IB MYP Design – Criterion A – Inquiring and analysing Practice Questions

These are original questions written for Marlbridge, for revision and practice on this content. They are not reproduced past-paper questions, and they do not replicate the exam’s exact structure, question count or mark tariffs – the IB holds copyright in its own papers. Use these alongside the official past papers available through your school or the IB store.

This practice set covers Criterion A – Inquiring and analysing for IB MYP Design, aligned to the International Baccalaureate Organization, Middle Years Programme Subject Brief – Design, from 2014. It suits MYP years 4 and 5 (no SL/HL split). MYP has no prescribed content list; schools design their own units, and this page trains a skill named by one of the brief’s four assessment criteria.

Every question trains Criterion A. Real MYP work is judged against criterion level descriptors (achievement levels 1-8), so the [1] points below are a revision aid, not IB marks. All people, organisations, products and data are fictional.

Study first: Criterion A study guide and revision notes. Also: course hub, checklist, criteria in practice questions.

Questions

1. (Criterion A) State the difference between primary and secondary research, and give one example of each for a digital design project. [3]

2. (Criterion A) Classify each activity as primary or secondary research: (i) timing how long users take to find a menu option; (ii) reading a published guide to colour contrast on screens; (iii) interviewing a shop owner; (iv) reading customer reviews of a rival product; (v) weighing the items a client carries; (vi) using a table of hand sizes from a reference book. [3]

3. (Criterion A) Staff at a fictional library, Elmfield Library, want a better way to run their weekly toddler story session. Distinguish between the client and the target audience here. [3]

4. (Criterion A) A student surveyed 64 Year 6 pupils who will join a fictional secondary school next year. 40 said they worried about getting lost in the new building. 56 said they can use a tablet at home.

(a) Calculate the percentage who worried about getting lost. [1] (b) Calculate the percentage who can use a tablet at home. [1] (c) Use these results to justify a digital map guide for new pupils. [3]

5. (Criterion A) A student is designing a bird feeder for a fictional school garden, where squirrels empty the current feeder within a day. Research questions: P: What colours do students like? Q: How do squirrels reach the current feeder? R: What materials resist the weather outdoors? S: Where in the garden can the feeder be mounted? Put the questions in priority order and justify your top two and your last. [4]

6. (Criterion A) A student is analysing three fictional device-charging stations for a school library.

Station	Price	Devices charged at once	Notes
P	£72	8	Open shelves; cables tangle
Q	£150	12	Lockable doors; needs wall fixing
R	£44	4	Compact; single plug

(a) Calculate the cost per device slot for each station. [2] (b) The librarian says devices must be secure while unattended. Analyse which features could inspire a solution and which should be avoided. [3]

7. (Criterion A) Eight users tried a fictional school club-finder app. Their times to find the chess club, in seconds, were: 42, 75, 38, 120, 55, 61, 47, 90.

(a) Calculate the mean and the range. [2] (b) Explain what these results suggest about the need for a redesign. [2]

8. (Criterion A) A student’s design brief reads: “I am going to design a pencil case. It will be blue, 200 mm long and cost under £4. Everyone needs a pencil case.” Identify three weaknesses and rewrite the brief. Invent plausible fictional evidence where needed. [6]

9. (Criterion A – extended) A fictional food bank, Northgate Pantry, wants a digital solution so volunteers know which shelves need restocking. Volunteers now walk round with paper lists. Produce a prioritised research plan with four research questions. For each, state primary or secondary, the method or source, and what the answer will decide. [8]

10. (Criterion A – extended) Research for a fictional client, Mrs Adeyemi, who sells fruit from a market stall:

• Observation: she moves 14 crates each day; set-up took 25 minutes on both days observed.
• Interview: fruit bruises when crates are stacked on her barrow; she dislikes lifting crates above chest height.
• Survey: 10 of 16 traders at the market (62.5%) said stacking damaged their stock.
• Existing products: a folding stacking crate saves space but crushes soft fruit; a shelved market trolley protects fruit but will not fit in her van.

Write a design brief for this situation and show how each part is supported by the research. [10]

Answers

1. Primary research is collected first-hand by you for this project [1]. Secondary research has already been collected or published by someone else [1]. Examples: primary – a questionnaire of the app’s intended users; secondary – published accessibility guidance on screen text size [1]. [3] Examiner insight: Examples must fit the context; “survey” with no digital link is too vague.

2. Primary: (i), (iii), (v). Secondary: (ii), (iv), (vi). One mark for each pair correct: (i) and (ii) [1]; (iii) and (iv) [1]; (v) and (vi) [1]. [3] Examiner insight: The test is who collected the data, not where you read it; reviews found online are secondary, while your own online questionnaire would be primary.

3. The client is the library staff, such as the person who runs the session, whom you can consult [1]. The target audience is the wider group who use the solution: the toddlers and the adults who bring them [1]. The client can give feedback during design, but the audience’s needs must be researched too, as they may differ [1]. [3] Examiner insight: Name the client precisely; “the library” or “people” gives nobody specific to interview.

