Is the MYP ePortfolio compulsory for every student?

Subject ePortfolios are not compulsory for every MYP student because full MYP eAssessment participation is optional for schools. A school pursuing the complete MYP Certificate normally enters candidates for an ePortfolio in arts, design, or physical and health education as part of the required subject combination. The personal project is separately required in the final year and is submitted for external moderation. Individual schools may also make eAssessment participation compulsory under their own academic policy. Students should ask their coordinator which components they have been officially registered for.

What is the difference between an MYP ePortfolio and an on-screen examination?

An ePortfolio assesses work developed through a sustained practical or creative process, while an on-screen examination assesses responses produced within a fixed examination period. The ePortfolio can contain drafts, research, planning, practical evidence, a product or performance, and evaluation. Teachers mark subject ePortfolios before the IB moderates a sample of the school's work. On-screen examination responses are marked externally by IB examiners. Both formats ultimately produce an official grade from 1 to 7 and can carry equal weight in the MYP Certificate.

Does the final product determine the whole MYP ePortfolio grade?

No, the final product or performance is only one source of evidence. Subject criteria may also assess investigation, planning, development, technical skills, reflection and evaluation. A sophisticated outcome can therefore receive a disappointing result if the process is poorly documented or important decisions are unexplained. Conversely, a student can gain substantial credit by showing thoughtful development, testing and justified improvement even when the outcome has limitations. The safest approach is to map portfolio evidence directly to every assessed criterion strand.

Are MYP ePortfolio grade boundaries always the same?

No, students should not assume that official ePortfolio boundaries remain identical across subjects and assessment sessions. The IB uses criterion totals and published grade descriptors to establish subject-specific boundaries for the relevant session. This differs from the familiar classroom table that many schools use to convert a total out of 32 into a report grade. A previous boundary can be useful as rough context but cannot guarantee the next session's result. Coordinators should consult the official results documentation released for the correct subject and session.

Can moderation lower an MYP ePortfolio mark?

Yes, moderation can leave school marks unchanged, raise them or lower them. An IB examiner reviews a sample to determine whether the school's marking matches the international standard. If teachers have consistently marked too generously or too severely, the IB may apply an adjustment to the relevant cohort. This does not mean that every portfolio was individually remarked. Internal standardization reduces the risk of adjustment by helping teachers interpret and apply the criteria consistently.

How should students organize MYP ePortfolio evidence?

Students should create a folder structure that mirrors the task sections or Criteria A-D. Every draft, photograph, recording and test result should have a clear date and descriptive filename. Short annotations should explain what the evidence demonstrates and why a decision or revision was made. Final submission files should be checked on another device to confirm that links, audio, video and formatting work correctly. Students must also keep backups and follow the school's required file formats, size limits and naming conventions.

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What Is the MYP ePortfolio? Grading and Process

MYP Assessment IB Grading

Rachel B.

• 11 Sept 2026•11

What Is the MYP ePortfolio? Grading and Process

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What Is the MYP ePortfolio? Grading and Process | RevisionDojo

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What Is the MYP ePortfolio? Grading and Process

MYP Assessment IB Grading

Rachel B.

• 11 Sept 2026•11

An MYP ePortfolio is a digital collection of assessed coursework completed by an MYP Year 5 student in certain practical or creative subjects. It documents a sustained process such as researching, planning, creating, performing, testing, refining and evaluating rather than relying entirely on a timed examination.

Teachers assess the work against subject-specific MYP criteria. The IB then reviews samples through external moderation to check that schools apply a consistent international standard. The moderated criterion total is converted into an official grade from 1 to 7 using boundaries for the relevant subject and assessment session.

Where the MYP ePortfolio fits into eAssessment

MYP eAssessment is the IB's external assessment system for the final year of the Middle Years Programme. Participation in the full system is optional for schools, although authorized schools are expected to register eligible Year 5 students for personal project moderation under current regulations.

Assessment format	Current subject areas	Assessment method
On-screen examination	Language and literature, individuals and societies, mathematics, sciences and interdisciplinary learning	Marked externally
ePortfolio	Arts, design, and physical and health education	Teacher-marked and externally moderated
Language acquisition	On-screen examination plus a separate speaking component	Speaking is internally assessed and externally moderated
Personal project	Electronically submitted project material	Internally assessed and externally moderated

Older summaries sometimes classify language acquisition as an ePortfolio. Under the current 2026 MYP assessment regulations, it uses an on-screen examination and a separately assessed speaking component. Schools should follow documentation for the applicable assessment session rather than older descriptions.

The personal project is also submitted electronically and moderated, but subject ePortfolios generally refers to arts, design, and physical and health education. The IB's MYP assessment overview explains how these components form the wider eAssessment model.

What does an MYP ePortfolio contain?

An ePortfolio is not simply a folder of a student's best classwork. It is a defined assessment completed in response to an IB framework, normally communicated through a partially completed unit planner for the relevant session. The school develops parts of the learning experience, but the context, assessment expectations and submission conditions are not entirely open-ended.

