IB MYP Individuals and Societies – Economic Agents, Measurements and Trends 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 is for IB MYP Individuals and Societies and follows the International Baccalaureate Organization, Middle Years Programme Subject Brief – Individuals and societies, from 2014. It covers economic agents and measurements and trends, two topics the brief lists for the individuals and societies on-screen examinations at the end of MYP year 5, and suits MYP years 4 and 5 (there is no SL/HL split). MYP has no prescribed content list – schools design their own units – so your teacher will share the task-specific clarifications.

Each question is labelled with the criterion it trains. Real MYP work is judged against criterion level descriptors (1–8, in four bands), so the mark points here are a revision aid, not IB marks. All countries, people and figures below are fictional. A calculator is useful for questions 3, 4, 5, 7 and 9.

See also the study guide, the course hub, the printable checklist and the criteria in practice questions.

Questions

1. (Criterion A) Define each term: (i) gross domestic product, (ii) inflation, (iii) an unemployed person. [3]

2. (Criterion A) Name the economic agent described in each statement: (i) takes deposits from savers and lends to firms; (ii) supplies labour and receives wages; (iii) pays for roads using tax revenue; (iv) combines factors of production to earn a profit. [4]

3. (Criterion B) In one year Calder, a fictional country, had consumer spending of 410, investment of 95, government spending of 160, exports of 120 and imports of 135 (all in billions of crowns). Its population was 13 million.

(a) Calculate Calder’s GDP. [2] (b) Calculate Calder’s GDP per capita. [1]

4. (Criterion B) Calder’s price index uses these weights and price changes over one year.

Category	Weight	Price change
Food	40	+5%
Housing	30	+2%
Energy	10	+12%
Other	20	+1%

(a) Calculate the weighted rate of inflation. [2] (b) The index was 125.0 at the start of the year. Calculate its value at the end. [1] (c) Explain why a household that spends a large share of its income on energy may feel that inflation is higher than the official rate. [1]

5. (Criterion B) Calder has 6.4 million people of working age: 4.37 million employed and 0.23 million unemployed.

(a) Calculate the unemployment rate. [2] (b) Calculate the number of economically inactive people. [1] (c) A year later the rate is 5.6%. A headline says “Unemployment up 0.6%”. Explain the error and give the correct percentage change. [2]

6. (Criterion A) Explain two limitations of GDP per capita as a measure of living standards. [4]

7. (Criteria B and D) Two fictional countries have these HDI dimension indices. Country Q has the higher GNI per capita.

Country	Health	Education	Income
P	0.85	0.70	0.80
Q	0.72	0.60	0.88

(a) Calculate the HDI of each country to 3 d.p. [2] (b) State the UNDP development group of each. [1] (c) Suggest why Q has the lower HDI despite its higher income. [2]

8. (Criterion D) Read Source A.

Source A – original text written for Marlbridge. A fictional blog post (2025) by Dana, owner of a small bakery in Carrow, a fictional country.

“Flour has gone up by a third since last spring, and my electricity bill has nearly doubled. I have raised the price of a loaf twice this year. Some regulars now buy one loaf instead of two. Ask anyone on this street: everything costs more and nobody is spending.”

A student is researching how rising prices affected households and firms in Carrow. Explain one value and one limitation of Source A for this research. [4]

9. (Criterion B) The table shows Carrow’s consumer price index (2020 = 100).

Year	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
CPI	100.0	101.5	108.1	113.5	116.3	118.6

(a) Calculate the inflation rate for 2022, to 1 d.p. [1] (b) Calculate the percentage rise in prices from 2020 to 2025. [1] (c) Describe the trend in the inflation rate from 2021 to 2025, using figures. [2] (d) A student writes “prices fell in 2024”. Explain why this is wrong. [2]

10. (Criterion B) You are asked to investigate how the prices of everyday goods in your area have changed over six months. Formulate a research question and outline an action plan. [6]

11. (Criteria A, C and D) “GDP per capita is the best measure of a country’s development.” To what extent do you agree? Refer to at least one other measure. [10]

Answers

1. (i) The total value of final goods and services produced within a country in a year. [1] (ii) A sustained rise in the general price level. [1] (iii) Someone of working age without a job who is available for and actively seeking work. [1] [3] Examiner insight: “Define” needs the precise wording: “within a country”, “general price level” and “actively seeking work” each carry the point; an example alone earns nothing.

2. (i) A bank. [1] (ii) A household. [1] (iii) The government. [1] (iv) A firm. [1] [4] Examiner insight: One word is enough for “name”, but “people” is too vague to earn a point.

3. (a) 410 + 95 + 160 + (120 − 135) [1] = 650 billion crowns [1]. (b) 650,000,000,000 ÷ 13,000,000 = 50,000 crowns per person [1]. [3] Examiner insight: Write (X − M) in brackets; adding imports gives 920 billion and loses the accuracy point.

4. (a) (40 × 5 + 30 × 2 + 10 × 12 + 20 × 1) ÷ 100 [1] = 400 ÷ 100 = 4.0% [1]. (b) 125.0 × 1.04 = 130.0 [1]. (c) Energy prices rose 12%, three times the average, but carry a weight of only 10; a household spending a bigger share on energy faces higher personal inflation. [1] [4] Examiner insight: A simple average of the four changes (5%) ignores the weights and scores no accuracy in (a); show the products.

