IB DP Language B – Human ingenuity Practice Questions

These are original questions written for Marlbridge, for revision and practice on this content. They are not reproduced past-paper questions, and they do not replicate the exam’s exact structure, question count or mark tariffs – the IB holds copyright in its own papers. Use these alongside the official past papers available through your school or the IB store.

This practice set covers Human ingenuity, the third of the five prescribed themes in IB Diploma Programme Language B, aligned to the IB Diploma Programme Subject Brief: Language B, first assessment 2020. The questions suit both SL and HL; HL students should aim for more complex language in Questions 11 and 12. It follows the IB Language B subject brief for first assessment 2020, which remains the examined course until the new syllabus is first assessed in May 2029, so it applies to the 2026, 2027 and 2028 sessions.

The passages are in English; after marking, redo each task on a target-language text from your teacher. For the teaching, see the Human ingenuity study guide and the revision notes. Course pages: Language B course hub and printable checklist. Other theme sets: Identities practice and Sharing the planet practice.

Questions

Passage A. Original text written for Marlbridge.

Museum lets visitors “touch” its sculptures

The city museum has opened an unusual gallery. Its twelve bronze statues are far too valuable to handle, so last winter a team of volunteers scanned each one and printed exact plastic copies. The copies now stand beside the originals, and visitors are invited to run their hands over every fold and face.

The idea came from Ana, a retired teacher who lost most of her sight five years ago. “For years a museum visit meant listening to someone describe what I could not see,” she says. “Now I can find the crack in the dancer’s heel myself.”

Not everyone is convinced. One curator worries that visitors may learn to value the copy more than the real work. For now, though, the visitor book is full, and the waiting list for guided touch tours stretches into next spring.

Passage B. Original text written for Marlbridge.

Day 7: the group chat is quiet (and so am I)

Hi everyone! A week ago my friends and I made a deal: no group chat for seven days. If we wanted to talk, we had to call or meet. Honestly? The first two days were awful. I kept picking up my phone to check messages that were not there.

Then something odd happened. On Wednesday, Leo phoned me. We talked for forty minutes, longer than we have talked in months. On Friday four of us met in the park instead of sending each other funny videos.

I’m not saying the chat is evil. It’s how we organised Sam’s surprise party, and it’s where my cousin abroad sends me photos. But I’ve noticed something: in the chat we react; face to face, we actually listen.

Will we go back to it tomorrow? Probably. Will it feel the same? I doubt it.

1. State the guiding principle of the Human ingenuity theme and name its five recommended topics. [3]

2. Passage A: identify two reasons the museum’s copies were made. [2]

3. Passage A, paragraph 3: find the word or words that mean

(a) “persuaded” [1] (b) “reaches as far as” [1]

4. Passage A: explain how Ana’s words show that the copies changed her experience of the museum. Support your answer with quotations. [3]

5. Explain why the headline puts the word “touch” in quotation marks, and the effect this has on a reader. [2]

6. Passage A: identify the text type, its likely audience and its purpose. Give one piece of evidence for the text type. [3]

7. Passage B: decide whether each statement is true or false, and justify your answer with words from the text.

(a) The writer found the first days without the chat easy. [2] (b) The writer wants the group chat to disappear for good. [2]

8. Passage B: identify the register of the text and give two features that show it, with a quotation for each. [3]

9. Passage B: explain how the text answers the possible question “How do the media change the way we relate to each other?” Refer closely to the text. [4]

10. Language in use. Using Passage A:

(a) Rewrite “a team of volunteers scanned each one” in the passive. [1] (b) Rewrite Ana’s two sentences as one sentence contrasting then and now with “used to”. [1] (c) State one thing you would need to check before writing either sentence in your target language. [1]

11. SL individual oral practice. Read this description of a photograph (original, written for Marlbridge):

In a community workshop, an older man and a girl of about ten are building a small robot from old phone parts. She holds a screwdriver; he points to a circuit board. A sign on the wall reads “Repair, don’t replace”.

Plan a response that describes, interprets, connects and judges. Connect the image to Human ingenuity and to a culture where your target language is spoken. [5]

12. Extended writing task. Your school is planning a “screen-free week”. Plan a speech for a student assembly arguing either for or against taking part, and write its opening paragraph. You may use ideas from Passage B, in your own words. [8]

Answers

1. Guiding principle: explore the ways in which human creativity and innovation affect our world [1]. Entertainment, artistic expressions, communication and media [1]; technology and scientific innovation [1]. [3] Examiner insight: The brief calls these “optional recommended topics”, so an unseen text may take any angle on the theme.

2. The statues are too valuable to be handled [1]; the copies let visitors touch the sculptures, including people who cannot see them [1]. [2] Examiner insight: “Identify” wants the idea in a short phrase; a copied paragraph does not show you have found the answer.

3. (a) “convinced” [1] (b) “stretches into” [1] Examiner insight: A synonym answer must fit grammatically in place of the original words; test it by reading the sentence with your answer swapped in.