4. (a) 40 ÷ 64 × 100 = 62.5% [1] (b) 56 ÷ 64 × 100 = 87.5% [1] (c) 40 of the 64 pupils surveyed (62.5%) worry about getting lost, so the need is shared by most of the audience [1]. Links the need to a consequence, such as lateness or anxiety in the first weeks [1]. 56 of 64 (87.5%) can use a tablet at home, so a digital guide reaches most users, though 8 pupils would need another format [1]. Examiner insight: Percentages without the sample size, or data without saying what it shows, read as description rather than justification.

5. Order: Q, S, R, P [1]. Q first: how squirrels reach the feeder is the core problem; a feeder that fails here fails overall [1]. S second: the mounting place sets size, fixing and the routes squirrels can take [1]. P last: colour changes appearance, not whether the feeder works [1]. [4] Examiner insight: Priority must be justified by what each answer decides; an order with no reasons earns little, even if it is sensible.

6. (a) P: 72 ÷ 8 = £9.00 per slot; Q: 150 ÷ 12 = £12.50; R: 44 ÷ 4 = £11.00. Method [1]; all three correct [1]. (b) Q’s lockable doors meet the security need, so locking is a feature to adapt [1]. P has the lowest cost per slot, but open shelves leave devices unsecured and tangled cables should be avoided [1]. Conclusion: aim for Q’s security at nearer P’s cost per slot; R’s capacity of 4 is too small, and wall fixing should be avoided if the library cannot drill [1]. Examiner insight: Analysis earns credit when each feature is judged against the client’s stated need and ends in a conclusion; a price table alone is description.

7. (a) Sum = 528 s, so mean = 528 ÷ 8 = 66 s [1]. Range = 120 − 38 = 82 s [1]. (b) A mean of over a minute to find one club suggests slow navigation for a simple task [1]. The wide range shows users differ, and 4 of 8 took over 60 s, so it is not one slow user; watching the slowest users would show where they got stuck [1]. Examiner insight: Give units and interpret the spread as well as the average; a mean alone can hide that half the users struggled.

8. Weaknesses: it starts from a chosen product, not a problem or client [1]; it gives no evidence of need (“everyone needs” is unsupported) [1]; it lists measurable requirements that belong in the specification [1]. Rewrite, for example: “Design a solution for Year 7 pupils at our school who lose equipment between lessons. In a survey, 21 of 30 Year 7 pupils (70%) had lost a pen or ruler in the last week, and observation showed cases left open in bags. Zip cases are slow to open in short lessons; pen pots do not fit in bags. The solution should keep equipment together and be quick to open at a desk.” Names audience and problem [1]; evidence with sample size [1]; a product-analysis finding and a goal, with no specification details [1]. [6] Examiner insight: Keep the numbers that prove the need; requirement numbers belong in the Criterion B specification.

9. Model plan:

Priority	Research question	Type	Method or source	Decides
1	How is stock checked now, and where does it go wrong?	Primary	Observe a shift; interview the coordinator	Which problem to fix first
2	What devices do volunteers have and how confident are they?	Primary	Volunteer questionnaire	Phone, shared tablet or mixed format
3	How do existing stock tools work?	Secondary	Public pages of three existing tools	Features to adapt or avoid
4	What makes screens easy to read for all users?	Secondary	Published accessibility guidance	Text size and contrast

Four relevant questions [1] [1]; correct primary/secondary labels [1]; a suitable method or source for each [1] [1]; what each answer decides [1] [1]; a justified order, current process and users first [1]. [8] Examiner insight: A plan is judged on whether its questions would inform the design; methods with no questions or no stated purpose cannot show planning.

10. Model brief: “Design a solution that lets Mrs Adeyemi move and set up 14 crates of fruit at her stall without stacking soft fruit or lifting crates above chest height. Set-up took 25 minutes on both days observed, and bruising from stacking is her main complaint; 10 of 16 traders surveyed (62.5%) report the same damage. Folding crates save space but crush fruit; a shelved trolley protects fruit but will not fit in her van. The solution should protect fruit, speed up set-up and fit in her van.”

Support:

• Client and problem (bruising) named [1], taken from the interview [1].
• Lifting height included as a user need from the interview [1].
• Scale of the task from observation: 14 crates, 25 minutes [1].
• Need shown beyond one person: 10 of 16 traders (62.5%) [1].
• Crate analysis: stacking crushes fruit, so avoid stacking [1].
• Trolley analysis: van size is a known limit [1].
• Goal stated as outcomes, not a chosen product [1].
• No specification details added [1].
• Every claim traceable to a named piece of research [1]. [10] Examiner insight: Every sentence of a strong brief traces back to research; new, unsupported claims weaken it.

Where marks are usually lost

• Starting with a product (“an app”, “a box”) instead of a problem and a client.
• Quoting percentages without the sample size, or data without interpreting it.
• Research plans made of methods only, with no questions, purpose or priority.
• Calling anything found online “primary” research.
• Product analysis that describes features but never relates them to the client.
• Leaving out units, or ignoring a wide range.
• Briefs that ignore the research, or are stuffed with specification measurements.

Next steps

• Criterion A revision notes
• Criterion A study guide
• IB MYP Design course hub
• Printable MYP Design checklist
• All free 10-minute diagnostics
• Book a free trial class

Official syllabus

International Baccalaureate Organization, Middle Years Programme Subject Brief – Design, from 2014 (published by the IB, 2015). The brief names Criterion A: Inquiring and analysing and states that the ePortfolio design folder contains a design brief and specification. All questions here are original.