MYP Design is not an art subject and it is not a computing subject. It is assessed on a documented process, and most lost marks are process marks, not product marks.
Quick answer: MYP Design is assessed against four criteria, each marked out of 8: A — Inquiring and analysing, B — Developing ideas, C — Creating the solution, and D — Evaluating. The four scores total 32, which the school converts to a 1–7 grade using published boundaries. The marks sit in the documentation of the design cycle, not in the finished product alone.
Like every MYP subject group, Design is assessed against four equally weighted criteria, each marked out of 8.
| Criterion | What it assesses |
|---|---|
| A — Inquiring and analysing | Explain and justify the need for a solution for a stated client or target audience, prioritise primary and secondary research, analyse a range of existing products, and write a detailed design brief that summarises the research. |
| B — Developing ideas | Write a design specification with measurable success criteria drawn from the research, present a range of feasible design ideas, justify the chosen one against the specification, and produce accurate planning drawings. |
| C — Creating the solution | Construct a logical plan showing efficient use of time and resources, demonstrate technical skill in making, follow the plan, and document any changes with justification. |
| D — Evaluating | Design and carry out relevant testing methods that generate data, evaluate the solution against the design specification, explain how it could be improved, and assess its impact on the client or target audience. |
The four criterion scores are added to give a total out of 32. The school then applies the published MYP grade boundaries to convert that total into the 1–7 subject grade that appears on the report. Because the criteria are equally weighted, a single weak criterion pulls the total down by up to a quarter — which is why balance across all four matters more than excellence in one.
A 7 in Design is earned in the process journal, not the workshop. The pattern that scores: a need justified with evidence, a specification with numbers in it, several genuinely different ideas rather than three versions of one, a plan with dated checkpoints, and a final evaluation that measures against the original specification point by point.
Design is one of the eight MYP subject groups every student studies across the five years of the programme, MYP 1 to MYP 5 (ages 11–16). Schools may grade it internally or enter students for the optional IB-validated eAssessment at the end of MYP 5. For the full picture of how MYP grading works across all subjects, see how IB MYP is graded.
No. MYP Design is a framework subject built around the design cycle — inquire, develop, create, evaluate — and it can be taught through digital design, product design, food technology or systems. The workshop skills matter, but they sit inside a documented process. That is the single biggest adjustment for students arriving from a craft-based curriculum, where the object itself carried the grade.
Criterion B rests on it, and Criterion D is evaluated against it, so a weak specification costs marks twice. A strong one is measurable. “The product should look modern” cannot be tested; “the product must weigh under 400g, cost under $15 to produce, and be assembled in under ten minutes” can. Each specification point should trace back to something found in Criterion A research, and each should be testable in Criterion D.
Enough to show decisions and the reasoning behind them. Examiners are not counting pages. A journal that records three genuinely different concepts, explains why two were rejected against the specification, and documents what changed during making will outscore a longer one that shows activity without judgement.
All eight MYP subject groups are assessed against four criteria marked out of 8. The criteria differ by group, so the technique that lifts a grade differs too:
Language & Literature · Language Acquisition · Individuals & Societies · Sciences · Mathematics · Arts · Physical & Health Education
For how the four criterion scores become the 1–7 subject grade, see how IB MYP is graded.
