Earth and Space Science
Earth and Space Science in MYP Year 2 asks you to zoom constantly — from a single crack widening in a rock face, to the tilt of a whole planet 150 million kilometres from its star. Every exam-bank question here rewards the same skill: name the correct mechanism (which type of weathering, which variable was actually changed, which body sits in the middle of an eclipse) and then explain why it produces the effect you're shown. Get the mechanism right and the marks follow — get it vaguely right and you'll lose exactly the marks examiners built the question to test.
Overview — how this topic fits together
The big picture
Six ideas, one thread: Earth's surface is constantly reshaped by weathering and erosion, the debris eventually gets recycled through the three rock types, and all of this happens on a layered planet that is itself just one small, tilted, orbiting body inside a Solar System of enormous scale differences.
- Surface processes: weathering breaks rock down where it sits; erosion carries the pieces away.
- Rock cycle: igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rock constantly convert into one another.
- Interior structure: Earth is layered by state (solid/liquid) and composition, from crust to core.
- Space scale: Earth is one of eight planets orbiting one ordinary star, with its own moon and axial tilt driving phases, eclipses and seasons.
The shape of the chapter
Command terms this topic actually tests
| Command term | What it demands | AO | Mark-earning move |
|---|---|---|---|
| Identify | Name or select the correct fact with no explanation required | Criterion A | one correct word/phrase = full mark; adding reasoning earns nothing extra |
| Describe | Give a detailed account of what happens, step by step | Criterion A | sequence of observable facts; reasons not required but often still credited if given |
| Explain | Give the reason or mechanism for why/how something happens | Criterion A/D | must state a cause→effect link; a correct fact with no 'because' rarely scores full marks |
| Compare | State similarities AND differences between two things | Criterion A | describing only one item caps the answer at half marks |
| Distinguish | State the difference between two similar terms/concepts | Criterion A | must contrast both terms directly, not just define one of them |
| Discuss / Evaluate | Weigh multiple viewpoints, advantages and disadvantages | Criterion D | a one-sided recommendation with no counter-consideration loses marks |
Key point
Overview