What this pack is, and what it is not
The IB guide asks for these techniques to be practised inside the topics that need them, so this is not a taught unit of the course and does not claim to be one. It is reference and remedial material for a technique every topic assumes: it supplements integrated teaching rather than replacing it. It works in the first weeks of the course, before the first practical, and again whenever a class starts losing marks on units rather than on physics.
This pack is worked, not taught: the 160 minutes it takes is student working time across the practice bank, not classroom delivery time. Set it as homework and practice rather than as a timed classroom activity.

What students learn

• Every conversion is a multiplication by one.
• The SI prefixes, and the route between two of them.
• Units of time, and the other non-SI units. p
• Compound units, and units that carry a power.,
• Converting first, and the physics second.

IB skills this pack teaches and practises

• Applying and using SI prefixes and units (taught).
• Using non-SI units such as the hour, the day and the year whenever appropriate (practised).
• Using basic arithmetic and algebraic calculation to solve problems (practised).
• Using and interpreting scientific notation (practised).
• Calculating areas and volumes for simple shapes (practised).

What’s in the pack

• Student Worksheet (18 pages)
• Teacher Key(28 pages)
• The editable worksheet

Written against the IB DP Physics guide (first assessment 2025) at both Standard and Higher Level; every skill it drills is common to the two, so one pack serves a mixed class. It declares no topic and no understanding, deliberately: unit conversion, SI prefixes and the non-SI units belong to the IB skills in the study of physics (Tool 3: Mathematics) rather than to any one syllabus topic. SI units and IB notation are used throughout, the data booklet’s own multiplier table is the reference for prefixes, and IB command terms (calculate, determine, state, show that, outline, explain) are used as an examiner uses them. Suitable for ages 16 to 19 as homework, as a first-weeks reference, as remedial support for a student losing marks on technique, or as revision before the examinations. This pack is free, and so are its two companions in the YPhysics catalogue, which cover the neighbouring techniques: scientific notation, SI prefixes, order of magnitude and estimation, and significant figures and rounding. Together the three cover the numerical groundwork the course assumes from the first week, and none of them costs anything.