MYP PROGRAMME ASSESSMENT GUIDE
The IB Middle Year Programme (MYP) spans five years and prepares students ages 11-16 for the IB Diploma programme (DP). The curriculum comprises eight subject groups: Language Acquisition, Language and Literature, Individuals and Societies, Sciences, Mathematics, Arts, Physical and Health Education, and Design. A minimum of 50 teaching hours is required for each subject group, and to allow for flexibility in meeting requirements. In years 4 and 5, students can choose to take courses from six of the eight subject groups.
GRADING
IB uses both internal and optional external assessment (eAssessment for the MYP programme).
1. SCHOOL BASED ASSESSMENT
The first component of MYP assessment focuses on assignments that are assessed by classroom teachers who are to give judgements about the student’s performance. Teachers are expected to assess the students based on the four subject-specific grading criteria and descriptors summarized below. Each of the four criteria has eight possible achievement levels, with 1 being the lowest and 8 being the highest level.
ARTS
The main goal of Arts in the MYP is to stimulate the imaginations of the younger generations and encourage them to understand the arts within historical contexts. This will builds their appreciation of aesthetics in real-world context and supports their development as empathetic inquirers.
Art disciplines offered are: Visual Arts, Media, Drama, Music, Dance
Key concepts explored: aesthetics, change, communication, identities
Criterion A: Investigating
- Develop an appreciation of arts through studying art movement, genres, artworks, and performances.
- Use research skills to evaluate art movements/performances.
- Develop information literacy skills to evaluate and select evidence about specific artworks.
Criterion B: Developing
- Develop ideas through practical exploration and participation in art forms
- Practical exploration requires students to experiment and develop techniques with various art forms.
- Use both knowledge developed through practical exploration and understanding of artworks to inform artistic intentions and decisions.
Criterion C: Creating or Performing
- Student’s skills and techniques are demonstrated through creation or performance of an artwork that will be assessed.
Criterion D: Evaluating
Through reflection of their own work, students develop awareness of their own artistic style and the role that art plays in their lives and in the world.
DESIGN
The Design course of the MYP challenges students to apply problem-solving skills to solve novel design problems and encourages them to explore the role of design in historical and contemporary contexts.
Design courses offered:
- Distinct digital / product design course
- Course combining digital and product design
Key concepts explored: Communication, communities, development
Criterion A: Inquiring and analyzing
- Students are presented with a design situation and need to identify a problem that requires solving.
- Students analyze the need for a solution and conduct inquiry into the nature of the problem.
Criterion B: Developing ideas
- Students brainstorm and propose a potential solution to the given problem.
- Facilitate the use of the design cycle as a tool:
- Ex) Learn the methodologies to structure inquiry and analyze problems, create the solution, and finally, test or evaluate the solution.
Criterion C: Creating the solution
- Students plan the creation of their proposed solution, then follow a plan to create a prototype that can be tested and evaluated.
- Solution can be a model, prototype, product, or system independently developed
Criterion D: Evaluating
- Students design tests to evaluate the success of their solution.
- Students identify areas where the solution can be improved and explain how their solution will impact the target audience.
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Individuals and Societies
Individuals and Societies courses in the MYP can involve a range of disciplines and are chosen by each school. For example, schools can organize the study of individuals and societies as discrete courses, modular courses, or integrated courses.
- Discrete courses: focus on individual disciplines (for example sociology, psychology, philosophy, business management, global politics, etc.)
- Modular courses: focus on multiple disciplines (for example combination of global politics and sociology)
- Integrated courses: focuses on inquiry from a number of perspectives, bringing in understanding within a larger subject group (ex: social studies or the humanities).
Key concepts explored: change, global interactions, time, place and space
Criterion A: Knowing and understanding
- Students develop factual and conceptual knowledge about individuals and societies.
Criterion B: Investigating
- Students develop systematic research skills for disciplines in the humanities and social sciences
- Students develop successful strategies for independent investigations and collaboration with others.
Criterion C: Communicating
- Students develop skills to document, organize, and communicate their work in a variety of presentation formats.
