2. Syllabus overview
The aims and objectives of this qualification are to enable students to:
• apply and build on the fundamental building blocks of geographical knowledge
• actively engage in the process of geographical enquiry to develop as effective and independent learners,
and as critical and reflective thinkers with enquiring minds
• develop their knowledge and understanding of geographical concepts and appreciate the relevance of
these concepts to our changing world
• develop a framework of spatial awareness in which to appreciate the importance of the location of places
and environments at a range of scales
• appreciate that people have different views of, and attitudes to, the world, its environments and its
issues
• acquire, develop and apply practical geographical enquiry skills
• undertake geographical investigations that include both primary and secondary data collection,
presentation and analysis, drawing conclusions, and evaluating the whole geographical investigation
• develop and apply their learning to the real world through fieldwork
• develop their awareness of global issues and recognise the challenges of moving towards a sustainable
future.
9. Examination
dates
► Mock exams will be taken in Weeks 9
(15-17 March), 10 (22-24 March), and
11 (27-30 March) of Term 1. Exam
dates to follow once announced.
► External exams:
► Paper 1: Monday 22 May
► 4GE1 01 – Physical Geography
► Paper 2: Friday 09 June
► 4GE1 02 – Human Geography
13. Assessment objects per question – Paper
1
Q1a Q1b
(i)
Q1b
(ii)
Q1b
(iii)
Q1c Q1d Q1e Q1f Q1g Q4a
(i)
Q4a
(ii)
Q4a
(iii)
Q4b
AO1 1 1 1 1 1
AO2 1 2 3 3
AO3 2 1 4 1 1 2 4
AO4 4 4
Question 1, 2 and 3 have the same layout – Section A. You only need
to answer TWO questions from this Section.
Question 4, 5 and 6 have the same layout – Section B. You only need
to answer ONE question from this Section.
14. Assessment objects per question – Paper
2
Q1a
(i)
Q1a
(ii)
Q1b Q1c
(i)
Q1c
(ii)
Q1d
(i)
Q1d
(ii)
Q1d
(iii)
Q1e Q1f Q4a
(i)
Q4a
(ii)
Q4b
(i)
Q4b
(ii)
Q4b
(iii)
Q4b
(iv)
Q4c
AO1 1 2 1
AO2 1 4 1 4
AO3 1 1 1 4 1 2 2 1 3
AO4 4 1 2
Question 1, 2 and 3 have the same layout – Section A. You only need
to answer TWO questions from this Section.
Question 4, 5 and 6 have the same layout – Section B. You only need
to answer ONE question from this Section.
15. Assessment objects per question – Paper
2 cont…
Q7a
(i)
Q7a
(ii)
Q7a
(iii)
Q7b
(i)
Q7b
(ii)
Q7b
(iii)
Q7b
(iv)
Q7c Q7d Q7e Q7f
AO1 1 2 1 2 2
AO2 2 1 2 4
AO3 1 1 3 4
AO4 2 3 4
Question 7, 8 and 9 have the same layout – Section C. You only need
to answer ONE question from this Section.
17. Paper 1
► This Paper covers work on Rivers,
Coasts and Hazardous environments.
As we have not completed work on
Hazardous environments, you must
leave any questions on this out. You
DO NOT need to answer any work on it
► Section A consists of THREE questions,
and you need to answer TWO of them.
Each question consists of 25 marks
► Section B consists of THREE questions,
and you need to answer ONE of them.
Each question consists of 20 marks.
This is your fieldwork section- it will
be on familiar and unfamiliar contexts
► You have 1hr and 10 mins to finish the
70 marks – just under a mark/min
18. Paper 2
► This Paper covers work on Economic activity and energy, Rural environments and Urban environments
(Section A and B). As we have not completed work on Urban environments, you must leave any
questions on this out. You DO NOT need to answer any work on it
► This Paper also covers work on Fragile environments and climate change, Globalisation and migration
and Development and human welfare (Section C). As we have not completed work on Globalisation
and migration and Development and human welfare, you must leave any questions on this out. You DO
NOT need to answer any work on it
► Section A consists of THREE questions, and you need to answer TWO of them. Each question consists of
25 marks
► Section B consists of THREE questions, and you need to answer ONE of them. Each question consists of
20 marks. This is your fieldwork section- it will be on familiar and unfamiliar contexts
► Section C consists of THREE questions, and you need to answer ONE of them. Each question consists of
35 marks.
► You have 1hr and 45 mins to finish the 105 marks - you will need to work quickly.
19. Paper 1 and 2 – Section A and B
► There are questions of various length, from 1 mark to 8.
► The longest question is the last question and requires you to use the resources
► When a question asks you to ‘refer to figure…’ or ‘look at figure…’, please
always refer to the figure when answering the question – half of the allocated
marks are awarded for this
► When asked to explain a question, do so in detail. E.g. I wore shorts today
because it was hot so I don’t want to feel uncomfortable – it is this second
part of the sentence that will give you your marks. I refer to it as the double
explanation. It is ‘a’ because of ‘x’ so that ‘y’…
► Answer according to the mark allocation (2 marks, 2 points). Generally, it will
ask you to identify something (1 mark) and then you need to explain it (1
mark). If you want full marks, you must do both
► If the questions asks for one advantage and you put two, only the first one
will be marked – adding extra is not helpful to you in anyway
20. The following section will
include examples on how
to go about answering
questions for Section A in
both Paper 1 and 2
21.
22. Very important
to fully develop
your answers.
It would be
silly to throw
away marks for
being lazy with
your answers
33. Rubrics and the
longer questions
► Now that you know what
examiners look for when they
answer questions, you will now
see the rubrics with which they
mark these questions
► Pay careful attention to what
they say and focus on the higher
levels – never aim for the lower
levels
► The questions are from both
Paper 1 and 2. The same idea is
to be used for both as they both
follow the exact same
guidelines and rubrics
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44. Having problems reading this?
So do examiners!! Please write
neatly, it makes their lives easier
and they can find more marks for
you
45.
46. Fieldwork –
Section B
► This will be out of 20 marks and will include a
questions that have to do with fieldwork that
you have conducted yourself
► It will also include fieldwork from an unfamiliar
context as well
► It is important to learn some theory for
fieldwork – make sure that you go over the
notes found in The Bay Academy online
► All the points that were related to the previous
questions still hold true for this section.
Sometimes there are 8-mark questions, and
sometimes there aren’t – there is no guarantee.
► Give yourself 20 minutes to work through this
section
47.
48.
49.
50.
51. Different
types of
fieldwork
questions
Fieldwork questions might also involve using
some mathematical skills
Please bring your calculator to the exam – you
may need it!
Revise through some basic statistical skills as
well, they are often asked in the test
Please make sure you follow instructions – round
off to the correct decimal places!
You may also be asked to draw or complete
some sort of graph – bring a pencil with for this
52.
53.
54.
55. Section C
► This is the single most important Section of your
GCSE journey
► 35 out of 105 marks for Paper 2 will come from
this Section
► There are also two questions with unique mark
allocations, 6 and 12 which have not been
addressed before
► Everything else remains the same for answering
all the questions, except for the 12-mark
question where there are 3 different AO’s being
assessed (AO2/3/4), each worth 4 marks
► You will need to work quickly throughout the
paper so that you can have enough time to
answer this section properly, otherwise you will
be left with the 6 and 12 mark questions
unanswered or incomplete.
