What Criteria C Means in MYP Subjects
Criterion C in MYP subjects is the third subject-specific assessment criterion, but its meaning changes between subject groups. It may assess communication, data processing, producing text, speaking, creating a solution, or another discipline-specific skill. In MYP Mathematics, for example, Criterion C is Communicating: students use mathematical language, representations, and reasoning to explain their conclusions.
There is no universal definition of “Criterion C.” Check the criterion name, strands, and achievement-level descriptors in your subject guide or teacher’s rubric. The wording for your course and year is the controlling document.
How MYP Assessment Criteria Work
Most MYP subject groups use four criteria labelled A, B, C, and D. Each is assessed from 0 to 8, and the criteria are generally equally weighted. Teachers use criterion-related assessment, judging evidence against published descriptors rather than ranking students against classmates.
The same letter can therefore represent a different skill in each subject.
| MYP subject group | Criterion C usually focuses on |
|---|---|
| Mathematics | Communicating mathematical ideas and reasoning |
| Sciences | Processing and evaluating data |
| Language and Literature | Producing text for an audience and purpose |
| Language Acquisition | Speaking and interacting in the target language |
| Individuals and Societies | Communicating information and ideas |
| Design | Creating the proposed solution or prototype |
| Arts | Creating or performing |
| Community Project | Taking action |
These are useful starting points, not replacements for your rubric. Exact strands can vary by subject, year, course version, and task.
Examples Across Subjects
Mathematics: Communicating
MYP Mathematics Criterion C assesses whether you communicate mathematical ideas, reasoning, and findings using appropriate language and representations. Strong evidence may include defined variables, correct notation, labelled graphs, logical working, and a conclusion linked to the question. Writing only the final answer is usually insufficient when a task asks you to explain or justify.
Sciences: Processing and Evaluating
MYP Sciences Criterion C focuses on collecting, processing, and interpreting data, then explaining conclusions supported by evidence. You may need tables, calculations, graphs, patterns, anomalies, uncertainty, and limitations. “The temperature increased” is only an observation; a stronger response identifies values, explains the pattern, and considers measurement uncertainty or an uncontrolled variable.
Language and Literature: Producing Text
Criterion C assesses written and spoken texts, including the creative process, audience, purpose, and choices used to create an effect. A persuasive speech needs more than good ideas: its structure, tone, rhetorical choices, and supporting details should suit the intended audience.
Design: Creating the Solution
In MYP Design, Criterion C concerns planning and creating the chosen solution. Students may produce a prototype, product, model, or system by following a plan and using suitable techniques and equipment. Document important decisions, changes, technical problems, and how the final solution was produced, not only the finished object.
Using MYP Command Terms
MYP command terms work alongside the criterion. The criterion identifies the subject skill, while the command term identifies the action your response must perform.
- Describe: give a detailed account of features or characteristics.
- Explain: give reasons or causes and show how something works.
- Analyse: examine parts and relationships.
- Justify: support a decision or conclusion with reasons or evidence.
- Evaluate: make a judgment using evidence and relevant criteria.
A common mistake is answering the topic without answering the command term. A question asking you to evaluate a scientific method requires a supported judgment about strengths and limitations, not just a description of its steps.
How to Improve Your Criterion C Level
Start by copying the relevant Criterion C strands into your planning document. Turn each strand into an observable question, such as “Have I interpreted the data?” or “Have I adapted my language to the audience?”
Use this process:
- Identify the criterion and command term.
- Highlight the evidence the task requires.
- Plan each paragraph, calculation, design stage, or performance around a strand.
- Check that your evidence is accurate, relevant, and clear.
- Compare your work with the next achievement-level descriptor.
- Rewrite one weak section using feedback.
Neat presentation alone does not earn a high Criterion C level. Communication makes your reasoning visible, but your ideas, evidence, method, or product must also satisfy the subject-specific descriptor.
RevisionDojo’s MYP assessment criteria guide supports a criterion-first approach. Use Study Notes to review concepts, Questionbank to practise command terms, and Jojo AI to identify strands your response has not demonstrated.
Key Takeaways
Criterion C is not identical across the MYP. Its meaning depends on the subject: communicating in Mathematics, processing and evaluating in Sciences, producing text in Language and Literature, and creating a solution in Design.
The most reliable improvement strategy is to read the exact strands, identify the command term, and make the required evidence visible. Strong performance combines subject understanding with the discipline-specific skill described by the rubric.