Paper 2 exam skills — popular movements
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Flip to reveal answersWhat are the three question types in Paper 2 on Popular Movements?
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Question
What are the three question types in Paper 2 on Popular Movements?
Answer
Section A: a concept mini-essay [6]. Section B(a): explain one example [4]. Section B(b): a 'To what extent...' essay [15].
Question
Which four concepts can Section A ask about?
Answer
Cause and consequence, continuity and change, perspectives, significance. The exam picks two per paper — prepare all four.
Question
What is the minimum cross-regional requirement for Section B(b)?
Answer
At least 2 examples from at least 2 different IB regions, compared explicitly.
Question
Name the four IB regions used for the cross-regional rule.
Answer
Africa and the Middle East, the Americas, Asia and Oceania, Europe.
Question
Why does a one-region answer to Section B(b) self-penalize?
Answer
It cannot reach the top markband, which requires comparison across at least two regions, however detailed the single-region account is.
Question
Give a cause & consequence contrast between the US civil rights movement and the Indian independence movement.
Answer
US civil rights (Americas): caused by segregation laws and racial inequality, leading to the Civil Rights Act (1964). Indian independence (Asia): caused by colonial rule and economic exploitation, leading to independence and partition (1947).
Question
What is 'continuity and change' asking you to weigh in a popular movements answer?
Answer
What the movement transformed (new laws, new status) against what stayed the same (old attitudes, inequalities that persisted).
Question
What counts as a 'perspective' in a popular movements essay (not OPVL)?
Answer
How different groups viewed the same movement differently: activists, opponents, governments, or later historians — used as an analytical lens, not a source-skills exercise.
Question
What earns marks in Section B(a) 'Explain one example'?
Answer
One clearly identified, specific example (named movement, place, date) with a developed explanation — not a list of facts.
Question
Example: Anti-apartheid movement in South Africa — which region and what change did it cause?
Answer
Africa and the Middle East; caused political change — end of apartheid and the 1994 democratic elections.
Question
Example: Environmental movement in Australia's anti-Franklin Dam campaign — which region and what type of movement?
Answer
Asia and Oceania; an idea/issue movement (environmental), leading to federal protection of the Franklin River (1983).
Question
What must a top-band Section B(b) judgement do?
Answer
State clearly 'to what extent' the statement is true (not just 'yes and no'), and substantiate that judgement with comparative evidence from both regions used.
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