IB MYP Individuals and Societies – Rights and social protest 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 rights and social protest for IB MYP Individuals and Societies, aligned to the International Baccalaureate Organization, Middle Years Programme Subject Brief – Individuals and societies, from 2014. It suits MYP years 4 and 5 (no SL/HL split). MYP has no prescribed content list; schools design their own units, and “rights and social protest” is one of the topics the brief lists for the on-screen examinations.

Each question is labelled with the criterion it trains. Real MYP work is judged against criterion level descriptors (achievement levels 1–8), so the [1] points in the answers are a revision aid, not IB marks. Castport, Norland and all data are fictional, and so are Sources A and B.

Study first with the study guide and revision notes. See also the course hub, checklist and criteria in practice questions.

Questions

1. (Criterion A) Define human rights and explain how civil rights differ from them. [3]

2. (Criterion A) The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

(a) State the date the UDHR was adopted and the body that adopted it. [2] (b) Explain why the UDHR is not legally binding, and name the two treaties of 1966 that made many of its rights binding. [3]

3. (Criterion A) Classify each action as legal challenge, economic non-cooperation, non-violent intervention or militant action, and justify each choice: Brown v. Board of Education (1954); the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955–56); the Greensboro sit-in (1960); WSPU window-smashing (1912). [4]

4. (Criterion A) Explain two ways apartheid laws denied rights set out in the UDHR. Name the law and the article in each case. [4]

5. (Criterion A) Police violence against protesters at Birmingham (1963) and at Sharpeville (1960) had different effects on the movements involved. Explain the difference. [4]

6. (Criterion B) Fictional data: before a bus boycott in the city of Castport, the bus company carried 40,000 rides a week, 28,000 of them by the group that later boycotted. During the boycott, rides fell to 14,000 a week. The fare was 0.15 crowns per ride.

(a) Calculate the percentage fall in weekly rides. [2] (b) Calculate the fare revenue lost over a 30-week boycott. [2] (c) The fall in rides is smaller than the boycotting group’s rides. Suggest two reasons for this. [2]

7. (Criterion B) You are planning an investigation into the Soweto uprising of 1976.

(a) Write a focused research question. [2] (b) Suggest one primary and one secondary source, with a reason for each. [2] (c) Identify one limitation of your plan and how you would reduce it. [2]

8. (Criterion D) Read Source A.

Source A – original text written for Marlbridge. An imagined letter from a fictional shop owner in London, written in 1913 to a relative.

“Last night my windows were broken again by the women of the WSPU. I am told they want the vote, and I once thought they deserved it. Now I see only disorder. My neighbours say the same. If this is how they behave, Parliament is right to refuse them.”

(a) Explain one value of Source A for a historian studying how the public reacted to suffragette militancy. [2] (b) Explain one limitation of Source A for the same historian. [2]

9. (Criterion D) Read Source B.

Source B – original text written for Marlbridge. A statement issued by the government of Norland, a fictional country, after a march by a minority group.

“Yesterday’s march blocked the capital for six hours. The organisers ignored police instructions. Our government respects the right to protest, but no group may place itself above the law. Those responsible will be charged.”

Using your knowledge of the UDHR, identify two rights the marchers could claim, and explain one way the government’s statement tries to justify limiting protest. [4]

10. (Criterion C) Plan a two-minute podcast episode for 12-year-olds explaining why the UDHR was written in 1948 and what it says. Describe the content, structure and style you would use. [5]

11. (Criterion D, extended response) “Non-violent methods were more effective than violent methods in winning rights.” To what extent do you agree? Refer to at least two movements. [8]

12. (Criterion D, extended response) “Apartheid ended mainly because of pressure from outside South Africa.” Evaluate this claim. [10]

Answers

1. Human rights belong to every person because they are human [1]; they are universal and cannot rightly be taken away [1]. Civil rights are guaranteed by a particular state to its citizens in law, such as the vote, so they depend on that state [1]. [3] Examiner insight: Repeating the words (“rights for humans”) shows no understanding; credit goes to universality and the link to state law.

2. (a) 10 December 1948 [1], by the UN General Assembly (in Paris) [1]. (b) It is a General Assembly declaration, not a treaty that states ratify, so it sets a moral standard [1]. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [1] and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights [1] (in force 1976). Examiner insight: “Not binding” needs a reason; naming the covenants alone earns only the recall points.

3. Brown: legal challenge, as the NAACP used the courts against school segregation [1]. Montgomery: economic non-cooperation, as residents withheld fares for 381 days [1]. Greensboro: non-violent intervention, as students occupied a whites-only lunch counter [1]. WSPU: militant action, damaging property to force attention [1]. [4] Examiner insight: The justification carries the credit; a label with no feature of the action shows only recall.

4. The Group Areas Act (1950) decided where each racial group could live [1], denying freedom of movement and residence under Article 13 [1]. The Population Registration Act (1950) classified every person by race [1], breaching the non-discrimination principle of Article 2 [1]. [4] Examiner insight: Each way needs a named law and the matching article; “apartheid was unfair” stays at description.

