RENZO DIAZ — Reference library

Programs

The IB courses families choose between, organised by what a student is actually enrolled in — Mathematics and Physics at SL and HL — with exam structure and marking folded into each program rather than a separate page that fits none of them well.

Course choice decisions — Mathematics AA versus AI, Higher versus Standard Level, which syllabus a target university actually requires — are usually made on reputation rather than on checkable facts. This section exists to replace the reputation with the facts: what each program actually requires, tested against official sources rather than repeated secondhand.

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The most-asked course choice, tested against university requirements.

Mathematics · IB

IB Math AA vs AI: How to Choose, and What Grade Boundaries Miss

Grade boundaries are not a difficulty score. A framework for choosing between Analysis and Approaches and Applications and Interpretation based on university requirements and course fit, not on which course has the lower number.
7 min read

Choosing a course

AA or AI, SL or HL, the Physics level, and how the IB compares with A-Level Further Maths.

Mathematics · IB

IB Math AA vs AI: How to Choose, and What Grade Boundaries Miss

Grade boundaries are not a difficulty score. A framework for choosing between Analysis and Approaches and Applications and Interpretation based on university requirements and course fit, not on which course has the lower number.
7 min read

Mathematics · IB and others

IB Further Maths vs AA HL vs A-Level Further Maths

A sourced comparison of discontinued IB Further Mathematics, current AA HL, and Edexcel A-Level Further Mathematics — without the false equivalences that usually come with it.
3 min read

The AA HL reference

The AA HL syllabus and its three papers, with the 2029 change.

The Physics reference

What the 2025 Physics exams asked, counted mark by mark, and the data booklet every student has beside them.

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