Module 2 of 16Lesson 2 of 3 · How to study maths — and how to pass the e-Assessment
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How to study maths — and how to pass the e-Assessment

Fifteen minutes here changes how the next hundred hours of work pay off. Everything on this page was written by the teachers who wrote this course — and every tip is something you can start using today.

10short sectionsYear 7–11a plan for every year2 hhow to use exam time3videos + PDF guide
Start reading ↓Jump to my first paper
In this guide

Ten short sections — jump to any one

1What you are marked on2Year 7 to Year 113How to study maths4How to revise5Preparing for the exam6On the day7Working on a screen8Where marks are lost9The exam player10Videos and PDF guide

1 · What you are actually being marked on

Know the shape of the paper before you plan a single revision session.

The MYP mathematics e-Assessment at a glanceA two-hour on-screen examination worth 32 marks across four criteria of eight marks each, graded 1 to 7.The paper you will sitOne on-screen examination, taken in May or November2 hourson the clockOn screenyou type everything32 marksfour criteria, 8 eachGrade 1–7from your totalWhere the 32 marks come fromAKnowing and understandingCan you do the mathematics?8 marksBInvestigating patternsCan you find the rule and justify it?8 marksCCommunicatingCan the examiner follow your working?8 marksDApplying in real-life contextsCan you use it on a real problem?8 marks
The paper is two hours, taken on screen in May or November. Standard and Extended sit different papers; both are marked against the same four criteria.
A · Knowing and understanding
Straight mathematics, in familiar and then unfamiliar situations. This is the criterion that rewards practice — nothing else.
B · Investigating patterns
You are given a sequence or a situation, you find the rule, and then you justify it. Most marks here are lost by stopping at the rule.
C · Communicating
Correct notation, clear lines of working, the right form of answer. You can earn Criterion C marks on a question you get wrong.
D · Applying in real-life contexts
A real situation — a budget, a water tank, a survey. You choose the model, use it, and then say whether the answer makes sense.

2 · Studying MYP maths from Year 7 to Year 11

The subject changes character as you go up. So should the way you work at it.

What each MYP year asks of you, Year 7 to Year 11Year 7 number sense, Year 8 algebra, Year 9 reasoning, Year 10 Standard or Extended and a first past paper, Year 11 consolidation and exam technique.The five years, and what each one asks of youEvery year rests on the one below it. A gap left in Year 8 is still there in Year 11.Year 7MYP 1Number senseFractions, decimals and percentages until they are automatic.Year 8MYP 2Algebra opens upExpanding, factorising, solving. Show every line from here on.Year 9MYP 3Reasoning startsIndices, Pythagoras, first trigonometry, probability. Start an error log.Year 10MYP 4Standard or ExtendedQuadratics, functions, real data. Sit your first full past paper.Year 11MYP 5The e-AssessmentNo new ground — consolidation, timing and setting out working.
Each year is built on the one below. This is why a topic you never fixed keeps reappearing.
Year 7 · MYP 1
The year is about fluency. Fractions, decimals, percentages, negative numbers and the order of operations need to become automatic, because every later year assumes them. Work in short daily bursts rather than long weekend sessions, and start the habit now of writing a line of working even when you can do it in your head — it costs nothing this year and saves a grade later.
Year 8 · MYP 2
Algebra becomes the language of the subject: expanding, factorising, solving equations, ratio and proportion. The single most useful habit is checking by substitution — put your answer back into the original equation. If you find yourself guessing at algebra, the gap is almost always in Year 7 number work; go back and close it rather than pushing on.
Year 9 · MYP 3
Reasoning arrives — indices, Pythagoras, the first trigonometry, probability, and sequences where you are asked why a rule works. Start an error log this year: one page per topic, each mistake written out with the correct step beside it. This is also the year to begin spaced review, because there is now enough material to forget.
Year 10 · MYP 4
You take Standard or Extended. Quadratics, functions, transformations and real statistical work all appear, and questions start to look like exam questions. Sit one full past paper this year, under time, even if it goes badly — what it teaches you about pacing cannot be learned any other way. Start writing investigations in the shape Criterion B expects: find the rule, test it, justify it.
Year 11 · MYP 5
This year is consolidation, not new ground. The work is past papers under time, honest self-marking against the markscheme, and drilling the topics your own mistakes keep pointing at. Rehearse typing your working, because that is how you will sit the paper. If you are choosing between more content and more past papers at this stage, choose the past papers.
If you are joining late. Do not start at your own year. Open the year below it, spend two weeks on the chapters you are unsure of, and then move up. It feels like going backwards and it is the fastest route forward.

3 · How to study maths

There is one loop that works. It is uncomfortable, which is why it works.

The five-step loop for learning a mathematical methodRead one worked example, cover it and redo it, try a different question, find the exact step that went wrong, then repeat two more tomorrow.How to actually learn a methodReading a worked example is not studying. This loop is.1Read one workedexampleslowly, with a pen2Cover it upand redo it frommemory3Try a differentquestionsame method, newnumbers4Find the exactstepwhere it wentwrong5Do two moretomorrowbefore you move onrepeat until step 3 feels boringThe trapRe-reading notes feels like work and teaches almost nothing. If your pen is not moving, you are not revising.
The loop for any new method. Step 2 is the one most students skip, and it is the one that does the work.