Criterion D: Thinking critically
- Students use critical thinking to apply and demonstrate their understanding.
Language Acquisition
Key concepts: communication, connection, creativity, perspective, culture .
Criterion A: Listening
- Students interpret and derive meaning from spoken multimodal text to understand how images and other spatial aspects combine with oral text to convey ideas.
Criterion B: Reading
- Students interpret and construct meaning from written, spatial, and visual aspects of texts.
Criterion C: Speaking
- Students develop communication skills by speaking about topics of personal, local, and global interest and significance.
- Students apply their understanding of linguistic and literary concepts to develop techniques and skills.
Criterion D: Writing
- Students use language suitable for given context and audience
- Example: informal language vs. formal language and social academic language vs. language used at home.
- Students apply their understanding of language, form, mode, medium and literary concepts to express ideas and opinions in effective ways.
Language and Literature
The MYP Language and Literature program encourages students to develop skills in six areas: listening, speaking, reading, writing, viewing and presenting. At the heart of the program is inquiry and critical thinking, which challenges students to collaboratively and independently investigate and reflect on their learning. During the course, students will gain exposure to interacting with a wide range of texts, focusing on themes in moral, social, economic, political, cultural, and environmental contexts.
Key concepts: communication, connection, creativity, perspective.
Criterion A: Analyzing
- Students demonstrate understanding of the creator’s choices and the relationship between various components of a text and between texts.
- Students make inferences about the audience responses and the creators’ purpose.
- Students use given texts to support their analysis and reflect on different perspectives/interpretations.
Criterion B: Organizing
- Students understand and organize their ideas using a range of presentation and communication forms.
- Students recognize the importance of maintaining academic honesty
- This refers to correct referencing and citations.
Criterion C: Producing text
- Students produce creative written and spoken texts, focusing on understanding the connection between the creator and the audience.
Criterion D: Using language
- Students develop, organize, and express their ideas, thoughts, and information in effective ways.
- Students use accurate and varied language appropriate to context and conventions.
Mathematics
The Math framework in the MYP involves a wide range of topics like number systems, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and statistics and probability. The four branches of focus are numerical and abstract reasoning, thinking with models, spatial reasoning, and reasoning with data.
Criterion A: Knowing and Understanding
- Students apply mathematical skills to solving problems that are both familiar and unfamiliar.
- Students demonstrate understanding of concepts (number, algebra, geometry & trigonometry, statistics & probability).
Criterion B: Investigating patterns
- Students work through problems to become risk-takers, inquirers, and critical thinkers.
Criterion C: Communicating
- Students use appropriate mathematical language and representation to communicate ideas, reasoning, and findings (both oral and written).
Criterion D: Applying mathematics in real-life contexts
- Students transfer theoretical mathematical knowledge to real-life situations.
- Students apply appropriate problem solving strategies to reflect and draw valid conclusions.
Sciences
The Sciences framework of the MYP challenges students to investigate issues through independent and collaborative research, observation, and experimentation. The goal is for students to discover the dependencies between science & morality, ethics, culture, economics, politics, and the environment.
The structure and content of science courses typically involve Biology, Chemistry, Physics, but schools may offer additional courses, such as life sciences, sport sciences, earth sciences, health sciences, environmental sciences etc.
Criterion A: Knowing and understanding
- Students develop scientific knowledge (facts, ideas, concepts, processes, laws, principles, models & theories).
- Students apply knowledge obtained to solve problems and express scientific arguments.
Criterion B: Inquiring and designing
- Students develop intellectual and practical skills through designing, analyzing and performing scientific investigations.
Criterion C: Processing and evaluating
- Students collect, process, and interpret both qualitative & quantitative data
- Students explain conclusions reached during investigations.
Criterion D: Reflecting on the impacts of science
- Students evaluate the implications of scientific developments and their applications to a specific problem.
- Varied and conventional scientific language utilized to demonstrate understanding.
- Students should demonstrate awareness of the importance of citing and documenting others’ works.
