topic should be distinctive and personal. In such cases, instead of starting from scratch, you should try to develop your original idea. For instance, the topic of the SIR model can be varied by adding more rigorous ideas, such as diffusion equation and graph theory, that have not been used in the past IAs. By pivoting to an adjacent topic of a higher difficulty, you can achieve a higher mark in Criterion E: Use of Mathematics and while still retaining your personal engagement story. You are always welcome to ask your school teacher and/or personal tutor for help in researching and understanding advanced mathematics that are slightly out of your league.

Overly difficult/ incomprehensible topics

(Are you sure you can solve the Navier-Stokes existence and smoothness problem? One of the seven millennium prize problems with a $1 million bounty on its head? Although a math IA should be academically challenging, it must be understandable to both the student and the examiner (a.k.a your teacher, as this is an internal assessment). If your teacher gets the impression that you do not comprehend your own topic and that your topic is unmanageable, they may decline your topic. Hence, you must do your due diligence in researching your topic to succinctly communicate your specific aim to your teacher and secure their support.  Thoroughly prepare a written proposal and oral elevator pitch that includes your aim, action plan, structure, and use of mathematics. Your teacher wants you to succeed, so they will accept your topic only if they are convinced of your ability to accomplish the proposed aim and deliver results. If you think that your teacher is being too conservative, even underestimating your ability to take on a challenging topic, you can still push through with your topic to convince him otherwise. However, being confrontational or insubordinate is not recommended;as your teacher is the ultimate decision maker who grades your IA (don’t bite the hand that feeds you!). More often that not, the safe choice is to  consider simplifying your topic to tone down the complexity/ difficulty of your topic.
As seen, topic selection is a highly delicate process that lays out the basis for a high-achieving math IA, and fulfilling all the required criteria for an outstanding topic may be extremely challenging for a student to accomplish independently. In such cases, you can receive external help from an experienced tutor. A veteran tutor will have experience successfully coaching numerous students to find the right IA topics tailored to a broad spectrum of interests and abilities.
Dealing with Topic Rejection
During the course of your math IA, you are entitled to only one official written feedback from your teacher, in accordance with IBO policy, so you better make the most out of this opportunity. Nevertheless, your teacher may happily provide occasional oral feedback to students who proactively ask for it. Although it is the teacher who gives you the feedback, your role is also essential in extracting useful feedback from them and effectively utilizing it to improve your draft.
Here are some suggestions to elicit quality feedback:

Submit a complete first draft

You will receive feedback covering all criteria of a math IA only if you submit a complete first draft. If your IA is incomplete or contains mechanical errors, such as mistakes in labels and figures and citation errors, you have no grounds to complain even when the teacher is giving feedback that feels closer to nitpicking and micromanaging. After all, how can your teacher focus on the bigger picture to give you holistic feedback if you haven't given them the full picture to begin with?
When it comes to your IA drafts, treat the first draft deadline as if it is your final deadline. Hold your first draft to the high standards as you would for your final submission to the IB. Trust me, even at this stage, you will be surprised at how many careless mistakes you might have missed and how much room there is for improvement.

Be proactive

Outside of the official feedback, you can casually ask the teacher for quick tips and general guidelines. You should be proactive and schedule short meetings with your teacher to receive sufficient feedback. However, some teachers may be highly strict about upholding the IB policy. Therefore, when you are asking for brief oral feedback, you should ask a specific question, rather than general feedback. For example, you can show them a paragraph or a graph, express your particular area of concern, and ask for directions for improvement. Remember to take notes during oral feedback; you can use voice recording if the teacher consents, but otherwise write down quick notes.
Examples of voice recording apps that have built in features for transcribing speech-to-text and generating summaries.
Otter.ai
Parrot.ai
Responding to Teacher Comments
It is essential to clearly know where your first IA draft is in the criteria. Depending on the teacher, you may get a numerical grade out of 20 on your first math IA draft. Otherwise, you can predict your own score based on the teacher’s comments. If you received a low score on the first draft, do not panic right away (that comes later, on the day before the deadline). Plenty of students were able to successfully improve their grades between their submissions of first draft and final draft. To do so, it is highly important that you do not react emotionally– for instance, nagging and begging for scores or getting your parents involved (the nuclear option to be used as a last resort; by last resort I mean NEVER)  which are strongly advised against. Then, what steps should we take to maximize your IA scores?

Calmly assess your situation from a realistic standpoint

Before taking action, you should assess your situation from an objective perspective. You should ask yourself,
Your teacher may have provided a certain improvement plan in the feedback.
For example,
In such a case, you should follow through with your teacher’s suggestions. If you received insufficient feedback from your teacher, you should be more proactive and set up meetings with your teacher to ask for further oral guidance.
Additionally, it is crucial to set reasonable expectations; have you always been a 7 student, but anomalously slipped with your IA? Or, have you always been a 5 student and received a mid-low score? Although 5 students are not limited to a score in the mid-low range, they should mentally prepare themselves for the uphill battle coming their way. If you want an exceptional score in your IA, put in the exceptional effort.

