STEPS TO SUCCESSFUL

MYP PERSONAL
PROJECTS
The MYP personal project helps students develop
confidence as principled, lifelong learners. Students
in the final year of the programme explore an area of
personal interest over an extended period. Through
this independent inquiry, students consolidate their
learning and develop important skills--for further
education and life beyond the classroom.

Students use the engagement with practical

explorations to write a report that is assessed by their
supervisor and then externally moderated by the IB
to ensure a globally-consistent standard of excellence.

The personal project is an integral part of the

MYP certificate. MYP schools with year 5 students
must register all their students for personal project
moderation. If students do not participate in the
full range of MYP eAssessments, they will receive IB
MYP course results for their personal project. These
internationally recognized awards validate student
learning and can support university admission
applications.

Here are 10 steps that outline the

MYP personal project journey.
1 Schools appoint at least one personal project coordinator.
The IB recommends appointing one or more staff members to assist the MYP coordinator in
managing the organization and implementation of the personal project.
Personal project coordinators ensure that supervisors and students meet the project’s require-
ments; provide information to the IB; help secure the necessary resources for implementing the
personal project; and develop materials that support students and teachers.

2 It’s important to anticipate special requests for moderation of the personal project in
some languages.
The personal project is currently moderated in nine languages (Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin) Sim-
plified and Chinese (Mandarin) Traditional, English, French, Japanese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish,
Turkish). Schools can request additional languages to provide opportunities for students to com-
plete the personal project in mother tongues, but those requests must be made well in advance.
Details are available in the MYP Assessment Procedures.

3 The school’s MYP team introduces the personal project to the students, parents and
teachers.
The school community needs to understand the objectives, requirements, timelines and criteria
for assessing MYP personal project.
Many schools introduce the personal project during year 4, using a celebration of year 5 personal
projects to inform and inspire the next cohort’s work.

4 Coordinators ensure that each student has a project supervisor.

Schools use a variety of methods for allocating supervisors to students, including:
• students choose their own supervisor
• supervisors choose projects to supervise based on a list of proposals
• coordinators assign supervisors to students randomly or based on scheduling demands.
All supervisors should understand their role and responsibilities. Project supervisors guide and ad-
vise students on selecting topics and setting appropriately challenging goals. They help students
develop responsibility for their own learning, providing guidance in the process and completion
of the project. Supervisors also mark the completed personal projects to the school’s internal
standard.

5 MYP coordinators register students for the personal project.

Coordinators use the IB Information System (IBIS) to register all MYP year 5 students for personal
project moderation. Each student receives a unique IB student number. Procedures and dead-
lines are published annually in the MYP Assessment Procedures.
6 Supervisors guide students through the personal project process.
Supervisors meet with students on a regular basis. At least three meetings must be recorded on
the MYP projects academic honesty form. During meetings, supervisors monitor student prog-
ress through conversation, written interactions, and/or reviews of the process journal.
Students complete three elements:
1. product or outcome—evidence of tangible or intangible results: what the student was
aiming to achieve or create
2. process journal-- ideas, criteria, developments, challenges, plans, research, possible solu-
tions and progress reports
3. report—an account of the project and its impact, to a structure that follows the assessment
criteria. The report includes a bibliography and evidence from the process journal that docu-
ments students’ development and achievements.

7 Supervisors ensure that each personal project is complete.

Each personal project submitted for assessment includes:
• MYP projects academic honesty form
• personal project report in written, oral, visual or multimedia form
• evidence of product/outcome
• appendix-- no more than 10 pages or screenshots that exemplify the knowledge, understand-
ing and skills developed through the project, including evidence of the product/outcome
• bibliography.

8 Supervisors conduct internal standardization, assess the project report, and submit
criterion level totals to the IB.
Schools are responsible for applying a common standard for determining student achievement.
Supervisors assess each personal project using published criteria for investigating, planning,
taking action and reflecting. (Supervisors should assess project reports in the same form as they
will be submitted for moderation.)
Coordinators use the IB Information System (IBIS) to enter criterion level totals awarded for each
personal project. Each personal project sample uploaded to IBIS must be complete.

9 Coordinators electronically submit personal project reports selected by the IB for

moderation.
Trained examiners review the levels of achievement awarded by supervisors at the school for a
sample of 5-10 project reports in each registered language. Schools may be asked to send addi-
tional samples for moderation in order to resolve inconsistencies in levels awarded by the school.
School-based judgments which are consistently above or below the global standard will result in
an adjustment of achievement levels for all student.
10 Schools receive personal project results.
Results will be available at 12 noon GMT on 1 August for the May examination session and 1
February for the November examination session. A final grade of 3, or above, is the in the personal
project is required for awarding the IB MYP certificate.
IB MYP course results and IB MYP certificates are mailed to schools following the close of the
assessment session.

Personal project timeline

All students in MYP year 5 must be registered for external moderation of the personal project.

May session November session

Candidate registration
First registration deadline (Schools must 20 October (7 20 April (7 months
register candidates by this deadline in or- months before) before)
der not to incur a fee for each candidate.)
Second registration deadline (After 20 20 January 20 July
October / 20 April a fee will be incurred
for each candidate.)
Personal project moderation
School submits special request language 20 October (19 20 April (19 months
form for personal project via IBIS months before) before)
IB notifies school of approval of special 28 February (15 28 August (15 months
request language months before) before)
Deadline for submitting teacher assessed 10 April 10 October
totals via IBIS
Deadline for submitting sample projects 20 April 20 October
for external moderation
Candidate results available beginning at 1 August 1 February
12 noon GMT
Enquiries upon results commence 1 August 1 February
Final date that the IB accepts enquiries 15 October 15 April
upon results

Further information
If you would like more information or help, please contact IB Answers at [email protected].
Resources

The following documents (available from the Programme Re-

source Centre and the IBIS library) provide detailed guidance:
• MYP Projects guide (2014)
• MYP Projects teacher support materials (2014)
• Further guidance for MYP projects (2016)
• General (subject) reports from previous sessions
• MYP Assessment Procedures

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