In QCE General Mathematics, your three internal assessments (IA1, IA2 and IA3) make up 50% of your final result. They are set and marked by your school but checked by the QCAA, and the 2025 subject report includes a large set of annotated student samples showing exactly what earned marks.
This guide breaks down the internal assessment sections of QCAA's 2025 General Mathematics subject report. It covers how students scored on each IA, what strong responses did, and the changes under the revised 2025 syllabus that students completing Units 3 and 4 from 2026 need to know. For the external exam, see our companion 2025 QCE General Maths external assessment breakdown.
Key Takeaways
- Internal assessments are worth 50% of your General Maths result: IA1 20%, IA2 15%, IA3 15%.
- IA1 marks were adjusted more than any other assessment. QCAA agreed with schools' provisional IA1 marks only 82.23% of the time, and changes were almost always downwards.
- Evaluate and verify was the hardest IA1 criterion. Only about 18% of students received full marks, and the most common mark was 3 out of 5.
- In IA2 and IA3, a mark of 15/15 needs more than 93%. In one sample, exactly 93% earned 14, not 15.
- Under the 2025 syllabus, IA1 needs evidence-based justifications and verified results, and the IA2 and IA3 exams are 90 minutes long and cover three of the five topics in each unit.
How Internal Assessment Works in QCE General Maths
| Assessment | Type | Weighting | Content |
|---|---|---|---|
| IA1 | Problem-solving and modelling task (PSMT) | 20% | Unit 3 (under the 2025 syllabus, Unit 3 or Unit 4) |
| IA2 | Examination (short response) | 15% | Unit 3 |
| IA3 | Examination (short response) | 15% | Unit 4 |
| External assessment | Two examination papers | 50% | Units 3 and 4 (Units 1 and 2 assumed) |
Your school writes each IA, but before students sit it the QCAA must endorse it, checking that it matches the syllabus and is fair. After marking, the QCAA confirms a sample of student responses to check that your school's marks are accurate.
💡 New to the system? Read our explainer on how QCE internal assessments work.
How Students Scored in 2025
| Assessment | Maximum Mark | Most Common Mark | Approx. % on Full Marks |
|---|---|---|---|
| IA1 (PSMT) | 20 | 16 | 8% |
| IA2 (Unit 3 exam) | 15 | 10 | 3% |
| IA3 (Unit 4 exam) | 15 | 9 | 4% |
| Total IA | 50 | About 33–35 | Under 1% |
Approximate values read from the mark distribution charts in QCAA's 2025 General Mathematics subject report.
General Maths internal results are much more spread out than in Maths Methods. Very few students earned full marks on any IA, and the typical student finished with an IA total in the low-to-mid 30s out of 50. That means there is a lot of room to gain marks by doing each IA well.
How Reliable Were School Marks?
| Assessment | Instruments Endorsed First Time | Samples Reviewed | Agreement With School Marks |
|---|---|---|---|
| IA1 | 74% | 4,189 (+49 additional) | 82.23% |
| IA2 | 46% | 4,167 | 100% |
| IA3 | 44% | 4,112 | 100% |
Source: QCAA General Mathematics subject report, 2025 cohort.
What this means for students:
- Your IA2 and IA3 marks will almost certainly stand. The QCAA agreed with school exam marks in effectively every case.
- IA1 marks are a different story. About 1 in 6 schools' IA1 marks were changed, and almost all changes lowered the mark. The criteria most often reduced were Formulate and Evaluate and verify (each 8.14% lower than provisional) and Solve (5.57%).
- In practice, this means a generous school mark for the PSMT can be adjusted down. The safest approach is to make sure every characteristic in the marking guide is clearly visible in your report.
- On a positive note, 9% more IA1 tasks were endorsed first time than the year before, so school task sheets are improving.
IA1: Problem-Solving and Modelling Task (20%)
The PSMT asks you to solve a real-world problem using mathematics, write it up as a report and evaluate your solution. In 2025, it used subject matter from at least one of these Unit 3 topics:
- Topic 1: Bivariate data analysis
- Topic 2: Time series analysis
- Topic 3: Growth and decay in sequences
QCAA's samples show the kinds of investigations that worked well: predicting house prices in Hobart from distance to the CBD, finding which macronutrient best predicts the energy in fast food, modelling the link between daily step count and BMI, valuing used cars by kilometres travelled, and analysing reaction time by age using Census at School data.
Because research is not the focus of the PSMT, QCAA recommends that schools provide the data or links to it, unless students can easily collect it themselves (for example, by measuring lengths or times at school).
