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These notes cover the biology you meet in MYP Years 4 and 5: how life is organized, the chemistry that keeps cells alive, how organisms feed, breathe, transport materials and stay healthy, how characteristics are inherited and evolve, and how living things interact with each other and with us. Every topic has worked examples, a “science in context” box for Criterion D, quick-check questions and a printable worksheet with questions for all four criteria and a full mark scheme.
MYP Sciences is marked against four criteria, A to D. They are explained, with examples, on the MYP Sciences criteria pages, which apply to biology exactly as they do to physics and chemistry. — Mr. Suta
🧬Biology topics
Read the notes, then print the worksheet (the numbers under each group) and try it without looking. Worksheet 1 (📝) is a free sample; the others (🔒) are for members. Topics 2 (cells) and 4 (enzymes) are worth doing first: almost everything else builds on them.
Cells and organisms
Topics 1–3
Metabolism
Topics 4–6
Life processes
Topics 7–10
Inheritance and evolution
Topics 11–13
Interactions with the environment
Topics 14–16
📋How you are assessed
Each worksheet follows the same four parts. Part A tests knowledge and its application; Part B asks you to plan an investigation (research question, variables, method, safety and ethics); Part C gives you data to graph, analyse and evaluate; Part D asks you to weigh the impact of the biology on people, communities and the environment. Mark yourself honestly with the mark scheme and look back at the notes for anything you missed.
🔬The other MYP sciences
MYP Physics — 19 topics from measurement to radioactivity, plus how MYP Sciences is marked. MYP Chemistry — 13 topics from states of matter to the atmosphere.