IB MYP Sciences: Course Models and eAssessment Content Scope

This guide covers course models and eAssessment content scope for IB Middle Years Programme Sciences. The full syllabus guide confirms schools choose between discrete, modular and integrated course models, but the course model does not decide what the eAssessment examines: the topics the on-screen examinations draw on span biology, chemistry and physics, and which of them a student’s own examination covers is set by the eAssessment option they are entered for, not by the model their school used.

Where this fits in the subject

This is a school-level choice, not a fixed feature of the subject – confirm which model your own school actually uses before assuming a description written for a different structure applies to you. Discrete means biology, chemistry and physics, or other disciplines such as environmental or life sciences, taught as genuinely separate subjects. Modular means two or more discrete sciences taught in rotation across the year. Integrated means disciplines blended together rather than taught as separate strands.

Why the model matters for revision organisation

A student on a modular timetable organising revision as if their course were fully integrated – or vice versa – risks structuring study time around the wrong unit boundaries. The underlying content overlaps substantially, but how it was sequenced and taught differs by model, which affects how efficiently you can organise a revision timetable around it.

eAssessment scope is set by the option, not the course model

The on-screen examination is available in biology, chemistry, physics and integrated sciences, and the examinations can draw on topics including atomic structure and bonding, cells, cycles, electromagnetism, evolution, interactions between organisms, forces, states and properties of matter, metabolism, organisms, and waves – spanning all three underlying disciplines. Which of those topics your own examination draws on depends on the eAssessment option you are entered for, not on how your school’s timetable was structured.

Worked example: organising revision across a modular timetable

A student on a modular course studied biology in Term 1, chemistry in Term 2, and physics in Term 3. The risk is revising only the most recently taught module – physics – because it feels freshest, assuming earlier modules are “done.” The correct approach is to build a revision schedule that revisits all modules taught across the year, since the examination can draw on any content within the scope of the eAssessment option the student is entered for, whenever it was taught – for a student entered for integrated sciences after this rotation, that means all three modules, not just the most recent one. A practical step is to create one summary sheet per module taught, reviewed on a rotating basis in the weeks before the examination, rather than a single pass through content in teaching order.

Weighting revision time correctly

Because the investigation-skills task (criteria B and C) carries fully half the available marks (50 of 100), fluency in designing, running and evaluating investigations deserves proportionately more revision time than content recall alone. A student who knows the facts across all their taught modules but has not practised formulating a testable hypothesis and interpreting imperfect real data under exam conditions is under-prepared for where most of the marks actually sit, regardless of which course model they were taught under.

Key and related concepts still apply across all models

Regardless of course model, MYP Sciences is organised around the key concepts of change, relationships and systems, explored through related concepts such as energy, movement, transformation and models. These concepts, and the six MYP global contexts, provide a consistent conceptual thread across whatever specific content your school’s model happens to cover – useful to keep in mind when connecting content from different modules or disciplines during revision. This is why the same investigation-skills task applies identically whether a student’s course was taught as three discrete sciences, a rotating modular sequence, or a fully blended integrated course – the practical skill of designing, running and evaluating an investigation does not depend on how the underlying content was packaged.

How to approach it

Confirm with your teacher which course model – discrete, modular, integrated – your school actually uses, and which specific eAssessment option (biology, chemistry, physics, integrated sciences) applies to you, before organising revision material. Build a revision schedule that revisits every science module within your eAssessment option’s scope, not just the most recent one, treating all of that content as equally examinable regardless of teaching sequence. Weight investigation-skills practice proportionately to its 50% share of the marks, rather than concentrating revision time on content recall alone.

Common mistakes

Assuming eAssessment content is limited to whichever single science was taught most recently on a modular timetable, when the examination can draw on any content within the scope of your eAssessment option, whenever in the year it was taught. Confusing which course model your own school uses, leading to revision material organised around the wrong unit boundaries – for example, revising as though content was taught in discrete, self-contained blocks when the school actually used an integrated model that blended disciplines together throughout. Treating “integrated sciences” content as somehow lighter or less rigorous than discrete-subject content, when the same underlying framework and assessment criteria apply regardless of model. Under-investing revision time in investigation skills relative to their 50% share of the total marks, in favour of content recall that is comparatively easier to revise but worth proportionately less.

Confirming your own eAssessment option

Before building a revision plan, confirm not only your course model but also which specific eAssessment option you are entered for – biology, chemistry, physics, or integrated sciences – since this determines the precise scope of content your examination will draw on, distinct from the broader question of how your lessons were structured across the year.

Official syllabus

International Baccalaureate Organization, Middle Years Programme Subject Brief – Sciences, from 2014 – the same source already cited by the full syllabus guide and the revision notes already on the site. Verified 2026-09-06.