Geography: Syllabus

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GCSE Syllabus

The Assessments and Qualifications Alliance (AQA) syllabus is followed at GCSE.

Written Component One (40%)

Section A: Skills based questions related to Ordnance Survey maps, air photographs, satellite images, sketches, etc (14%)

Section B: Physical Geography Options. Three questions have to be selected from seven options - Tectonic Activity, Rock Landscapes, Rivers, Ice, Coasts, Weather and Climate and finally Ecosystems (26%)

Written Component Two (35%)

Section A: One question has to be selected from two options - either Population or Settlement (11.7%)

Section B: One question has to be selected from two options - either Industry or Agriculture (11.7%)

Section C: One question has to be selected from two options - either Managing Resources and Tourism or Development (11.7%)

Written Component Three (25%)

A fieldwork investigation is undertaken and written up (all during the school term) to produce a report of approximately 2000 words.

A Level Syllabus

The new OCR syllabus is followed. This is modular, with two AS modules being sat in the Lower Sixth and three A2 modules being sat in the Upper Sixth.

AS - The Physical Environment Module (25%)

Structured data response questions and short essay questions on Coastal Environments, River Environments, Cold Environments and Hot Arid Environments.

AS - The Human Environment Module (25%)

Structured data response questions and short essay questions on Managing Urban Change, Managing Rural Change, The Energy Issue and The Growth of Tourism.

A2 - Environmental Issues Module (15%)

On Earth Hazards, Ecosystems and Environments Under Threat, and Climatic Hazards.

A2 - Economic Issues Module (15%)

On Population and Resources, Globalisation, and Development and Inequalities.

Three data response questions, at least one from Econ. and one from Env. Two extended essay questions.

A2 - Geographical Skills Module (20%)

One (three part) data response question and two extended writing questions on research techniques.