Question 19M.2.SL.TZ1.1b
| Date | May 2019 | Marks available | [Maximum mark: 3] | Reference code | 19M.2.SL.TZ1.1b |
| Level | SL | Paper | 2 | Time zone | TZ1 |
| Command term | Compare and contrast | Question number | b | Adapted from | N/A |
Based on the graph, compare and contrast the progress of the epidemic in the suburbs and rural areas.
[3]
a. start of epidemic/first cases in rural areas
OR
epidemic spread to suburbs later ✔
b. higher maximum number of cases/greater increase in rural areas
OR
converse for suburbs ✔
c. increase came earlier in rural areas «than suburbs»
OR
number of cases peaked earlier in rural areas
OR
more cases in rural areas «than suburbs» in 2014 ✔
d. decrease came earlier in rural areas «than suburbs»
OR
decreasing in rural areas but not in suburbs in 2015/by end of study period
OR
more cases in suburbs than rural areas in 2015 ✔
e. «large» fluctuations in both ✔
This was a timely question with Ebola epidemics again causing great problems in parts of Africa. Students were expected to have had some practice at analysing data relating to an epidemic because of this Skill in the programme: Analysis of epidemiological data related to vaccination programmes. It was assumed that candidates would understand terms such as ‘case’, ‘fatal case’, ‘infect’ and ‘treat’.
The skill required in this question was picking significant trends out of data with a great deal of noise. Only one similarity was accepted – the large week-to-week fluctuation in number of cases. The differences between the rural areas and the suburbs were that Ebola epidemic started earlier in rural areas, rose to higher peaks and started declining earlier.
