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Digital exam drawing

A copy of the drawing tool in the IB's on-screen exams. Press Insert drawing, sketch your answer, then Insert; double-click the picture to edit it.

The IB's own digital exam specimens for Group 3 subjects (Business management, Economics, Geography, History, Psychology) are on myIB: schools sign in, so ask your teacher.

Explain how irrigation practices can lead to salinisation of soils.

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Questions where an annotated diagram earns marks or makes the answer clearer. Try it puts one in the tool above; Copy embed link is for Notion or Google Sites. 60 questions written for Revise.

60 of 60 questions. Open a unit to see its questions.

Unit 1: Changing population (4)

What to draw: Population pyramids for the stages of the demographic transition; a core–periphery sketch map.

  1. Outline how population structure changes between Stage 2 and Stage 4 of the demographic transition model. [2]

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  2. Explain two reasons why fertility rates decline during demographic transition. [4]

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  3. Explain two population characteristics of a country in Stage 2 of the demographic transition model. [4]

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  4. Explain how a core-periphery pattern can develop within a country. [2]

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Unit 2: Global climate: vulnerability and resilience (9)

What to draw: Incoming shortwave and outgoing longwave radiation; the natural and enhanced greenhouse effect; albedo and methane feedback drawn as closed loops; the Walker circulation in El Niño and normal years.

  1. Discuss the view that natural processes are more significant than human activities in altering the global energy balance. [10]

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  2. Explain how the thawing of permafrost can contribute to a positive feedback loop involving methane. [2]

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  3. Explain how a major volcanic eruption can lead to short-term global cooling. [2]

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  4. Outline how the global energy balance is maintained under stable climate conditions. [2]

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  5. Outline the role of longwave radiation in the natural greenhouse effect. [2]

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  6. Explain how the melting of ice sheets can create a positive feedback loop that accelerates warming. [2]

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  7. Outline what is meant by the enhanced greenhouse effect. [2]

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  8. Explain two different processes by which climate change can lead to rising sea levels. [4]

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  9. Suggest two human activities, other than burning fossil fuels, that can change terrestrial albedo. [4]

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Unit 3: Global resource consumption and security (1)

What to draw: A circular economy set against a linear one; the water–food–energy nexus.

  1. Outline how the circular economy differs from a linear model of resource use. [2]

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Option A: Freshwater (23)

What to draw: Annotated cross-sections and long profiles; meanders, levees and deltas in plan; storm hydrographs with the peak, lag time and rising limb marked; the drainage basin as stores and flows.

  1. Examine the relative importance of different flows and stores in controlling the movement of water through a drainage basin. [10]

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  2. Examine how deforestation and urbanisation within a drainage basin can alter the frequency and magnitude of flood events. [10]

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  3. Examine how geology and land use changes can influence the characteristics of a storm hydrograph. [10]

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  4. Examine the importance of erosion and deposition in the formation of river deltas and levees. [10]

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  5. Examine the importance of natural factors in determining the shape and characteristics of storm hydrographs. [10]

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  6. Examine how physical factors influence the formation of waterfalls and their characteristics in different drainage basins. [10]

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  7. Explain two natural factors that can influence the shape of a storm hydrograph. [4]

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  8. Explain how urbanisation within a drainage basin can increase flood risk. [3]

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  9. Explain how deforestation within a drainage basin can increase flood risk. [3]

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  10. Explain how the process of erosion contributes to the formation of a meander. [3]

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  11. Explain how the process of deposition contributes to the formation of a levee. [3]

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  12. Outline what is meant by lag time on a storm hydrograph. [2]

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  13. Outline two characteristics of a floodplain. [2]

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  14. Explain how infiltration and throughflow transfer water within a drainage basin. [2]

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  15. Outline the role of two stores within the drainage basin system. [2]

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  16. Examine how the cryosphere functions as a store within the drainage basin system and why changes to it could have significant consequences. [10]

