MYP Science is assessed differently from many secondary science courses. Rather than a single final exam, your work across the programme is judged against a set of published criteria that together describe what good science looks like at your year level. Understanding what those criteria reward is the most reliable way to improve how you approach science tasks. This guide explains how criteria-based assessment works in MYP Science, what each criterion measures, and how to use teacher feedback to strengthen your work.

A note on terminology. This guide uses the current IB MYP Sciences assessment criteria: Criterion A (Knowing and understanding), Criterion B (Inquiring and designing), Criterion C (Processing and evaluating) and Criterion D (Reflecting on the impacts of science). Each criterion is scored from 0 to 8, and the four criterion totals combine into a final 1-7 subject grade. The criterion titles stay the same from MYP year 1 to year 5; the level descriptors rise each year. Schools implement assessment tasks differently, so confirm the exact wording of the level descriptors for your year against your school's published rubrics and the current IB MYP Sciences subject guide.

What Criteria-Based Assessment Means in Science

In a criteria-based system, your work is compared to a published standard rather than to the performance of other students. Each piece of work is matched against level descriptors that describe what a student at each level can do. Two students in the same class can both reach the same level on a criterion if both meet the standard described there.

The practical consequence is that your grade reflects what you can demonstrate, not where you sit relative to your peers. When you read feedback on a task, the question to ask is not "how did I compare?" but "which descriptor did my work match, and what would the next level up require?"

What You Are Being Assessed On

Across the four criteria, MYP Science assesses a broad picture of scientific competence, not just the recall of facts. The criteria together reward knowing the science, designing inquiries, processing and evaluating data, and reflecting on how science affects the world. A student who memorises content but cannot analyse data or design an investigation will reach some criteria but not others. The strongest work shows strength across all four.

Because the criteria are separate, a single task may assess more than one of them. A short test might focus on Criterion A; an investigation might focus on B and C; a discussion of a scientific issue might focus on D. Your school will set different tasks across the year so that each criterion is assessed more than once.

Criterion A: Knowing and Understanding

Criterion A measures your knowledge of the science of the course and your ability to use it. This is the criterion most like a traditional science test: it asks whether you know the concepts, facts, models and relationships of the course, and whether you can apply them to explain observations and answer questions.

To do well on Criterion A, you need to:

Know the scientific ideas, vocabulary and models of the course and use them correctly.
Apply them to explain observations and phenomena, not just recall them.
Use scientific language precisely, with terms used in their correct sense.
Connect ideas, for example linking a model to the observations it explains.

Criterion A is built through active engagement with the content: explaining ideas in your own words, connecting them to examples, and using them to answer questions, not just rereading them.

Criterion B: Inquiring and Designing

Criterion B rewards the ability to design scientific inquiry. This is where MYP Science asks you to behave like a scientist: to frame a question, formulate a testable hypothesis, identify variables, and design a method that would produce meaningful data. Investigation tasks vary by school and year level, but the underlying skills are the same.

Strong work on Criterion B typically involves:

Stating a clear research question or hypothesis that can be investigated.
Identifying the relevant variables, independent, dependent and controlled.
Designing a method that collects appropriate data with adequate precision.
Explaining how variables are controlled so that any change in the dependent variable can be attributed to the independent one.
Evaluating the design, including its limits and how it could be improved.

Criterion B is where the planning side of science is assessed. A well-designed investigation produces data that can support a conclusion; a poorly designed one produces data that cannot, no matter how carefully it is carried out.

Criterion C: Processing and Evaluating

Criterion C measures what you do with data. This includes collecting and recording data, processing it (calculating, graphing, transforming), interpreting it, and drawing a conclusion that the evidence supports. It also includes evaluating the method and the quality of the evidence. Criterion C is where analysis and interpretation live, and it is one of the criteria students most often underestimate.

Strong work on Criterion C typically involves:

Recording data clearly in labelled tables with units.
Processing data appropriately, with calculations explained and units tracked.
Presenting data effectively, with suitable graphs and correct axes.
Interpreting the data, connecting patterns to the underlying science.
Drawing a conclusion that the evidence supports, not stronger than the evidence allows.
Evaluating the method and the data, including limitations, sources of uncertainty and realistic improvements.

A common mistake is to treat Criterion C as "the graph and the conclusion." It is broader than that: it is the whole move from data to meaning, including an honest judgement of how far the data supports the conclusion.

Criterion D: Reflecting on the Impacts of Science

Criterion D asks you to step back from the science and consider its place in the world. This includes examining how scientific knowledge and applications affect people, societies and the environment, and evaluating the implications. It is the criterion most distinct from traditional science assessment, and it rewards balanced, specific, well-supported reflection.