5. (a) Labour force = 4.37 + 0.23 = 4.6 million [1]; rate = 0.23 ÷ 4.6 × 100 = 5.0% [1]. (b) 6.4 − 4.6 = 1.8 million [1]. (c) The rate rose by 0.6 percentage points, not 0.6%. [1] The percentage change is 0.6 ÷ 5.0 × 100 = 12%. [1] [5] Examiner insight: Divide by the labour force, not by 6.4 million; using the wrong base (3.6%) loses both points in (a).

6. It is an average, so it hides inequality [1]: if a small group earns most of the income, GDP per capita can be high while many people are poor. [1] It leaves out unpaid and informal work and quality of life [1] – caring, subsistence farming, leisure, pollution – so living standards may be better or worse than the figure suggests. [1] [4] Examiner insight: “Explain” needs a reason and a consequence for each limitation; a list of four limitations with no development earns only the identification points.

7. (a) P: (0.85 × 0.70 × 0.80)^(1/3) = 0.781 [1]; Q: (0.72 × 0.60 × 0.88)^(1/3) = 0.724 [1]. (b) Both are in the high group (0.700–0.799). [1] (c) Q’s health and education indices are much lower than P’s [1]; its income may be unequally shared, or less may be spent on public health and schools. [1] [5] Examiner insight: The HDI is a geometric mean: the arithmetic mean gives 0.783 and 0.733, which loses the accuracy points even though the method looks close.

8. Value: a first-hand account from a producer, giving specific cost rises (flour up “a third”, electricity “nearly doubled”) [1] and showing how a firm passed costs on to customers, who then bought less. [1] Limitation: it is one small business in one trade, so it cannot show how typical these effects were across Carrow [1]; a blog for customers may be written to justify price rises, and “nobody is spending” is an unsupported generalisation with no official data. [1] [4] Examiner insight: Tie value and limitation to the research purpose and the source’s origin; “it might be biased” without saying why earns no credit. Practise with source-evaluation exam preparation.

9. (a) (108.1 − 101.5) ÷ 101.5 × 100 = 6.5% [1]. (b) (118.6 − 100.0) ÷ 100.0 × 100 = 18.6% [1]. (c) Inflation jumped from 1.5% in 2021 to a peak of 6.5% in 2022 [1], then fell every year: 5.0% in 2023, 2.5% in 2024 and 2.0% in 2025. [1] (d) The CPI still rose, from 113.5 to 116.3 [1], so prices rose by 2.5%; only the rate of inflation fell, which is disinflation, not deflation. [1] [6] Examiner insight: A trend point needs years and values; “inflation went up then down” with no figures does not earn the second point in (c).

10. A focused research question, such as “How did the price of a basket of ten everyday goods in [town] change between January and June?” [1] Why it matters: household budgets and official inflation. [1] A fixed basket with stated items, sizes and shops, so prices are comparable. [1] A recording method: a table of prices collected on the same day each month. [1] Analysis: weights by spending share, an index with January = 100, and a comparison with the official CPI. [1] A timeline with deadlines. [1] [6] Examiner insight: Criterion B rewards a question the method can answer; changing brands or pack sizes mid-survey breaks the comparison.

11. Introduction defining development, with a line of argument. [1] For: GDP per capita measures average income, which pays for health care, schools and housing. [1] For: it exists for almost every country and allows comparison over time. [1] Against: it hides inequality within a country. [1] Against: it ignores unpaid work, the informal economy and environmental damage. [1] The HDI adds life expectancy and schooling, so countries with similar income can differ in development. [1] A worked comparison, such as P and Q in question 7. [1] Limits of the HDI too: it ignores inequality, freedom and the environment. [1] Evaluation: the “best” measure depends on purpose; several measures together give a fuller picture. [1] A clear, justified conclusion answering “to what extent”. [1] [10] Examiner insight: Criterion D rewards a judgement that follows from the evidence; criticising GDP per capita without testing the alternative against it limits the level awarded.

Where marks are usually lost

• Adding imports in the GDP formula instead of subtracting them.
• Using a simple average when weights are given.
• Dividing unemployed by the working-age population instead of the labour force.
• Writing “%” for a change in a rate that should be in percentage points.
• Saying prices fell because the inflation rate fell.
• Taking the arithmetic mean of the HDI indices.
• Source evaluation that ignores who wrote the source and why.
• Extended answers with no counter-argument, no example, or no final judgement.

Next steps

• Review the revision notes for this unit.
• Reread the study guide for this unit.
• Course hub: MYP Individuals and Societies.
• Printable checklist.
• Try all free 10-minute diagnostics.
• Book a free trial class.

Official syllabus

This practice set is aligned to the International Baccalaureate Organization, Middle Years Programme Subject Brief – Individuals and societies, from 2014. The brief lists “economic agents and their interests and role in the economy: consumers, producers, governments, banks” and “measurements and trends” among the topics explored in the individuals and societies on-screen examinations. The full MYP individuals and societies guide is available to schools through the IB.