Open the free IB Maths AA curriculum map Editable Google Sheets workbook for IB Mathematics: Analysis and Approaches. Open in Google Sheets →

IB Maths AA is easier to teach when a department can see the whole two-year course, not only the next lesson. Teachers need to know what students have already met, which algebraic and graphical ideas they will need next, where proof and communication are developed, and how assessment, review and the exploration can fit around teaching time.

The IB Maths AA Curriculum Map is a free, editable planning workbook designed for that purpose. It offers a recommended sequence for a two-year course rather than an official IB timetable. Adapt it to your calendar, lesson allocation, students' prior learning and departmental priorities.

What the curriculum map does

The workbook is designed around roughly 185 instructional days per year, or 370 days across two years. Its default model covers the HL syllabus and includes SL adaptation notes, allowing a department to keep a coherent overall sequence while using the saved time in SL for review, projects and consolidation.

It does not treat the five syllabus areas as separate checklists. Number and algebra, functions, geometry and trigonometry, statistics and probability, and calculus should reinforce one another. Students need recurring opportunities to use precise notation, connect representations, justify methods and decide whether a result is mathematically reasonable.

How to use each sheet

Dashboard: start with the timetable you actually have

Begin with the Dashboard. It records school days, instructional weeks, total planned time and progress by status. It also shows the assumed HL and SL course hours, alongside protected time for toolkit, exploration or IA work. Use the dropdown status fields to identify which weeks are not started, in progress, completed or adjusted.

Enter holidays, examinations, reporting periods and likely interruptions before assigning every lesson to new content. This turns the map into a practical planning tool: when time is lost, the department can identify what to adapt without accidentally removing the review or assessment that makes later learning secure.

Unit Allocation: see the course balance before planning details

The Unit Allocation sheet distributes the course across the five syllabus areas. It records SL and HL syllabus codes, planned weeks and days, suggested assessment patterns and notes about adapting the sequence for SL.

Use this view to discuss prerequisite knowledge. Sequences, logarithms and algebraic reasoning, for example, support later function, calculus and modelling work. Moving a unit may be sensible for your school, but the map helps make the mathematical consequences of that move visible before teachers build individual lessons.

Year 1 and Year 2 Pacing: convert the plan into a weekly rhythm

The Year 1 Pacing and Year 2 Pacing sheets are the working centre of the workbook. Each row represents a five-day instructional week and includes the level focus, IB codes, topic focus, a suggested daily sequence, assessment or deliverable, IA/EE/toolkit connection and SL adaptation note.

Use those rows as an adaptable lesson rhythm, not a script. A week might introduce a new representation, develop fluency, apply it in a richer problem, ask students to justify a choice or proof, and finish with a formative check. When students need extra time, record the change and use the wider map to decide what must move with it.

Assessment Calendar: build retrieval and feedback into the course

The Assessment Calendar puts quizzes, topic tests, reviews and longer tasks alongside the pacing sequence. This protects time for feedback and cumulative practice, rather than leaving all revision to the final weeks.

AA assessment should gather more than a final answer. Include questions that ask students to select a method, use notation accurately, communicate a proof or interpretation, connect algebraic and graphical representations, and check whether a solution is valid. Short cumulative tasks make those habits routine across the two years.

IA & EE Tracker: plan independent work before it becomes urgent

The IA & EE Tracker gives exploration milestones a visible place in the course. Use it to set times for students to develop a question, try mathematical tools, examine assumptions, communicate findings and respond to feedback. The map reserves room for those connections throughout the course instead of treating independent work as an interruption near a deadline.

The tracker does not prescribe an exploration. It protects time and makes supervision checkpoints visible, while classroom activities develop the modelling, reasoning and communication skills students need to work independently.

Projects, Resources and Full Syllabus Map: connect the plan to classroom materials

Projects & Enrichment records useful extension opportunities and their best timing. Resources gives a place to attach or link slides, notes, practice and assessments. Full Syllabus Map provides a cross-reference for codes, levels, section titles and planned timing. Printable Year 1 and Year 2 views make it easier to share the agreed plan within a department.

A practical way to adapt the map

Set local assumptions. Enter your actual teaching weeks, holidays and class length before revising the pacing.
Check the unit order. Keep dependencies clear, then adapt the sequence to the cohort and school calendar.
Protect assessment and review. Plan retrieval, feedback and mixed practice before the term begins.
Link resources to each week. Attach the relevant slides, notes and assessments to the appropriate code or row.
Review together. Use the status fields and notes so colleagues can improve the plan from shared evidence.

Use the map as a living plan

A curriculum map is not successful because every lesson is delivered exactly as first written. It is successful when it helps teachers make informed adjustments without losing the course's mathematical coherence. When a cohort needs more algebra retrieval, a proof sequence needs slowing down, or a rich problem deserves more time, the workbook shows what can move and what should remain protected.

Open the editable IB Maths AA Curriculum Map in Google Sheets →

Choose the resources that match your plan

Once the sequence is in place, connected resources make it easier to teach it consistently. Choose the option that matches your course and the level of support your department needs.

IB Maths AA Slides (SL/HL) Editable slide decks for all five units across both course levels. IB Maths AA Slides (SL only) Editable slide decks for all five SL units. IB Maths AA Complete Curriculum Kit A connected system of slides, notes, practice, assessments and planning resources.

IB Maths AA Curriculum Map: How the Two-Year Course Fits Together