Strong work on Criterion D involves:

Describing the science accurately before evaluating its impact.
Examining specific impacts on people, society or the environment, not vague statements like "this helps society."
Considering different perspectives where the issue is contested.
Using scientific ideas to support the reflection, so the judgement is grounded in the science.
Drawing a balanced, supported conclusion about the implications.

Criterion D rewards students who can connect science to its consequences. Generic reflection earns little; specific, scientifically grounded reflection earns more.

Scientific Reasoning Across the Criteria

Scientific reasoning, the ability to build a logical argument from evidence to conclusion, runs through several criteria. It appears in Criterion A when you explain an observation, in Criterion B when you justify a design, in Criterion C when you interpret data, and in Criterion D when you evaluate an impact. Reasoning is not a separate criterion; it is a habit that strengthens work across all of them.

Building reasoning means getting used to asking "why" and "how do we know" at each step: why does this model explain this observation, how does this data support this conclusion, why does this design produce reliable data. Students who develop this habit tend to find that their work across all four criteria improves together.

Using Feedback

Because MYP assessment is criteria-based, teacher feedback is most useful when it tells you which criterion and which level descriptor your work met, and what the next level up requires. When you receive feedback:

Identify which criterion was assessed. Feedback that names the criterion is more actionable than a general comment.
Find the level descriptor you met. Compare your work to the published rubric and identify the level that matches.
Read the next level up. The difference between your current level and the next one is the gap to close.
Ask for specifics if feedback is general. "Improve your evaluation" is less useful than "state the main source of uncertainty and how it affects your conclusion."
Keep a record. A short note of which criteria cost you marks, and why, turns feedback into a pattern you can address.

How to Improve Your Responses

A practical approach to producing stronger science work across the criteria:

Read the task with the criteria in mind. Know which criteria a task assesses before you start, so you can address each one deliberately.
Use scientific language precisely. Vague language costs marks across A, C and D.
Show your reasoning. A conclusion without the reasoning that supports it earns less than a conclusion with it.
Interpret data, do not just present it. A graph with no interpretation earns only part of Criterion C.
Evaluate honestly. A conclusion stronger than the evidence, or an evaluation that lists "human error" without specifics, earns little.
Connect science to its impacts specifically. Generic reflection earns little; specific, grounded reflection earns more.

Common Mistakes in MYP Science Assessment

Treating all tasks the same. A test, an investigation and a reflection task assess different criteria; approach each with the relevant criteria in mind.
Presenting data without interpreting it. A table or graph alone earns only part of Criterion C.
Conclusions stronger than the evidence. Claiming a result is confirmed when the data and uncertainty do not support it.
Generic evaluation. Listing "human error" or "use better equipment" without specifics or impact.
Vague reflection. Statements like "this helps society" without specific, scientifically grounded analysis.
Weak control of variables in designs. Uncontrolled variables that make it impossible to attribute changes in the dependent variable.
Not reading feedback. Feedback that is filed away without action does not improve the next task.

How MYP Science Tutoring Can Help

Tutoring helps most when it targets your specific gaps rather than repeating the course generically. A tutor can help you understand the criteria, build the knowledge behind Criterion A, develop the inquiry design that Criterion B rewards, strengthen the data analysis and evaluation that Criterion C measures, and practise the grounded reflection that Criterion D demands. If you would like focused support, see our MYP Science tutoring in Hong Kong.

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MYP Science Assessment Criteria FAQs

What are the four MYP Science criteria? Criterion A (Knowing and understanding), Criterion B (Inquiring and designing), Criterion C (Processing and evaluating) and Criterion D (Reflecting on the impacts of science). Each is scored 0-8 and the four combine into a 1-7 grade.

Do the criteria change between year levels? The criterion titles stay the same from MYP 1 to MYP 5; the level descriptors rise. A level 6 in year 1 represents a different standard from a level 6 in year 5.

Do all schools use the same investigation tasks? No. Schools design their own tasks within the MYP framework, so the specific investigations, their timing and their emphasis vary. The criteria are the same; the tasks are not.

What is the difference between Criterion B and Criterion C? Criterion B rewards designing inquiry; Criterion C rewards processing and evaluating the data that inquiry produces. They are related but distinct.

What does Criterion D assess? Reflection on the impacts of science: how scientific knowledge and applications affect people, societies and the environment, evaluated with specific, scientifically grounded reasoning.

Can a tutor help with criteria-based assessment? Yes. A tutor can help you understand what each criterion rewards and produce work that meets higher level descriptors. See our MYP Science tutoring in Hong Kong.

For more, see our MYP Science investigation guide. Browse all MYP Science resources, MYP resources or MYP tutoring in Hong Kong.

MYP Science Assessment Criteria Guide