5. At Birmingham, televised hoses and dogs turned national opinion towards the protesters [1], and Kennedy announced a civil rights bill in June 1963, which became the Civil Rights Act (1964) [1]. After Sharpeville the government banned the ANC and PAC [1], so the movement went underground and turned to armed struggle in 1961 [1]. [4] Examiner insight: “Explain the difference” needs an effect for each case and a clear contrast, not two separate descriptions.

6. (a) 40,000 − 14,000 = 26,000 fewer rides [1]; 26,000 ÷ 40,000 × 100 = 65% [1]. (b) 26,000 × 0.15 = 3,900 crowns a week [1]; 3,900 × 30 = 117,000 crowns [1]. (c) About 2,000 of the group’s rides continued, perhaps by people with no other transport [1]; other passengers may have ridden more [1]. Examiner insight: Show each calculation; a bare wrong figure earns nothing, but correct method with a slip can keep method credit.

7. (a) A question with a clear focus and time frame [1] that evidence can answer, e.g. “Why did the students’ protest in Soweto on 16 June 1976 become a wider uprising in the following months?” [1] (b) Primary: photographs or eyewitness accounts from 16 June 1976, showing events on the day [1]. Secondary: a historian’s account of the Black Consciousness movement, giving context and longer causes [1]. (c) Sources in English may miss the views of students who spoke other languages [1]; add translated oral-history interviews with participants [1]. Examiner insight: Criterion B rewards a question that can actually be investigated; “Was Soweto important?” has no focus or scale.

8. (a) Written at the time by an ordinary Londoner directly affected by militancy [1], it shows how some of the public turned against the cause because of property damage [1]. (b) It is one private view from a victim, so likely hostile [1]; “neighbours say the same” is hearsay and cannot show how widespread the view was [1]. Examiner insight: Value and limitation must come from the source’s origin, purpose or content; “it might be biased” with no reason earns little.

9. Article 20, peaceful assembly [1]; Article 19, freedom of expression (or Article 2, non-discrimination) [1]. The government frames the march as a threat to order and the rule of law (“no group may place itself above the law”) [1], while claiming to respect protest, so it can limit protest without appearing to deny the right [1]. [4] Examiner insight: Point to the exact words that do the justifying; general comments about governments get no source credit.

10. Content: the Second World War and the Holocaust as the reason, the vote on 10 December 1948, and three key articles in plain words [1]. Structure: a hook question, the drafting story, “three rights you have”, a closing question [1]. Style: conversational, short sentences, “declaration” explained [1]. Audience: school-life examples, such as Article 26 on education [1]. Format: a second voice or sound cue between sections; sources credited at the end [1]. [5] Examiner insight: Criterion C rewards fitting content and style to audience, purpose and format; a plan that could suit any reader misses the task.

11. Indicative points:

• A clear judgement in the introduction [1].
• Montgomery and Birmingham show non-violence winning support and federal laws [1].
• Evidence: Civil Rights Act (1964) and Voting Rights Act (1965) [1].
• Against: in South Africa non-violent protest was met by bans after 1960, and the ANC turned to armed struggle [1].
• WSPU militancy kept suffrage in the news but turned some opinion against it [1].
• Other factors: women’s war work before 1918, international pressure on South Africa [1].
• Non-violence works best where courts, media and voters can respond [1].
• Substantiated conclusion that answers “to what extent” [1]. [8] Examiner insight: Criterion D rewards weighing; listing methods without comparing results against aims reads as description.

12. Indicative points:

• Both sides of “mainly” defined: external pressure vs internal resistance [1].
• External: UN mandatory arms embargo (1977) [1].
• Sports, cultural and consumer boycotts [1].
• The US Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act (1986) added economic pressure [1].
• Internal: the Defiance Campaign (1952) and Freedom Charter (1955) [1].
• Soweto (1976) and later resistance made the country hard to govern [1].
• Leadership: Mandela, and de Klerk’s decision to lift the ban on the ANC in 1990 [1].
• Links: resistance drew world attention; outside pressure raised the cost of repression [1].
• The Cold War’s end weakened the government’s anti-communist argument [1].
• Balanced, supported conclusion on “mainly” [1]. [10] Examiner insight: “Evaluate” needs both sides weighed with evidence; an answer that only agrees cannot reach the top bands.

Where marks are usually lost

• Calling the UDHR a treaty.
• Writing that all British women won the vote in 1918.
• Labelling a method without saying which feature of the action fits the label.
• Dividing a percentage change by the final value instead of the starting value.
• Judging a movement’s success without first stating its aims.
• Source evaluation that says “biased” without tying it to who wrote the source and why.
• Research questions with no focus, place or time frame.
• Essays that describe movements but never compare or judge.

Next steps

• Rights and social protest revision notes
• Rights and social protest study guide
• Source-evaluation exam preparation
• IB MYP Individuals and Societies course hub
• Printable MYP Individuals and Societies checklist
• All free 10-minute diagnostics
• Book a free trial class

Official syllabus

International Baccalaureate Organization, Middle Years Programme Subject Brief – Individuals and societies, from 2014. The brief lists “rights and social protest” among the topics explored in the individuals and societies on-screen examinations; all questions here are original.