Exam Practice — Where IB? Geography DP

§ 01

The two papers

Paper	Time & marks	Covers	What it means for practice
Paper 1	1 hr 30 min · 40 marks ~45 min per option	Your two optional themes	Resource interpretation, concise structured answers, and one 10-mark extended response per option.
Paper 2	1 hr 15 min · 50 marks	All three core units	Frequent work with unfamiliar maps, graphs and diagrams, short responses, synthesis, and named case evidence.

§ 02

The assessment cycle

Every unit runs through the same five stages. The middle three are where the learning happens; the timed assessment only measures it.

01

Supported practice

Models, sentence structures and shared planning. Nobody writes alone the first time.

02

Formative response

You write; feedback is focused on one or two things, not everything at once.

03

Revision

You rewrite, and you explain what you changed. The explanation is the point.

04

Timed assessment

Unfamiliar data, real time pressure, course content you have practised.

05

Correction reflection

Markscheme analysis, then one improved response. This closes the loop.

§ 03

How a short response earns marks

This is our classroom model for short responses — written in our own language, to make the difference between a 3 and a 4 concrete. Official IB markschemes are separate and are used as published.

Marks	What that answer looks like
4	Clear explanation with accurate place-specific evidence and a developed geographic connection.
3	Clear explanation with relevant evidence, but the connection is not fully developed.
2	Some geographic understanding, but mainly descriptive or only partly developed.
1	Limited relevant information.
0	Nothing creditworthy.

The gap between 3 and 4

Almost always the same thing: the evidence is there and the explanation is there, but the connection between them is left for the reader to make. Say it out loud in the sentence.

§ 04

Command terms

Drill these skills

Graph Detective ↗ Reading thematic maps ↗ Match the Concept ↗ All exam tools

Used from the first week of the course, not saved for revision. Read the term before you read the rest of the question.

Term	What the question is actually asking
Describe	Say what is there. Pattern, direction, magnitude, and one anomaly. No causes.
Explain	Give reasons. Every claim needs a because, and the because needs to be geographic.
Analyse	Break the situation into its parts and show how they relate to each other.
Compare	Similarities and differences, running side by side, not one then the other.
Distinguish	Make the difference between two things explicit.
Examine	Set out the argument and the assumptions underneath it, then interrogate them.
Evaluate	Weigh strengths against limitations and reach a judgement you can defend.
Discuss	A balanced review of several positions, ending somewhere rather than nowhere.
To what extent	Answer the how-much question directly, then justify the amount.
Justify	Give the reasons for a decision or conclusion, including why the alternatives lose.

§ 05

Practice questions — Paper 2

Written for this class in the style of the paper. Read the question, plan an answer, then open the panel and check what you missed. Opening it first teaches you nothing.

Describe 3 marks Changing Population

Describe the pattern of population density shown in the resource.

Start with the overall pattern in one sentence — where the highest and lowest densities are.
Name specific places or regions from the resource. Not “the east” but the region the resource labels.
Quote at least one figure from the resource, with its unit.
Finish with one anomaly — somewhere that breaks the pattern.

Common trap. No causes. “Describe” means say what is there. Every sentence explaining why is a sentence earning nothing.

Explain 4 marks Changing Population

Explain two reasons why fertility rates tend to fall as a country develops.

Two clearly separate reasons, not one reason twice.
Each needs a mechanism: education delays first birth, so completed family size falls.
Attach a named country to at least one reason.
Say the word because and then finish the sentence properly.

Common trap. Listing four reasons briefly scores less than developing two properly. The command says two.

Examine 10 marks Changing Population

Examine the consequences of an ageing population for one country you have studied.

Name the country in the first line, with one dated figure establishing that it is ageing.
Separate economic, social and political consequences rather than mixing them.
Bring in a second contrasting country briefly, to show the consequences are not universal.
Reach a judgement about which consequence matters most, and defend the choice.

Common trap. “Examine” wants the assumptions interrogated too. Is ageing only a problem? Say who it is a problem for.

Explain 4 marks Global Climate

Explain how one feedback mechanism accelerates global warming.

Choose one and name it — ice-albedo, permafrost carbon, water vapour.
Set out the loop as a sequence, each step causing the next.
Say explicitly why the loop reinforces itself rather than settling down.
One piece of observed evidence that the mechanism is operating.

Common trap. A description of warming is not an explanation of a feedback. The marks are in the loop closing.