Depending on the subject and task, evidence may include:

research, analysis and source records
plans, specifications or artistic intentions
drafts, sketches, prototypes or rehearsal evidence
photographs, video, audio or screenshots
testing results and responses to feedback
a completed product or performance
evaluation and reflection

The portfolio must make the student's thinking visible. A polished final outcome cannot by itself demonstrate effective investigation, development, application of skills or evaluation. Students must follow their school's task-specific directions because file formats, recording arrangements, length limits and deadlines can vary by subject and session. The official ePortfolio overview lists available disciplines and assessment languages.

How the MYP ePortfolio is graded

MYP ePortfolio grading is criterion-related. Work is compared with published achievement descriptors, not ranked against classmates or marked through a simple percentage system.

Each subject has four assessment criteria, usually labelled A, B, C and D. Although their names and strands vary, each criterion contributes an achievement level from 0 to 8. The maximum criterion total is therefore 32.

A teacher reviews the available evidence and selects the level that best represents achievement across the relevant strands. Satisfying one part of a high-level descriptor does not automatically earn that level. The judgment must reflect the quality and consistency of the evidence required by the criterion.

From criterion levels to an official grade

Stage	What happens	Result
Criterion marking	Teacher assesses Criteria A-D	Four levels from 0 to 8
Criterion total	Levels are added	Total from 0 to 32
External moderation	IB checks a sample of school marking	Marks confirmed or adjusted
Grade award	Moderated total is compared with session boundaries	Final grade from 1 to 7
Certificate calculation	Grade counts as one certificate component	Up to 7 points

Students should not automatically apply a familiar classroom conversion, such as assuming that 28-32 always produces a grade 7. For eAssessment, the IB establishes subject-specific grade boundaries for each session by relating criterion totals to published grade descriptors. Boundaries can therefore differ between subjects and sessions.

For example, a design portfolio might receive levels of 7, 6, 5 and 6, producing a teacher-awarded total of 24 out of 32. That total is not automatically a grade 6 or any other final grade. The school must first pass through moderation, after which the IB applies the official design boundaries for that session. Previous MYP grade boundaries provide context but do not guarantee a future result.

How external moderation works

Teachers mark every student's ePortfolio, but the IB does not ordinarily remark every portfolio individually. Instead, an examiner reviews a sample selected from the school's submitted work.

The IB's explanation of MYP moderation states that the examiner determines whether the school's marking is accurate, too severe or too generous. Marks remain unchanged when the school is aligned with the international standard. When a systematic difference exists, an adjustment may be applied to the relevant cohort.

Moderation checks the accuracy of teacher marking rather than comparing students with one another. Internal standardization is therefore important: teachers should review samples together and develop a shared interpretation of the descriptors before submitting marks.

How an ePortfolio contributes to the MYP Certificate

A full MYP Certificate contains eight equally weighted results, each graded from 1 to 7, giving a maximum of 56 points. Candidates generally complete language and literature, language acquisition or an approved alternative, individuals and societies, mathematics, sciences, one subject from arts, design or physical and health education, interdisciplinary learning, and the personal project.

Under the current grading and awards requirements, students must obtain at least 28 points out of 56, receive at least a grade 3 in every required component, and meet their school's service as action expectations. An ePortfolio therefore has the same certificate weight as an on-screen examination, despite using a different assessment method.

Students may also receive MYP Course Results for individual eAssessment components without completing the full certificate combination. These official results are distinct from ordinary school report grades produced under a school's assessment policy.

Practical advice for students

Start with the criterion strands and task instructions rather than the appearance of the finished product. For each strand, ask what evidence an assessor must be able to see. An effective but undocumented decision may earn little because the marker cannot safely infer the process behind it.

Use a consistent evidence system:

keep dated drafts and version histories
record practical or performance stages
label files by criterion and task section
explain how feedback caused a specific change
connect evaluation to measurable objectives
preserve source details during research
test links and embedded media before submission

Reflection must be analytical. Instead of stating that a design was changed because it did not work, identify the weakness, cite testing or feedback, explain the revision and judge whether it improved the outcome.

RevisionDojo's guide to MYP ePortfolio subjects introduces the process, while the MYP assessment criteria guide can help students turn descriptors into an evidence plan. Current instructions from the school always take priority.

Common mistakes and coordinator priorities

Common problems include concentrating only on the final outcome, making unsupported retrospective claims, submitting repetitive material, describing actions without explaining decisions, neglecting weaker strands, using old boundaries as fixed targets, and submitting inaccessible media.

Jojo AI can clarify terminology or identify vague explanations, but it must not produce assessable content presented as the student's own. Students remain responsible for verifying and explaining every submitted decision.

Coordinators should establish a calendar for task release, authentication, standardization and submission. Departments should use the correct session documentation, standardize teacher judgments and confirm that evidence works in the required formats. RevisionDojo's MYP eAssessment study plan can support preparation, but official deadlines must come from the coordinator.

Conclusion

The MYP ePortfolio is a formal coursework assessment used principally in arts, design, and physical and health education. Four criteria produce a total out of 32, teacher marking is externally moderated, and the moderated total becomes a grade from 1 to 7 using subject- and session-specific boundaries.

Success depends on visible, authentic evidence of thinking as well as the finished outcome. The RevisionDojo MYP resource hub and Jojo AI can help students interpret criteria and organize their work, provided that school guidance takes priority.

Sources and referenced URLs

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