4. Before, her visits depended on other people: “listening to someone describe what I could not see” [1]. Now she experiences the sculpture directly: “I can find the crack in the dancer’s heel myself” [1]. The contrast of “For years” with “Now”, and the final word “myself”, stress her new independence [1]. [3] Examiner insight: Strong answers embed short quotations in their own explanation of the change; weak answers drop in a long quotation and let it speak for itself.

5. The quotation marks show that “touch” is used in an unusual sense: visitors touch copies, not the real sculptures [1]. This makes the reader curious and sets up the question the article answers [1]. [2] Examiner insight: Naming a device earns little on its own; explain its meaning here and its effect.

6. A news article, shown by any one of: the headline, third-person reporting, a quoted source [1]. Audience: the general public, especially local readers or museum-goers [1]. Purpose: to inform readers about the new gallery, with a balancing view from the curator [1]. [3] Examiner insight: Context, audience and purpose are course concepts; a precise audience (“local museum-goers”) is stronger than “everyone”.

7. (a) False [1]: “The first two days were awful.” [1] (b) False [1]: “I’m not saying the chat is evil.” (Also accept “Will we go back to it tomorrow? Probably.”) [1] Examiner insight: The true/false decision without a justification proves nothing; quote only the few words that settle it.

8. Register: informal and personal, like a conversation [1]. Direct address to readers: “Hi everyone!” [1]. Conversational fragments or contractions: “Honestly?” or “I’m not saying” [1]. [3] Examiner insight: Back each feature with a quotation; “informal because it uses informal language” is circular.

9. The chat changes how friends communicate: “in the chat we react; face to face, we actually listen” [1]. Without it, contact became longer and deeper: “forty minutes, longer than we have talked in months” [1]. The writer balances this with benefits, such as organising “Sam’s surprise party” and keeping in touch with a cousin abroad [1]. The ending suggests media change the quality of relationships, not only the amount of contact: “Will it feel the same? I doubt it.” [1] [4] Examiner insight: Tie every sentence to the question; retelling the week in order is description, not an answer.

10. (a) “Each one was scanned by a team of volunteers.” [1] (b) “Ana used to listen to someone describe what she could not see; now she can find the crack in the dancer’s heel herself.” (Or similar, with correct pronoun changes.) [1] (c) Any one: how the passive or an impersonal form is made, and whether it sounds natural; how a habitual past is expressed; how the contrast connector affects word order [1]. [3] Examiner insight: Accuracy is judged in the target language: an English structure copied word for word can still be wrong.

11. Indicative points. The real oral is marked holistically against the IB criteria, not point by point. Describe precisely: two generations, recycled phone parts, a robot, the sign [1]. Interpret: skills passing between generations; learning by making; reuse rather than waste [1]. Connect to the theme: creativity and innovation changing everyday habits, here from buying new to repairing [1]. Connect to a target-language culture: a specific example you have studied, such as a craft tradition, maker event or attitude to repair in a place where the language is spoken [1]. Judge: a clear opinion with a reason, plus a counterpoint (repair takes time and skill that not everyone has) [1]. [5] Examiner insight: The step from image to culture is what lifts a response; an oral that only describes what is visible shows vocabulary but not understanding.

12. Indicative points. The real Paper 1 is marked holistically against the IB criteria, not point by point. Speech conventions: greets the audience and closes by thanking them [1]. A clear position stated in the opening paragraph [1]. First argument with a specific example, such as longer conversations when chat is off [1]. Second argument with a specific example, such as time for sport or sleep [1]. A counterpoint acknowledged and answered, such as needing phones to organise events or contact family [1]. Speech devices: rhetorical questions, inclusive “we”, a set of three [1]. Register: semi-formal and respectful to peers and staff [1]. A close with a call to action [1]. [8]

Model opening (original, in English): “Good morning, everyone. How many messages have you checked since you woke up? Five? Twenty? Next week our school asks us to put our screens away, and I want you to say yes. Not because phones are bad, but because we have forgotten who we are without them.”

Examiner insight: Text type is part of the task: a well-argued essay with no audience, greeting or call to action does not answer a request for a speech.

Where marks are usually lost

• Summarising a passage in order instead of answering the question asked.
• Long lifted quotations where three or four exact words would prove the point.
• True/false answers with a correct decision but a missing or loose justification.
• Missing a limiter (“not everyone”, “for now”, “probably”) that changes the meaning.
• One-sided arguments about technology with no counterpoint.
• Right content, wrong text type in extended writing.
• In the oral, describing the image and never connecting it to a target-language culture.

Next steps

• Recap with the Human ingenuity revision notes.
• Reread the Human ingenuity study guide, with its worked examples.
• Browse the Language B course hub.
• Tick off the printable checklist.
• Try all free 10-minute diagnostics.
• Book a free trial class.

Official syllabus

International Baccalaureate Organization, Diploma Programme Subject Brief, Language B, first assessment 2020 (2018). The theme wording, components and oral stimuli used here come from it.