MYP Past Papers & eAssessment Practice: Where to Find Them + How to Practice

In MYP assessment, one verb can change the entire task. A student may understand the content yet lose marks because the response does not match the thinking requested. Define needs precision. Describe needs detail. Explain needs reasons or causes. Evaluate needs a judgment based on strengths, limitations, and evidence.

For teachers, MYP command terms help shape questions, clarify expectations, align tasks with criteria, and build a shared language across subjects. This guide brings the core terms together, places them on a practical teaching ladder, and shows how their use changes across Sciences, Mathematics, Design, Individuals and Societies, and Language and Literature.

Download the free MYP command terms poster for classroom display, planning, or student revision.

What Are MYP Command Terms?

MYP command terms are published in MYP: From Principles into Practice and within individual MYP subject guides. They are not contained in one separate official MYP command terms document.

A public school reference based on IB documentation describes command terms as:

Instructional terms that indicate the level of thinking and type of performance and/or behaviour that is required of students.

A command term tells the learner what intellectual action a task expects. Teachers must also consider the subject criterion, strand, context, available marks, and level of sophistication appropriate to the year group.

The general meaning should remain recognisable across the programme, but precise usage can vary by subject. Analyse in Language and Literature focuses on how choices create meaning. Analyse in Sciences may focus on patterns, relationships, or evidence in data.

Command terms should therefore be taught explicitly. They connect with Approaches to Learning skills and help students transfer thinking processes between subjects. For more on criterion alignment, read the MYP rubrics guide.

The MYP Command Terms Depth Ladder

The ladder below is a practical teaching scaffold, not a rigid official ranking. The IB does not publish a fixed hierarchy of command terms for the MYP. This ladder reflects common usage and cognitive demand, not an official IB ranking.

A complex context can make a describe question demanding, while a familiar topic can make an analyse question accessible. Always check the current subject guide, criterion, and task context.

Definitions below reflect the programme wide glossary and common subject usage. Check your subject guide for subject specific meaning. Some terms appear only in certain MYP subjects.

Level 1: Identify and Retrieve

Identify: Name the relevant item, feature, or answer.
Define: Give the exact meaning of a term, concept, or quantity.
Label: Add names or brief explanations to a diagram or graph.
List: Give several brief answers without explanation.
State: Provide a specific name, value, or answer without working.
Select: Choose the appropriate option from a set.
Classify: Sort items into named groups or categories.
Measure: Obtain a value using an appropriate method or instrument.

These terms usually need direct responses. Extra explanation may not earn marks unless requested.

Level 2: Describe, Explain, and Apply

Annotate: Add short explanatory notes to a diagram, graph, or text.
Apply: Use knowledge, a rule, or a method in the given context.
Calculate: Produce a numerical answer and show relevant working.
Construct: Arrange information in a logical, mathematical, or visual form.
Describe: Give a detailed account of what is present or what happens.
Explain: Give a detailed account including reasons or causes.
Determine: Find the single answer supported by the information.
Document: Record sources through an accepted citation system.
Draw: Produce an accurate and appropriately labelled diagram or graph.
Estimate: Give a sensible approximate value.
Exemplify: Clarify an idea with a suitable example.
Find: Obtain an answer and show the relevant process.
Formulate: Express an idea, argument, model, or relationship precisely.
Outline: Give the main points briefly.
Plot: Mark data points accurately on a graph or diagram.
Present: Put information or work forward clearly.
Show: Display the steps in a calculation or derivation.
Sketch: Draw the general shape and important features.
Solve: Use suitable methods to reach an answer.
Use: Put knowledge or rules into practice.
Organize: Arrange ideas or information into a clear system.

Describe tells what happens. Explain shows how or why it happens through reasons, causes, or mechanisms.

Level 3: Analyse and Interpret

Analyse: Break information into parts and explain their relationships.
Compare: Explain similarities while referring to all items throughout.
Compare and contrast: Explain similarities and differences throughout.
Contrast: Explain differences while referring to all items throughout.
Deduce: Reach a conclusion from the information supplied.
Distinguish: Make the difference between ideas or items clear.
Examine: Investigate an issue closely, including assumptions and connections.
Explore: Follow a systematic process to discover patterns or possibilities.
Infer: Reach a conclusion from evidence that is implied.
Interpret: Explain meaning, trends, or conclusions drawn from information.
Investigate: Study systematically to establish facts or findings.
Predict: State a likely outcome based on evidence or patterns.
Reflect: Think carefully about experience, process, choices, and learning.
Summarize: Capture the central idea and most important points.
Trace: Follow and record the stages of a process or algorithm.

These terms ask students to work with relationships, patterns, implications, or meaning rather than only present information.

Mathematics Specific Operational Terms

These terms belong to MYP Mathematics and should not be treated as general terms for every subject.

