A written MYP Personal Project report can be up to 15 pages under the current submission framework. If your report includes audio or video, the document allowance decreases as the recording becomes longer. The full project is intended to involve approximately 25 hours or more of independent work, usually spread across several months.
Older guides may state that the report should contain 1,500 to 3,500 words. That range belongs to an earlier version of the MYP Projects guide. Current guidance uses pages and recording time, so your school’s handbook for your assessment session should take priority over archived online materials.
Current MYP Personal Project length limits
For a fully written submission, the maximum is 15 document pages with no recording. A multimedia report can combine written pages with a recording, but each additional minute of recording reduces the document allowance by one page.
| Written document | Maximum recording |
|---|---|
| 15 pages | No recording |
| 14 pages | 1 minute |
| 13 pages | 2 minutes |
| 12 pages | 3 minutes |
| 11 pages | 4 minutes |
| 10 pages | 5 minutes |
| 9 pages | 6 minutes |
| 8 pages | 7 minutes |
| 7 pages | 8 minutes |
| 6 pages | 9 minutes |
These are maximum limits, not targets. A 15-page report does not automatically earn more marks than an 11-page report, and including a recording does not create additional assessment credit. Choose the format that lets you demonstrate every assessment strand clearly.
Current school handbooks based on the MYP framework commonly require at least 11-point font and 2 cm margins. The bibliography is normally uploaded separately and does not count toward the report limit, while an unnecessary title page may count. Confirm these details with your coordinator because schools may impose additional submission procedures.
Is there an official word count?
The current page-based framework does not set one universal word target. The frequently quoted 1,500-to-3,500-word range comes from an earlier report format and should not be treated as the current rule unless your school has retained it as a local instruction.
For planning purposes, many students can explain their work effectively in approximately 2,000 to 3,000 words. This is practical advice, not an IB requirement. Reports containing timelines, photographs, tables, captions or annotated prototypes will naturally have fewer words than reports consisting mainly of prose.
Do not fill 15 pages by repeating explanations or enlarging screenshots. Equally, do not use tiny text or unreadable evidence to force too much material into the limit. Moderators must be able to understand your decisions and connect your evidence to your claims.
How long should the entire project take?
The IB overview of the Personal Project presents it as an extended inquiry involving a process, a product or outcome, and a reflective report. Supporting material describes approximately 25 hours or more of independent work, including research, planning, creating the product, meeting a supervisor and preparing the report.
This is a workload expectation, not a stopwatch-based grading criterion. Working for 50 hours does not automatically earn more marks, and additional time cannot compensate for weak evidence. A focused, carefully evaluated product is usually more suitable than an enormous project that cannot be completed or tested properly.
A possible distribution is:
| Project phase | Example time |
|---|---|
| Refining the learning goal | 2 hours |
| Research and source evaluation | 5 hours |
| Success criteria and planning | 3 hours |
| Creating, testing and improving | 9 hours |
| Evaluation and reflection | 2 hours |
| Evidence selection and report writing | 4 hours |
This is only a planning model. Your school’s proposal, supervisor-meeting, draft and submission deadlines determine your actual schedule.
Plan report length around the assessment criteria
The current MYP Personal Project criteria are Criterion A: Planning, Criterion B: Applying skills, and Criterion C: Reflecting. Each criterion has a maximum achievement level of 8, giving a total out of 24. The IB’s seven-step Personal Project overview summarizes these objectives.
Criterion A: Planning
Explain your learning goal and its connection to a personal interest. Identify the intended product or outcome, establish detailed success criteria, and present a plan for achieving them. Avoid spending several pages on general background information that does not clarify your goal, criteria or decisions.
Criterion B: Applying skills
Explain how specific approaches to learning, or ATL, skills helped you achieve the learning goal and create the product. Merely naming research, communication or self-management skills is insufficient. Describe the strategy, show where you applied it, and explain its effect.
Drafts, feedback, test records and documented revisions are usually more valuable than a long chronological account. This criterion often needs substantial space because it requires evidence from the actual process.
