IB DP History (DP History): HL options: Depth studies – Practice Questions

These are original questions written for Marlbridge, for revision and practice on this content. They are not reproduced past-paper questions. They follow Paper 3’s essay format and 15-mark tariff, but not the paper’s exact selection of 36 questions – the IB holds copyright in its own papers. Use these alongside the official past papers available through your school or the IB store.

Related: HL options revision notes and the HL options study guide.

IB DP History Paper 3 is the HL regional essay paper: three 15-mark essays in 2 hours 30 minutes from the 36 questions set for your region. Below are three questions for each of the four regions, on widely taught modern content, each with indicative content. Choose the three that match your sections, and write them back to back in 150 minutes for a full mock.

How the essays are marked

Marks	Summary of the IB essay markband
13-15	Demands clearly understood; detailed, accurate, relevant knowledge; clear, coherent argument; evaluation of different perspectives; well-supported conclusion
10-12	Demands understood; accurate knowledge mostly used to support analysis; some evaluation
7-9	Generally understood; some knowledge; some analysis but largely descriptive
4-6	Some understanding; limited, often narrative knowledge
1-3	Little understanding or relevant knowledge

History of Africa and the Middle East

1. Evaluate the reasons for the survival of apartheid in South Africa between 1948 and 1964. [15]

Indicative content: National Party electoral dominance and Afrikaner nationalism; apartheid legislation and the security apparatus (Suppression of Communism Act, bans after Sharpeville, the Rivonia Trial); economic growth and foreign investment; Western Cold War support for an anti-communist state; divisions and limits in the opposition (ANC, PAC). Judgement on the weight of repression versus economic and international support.

2. “Nasser’s domestic policies were more successful than his foreign policy.” Discuss. [15]

Indicative content: land reform; nationalisation; the Aswan High Dam; education and social welfare; one-party rule and repression. Foreign policy: Suez Crisis (1956) as a political victory; the United Arab Republic with Syria (1958-61); intervention in Yemen; defeat in the Six-Day War (1967). Judgement with clear criteria.

3. To what extent was the 1979 revolution in Iran caused by opposition to the Shah’s modernisation? [15]

Indicative content: White Revolution (from 1963) and its social effects; SAVAK repression; economic problems and inflation after the oil boom; the role of Khomeini and the clergy; opposition from liberals, the left and bazaar merchants; perceptions of US influence. Judgement on whether modernisation or repression and economic crisis mattered more.

History of the Americas

4. Evaluate the reasons for the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution in 1910. [15]

Indicative content: the Porfiriato’s political repression and re-election; land concentration and loss of village lands; foreign ownership of resources; the 1908 Creelman interview and Madero’s challenge; the Plan of San Luis Potosí; economic downturn from 1907. Judgement on long-term grievance versus the political trigger.

5. Compare and contrast the responses of two governments in the Americas to the Great Depression. [15]

Indicative content (USA and Canada, or USA and Brazil): Hoover’s limited intervention and Roosevelt’s New Deal; Bennett’s tariffs and late “New Deal” in Canada; Vargas’s state intervention and import substitution in Brazil. Comparison of aims, methods and effectiveness.

6. “The Cuban Revolution’s greatest impact was on US policy in Latin America.” Discuss. [15]

Indicative content: the Bay of Pigs (1961) and the missile crisis (1962); the Alliance for Progress; US support for anti-communist regimes and interventions (Dominican Republic, 1965; Chile, 1973); versus impact within Cuba (land reform, education and health, one-party state) and on Latin American revolutionary movements.

History of Asia and Oceania

7. To what extent did the Meiji Restoration transform Japan between 1868 and 1912? [15]

Indicative content: abolition of the domains and the samurai class; conscription (1873); land tax reform; industrialisation and zaibatsu; education system; the Meiji Constitution (1889); victories over China (1895) and Russia (1905). Continuities: imperial ideology, oligarchic rule, rural poverty.

8. Evaluate the impact of the Great Leap Forward on the People’s Republic of China. [15]

Indicative content: people’s communes; backyard furnaces; falsified statistics and the famine (1959-61), with tens of millions of deaths; Mao’s retreat from day-to-day policy and the rise of Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping; the Lushan Conference (1959) and Peng Dehuai’s dismissal; link to the Cultural Revolution. Judgement on political versus economic impact.

9. Discuss the reasons for the partition of British India in 1947. [15]

Indicative content: growth of the Muslim League and Jinnah’s demand for Pakistan (Lahore Resolution, 1940); breakdown of Congress-League co-operation; the Second World War and Quit India; the Cabinet Mission (1946) failure; Direct Action Day and communal violence; Britain’s weakness and Mountbatten’s accelerated timetable. Judgement on British policy versus Indian political divisions.

History of Europe

10. “The First World War was the main reason for the collapse of the Tsarist regime.” Discuss. [15]

Indicative content: military defeats, casualties and Nicholas II as commander-in-chief (1915); economic dislocation and food shortages; Rasputin; versus long-term structural weaknesses, the 1905 Revolution and limited reform, Stolypin’s failure, industrial unrest before 1914. Historians’ debate on whether Russia was on a path to stability before 1914.

11. To what extent did Mussolini achieve his domestic aims between 1922 and 1939? [15]

Indicative content: consolidation of the dictatorship (Acerbo Law, Matteotti crisis, laws of 1925-26); the Corporate State; economic “battles”; Lateran Treaties (1929); Battle for Births and youth policy. Limits: compromise with the king, Church and elites; economic weakness; shallow fascistisation of society.

12. Evaluate the success of Khrushchev’s domestic reforms. [15]

Indicative content: the Secret Speech (1956) and de-Stalinisation; release of prisoners from the Gulag; the Virgin Lands scheme – early success, later failure; decentralisation of economic management; cultural “thaw” and its limits; ousted in 1964 by colleagues opposed to his erratic reforms. Judgement with criteria such as living standards and political stability.

Timed mock plan

Minutes	Task
0-5	Read all questions for your sections; choose three
5-55	Essay 1 (5 planning, 45 writing)
55-105	Essay 2
105-150	Essay 3, checking the conclusion answers the question

Frequently asked questions

Are the questions here on official Paper 3 sections? They are written on content widely taught within the four regional options. Check your school’s three sections against the IB History guide before relying on any single question.

How specific should my evidence be? Very: dates, names, statistics and policies. Paper 3 rewards depth within the named case.

Should I include historians? Where a debate exists, evaluating historians’ perspectives supports the top markband; it is not a substitute for your own argument.