4 · How to revise

Revision is not re-reading. It is returning to something you have half-forgotten.

Spaced revision beats crammingFour hours in one night fades within a fortnight; the same four hours revisited on day 1, day 3, day 7, day 21 and before the exam holds.When to revise a topic againThe same four hours, spread out, is worth far more than four hours in one night.Crammingfour hours, one night4 hours→ gone in a fortnightSpacing it outthe same four hours1 hrDay 11 hrDay 31 hrDay 71 hrDay 211 hrBefore the exameach return is harder to start and easier to finish — that difficulty is the learningHow to plan itFinish a chapter, then put three dates in your phone: three days, one week, three weeks.On each date redo two questions from that chapter cold — no notes. Ten minutes is enough.
Spacing the same hours across weeks beats concentrating them in one night, by a wide margin.

5 · How to prepare for the e-Assessment

From three months out to the morning of the paper.

WhenWhat to do
Three months outWork through the chapters for your year. Do the questions, not just the reading. Mark each chapter green, amber or red when you finish it.
Six weeks outSit one full past paper under time. Do not mark it kindly — use the markscheme wording. The list of things you got wrong is your revision plan.
Four weeks outAttack the red chapters only. Two questions a day from each, spaced as above.
Two weeks outA second full paper under time, then a third a week later. You are training stamina and timing now, not learning new content.
The last weekNo new topics. Redo the questions you previously got wrong, cold. Rehearse setting out your working on a keyboard.
The night beforeNothing new. Read your own list of mistakes for twenty minutes, pack your equipment, sleep.
The morning ofEat. Arrive early. Do one easy question from memory to warm up — not a hard one.

6 · On the day: how to spend two hours

How to spend the two hours of the examinationFive minutes reading the paper, ninety-five minutes working without stalling, twenty minutes returning to flagged questions and checking.How to spend the two hoursTime is the thing most students lose marks to. Plan it before you sit down.595 minutes200:002:00First 5 minRead the whole paper. Mark the questions you can do now.Next 95 minWork in order, but never stall. Stuck for two minutes? Flag it and move.Last 20 minReturn to the flagged questions, then check units, signs and rounding.One habit worth a gradeWrite something for every part. A blank earns nothing; a wrong method set out clearly can still earn marks.
A plan for the paper. Flagging and moving on is the single habit that recovers the most marks.

7 · Writing your working on a screen

This paper is typed. That changes how you set out your working — and it is worth practising now.

How to set out typed working so it earns marksAn answer alone earns nothing; formula, substitution, answer and units on separate lines earns method and accuracy marks.Typing your working so it earns marksThe examiner marks what is in the box, not what was in your head.Loses marksx = 7.2answer only — nothing to awardEarns marksArea of triangle = ½ × b × h= ½ × 6 × 2.4= 7.2Area = 7.2 cm²formula, substitution, answer, unitsOne step per linepress Enter between steps — a wall of text is hard to creditName the formula firstwriting it down can earn a mark before any arithmeticUnits on the final lineand a unit on every measurement you quoteSay why, in one short sentence“since the triangles are similar…” earns real marks in Criterion C
The same question, answered two ways. The one on the right earns method, accuracy and communication marks even if the final number is wrong.
Practise this in the chapters. Every question in this course has a worked solution written out the way an examiner wants to see it. Answer first, then open the solution and mark your own work against it line by line — award yourself the marks you can actually point to. Doing that honestly for a term is the closest thing there is to a shortcut.

8 · Where marks are most often lost

Stopping at the answer
No formula, no substitution, no units. The number is right and the marks are not there.
Finding the rule but not justifying it
Criterion B asks you to explain why the rule holds. One sentence is often the difference.
Never checking whether it is sensible
A tank holding 4,000,000 litres should stop you. Criterion D rewards noticing.
Running out of time on question 3
Because you would not leave question 2. Flag it and move.

9 · How the exam player in this course works

  • Practice mode — answer a part, then open the worked solution and mark yourself against it, step by step, the way an examiner would.
  • “Show that”, “explain” and investigation parts — write out your reasoning first, then compare it with the model answer and award yourself only the marks you can point to in your own writing.
  • Exam mode — the whole paper against the clock. Choose 2 hours, or 2 h 30 / 3 h if you are entitled to extra time. Nothing is revealed until you finish.
  • Your attempts are saved on your device. Sit each paper as many times as you like — the second sitting of a paper you have marked honestly is worth more than a fresh one.

10 · Watch these before your first past paper

Three short videos on the exam screen itself, plus the step-by-step guide as a PDF.

The e-Assessment is taken in a particular piece of software, and a few minutes spent seeing how the screen behaves is time you will not lose on the day.

Download the step-by-step guide (PDF, 12 MB)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eckkKSwYGEQ

You know the plan. Now go and use it.

The best time to sit your first paper is today. Open it in practice mode, have a go at question 1, and press Check this part. Every paper makes the next one easier.

Standard paper →Extended paper →
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