Using the data booklet

Which subjects have one

Four Diploma courses give you a booklet in the exam:

The two math courses have separate booklets. They share some formulas, but each has entries the other doesn't, so use the one for your course.

Other subjects, such as biology and economics, have no booklet in their current syllabus. Their formulas and facts have to be learned.

In the exam

Every student must have a clean copy of the booklet in every paper, at SL and HL. Your school prints these copies from the IB's file. You can't bring your own, and no copy in the exam room has notes on it.

So the booklet in the exam is the same one you can practice with now, without anything you've written on it.

What's in each

The math formula booklets open with prior learning (areas, volumes, distance and midpoint), then follow the five topics of the course: number and algebra, functions, geometry and trigonometry, statistics and probability, and calculus. Each topic is split into formulas for SL and HL, then those for HL only.

The physics data booklet has the fundamental constants, metric multipliers, unit conversions, the electromagnetic spectrum, circuit symbols and some mathematics, then the equations for each of the five themes (space, time and motion; the particulate nature of matter; wave behavior; fields; nuclear and quantum physics), split into SL and HL, then additional HL.

The chemistry data booklet has equations and physical constants, unit conversions, the periodic table and data on the elements, bond lengths and enthalpies, thermodynamic data, enthalpies of combustion, lattice enthalpies, acid–base indicators, standard reduction potentials, and spectroscopy tables (infrared, ¹H NMR and mass spectral fragments).

What isn't in it

A booklet lists formulas and data. It doesn't tell you:

• when a formula applies, or what conditions it needs;
• what every symbol stands for, or its unit;
• how to rearrange a formula, or which of two similar ones a question wants;
• definitions. "State" and "define" questions are answered from memory.

So knowing the booklet is a skill of its own. Marks go on using a formula that's in it in the wrong place, not only on forgetting one that isn't.

How to practice with it

• Use the booklet when you practice, from early on. Find each formula in it rather than in your notes, so you know where things are on the day.
• Learn what isn't there. As you revise a topic, note the results you needed that the booklet didn't give you. That's your list to learn.
• Know the symbols. For each formula you use, say what each letter means and its unit. Physics and chemistry questions often hinge on a unit.
• Watch the HL sections. At SL, you may still see HL-only formulas in the booklet. If you didn't study a formula, a question won't need it.

The booklets on this site

The data booklets are free to read here without an account: every formula, constant and table of the official booklet, worded as printed and in the same order. Beside each entry, Augment adds what each symbol means, when to use it, common mistakes and a worked example, kept apart from the booklet's own text. In Augment, the booklet opens beside each practice question.

Sources

• International Baccalaureate. Mathematics: analysis and approaches guide, first assessment 2021. A clean copy of the formula booklet in each paper.
• International Baccalaureate. Physics guide and Chemistry guide, first assessment 2025. A clean copy of the data booklet for all examination papers, at SL and HL.
• International Baccalaureate. Mathematics: analysis and approaches formula booklet and Mathematics: applications and interpretation formula booklet (first examinations 2021); Physics data booklet and Chemistry data booklet (first assessment 2025). Contents as described above.