How Students Scored on Each Criterion
| Criterion | Marks | Approx. % on Full Marks | Most Common Mark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Formulate | 4 | 32% | 2 |
| Solve | 7 | 24% | 5 or 6 |
| Evaluate and verify | 5 | 18% | 3 |
| Communicate | 4 | 52% | 4 |
Approximate values read from QCAA's 2025 criterion charts.
What Earned the Marks
Formulate: Strong responses documented their assumptions and observations, labelled them (A1, A2, O1, O2 and so on) and explained why each mattered. One Hobart housing sample observed that a sample size of at least 30 would give reliable results, and assumed that one intersection in the CBD was a suitable reference point because it kept every distance measurement consistent.
Solve: Top responses reached a valid solution using sequential, interrelated steps drawn from a range of subject matter, and used technology within the report to solve the problem. QCAA's samples:
- explained why they used a spreadsheet (for example, to speed up calculations and produce accurate scatterplots)
- built scatterplots and residual plots and calculated r, R² and the least-squares line
- interpreted the results in context. For example, y = 36.51 − 0.00141x means BMI falls by about 1.41 for every extra 1,000 daily steps, and r = −0.6873 shows a moderate negative relationship
- put raw data and repeated calculations in an appendix.
Evaluate and verify: This was where most marks were lost. Strong responses:
- verified results, for example by using a residual plot to confirm that a linear model was suitable
- judged the reasonableness of the solution against each assumption and observation, including saying when an assumption turned out to be wrong. One sample noted that a predicted negative distance from the CBD was impossible and explained that it came from extrapolating beyond the data range.
- gave several strengths and several limitations, each justified with evidence. For example, a sample size of only 30 meant outliers could not be removed, and using only fast-food data meant the model did not apply to all foods. The best responses also suggested improvements.
Communicate: Full-mark reports had a clear introduction, body and conclusion and could be read without the task sheet. The introduction stated the question and the variables, and the conclusion answered it with a specific result, for example "reaction time decreases by 0.0013 seconds for each extra year of age".
What Changes for IA1 Under the 2025 Syllabus
| Area | 2019 Syllabus | 2025 Syllabus |
|---|---|---|
| Subject matter | Unit 3 | At least one topic from Unit 3 or Unit 4 |
| Duration | 4 weeks | Set by your school |
| Formulate (top level) | Documented assumptions and observations | Justified with evidence, for example citing a source for an observation, or explaining why an assumption is essential and what would happen without it |
| Solve (top level) | Accurate use of technology | Efficient use of technology and accurate use of maths for important aspects (plural) of the task |
| Evaluate criterion | Called "Evaluate and verify" | Renamed "Evaluate", with five top-level descriptors, including verifying results with estimation, alternative or algebraic methods, technology or research |
| Justifying decisions | Part of Evaluate and verify | Moved to Communicate, which now has three descriptors at each level |
Two details from the report are worth knowing:
- Plurals matter. The 3–4 mark range in Formulate needs justified statements of important assumptions and observations, so you should justify more than one of each. In Solve, the 4–5 mark range needs maths for "an important aspect" of the task, while the 6–7 mark range needs it for "important aspects".
- Each descriptor is now one characteristic. Teachers must match the whole descriptor to your work, so a partly met descriptor will not earn the mark.
You do not need to include the problem-solving and modelling flowchart in your report, but you are still expected to follow its process.
💡 Get a clear picture of every cognitive verb with our complete guide to QCE cognitive verbs.
IA2: Unit 3 Examination (15%)
IA2 is a supervised exam on Unit 3, which covers areas such as bivariate data, time series, growth and decay in sequences, and Earth geometry. It is a short-response exam: QCAA said school exams should not include multiple-choice questions. It should include simple familiar, complex familiar and complex unfamiliar questions, and at least one question that asks you to evaluate the reasonableness of a solution.
What QCAA's Marking Samples Show
Your teacher marks the exam against a marking scheme, then converts your percentage into a mark out of 15. QCAA's samples highlight a few things every student should know:
- The cut-offs are "greater than". Above 93% earns 15, above 87% earns 14, above 80% earns 13 and above 73% earns 12. One sample scored 46.5/50, which is exactly 93%, so it earned 14, not 15.
- Half marks are common. One question was worth 3.5 marks, and many responses earned half marks for partly correct steps.
