What Do the MYP Maths Criteria Actually Mean?

The four MYP Maths criteria each test a different skill: A checks you know facts and methods, B checks you can spot and describe patterns, C checks you communicate maths clearly, and D checks you can apply maths to a real situation. Every task marks against one or more of these.

There are exactly four: Criterion A (Knowing and understanding), Criterion B (Investigating patterns), Criterion C (Communicating), and Criterion D (Applying mathematics in real-life contexts). Not every task uses all four — a short skills test might only assess A.

Criterion A, Knowing and understanding, tests whether you can select and use appropriate mathematical techniques, apply them accurately in both familiar and unfamiliar situations, and solve problems correctly. It's the closest criterion to a traditional maths test.

Criterion D, Applying mathematics in real-life contexts, asks you to take a genuine real-world situation, model it mathematically, and explain whether your model actually makes sense. It matters because it's the criterion students lose the most marks on — not through weak maths, but weak explanation.

Your teacher awards a level from 0-8 for each criterion assessed across the unit, using best-fit judgement against the official descriptors. These four levels are added together (maximum 32) and converted into a 1-7 grade using grade boundaries set by the school.

A grade 5 or 6 out of 7 is a solid, above-average result in MYP 1-3 Maths, showing consistent work across all four criteria. A grade 7 means genuinely excellent, near-flawless performance in every strand — it's rare and not expected for most students at this stage.

Criterion B (Investigating patterns) rewards students who go beyond spotting a pattern to describing it as a general rule and, at the top band, justifying or proving why it works. Most marks are lost by stopping at "the pattern is +3 each time" without generalising it algebraically.

Criterion B is about the maths itself — finding, describing and justifying a pattern or rule. Criterion C is about how you present it — using correct mathematical language, clear working, appropriate representations (tables, graphs, diagrams), and a logical structure a reader can follow.

Reflection in Criterion D means commenting on your answer's real-world sense: is it realistic, what assumptions did you make, and how accurate is your model likely to be? A single sentence like "my answer assumes constant speed, which is unrealistic in traffic" can be the difference between a band 5-6 and 7-8.

MYP Maths uses four criteria (A-D) marked in bands of 0-8 per unit task. DP Mathematics AA and AI drop this criteria system entirely for external exams, replaced by Paper 1, 2 (and 3 for HL) marked out of set totals, plus an Internal Assessment marked against five separate criteria.

Yes, indirectly. Strong, consistent grades across all four criteria in MYP 4-5 Maths are usually what schools use to recommend whether a student takes Mathematics: Analysis and Approaches HL, AA SL, or Applications and Interpretation SL for the Diploma. Weak Criterion A or B scores are a common flag for steering students toward AI.

Look for materials that show the actual command terms and band descriptors alongside worked student responses, not just generic maths content. RevisionPrep's MYP Mathematics Revision Notes and Topical Worksheets are built around the four criteria directly, so students practise the exact skill each one tests.