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| Topic | Technique | Course · Level |
|---|---|---|
| Sports | ||
| Basketball free-throw trajectory | Quadratic functions, optimal angle | AASL |
| Sprint fatigue and velocity decay | Differentiation on race data | AAHL |
| Shooting accuracy vs field position | Statistical testing on collected data | AISL |
| Predicting Olympic record times | Regression on historical results | AIHL |
| Music | ||
| Decay of piano note volume | Exponential functions | AASL |
| String vibration and harmonics | Trigonometric functions, calculus | AAHL |
| Tempo trends across genres | Statistical comparison | AISL |
| Chord progressions as matrices | Matrix representation | AIHL |
| Finance & Economics | ||
| Compound vs simple interest | Exponential modelling | AASL |
| Optimising a loan repayment plan | Calculus optimisation | AAHL |
| Volatility of a stock portfolio | Standard deviation, variance | AISL |
| Currency exchange rate trends | Regression analysis | AIHL |
| Nature & Environment | ||
| Logistic growth of a species | Carrying-capacity models | AASL |
| Predator-prey population cycles | Simplified differential equations | AAHL |
| CO2 vs global temperature | Correlation on real data | AISL |
| Animal territory boundaries | Voronoi diagrams | AIHL |
| Gaming | ||
| Probability of loot box outcomes | Expected value, distributions | AASL |
| Game theory in a strategy game | Nash equilibria | AAHL |
| Win rate vs character choice | Hypothesis testing | AISL |
| Player progression as Markov chain | Transition matrices | AIHL |
| Art & Design | ||
| The golden ratio in classical art | Measurement and comparison | AASL |
| Symmetry in geometric patterns | Matrix transformations | AAHL |
| Colour trends across art movements | Statistical sampling | AISL |
| Fractal dimension in generative art | Fractal geometry | AIHL |
| Medicine & Health | ||
| Drug concentration decay | Exponential decay | AASL |
| Modelling a disease outbreak | SIR-style differential equations | AAHL |
| Sleep vs academic performance | Survey data, correlation | AISL |
| BMI vs health outcomes | Regression on public dataset | AIHL |
| Technology | ||
| Smartphone battery degradation | Exponential/power models | AASL |
| Basic cryptography (RSA) | Modular arithmetic | AAHL |
| App download growth trends | Statistical modelling | AISL |
| Social network connection structure | Graph theory | AIHL |
| Architecture | ||
| Parabolic vs catenary bridge curves | Comparing curves to equations | AASL |
| Optimising structural load | Calculus optimisation | AAHL |
| Building height trends in a city | Statistical time analysis | AISL |
| Proportions in famous buildings | Trigonometry, geometry | AIHL |
| Travel & Food | ||
| Great circle flight distances | Spherical trigonometry | AASL |
| Newton's law of cooling (food) | Exponential decay | AASL |
| Flight delay patterns by airport | Statistical comparison | AISL |
| Optimising a multi-city route | Route optimisation | AIHL |
| Physics & Engineering | ||
| Projectile motion of a thrown object | Quadratic/parametric functions | AASL |
| Damped oscillation of a pendulum | Differential equations | AAHL |
| Measurement error in an experiment | Statistical error analysis | AISL |
| Heat transfer rates in materials | Regression modelling | AIHL |
| Psychology & Social Behaviour | ||
| Modelling the forgetting curve | Exponential decay | AASL |
| Reaction time vs distraction level | Statistical testing | AISL |
| Social media use vs happiness | Survey data, correlation | AISL |
| Personality type vs career choice | Chi-squared test | AIHL |
| Weather & Climate | ||
| Seasonal temperature variation | Sinusoidal functions | AASL |
| Rainfall pattern analysis over time | Statistical time analysis | AISL |
| Sea level rise trend modelling | Regression analysis | AIHL |
| Transportation | ||
| Traffic flow using queuing functions | Function modelling | AASL |
| Public transport punctuality | Statistical comparison | AISL |
| Metro system network efficiency | Graph/network theory | AIHL |
| Photography & Media | ||
| Depth of field and camera aperture | Geometric/optical modelling | AASL |
| Engagement rates across post types | Statistical comparison | AISL |
| Box office trends vs rating | Regression analysis | AIHL |
| History & Politics | ||
| Voting pattern trends over elections | Statistical time analysis | AISL |
| Population change of a civilisation | Growth/decay modelling | AIHL |
| Preferential voting systems | Matrices | AAHL |
| Fashion & Textiles | ||
| Fabric pattern repeats | Geometric transformations | AASL |
| Clothing size distribution trends | Statistical analysis | AISL |
| Fast fashion pricing vs sustainability | Regression analysis | AIHL |
| Biology & Genetics | ||
| Bacterial growth over time | Exponential functions | AASL |
| Enzyme reaction rate (Michaelis-Menten) | Differential equations | AAHL |
| Genetic trait inheritance ratios | Statistical testing | AISL |
| Species growth vs environmental factors | Regression modelling | AIHL |
| Chemistry | ||
| Radioactive decay modelling | Exponential functions | AASL |
| Rate of a chemical reaction | Differential equations | AAHL |
| Reaction yield vs temperature | Statistical analysis | AISL |
| pH change during titration | Regression modelling | AIHL |
| Astronomy & Space | ||
| Modelling planetary orbits | Ellipse equations | AASL |
| Kepler's laws and orbital mechanics | Calculus | AAHL |
| Exoplanet discovery trends over time | Statistical time analysis | AISL |
| Star luminosity vs distance | Regression modelling | AIHL |
| Language & Linguistics | ||
| Zipf's law in word frequency | Logarithmic functions | AASL |
| App usage vs language proficiency | Statistical correlation | AISL |
| Predicting letter/word sequences | Markov chains | AIHL |
| Cryptocurrency & Blockchain | ||
| Modelling cryptocurrency price swings | Exponential growth/decay | AASL |
| Volatility of a cryptocurrency | Standard deviation | AISL |
| Transaction fees vs network load | Regression modelling | AIHL |
| Board Games & Puzzles | ||
| Outcome probability in a dice game | Probability distributions | AASL |
| Strategy analysis in an abstract game | Game theory | AAHL |
| Solving a puzzle's state space | Graph theory | AIHL |
| Urban Planning | ||
| Optimal bus route timing | Function modelling | AASL |
| Population density vs green space | Statistical analysis | AISL |
| Optimising a city's road network | Network optimisation | AIHL |
| Agriculture | ||
| Crop yield vs fertiliser amount | Quadratic functions | AASL |
| Rainfall vs crop yield correlation | Statistical correlation | AISL |
| Irrigation efficiency modelling | Regression modelling | AIHL |
Now check the structure and criteria
Once you've picked a direction, see how to structure your exploration and what examiners look for.
✦ Read the IA Structure GuideFrequently asked questions
Can I combine ideas from two categories?
Yes — some of the strongest IAs sit between categories, like using statistics to analyse a sports dataset, or calculus to model a finance scenario. Treat these rows as starting ingredients, not fixed boxes.
Which category is "safest" for a good grade?
None inherently score higher — examiners assess execution against the five criteria, not topic choice. A well-executed simple topic outperforms a poorly-executed ambitious one every time.