Best Free IB Maths AA HL Practice Resources

Official IB materials: the authority, not the biggest free bank

Start with the IB’s Mathematics curriculum page and its Analysis and Approaches page. Use them to confirm the current course identity and separate AA from AI before trusting a third-party “Math HL” page.

The official sample exam papers page is the best free way to see intended paper structure and style. Sample materials are finite, not a complete archive or topical questionbank. Use one as a diagnostic or timed paper, then repair its weaknesses with topic practice.

The IB Questionbank is a licensed assessment resource, not a public student download. Check the IB Questionbank information and ask your teacher or coordinator about school access; the Follett IB Store is the relevant retail channel. School access is not permission to repost files. Official IB wins on authority and assessment authenticity, but not on free, topical breadth.

Christos Nikolaidis: the strongest genuinely free topic toolkit

Christos Nikolaidis’s Math AA hub links to free lecture notes, formula booklets, exercises, HL Paper 3 questions, and HL tests.

For learning and rebuilding, this is the standout free option. The lecture-note page provides PDFs for all five AA topics and GDC use. The exercise page provides a 2024-edition set organised by AA topic, with HL-only material, “eco” versions, separate solutions, difficulty notation, and short and long exam-style questions.

The HL tests page adds teacher-created topic tests and solutions, including newer AA HL tests since 2019 and older pre-2019 Mathematics HL material. Treat the older tests as extra practice, not proof of current AA HL alignment. The HL Paper 3 page targets connected modelling, calculus, trigonometry, limits, recursion, and complex-number reasoning with worked solutions.

One boundary matters: the “Mock exam 2026” page asks for a small donation and emails the 2026 mock papers. That is separate from the free notes, exercises, and tests; the page says 2025 solutions are posted while 2026 papers and solutions go to donors. Christos wins on free explanatory coverage and printable topic practice, but not on official provenance or digital filtering.

Revision Village: what is actually free and what is Gold

Revision Village is often recommended because it combines topic questions, markschemes, video solutions, past-paper walkthroughs, practice exams, and progress features. Its current AA HL Questionbank index shows the important free/paid boundary rather than implying that the whole bank is free. In the version checked on 2026-09-01, eight AA HL subtopic cards carried an “RV Free” label, concentrated in Functions, while most of the remaining visible question sets were marked “RV Gold.” The page still lets visitors browse the topic structure, which is useful for planning even if most questions require Gold.

The RV Gold pricing page describes the free plan as $0 forever with no credit card and access to “a subset of topics within a course.” It lists the Questionbank, Practice Exams, Past Papers, Key Concepts, Prediction Exams, Newton AI, and Bootcamps among the Gold features. On the same page checked date, Single Course Gold was shown as $249 billed once; prices and offers can change, so treat that as a dated observation rather than a promise.

The past-paper page is helpful for seeing which current-curriculum sessions and papers RV covers, and for its worked video explanations. It also tells students to ask a mathematics teacher or IB coordinator for PDF copies, or purchase them through the Follett IB Store, rather than presenting unofficial mirrors as acceptable. The practice-exams page explains the roles of Popular Quizzes, the Revision Ladder, and full mock papers; these are useful features, but they are not evidence that the underlying full set is free.

Revision Village wins when you want polished, guided explanations and a large all-in-one revision ecosystem. Its free tier wins as a trial and for the labelled free Functions material, not as a complete free AA HL solution.

PastPaperPrep: honest value for topical real-question practice

PastPaperPrep is an independent practice platform, not the IB and not a replacement for official assessment documents. Its IB Maths AA HL bank organises real exam questions with source context and filters for topic, year, paper, marks, and calculator rules, with printable PDF set building. Check the live bank and pricing pages for current coverage and prices.

That is where PastPaperPrep wins: it turns the “I need AA HL past papers by topic” problem into a bounded practice workflow. Choose AA HL first, filter to a weak topic or paper type, attempt the original question, review the answer or markscheme where available, and then build a mixed set so you have to choose the method yourself. The existing AA and AI topical-practice guide makes the same distinction: focused sets repair a known gap, while mixed and timed sets test transfer, pacing, and method selection.

PastPaperPrep’s free boundary should also be read literally. Its pricing page says students can practise complete older exam years for free. It does not promise that every question in the AA HL inventory is free. The current paid options are $6/month or $48/year for one bank; Build Your Plan starts at $10/month or $84/year for two banks; All Access is $25/month or $216/year. The sensible low-cost choice, if you need newer AA HL inventory, is one bank rather than an all-library plan.

PastPaperPrep wins on course-specific filtering, topical diagnosis, and printable sets. It loses to Christos on free explanatory notes and to Revision Village Gold on video-heavy guided support. It should never claim to be official IB material; its value is organisation and practice convenience.

A minimal low-cost AA HL stack

Use this sequence before buying a large subscription:

Keep the official sample paper for a diagnostic and full-paper rehearsal, Christos for instruction, and PastPaperPrep for repeated, topic-aware attempts. This division prevents the common mistake of collecting PDFs without learning, timing, or reviewing.

• $0: verify the target. Read the official AA curriculum page and sample-paper page. Download only from official or clearly authorised links, and check your school’s current paper requirements.
• $0: learn and rebuild. Use Christos Nikolaidis’s lecture notes, formula booklet, topic exercise, solution, and one matching HL test. Start with the exact weak section rather than printing the whole site.
• $0: practise real questions. Use PastPaperPrep’s free older exam years and its AA HL filters. Move from a single topic to a mixed set, then to a timed paper.
• Optional one-month spend. If the free inventory is exhausted or you need newer papers and PDF set building, try PastPaperPrep’s one-bank plan at the current listed $6/month. Cancel when the diagnostic gap is repaired; do not buy All Access for one AA HL course.
• Optional guided layer. Use Revision Village’s labelled free questions to test whether its interface and explanations suit you. Pay only if the video solutions, practice-exam ecosystem, or progress tools solve a problem the free stack did not.

What to avoid

Avoid sites that offer “all IB past papers” as anonymous downloads, especially when they do not identify an authorised source or reproduce the IB’s access terms. A link being easy to find does not make it legitimate, complete, current, or safe. Do not recommend Telegram folders, scraped questionbanks, file mirrors, or uploads of paid Revision Village or official IB materials. If a paper is unavailable publicly, ask the teacher or coordinator, use the official IB/Follett route, or practise with legitimately published teacher-created material such as Christos Nikolaidis’s own resources.

Also avoid treating every old Mathematics HL test as current AA HL preparation. Use older papers selectively for algebraic fluency, calculus, or proof, then anchor exam-format practice in current official samples and current-course resources.