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The personal project is a significant body of work produced over an extended period and is a product of the student’s own initiative. It holds a very important place in the MYP and should reflect the student’s experience of the programme. It provides an excellent opportunity for students to produce a truly creative piece of work of their choice and to demonstrate the skills they have developed through approaches to learning. Students complete the personal project in Grade 10.

The personal project offers students a great deal of flexibility and many opportunities for differentiation of learning and expression according to their individual needs. It is a rich opportunity for students to complete an extended piece of work that challenges their own creativity and thinking about issues of concern to themselves. Creativity is encouraged by the aims and objectives of the personal project; the results are usually rewarding, and sometimes spectacular.

As shown in the programme model, and exemplified in the subject‑group guides and other MYP documents, the five areas of interaction form the core of the programme: they are addressed through the subject groups; they bind various disciplines together; they are the basis of varied learning experiences through project work, interdisciplinary activities, and real‑life community involvement. Although students are not awarded individual grades for the areas of interaction, they are central to the experience of the personal project, which is intended to be the culmination of the student’s involvement with the five areas of interaction; the project is therefore normally completed during the last year of the student’s participation in the MYP.

Students may discover that completing a personal project is an excellent preparation for future studies. It is also very rewarding for supervisors to work closely with individual students to see what they can achieve.

The personal project may take many forms, for example:

• an original work of art (visual, dramatic, or performance)

• a written piece of work on a special topic (literary, social, psychological, or anthropological)

• a piece of literary fiction (that is, creative writing)

• an original science experiment

• an invention or specially designed object or system

• the presentation of a developed business, management, or organizational plan (that is, for an entrepreneurial business or project), a special event, or the development of a new student or community organization.

The student and the supervisor must agree that, whatever form the personal project takes, the finished product allows the student to investigate and focus on a theme, topic and/or issue closely connected to at least one area of interaction of the MYP. It must also include a report, as detailed in the “Requirements” section of this guide.

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