Criterion C: Reflecting
Evaluate the final product against each success criterion and explain the project’s impact on your learning. Support judgements with measurements, user feedback, test results or comparisons with the original specification. A balanced evaluation that identifies partial success is stronger than an unsupported claim that everything worked perfectly.
A practical report-length example
For a report of approximately 2,400 words, a useful non-official allocation might be:
| Report section | Approximate allocation | Main evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Criterion A | 700-800 words | Goal, interest, product, criteria and plan |
| Criterion B | 900-1,000 words | ATL skills, testing, feedback and revisions |
| Criterion C | 650-750 words | Product evaluation and learning impact |
After adding a timeline, success-criteria table and readable evidence, this might occupy 10 to 13 pages. That is acceptable because the objective is not to fill every available page. Each paragraph should demonstrate a criterion strand or explain relevant evidence.
Students developing an idea can consult MYP Personal Project ideas that generate evidence and realistic Personal Project examples. Use their planning principles rather than copying another student’s topic.
How the topic affects project length
Broad Personal Project topics are difficult to manage within the expected working time. Goals such as “make a video game,” “solve pollution” or “write a novel” do not define a realistic scale, audience or endpoint.
A better version might be: “Learn introductory level-design principles and create a three-level puzzle-game prototype tested by six students.” This separates the learning goal from the product, limits the scope and creates opportunities for feedback and evaluation.
Before approving a topic, ask:
- Can I state the learning goal clearly?
- Is the final product precisely defined?
- Can I complete it with the available time and materials?
- Will I generate drafts, data, photographs or feedback?
- Can I create measurable success criteria in advance?
- Will I have meaningful decisions and changes to discuss?
The guides to choosing a strong Personal Project topic and developing a complete project plan can help reduce an overambitious proposal.
Final length and submission checklist
Before exporting your report:
- Confirm your school’s current handbook and deadlines.
- Keep a written-only report at or below 15 pages.
- Reduce the page total correctly if using a recording.
- Use readable text and the required margins.
- Cover Planning, Applying skills and Reflecting.
- Include evidence for every criterion strand.
- Explain ATL skills through actions and results.
- Evaluate every success criterion with evidence.
- Cite borrowed information, images and methods.
- Check rules for bibliographies, cover pages and product evidence.
You can use the RevisionDojo MYP Personal Project Grader to identify unclear explanations or missing evidence. Feedback should strengthen your own reasoning rather than replace your authorship.
Common mistakes about Personal Project length
The most common mistake is treating 15 pages as compulsory. It is a ceiling, so a concise report can perform strongly when it addresses every strand with specific evidence.
Another mistake is relying on an outdated four-criterion or 3,500-word guide. Older materials may contain useful planning advice, but their criterion names and submission limits may not match the current framework.
Students also confuse the product with the report. A booklet, film, website or application may be the product, while the report explains the planning, ATL skills, evaluation and learning. Product scope should be determined by your success criteria; report length is controlled by submission limits.
Finally, do not place essential explanations only in appendices or unsupported visuals. Keep your argument in the report and use evidence to substantiate it. The IB’s preparation guidance explains the components of a complete submission.
Conclusion
A current written MYP Personal Project report should be no more than 15 pages, while multimedia submissions exchange document pages for recording time. Plan approximately 25 hours or more for the wider project, choose a manageable topic, and use each page to demonstrate Planning, Applying skills or Reflecting. RevisionDojo’s planning guides and Personal Project Grader can help you review the structure and evidence before submission.
Sources and referenced URLs
- IB: Personal Project overview
- IB: Project study in the MYP
- IB: Preparing for the Personal Project
- IB: Seven steps to a successful MYP Personal Project
- School handbook illustrating page-based submission limits
- RevisionDojo: Personal Project ideas
- RevisionDojo: Personal Project examples
- RevisionDojo: Choosing a strong topic
- RevisionDojo: Personal Project student guide
- RevisionDojo: MYP Personal Project Grader
