IB MYP maths criteria A to D explained: how the 1 to 7 grade is built and where children lose marks

An MYP maths report does not look like anything an Indian parent has seen. There is no percentage, and the grade of 1 to 7 is assembled from four separate criteria that are not tests in the usual sense. This guide explains what each criterion measures, how the levels turn into the final grade, and, based on what we see in our own MYP students in the Netherlands, exactly where capable children lose the marks that separate a 5 from a 7.

The four criteria

Every MYP maths unit is assessed against some or all of four criteria. Over the year, every criterion is assessed at least twice, and the teacher decides a "best-fit" level from 0 to 8 for each one. The descriptors come in bands: 1 to 2, 3 to 4, 5 to 6 and 7 to 8.

Criterion A: Knowing and understanding. Can the student select the right mathematics and apply it correctly, in both familiar and unfamiliar situations? This is the closest thing to a normal test. Most classroom tests and the end-of-unit assessments are criterion A.

Criterion B: Investigating patterns. The student is given a pattern task, for example how the number of tiles grows in a sequence of shapes, and must select and apply techniques to find the pattern, describe it as a general rule (usually a formula), and then verify and justify that rule. Level 7 to 8 requires a correct general rule, tested, with a justification of why it works.

Criterion C: Communicating. Is the mathematical language and notation correct? Are different forms of representation used (table, graph, formula, words) and can the student move between them? Is the working organised into a logical line of reasoning that someone else can follow? This criterion is assessed on the same pieces of work as B and D.

Criterion D: Applying mathematics in real-life contexts. A task set in a real situation: designing a container, analysing a set of real data, planning a budget. The student must identify the relevant elements, select a strategy, apply the mathematics, reach a solution, and then, this is the part that costs marks, justify the degree of accuracy of the solution and explain whether it makes sense in the real situation.

From four levels to one grade

At the end of the year the four best-fit levels are added together to a total out of 32 and converted with the IB grade boundaries.

Look at what that table implies. A student at level 8 on criterion A and level 5 on B, C and D has 23 points, a grade 5. The same student at level 7 on all four has 28, a grade 7. A perfect test score cannot rescue weak investigation and communication. This is the single most important thing for a parent to understand about MYP maths.

Where strong students lose marks

We teach MYP students at Amity in Amstelveen, at the international schools in Amsterdam, The Hague and Eindhoven, and at IB schools in Dubai and Toronto. The pattern is remarkably consistent, and it is most visible in children who were top of the class in an Indian school.

Criterion B: stopping at the answer. The child finds the pattern, writes the formula, and stops. The rubric wants the rule tested on a new case ("verified") and an explanation of why the rule must be true ("justified"). Without both, the ceiling is level 6. We train a fixed routine: table, observation, rule in words, rule in symbols, test it on a case you did not use, explain why it works.

Criterion C: no line of reasoning. Working is written as a column of calculations with no words between them. The rubric asks for reasoning that is "complete, coherent and concise", and for moving between representations. A single sentence between steps ("so the gradient is 3, which means each week adds 3 cm") lifts a level 4 to a level 6.

Criterion D: no accuracy discussion. The child solves the real-life task correctly and never writes the two sentences that level 7 to 8 requires: how accurate is this answer (rounding, measurement, assumptions) and does it make sense in the real situation. We give students a literal checklist for the last paragraph of every criterion D task.

Criterion A: unfamiliar situations. Indian students are often very fast on familiar question types and lost when the same maths is dressed in an unfamiliar way. Level 7 to 8 specifically requires success in "challenging unfamiliar situations". The fix is not more of the same practice; it is deliberately mixed, disguised problems.

The MYP years and what changes

MYP 1 (Grade 6) to MYP 3 (Grade 8) build number, algebra, geometry and statistics roughly in line with the Indian Classes 6 to 8 in content, but assessed through the criteria from day one. MYP 4 and 5 (Grades 9 and 10) move towards the IB Diploma, and schools that offer it end MYP 5 with the on-screen eAssessment in May.

Two differences from an Indian syllabus are worth knowing. There is less repetition of procedure and more depth per topic, and the calculator (usually a graphic display calculator from MYP 4) is used freely, so the marks are in the thinking, not the arithmetic.

What we do in a weekly MYP class

We do not re-teach the school's unit. We take the school's current unit and work it through all four criteria: a criterion A check on the content, a criterion B investigation in the same topic, and a criterion D task set in a context the child cares about, all written up to criterion C standard. Over a term the routines become habits, and the report moves because the habits moved. For a child aiming at the Diploma, MYP 4 and 5 are also where we start building towards Mathematics Analysis and Approaches or Applications and Interpretation, so the choice at 16 is made from strength.

If your child is on a 5 and you cannot see why, send us the last assessed criterion B or D task before the demo. Ten minutes with the rubric next to the work usually shows exactly where the two or three lost levels are.

Questions parents ask

See how we teach this, 1-on-1 online →