Differentiate: Find the derivative of a function.
Integrate: Find the integral of a function.
Derive: Transform a mathematical relationship into a new one.
Hence: Use the result just obtained to reach the next result.
Otherwise: Use the preceding work if helpful, although another valid method may be used.
Write down: Record the answer directly, usually with little or no calculation.

Hence, otherwise, and write down function as mathematical instruction cues. Teach them through worked examples and the current Mathematics guide.

Level 4: Reason, Judge, and Create

Appraise: Judge the quality or value of a work, idea, or solution.
Argue: Build a persuasive position using reasons and evidence.
Comment: Give a supported judgment on a statement or result.
Create: Produce something original from ideas and imagination.
Critique: Review strengths, weaknesses, choices, and effects critically.
Demonstrate: Make an idea clear through reasoning, evidence, or examples.
Design: Produce a purposeful plan, model, or solution.
Develop: Improve, expand, or refine an idea in stages.
Discuss: Review arguments or factors before reaching a supported conclusion.
Evaluate: Make an appraisal by weighing up the strengths and limitations.
Justify: Support a decision or conclusion with valid evidence and reasoning.
Prove: Establish a result through formal logical steps.
Show that: Reach the stated result using valid working without a full formal proof.
Suggest: Propose a plausible answer, hypothesis, or solution.
Synthesize: Combine ideas or evidence to form a new understanding.
To what extent: Judge how far a claim is valid using supporting and opposing evidence.
Verify: Provide evidence or working that confirms a result.

Teaching note: An effective evaluation often uses clear criteria, relevant evidence, strengths, limitations, and a supported overall judgment.

Command Terms in MYP Sciences

Sciences often move from observation to reasoning. Describe reports a pattern or process. Explain connects it to scientific reasons. Interpret draws meaning from data. Predict gives an expected outcome based on evidence. Design requires a workable investigation or method.

Evaluate asks students to make an appraisal by weighing strengths and limitations. This may involve a method, evidence, conclusion, or proposed solution. A strong scientific explanation also needs accurate knowledge, a clear causal link, and relevant evidence.

Command Terms in MYP Mathematics

MYP Mathematics includes terms with precise working expectations. Show asks for calculation or derivation steps. Show that gives the result and asks the student to reach it through valid working. Prove requires a formal logical argument.

Hence signals that the previous result should be used. Otherwise allows another valid method. Write down normally requires a direct answer with little or no working. Differentiate and integrate are mathematical operations, not general programme wide command terms.

Command Terms in MYP Design

In Design, command terms often follow the design cycle. Students identify a need, explain the problem, analyse research, develop ideas, create a solution, present evidence, justify decisions, and evaluate the outcome.

Evaluate should not become a list of likes and dislikes. Students should weigh strengths and limitations using testing evidence and design specifications. Prioritize may appear in Design contexts, but teachers should check the current guide rather than present it as a programme wide term.

Command Terms in Individuals and Societies

Individuals and Societies tasks often require evidence, perspectives, causes, consequences, and judgment. Compare and contrast must refer to both cases throughout.

Discuss reviews relevant arguments or factors. Evaluate weighs strengths and limitations before reaching an appraisal. To what extent requires a qualified conclusion about how far a claim is convincing. Strong responses use specific evidence and explain why it matters.

Command Terms in Language and Literature

In Language and Literature, analyse means examining how choices create meaning or effect. Students may consider language, structure, form, style, perspective, context, and audience.

Interpret develops a defensible reading. Compare and contrast should connect texts continuously. Critique and evaluate require reasoned judgment rather than personal preference. Translate may appear in language contexts, but it should not be presented as a general term across all subjects.

Common Command Term Confusions

Identify and describe: Identify names the feature. Describe gives its characteristics or sequence.

Describe and explain: Describe tells what happens. Explain shows how or why it happens.

Discuss and evaluate: Discuss reviews relevant positions or factors. Evaluate weighs strengths and limitations before reaching an appraisal.

Explain and justify: Explain gives reasons or causes. Justify defends a choice, claim, or conclusion.

Show and prove: Show displays valid working. Prove establishes the result through formal logic.

Use How to Structure MYP Answers for response frameworks, evidence moves, and self checking routines.

How Teachers Can Use Command Terms Better

1. Use the precise term in lessons, practice tasks, and assessments.

2. Model what the term changes in an answer, not only its definition.

3. Match the term to the criterion, strand, complexity, and available marks.

4. Check the current subject guide for subject specific meaning and operational terms.

5. Build a shared glossary without erasing meaningful subject differences.

6. Ask students to underline the command term and self check whether every paragraph performs the requested action.

7. Compare responses to the same content so students can see how describe, explain, analyse, and evaluate produce different answers.

Clear command terms improve assessment only when the rest of the task is equally clear. With the Koncepts MYP Assessment Generator, teachers can create subject appropriate questions, align tasks with MYP criteria, and produce assessment materials with more consistent cognitive demand.