Take actions

There are two pathways for you in this step: retain your IA topic or restart your IA with a new topic.
If you decide that you will continue with your original topic, which would, in most circumstances, be the safer option, you should first resolve the issues identified in Step 1. For instance, if you are lacking in Criterion E: Use of Mathematics, you should research and add more rigorous mathematics related to your topic to your IA; if you are lacking in Criterion C: Personal Engagement, you should recheck your personal engagement paragraph and add more of your own interpretation and reflection to your IA to display your ownership and interest. Then, you should read at least 5 exemplar IAs that were written on a similar topic and try to benchmark them.
If you cannot find any past IAs that you can use as a reference for your own topic, you should appeal to your teacher that you are truly challenging yourself and actively ask for more help.
Beforehand, you should prepare a specific improvement plan based on step 1, and during the meeting, you should ask questions such as “If I take steps A, B, and C, can I meet my expectation (in terms of IA score)?” It is essential to constantly check if your improvements are in the correct direction with your teacher or a tutor.
Appealing for Higher Grade
As an IB diploma candidate, you should have good time management skills and responsibility for meeting all deadlines on time. However, things do not always go as planned. There are many reasons you would need a deadline extension, such as:
In the math IA, there are two main deadlines: the first draft submission and the final draft submission. In fact, there is a separate deadline for the teacher for official submission to IBO, and there are cases where teachers allow extra time to adjust your IA before the official submission even after the final draft submission. Shoutout to all teachers who do this (you guys are the true heroes), but this is usually the exception rather than the norm. Hence, you should always try to submit your final draft on time. Nevertheless, when all else fails and things do not work out as planned, we have no choice but to ask for a deadline extension.

Be honest

If you think that you will not be able to meet the deadline because you have personal issues or other commitments, you should communicate your situation transparently to your teacher as early as possible. The teacher may understand and empathize with your circumstance and give an extension. Even if you have a valid excuse, the teacher may not allow an extension if you wait until the day before the deadline. Hence, you should be honest and quick with your actions.

Persuade your teacher

You should convince your teacher why they should give you a deadline extension, instead of simply begging for it. For example, if your teacher deems your current version of the IA is unviable for final submission and suggests a topic change or implementation of major changes to your draft, you have a more convincing case to plead for an extension. Then, you should use your communication skills; instead of asking for an extension without any explanation, provide timely updates to your teacher on your current progress and your specific plan for completing your IA. For instance, you can use phrases like “I have managed to do A, B, and C, but I need more time to do D. I will need X amount of time to complete my IA.” In persuasion, your attitude is the key. No one is entitled to an extension, so courtesy is a must when it comes to communicating with your teacher.

Group Action (Apes. Together. Strong.)

If you feel burdened to approach your teacher individually, you can look for other classmates who are also in need of a deadline extension. If the majority of the class pleads for an extension, there is a higher chance that the teacher will allow it.
Yet, you should remember that instead of relying on these tactics, you must endeavor to finish your math IA beforehand so that you can receive additional oral feedback and have sufficient time to improve your IA. You may also get external help to accelerate your work pace to avoid the need of deadline extension.
Managing Deadlines

Can you retake IB math IA?

Mostly, students are not permitted to retake an IB math IA after submission. Yet, they may be granted a retake when there are:
•
Technical difficulties beyond the student’s control
•
Extenuating circumstances (i.e. serious illness and personal emergencies)
•
Appeals process
You must first discuss this with your DP coordinator before making a request. Since the process would be complicated and the chance of approval of a retake would be low, the students are encouraged to successfully submit their IA on their first time.

Can you ask for a regrade of your IA?

According to the IB policy, a candidate is allowed to request enquiry upon results (EUR) via their school’s DP coordinator to re-mark their work. The IBO does not accept EUR requests from candidates or their legal guardians directly. You should note that the EUR process is not free of charge, and the re-evaluated grade may be lowered and the candidate is not allowed to retain the original grade– thus, written consent is required. Since the EUR process is lengthy and risky, we do not recommend the request of EUR.

Can I get away with using ChatGPT?

You must not copy from ChatGPT as it is against the academic honesty policy of IBO and you will be at risk of failing to attain the IB diploma. If you copy and paste from ChatGPT, it is obvious to the readers and there are many techniques that can detect plagiarism, therefore, you must not think you can get away with it. Yet, you can use ChatGPT to research, organize your notes, and check math problems or simple codes for data analysis. You should remember to paraphrase yourself; you do not need convoluted vocabularies in math IA. In addition, since ChatGPT is not always correct, you should revise with your teacher or tutor, or investigate more using other sources, before using the information.

Isn’t it plagiarism if I just follow the exact same methods from sample IAs?

Sample IAs are for reference. While the big idea and the mathematical methods may overlap, you must alter the details to make your IA unique. For instance, you can come up with a personal and distinctive research question while using similar methods that had been in other exemplar IAs– apply the methods in your own scenario.

What should I include in the conclusion?

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