What Does “Analyze” Mean as an MYP Command Term?
The MYP command term analyze means to break information, an idea, text, process, or problem into essential parts, identify relationships between those parts, and interpret them to reach a conclusion. IB documents often use the British spelling analyse, but it has the same meaning as analyze.
For example, if a science question asks you to analyze plant-growth data, do not only state which plant grew tallest. Identify patterns, connect growth to variables such as light or water, and explain what the relationship suggests.
What Analyze Requires
An analytical response normally does three things:
- Identifies important parts of the material.
- Explains relationships between those parts.
- Interprets evidence and reaches a relevant conclusion.
The material could be a literary extract, historical source, graph, experiment, design, media text, mathematical representation, or real-world issue. The evidence changes by subject, but analysis always goes beyond listing features or repeating events. The official IB meaning focuses on breaking something down to reveal its essential elements or structure, identifying relationships, and interpreting information to reach conclusions.
Analyze Versus Describe and Explain
These command terms require different types of thinking.
| Command term | Main expectation | Example task |
|---|---|---|
| Describe | Give a detailed account of what is present or happening. | Describe the changes shown in the graph. |
| Explain | Give reasons or causes and show how or why something happens. | Explain why the population changed. |
| Analyze | Break material into parts, show relationships, and interpret significance. | Analyze how variables affected the population. |
| Evaluate | Weigh strengths and limitations before making a judgment. | Evaluate whether the method was effective. |
A description might say, “The plant in bright light grew 12 centimetres, while the plant in darkness grew 5 centimetres.” Analysis continues: “The plant exposed to bright light grew more than twice as much, suggesting that light availability supported photosynthesis and increased growth under these conditions.” The second sentence interprets a relationship rather than merely reporting measurements.
How to Write an Analytical Response
First, identify exactly what the question asks you to analyze. Circle the command term, underline the topic, and note limits such as a specific source, period, experiment, or case study.
Select and Break Down Relevant Evidence
Choose details that help answer the question. In Language and Literature, these might include diction, imagery, structure, tone, or visual features. In Individuals and Societies, they may include source evidence, causes, consequences, and perspectives. In Sciences, look for patterns, anomalies, variables, and reliability.
Name the components clearly, but do not let the response become a list. Explain what each part contributes to the larger text, system, argument, or result. Use precise connective language such as because, therefore, whereas, this leads to, in contrast, and as a result. These words can make your reasoning visible, but the connection must be meaningful.
End each analytical point by explaining what the evidence means in relation to the question. A useful paragraph pattern is:
Evidence: identify a relevant detail. Relationship: explain how it connects to another feature or factor. Interpretation: explain what this reveals. Link: connect the point to the question.
Analyze in MYP Assessment Criteria
MYP assessment criteria describe the subject-specific knowledge and skills being assessed, while a command term tells you what intellectual action to perform. They work together, but they are not interchangeable.
For example, an MYP Language and Literature task may assess Criterion A: Analysing. Depending on the task and subject guide, the criterion may involve content, context, language, structure, style, or authorial choices. Identifying techniques without explaining their effects may show knowledge, but it does not demonstrate strong analysis.
Read the task sheet and relevant criterion strands carefully. Expectations depend on the subject, year level, assessment context, and teacher instructions. The word “analyze” alone does not provide the complete marking standard.
Common Mistakes
- Summarizing: retelling events without interpreting their importance.
- Listing techniques: naming features without explaining effects or relationships.
- Making unsupported claims: reaching conclusions without precise evidence.
- Ignoring interactions: explaining one factor while overlooking comparisons or patterns.
- Adding irrelevant detail: including everything you know instead of selecting useful evidence.
- Confusing analysis with evaluation: judging quality or effectiveness when the task only asks for interpretation.
Before submitting, underline your evidence and draw a line to the explanation that follows it. If several details have no interpretation, the response probably describes more than it analyzes.
A Practical MYP Checklist
Ask yourself:
- Have I broken the topic into meaningful parts?
- Have I explained how those parts connect?
- Have I interpreted patterns, choices, causes, or effects?
- Have I used specific evidence?
- Have I reached conclusions that answer the question?
- Have I matched the relevant MYP criterion strands?
Practise with the RevisionDojo guide to IB command terms, then use MYP assessment criteria guidance to connect the command term to your rubric. The MYP Language and Literature assessment criteria explained is useful for textual analysis. You can also review sample MYP assessment tasks and the MYP rubrics guide.
Conclusion
The MYP command term analyze asks you to break material into meaningful parts, explain relationships, interpret significance, and reach a supported conclusion. Strong responses use precise evidence and make the reasoning visible. Regular practice with RevisionDojo’s Questionbank, Study Notes, and Jojo AI can help you distinguish summary, explanation, analysis, and evaluation.