Geography Criterion A rewards precise use of geographical terms and developed explanations that link physical and human processes with real places.
Subject terms appear in the right place and are used accurately.
You describe, explain and give examples, rather than listing facts.
A little of the criterion is addressed. Ideas are basic, partly missing, or not linked to the task.
The main points are there but thin. Some explanations are correct; links to the task or evidence are incomplete.
Mostly accurate, well explained and consistently tied to the task, with only small gaps.
Detailed, precise and justified throughout, with ideas connected and applied to new situations or evidence.
A plain-language guide only. Your teacher marks against the official IB level descriptors.
Explain how a headland and bay form on a coastline.
The sea wears away the soft rock and leaves the hard rock.
On a coast where bands of hard and soft rock meet the sea, waves attack the softer rock faster by hydraulic action and abrasion, forming a bay. The harder rock erodes more slowly and is left sticking out as a headland. Waves then refract around the headland, concentrating erosion on its sides and sheltering the bay, where sand and shingle are deposited.
Criterion A is Knowing and understanding. It is marked out of 8 across 2 strands (A.i, A.ii). Geography Criterion A rewards precise use of geographical terms and developed explanations that link physical and human processes with real places.
Use the terms precisely (urbanisation, erosion, migration, sustainability) and give each a place-based example. Explain processes in sequence, such as how waves erode a cliff, step by step. Link physical and human factors where they interact, such as flood risk and land use.
Describing a pattern on a map without explaining what causes it. Examples that are not specific (in some countries). Treating the terms weather and climate as the same.
Written by CritABCD for study and revision, in our own words. The official MYP Geography guide and assessment criteria are published by the International Baccalaureate. Official IB guide ↗