Evaluate 10 marks Global Climate

Evaluate the effectiveness of adaptation strategies in one country you have studied.

Name the country and the specific strategies, with dates and costs where you have them.
Effective against what? Define the measure before you judge.
Give the strengths, then the limitations, then what the strategy cannot do at all.
Compare with a country of different wealth to show what capacity explains.
Reach a judgement. An answer that lists both sides and stops does not reach the top band.

Common trap. Bangladesh and the Netherlands together are worth more than either alone, because the comparison isolates the role of money.

Analyse 4 marks Resource Consumption

Analyse the relationship between income and ecological footprint shown in the resource.

State the direction and strength of the relationship, using figures from the resource.
Break it into parts: which components of the footprint drive the pattern?
Identify a country that does not fit, and say what makes it different.
Say what the relationship does not prove.

Common trap. “Analyse” is more than “describe”. Show how the parts relate, do not just report the trend.

To what extent 10 marks Resource Consumption

To what extent can resource stewardship address global water scarcity?

Answer the how-much question in your first paragraph, then spend the rest justifying it.
Define stewardship, then give two or three specific strategies with named places.
Set what stewardship can do against what it cannot — physical scarcity, governance failure, over-allocation.
Use at least two contrasting cases operating at different scales.

Common trap. “To what extent” expects a degree, not a verdict. “Substantially, but only where governance allows” is an answer. “Yes” is not.

§ 06

Practice questions — Paper 1

Option E only for now. The second theme gets its own set once the class has voted.

Describe 3 marks Changing leisure patterns

Describe the changes in international tourist arrivals shown in the resource.

Overall direction first, with the start and end figures and their years.
Quantify the change — a difference, a multiple or a percentage.
Name the period that breaks the trend and give its figure.

Common trap. If the resource covers 2020, the collapse and recovery is the anomaly. Say so with numbers.

Explain 4 marks Tourism at the local and national scale

Explain two physical factors that influence the location of tourist destinations.

Two separate physical factors — climate, relief, coastline, ecology.
For each, the mechanism: why does that factor attract this kind of visitor?
A named destination for each factor.

Common trap. Physical means physical. Airports and hotels are human factors and will not be credited here.

Analyse 6 marks Tourism at the international scale

Analyse the economic impacts of tourism on one destination you have studied.

Name the destination and give its scale of tourism with a dated figure.
Separate positive and negative impacts, and direct from indirect.
Use the multiplier effect and leakage by name, correctly.
Show how the impacts connect — employment depends on visitor volume, which is volatile.

Common trap. The Maldives and Costa Rica differ mainly in where the money lands. That difference is the analysis.

Evaluate 10 marks Managing tourism and sport

Evaluate the strategies used to manage tourism at one destination facing overtourism.

Name the destination and the specific measures, with dates.
State what each measure was intended to achieve, then whether it did.
Bring in stakeholders who disagree, and take both seriously.
Distinguish reducing pressure from moving it somewhere else.
Judge, and say what evidence would change your mind.

Common trap. Venice, Barcelona and Santorini are all live. Recent evidence beats a textbook example from ten years ago.

Examine 10 marks Managing tourism and sport

Examine the view that hosting an international sporting event benefits the host city.

Set out the case for: infrastructure, profile, regeneration, employment.
Then the assumptions underneath it — who counts as the host city, and over what timescale?
Two contrasting hosts, one generally judged successful and one not.
Costs against the original bid, and what happened to the venues afterwards.
Reach a position on the conditions under which it works.

Common trap. “Examine” means interrogating the claim, not just weighing it. Ask who made the promise and who audited it.

Half the paper is missing

Paper 1 examines two themes. These cover Leisure, Tourism and Sport. The other half arrives once Option ? is decided.

§ 07

Planned major assessments

When	Assessment	Purpose
Opening unit	Iran formative response	Introduce case study argument and evaluation.
Changing Population	Paper 2 style unit assessment	Data interpretation, explanation, case study use, extended response.
End of Y1 Semester 1	Cumulative assessment	Unfamiliar evidence, connections across units, geographic writing.
Global Climate	Paper 2 assessment cycle	Vulnerability, resilience, contrasting responses, evaluation.
Resource Security	Core synthesis task	Nexus thinking, stewardship, structured argument.
Each optional theme	Paper 1 style assessment	Theme knowledge, case evidence, extended response.
Year 2	Internal assessment	Independent written fieldwork report.
Final preparation	Mock Paper 1 and Paper 2	Diagnose readiness and target the revision.