MYP · Sciences MYP Year 1
Matter and Its Properties
MYP Sciences Year 1 — Matter and Its Properties
26 min readFoundationalCore Year 1 unit — assessed mainly through MYP Criterion A (Knowing & Understanding) and Criterion B (Inquiring & Designing); underpins every later chemistry and physics unit
Almost every question your teacher writes on this unit comes down to one skill: can you sort something correctly, and prove it with evidence? Sort a substance into element/compound/mixture, sort a particle diagram into solid/liquid/gas, sort a change into physical/chemical — every single time the marks go to the student who points at the evidence (melting point, conductivity, gas produced, colour on litmus) rather than the one who guesses from the name. Nail the sorting logic and the whole unit falls into place.
Overview: How This Unit Fits Together
What this unit is really testing
Matter and Its Properties is built from six ideas that all connect back to one habit: classify first, using observable evidence, before you explain anything.
- Composition tells you whether you're looking at an element, compound, or mixture.
- Inside every atom, two numbers (atomic number, mass number) tell you exactly what it's made of.
- Separation techniques un-mix mixtures by exploiting one physical difference at a time.
- Acids and bases are classified by pH, and indicators are just the tool that makes pH visible as colour.
- Particle theory explains solid/liquid/gas behaviour as arrangement + energy, nothing more mystical than that.
- Physical vs chemical change always comes back to one test: has a genuinely new substance formed?
The shape of the chapter
Command terms this unit tests constantly
| Command term | What it demands | AO | Mark-earning move |
|---|---|---|---|
| Identify | Select and name one specific item from the information given | Knowledge/recall | One correct word or example only — don't add extra description, especially if it contradicts your answer |
| Describe | State the observable features/details in full sentences, without saying why | Knowledge/recall | Needs a complete observational statement — a single word where a sentence is expected loses the mark |
| Explain | Give reasons or causes, showing understanding of why or how | Application/understanding | Must contain a 'because' link — restating the observation without a reason scores zero on this term |
| Compare | Give similarities AND differences between two or more things | Analysis | Listing only similarities (or only differences) forfeits half the marks |
| Classify | Sort items into named groups/categories using a stated criterion | Analysis | You must name the category, not just list the items — sorting without labelling the groups loses marks |
Key point
Matter is anything with mass and volume. Every task in this unit is really asking you to classify a sample correctly — by composition, by state, or by type of change — and back that classification up with actual evidence, not the substance's name alone.
Overview