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  17. Examine why the relationship between river discharge and channel characteristics varies between different sections of a drainage basin. [10]

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  18. Examine how channel characteristics and seasonal variations influence the processes of erosion, transportation and deposition. [10]

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  19. Explain two ways in which the cryosphere acts as a store within the drainage basin system. [4]

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  20. Explain two ways in which channel modifications can alter the distribution of flood risk within a drainage basin. [4]

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  21. Explain how irrigation practices can lead to salinisation of soils. [3]

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  22. Outline two processes of river erosion. [2]

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  23. Explain how channel characteristics can influence the velocity of river flow. [2]

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Option B: Oceans and coastal margins (2)

What to draw: Sequences from crack to cave, arch and stack; a spit in plan with the direction of longshore drift; a dune profile from embryo to mature dune; cross-sections before and after a change in sea level.

  1. Outline one atmospheric change and one oceanic change that occur during an El Nino event. [2]

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  2. Examine the climatic, environmental and economic effects of ENSO cycles on a named and located region. [10]

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Option C: Extreme environments (19)

What to draw: Cirques, troughs and moraines with the direction of ice flow; freeze-thaw and solifluction on a slope; permafrost with its active layer; dunes with wind direction and slip face; a wadi in cross-section.

  1. Examine the relative importance of glacial (ice) erosion and deposition for the development of pyramidal peaks and terminal moraines. [10]

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  2. Examine how physical and chemical weathering processes contribute to the development of landscape features in hot arid environments. [10]

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  3. Examine the importance of wind and water in the formation of hot arid landscape features such as dunes and wadis. [10]

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  4. Examine the importance of wind direction, sand supply and vegetation in the formation of different types of sand dune. [10]

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  5. Examine the role of freeze-thaw weathering and solifluction in shaping periglacial landscapes. [10]

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  6. Examine how periglacial processes create distinctive landscape features in cold environments. [10]

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  7. Examine the relative importance of plucking and abrasion in the formation of glacial landscape features. [10]

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  8. Examine how glacial deposition creates a range of landscape features in glaciated environments. [10]

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  9. Outline the processes involved in two types of weathering found in hot, arid environments. [6]

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  10. Explain two ways in which periglacial processes create distinctive landscape features. [4]

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  11. Explain two ways in which wind and water contribute to erosion in hot arid environments. [4]

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  12. Explain how water erosion contributes to the formation of wadis. [3]

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  13. Explain how wind action contributes to the formation of sand dunes. [3]

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  14. Explain how the processes of plucking and abrasion contribute to the formation of a glacial trough. [3]

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  15. Explain how glacial deposition creates lateral and terminal moraines. [3]

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  16. Outline one process of physical weathering in hot, arid environments. [3]

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  17. Outline two characteristics of a cirque (corrie). [2]

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  18. Explain how one type of physical weathering operates in hot arid environments. [2]

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  19. Explain how the process of freeze-thaw weathering operates in periglacial environments. [2]

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Option D: Geophysical hazards (2)

What to draw: Plate margins in cross-section, showing where the magma comes from and the volcano it builds; how a tsunami forms; a slope with the forces acting on it.

  1. Explain how differences in magma viscosity produce contrasting hazards, such as pyroclastic flows and lahars, at composite volcanoes. [6]

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  2. Outline one characteristic of a shield volcano. [2]

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Technologies and acknowledgementsShow
  • Fabric.js (MIT licence) draws the canvas and handles selecting, moving, resizing, rotating, freehand drawing and exporting the PNG.
  • Page type is Lato from Google Fonts (SIL Open Font Licence). The editor itself uses Arial, as the exam does.
  • The tool set, colours, widths, line styles, defaults and behaviour were matched against the drawing tool in the IB's on-screen exam system (des.ibo.org) on 27 October 2026. That tool is built on GoJS by Northwoods Software. None of its code is used here.
  • Built with Claude, made by Anthropic.

This practice page is independent. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the International Baccalaureate Organization.