- Follow-through marks are awarded. One student made a calculation error in a seasonal index average but still earned marks for using the wrong value correctly. Another miscalculated a term of an arithmetic sequence and still earned the follow-through mark for the final step.
- Interpret every part of a result. A student who wrote that R² = 0.58 meant 58% of the change in sleep could be explained by gaming lost half a mark for not mentioning the other 42%.
- Check reasonableness. One teacher wrote "Is your answer reasonable?" beside a sequence answer that did not make sense in context.
- Set up your work clearly. A full-mark response on angular distance wrote the formula (distance = 111.2 × angle), substituted 2.5° and stated 278 km.
What Changes for IA2 Under the 2025 Syllabus
- Working time is 90 minutes (down from 120 minutes), with 5 minutes of perusal time.
- The exam samples three of the five Unit 3 topics, plus assumed knowledge from Units 1 and 2.
- Formulas, variables, terminology and conditions are now written explicitly in the syllabus.
- In Topic 1, you must calculate R² both from raw data using technology and from the correlation coefficient r.
- In Topic 3, you smooth time series data with a simple moving average (mean or median) for an odd number of data values only.
- In Topic 5, you need to understand latitude and longitude in decimal degrees and in degrees and minutes, and calculate distances between two places on the same meridian or the same parallel of latitude.
IA3: Unit 4 Examination (15%)
IA3 is a supervised, short-response exam on Unit 4, which covers finance (loans, investments and annuities) and networks and decision mathematics. QCAA praised exams that used realistic contexts for critical paths, minimal spanning trees and flow networks.
What QCAA's Marking Samples Show
- Compare options using effective interest rates. A full-mark response compared two investments by calculating each effective annual rate (13.1% and 13.4%) and concluded that an adviser's claim was unreasonable because the second option earned more.
- Finish with a decision. In a cabling question, a student found the shortest route, calculated labour and materials costs ($5,273.50) and concluded that a $3,570 quote was too low. This earned follow-through marks even though the route itself was slightly wrong.
- Use float time to evaluate claims. In a critical path question, a student found the 19-minute project time and showed that adding a new activity would not delay the project because of 2 minutes of float time.
- Define your values before substituting. Responses that wrote P, i and n separately (for example, i = 0.022 ÷ 12 and n = 6 × 12 = 72) before using the formula earned marks for each step.
- Implied marks count. Teachers can award a mark for a formula that is clearly being used, even if it is not written out.
Use the Correct Terminology
QCAA wants exams, and students, to use syllabus terms correctly, including reducing balance loan, earliest and latest starting times and float time for non-critical activities, as well as correct subscripts such as Aₙ₊₁ = rAₙ.
What Changes for IA3 Under the 2025 Syllabus
- Working time is 90 minutes (down from 120 minutes), with 5 minutes of perusal time.
- The exam samples three of the five Unit 4 topics, plus assumed knowledge from Units 1 and 2.
- In Topic 3, you must construct a graph or digraph from an adjacency matrix, and an adjacency matrix from a graph or digraph.
- In Topic 4, project network diagrams show activities on the arcs, and dummy activities are not included.
- In Topic 5, flow network problems involve up to 8 possible cuts.
- Also in Topic 5, an optimum assignment can be a minimum or a maximum, and the Hungarian algorithm now covers square matrices from 3 × 3 up to 5 × 5.
How to Improve Your General Maths IA Results
- For IA1, back up every assumption and observation with evidence, such as a source or a reason why it is essential to the problem.
- Verify your results with a residual plot, an alternative method, technology or an estimate, and say what the check showed.
- Evaluate against your own assumptions and observations, including any that turned out to be wrong.
- Give several strengths and several limitations, each with evidence, and suggest improvements.
- Write a report someone could understand without the task sheet.
- Submit a complete draft at the checkpoint and act on the feedback.
- For IA2 and IA3, show every step, write formulas before substituting and finish decision questions with a clear conclusion.
- Aim above the cut-off, not on it. Exactly 93% earns 14, not 15.
For more preparation:
- read our 2025 QCE General Maths external assessment breakdown
- follow our guide to getting an A in QCE General Mathematics
- learn how IA1, IA2 and IA3 work
- compare with our 2025 QCE Maths Methods internal assessment breakdown.
Need Help With QCE General Maths?
Our QCE General Mathematics tutors work one-on-one with students to plan and write a high-scoring PSMT, prepare for the IA2 and IA3 exams, and show their working the way markers expect.
Source: Queensland Curriculum & Assessment Authority, General Mathematics subject report, 2025 cohort (January 2026).
