The problem-solving and modelling task is IA1 in General Mathematics, Mathematical Methods and Specialist Mathematics, worth 20% of your subject result. Essential Mathematics runs two, at IA1 and IA3. The marks are not spread evenly, and most students spend their time in the wrong place.
Marked out of 20 across four criteria. QCAA’s own confirmation data shows the marks taken away most often sit in Formulate and Evaluate, while Communicate is almost never disputed.
Carries the most marks. Needs accurate use of mathematical knowledge for important aspects of the task, efficient use of technology, and a complete solution reached through sequential, interrelated steps.
Under the 2025 syllabuses this criterion is called Evaluate, and verification is now an explicit, separately marked requirement. The “Evaluate and verify” wording belongs to the retired 2019 syllabus. This is the section students most often run out of words for.
Needs justified statements of important assumptions, justified statements of important observations, and justified mathematical translation. Note the plurals: at least two of each.
Write it so a stranger could follow it. Rarely where marks are lost, and rarely where they are worth chasing first.
Two traps account for most of the loss. The plurals in Formulate are load-bearing: state one assumption and one observation and you are capped at the lower band. And “efficient use of technology” means the tool was chosen for a reason you stated in the body of the report. Appendixes are not marked: a residual plot that justifies your model earns nothing if it lives at the back.
The single most common Formulate error is confusing explaining an assumption with justifying it.
Explained, caps at the lower band
I assume air resistance is negligible.
Justified, top band
I assume air resistance is negligible because the object is dense and slow-moving; including it would add a drag term that the collected data cannot resolve, and it would change the result by less than the measurement error.
An assumption that is explained tells the reader what you assumed. An assumption that is justified shows why it is reasonable and what breaks without it. QCAA explicitly warns schools to teach the difference, and it is the clearest single lift available in Formulate.
Upload your draft, the task sheet and your ISMG to see where each criterion currently sits, and what would move it.
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