MYP PHE is not marked on athletic ability. Two of the four criteria are assessed away from the pitch entirely, which is why strong athletes can and do score below strong planners.
Quick answer: MYP Physical and Health Education is assessed against four criteria, each marked out of 8: A — Knowing and understanding, B — Planning for performance, C — Applying and performing, and D — Reflecting and improving performance. The four scores total 32, converted to a 1–7 grade. Criterion A must be assessed away from performance situations, and Criterion C must be assessed in them.
Like every MYP subject group, Physical and Health Education is assessed against four equally weighted criteria, each marked out of 8.
| Criterion | What it assesses |
|---|---|
| A — Knowing and understanding | Explain physical and health education factual, procedural and conceptual knowledge, apply it to analyse issues, and use appropriate terminology. This criterion must be assessed in non-performance situations, through written or oral tasks only. |
| B — Planning for performance | Design and explain a plan for improving performance or health — a training programme, a movement composition, a coaching plan — and then carry it out so it can be evaluated. |
| C — Applying and performing | Demonstrate and apply skills, techniques, strategies and movement concepts. This criterion must be assessed in performance or playing situations. |
| D — Reflecting and improving performance | Explain and evaluate the effectiveness of a plan, analyse performance against goals, and describe how it could be improved. |
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 PHE is usually earned in Criteria B and D. The pattern that scores: a plan with measurable goals and a stated rationale, evidence that it was actually carried out over time, performance data recorded along the way, and a final evaluation that ties the outcome back to the original goals rather than describing how the season went.
Physical and Health Education 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.
Because only Criterion C is assessed in performance. The other three — knowledge, planning and reflection — are worth three quarters of the total and are assessed away from the pitch. A student who performs excellently but submits a thin training plan and a descriptive evaluation is mathematically capped in the middle bands. This surprises families more than any other feature of MYP PHE.
Measurable goals, a stated rationale grounded in Criterion A knowledge, and evidence that the plan was actually carried out. A six-week training programme with baseline data, weekly targets and recorded sessions gives Criterion D something to evaluate. A plan written the week before submission does not.
Criterion B is the plan; Criterion D is the judgement on it. Criterion D is not for evaluating an isolated skill — it is for evaluating whether a plan improved performance across a range of skills and strategies, with evidence. Students who use Criterion D to describe how a season went rather than to measure outcomes against stated goals lose most of the available marks.
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 · Design
For how the four criterion scores become the 1–7 subject grade, see how IB MYP is graded.