Physical and Health Education
The Physical and Health Education course of the MYP program challenges and empowers students to understand and appreciate the importance of physical activity and making healthy life decisions. The structure of the curriculum should be planned by the teacher and should be balanced, involving contents such as:
- Physical and health-related knowledge (ex: training methods & principles, nutrition, lifestyle, biomechanics, exercise physiology).
- Aesthetic movement (ex: gymnastics, martial arts, yoga, jump rope, capoeira).
- Team sports (ex: football, handball, volleyball, hockey).
- Individual sports (ex: swimming, squash, fencing, golf).
- International sports and activities (ex: athletic traditions knowledge)
Key concepts: change, communication, relationships
Criterion A: Knowing and understanding
- Students develop knowledge and understanding about health and physical activity to identify and solve problems.
Criterion B: Planning for performance
- Students through inquiry design, learn to analyze, evaluate, and perform a plan to improve performance in physical & health education.
Criterion C: Applying and performing
- Students develop skills, strategies, and techniques by participating in various physical activities.
Criterion D: Reflecting and improving performance
- Students enhance their personal and social performance, set goals, and take responsible actions.
2. The Interdisciplinary Unit
- Students in MYP are required to engage in at least one collaboratively planned interdisciplinary unit that involves at least two subject groups.
Ex) The Sciences & Mathematics.
Criterion A: Evaluating
- Students will evaluate how more than one discipline contributes to interdisciplinary understanding of real world issues.
Criterion B: Synthesizing
- Students will integrate knowledge from more than one discipline to explain real-life phenomena or to create a product.
Criterion C: Reflecting
- Students will reflect on the development of their interdisciplinary understanding of real world issues.
3. The Personal Project
In the final year of the programme (year 5), students must develop a personal project independently, which will be internally graded by classroom teachers, but externally moderated by the IB.
Criterion A: Planning
- Students state a learning goal for the project and explain how their personal interests led to the idea.
- Students clearly state their intended product and develop appropriate success criteria for it.
- Students present a clear, detailed plan for the development of the project.
Criterion B: Applying skills
- Students explain skills learned and utilized to help achieve and construct the intended goal of their product.
Criterion C: Reflecting
- Students explain the significance and impact of the project on themselves and the world.
Examples of personal projects:
- Examine the question: “Why does rap speak to me?”
- Design a 3D model of a solar device with instructions for construction
- Investigate how, in history, different cultures have made use of energy for different needs.
- Debate Herve Kempf’s ideas about “how the rich are destroying the Earth”
- Explore the development of rap as a style of music across continents.
Examples of motives/goals of personal projects:
- To convey emotions through music.
- To explore a culture through learning a language.
- To improve the life of financially disadvantaged teenage girls in a foreign country.
- To further build knowledge of the holocaust to create a greater understanding of current war zones around the world.
4. THE OPTIONAL eASSESSMENT
Schools can register for the optional external assessment (eAssessment) for all eight subjects of the programme. This will allow students the chance to earn a formal, internationally recognized certificate if they pass the examinations. The maximum total score for the IB MYP certificate is 56, with grades from 1-7 assigned for each subject. Students must achieve a total of at least 28 points, with a grade of 3 or higher for each eAssessment component to be eligible for the certificate.
Once a school registers for the eAssessment, students can participate in the following two examinations:
1) On-screen examinations, with each exam lasting two hours
2) ePortfolios of courseworks, including a compulsory ePortfolio for the personal project.
The table below summarizes the components of the optional eAssessment:
| Onscreen Examinations (for subjects) | Offered for: Mathematics, Language & Literature, Sciences, Individuals & Societies, Interdisciplinary learning |
| Course work (ePortfolio) | Offered for: Language acquisition, Physical & Health Education, Design, Arts |
| MYP (personal project) | *Internally marked, but externally moderated by IB through dynamic sampling |
Note: The mandatory personal project and optional ePortfolio course works are internally assessed, but externally moderated by IB. On-screen examinations are externally marked by trained IB examiners.
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