What exams will I have ?
3 exams:
Unit 4: Physical Systems (1 hour 30 minutes) – 15% (30%) of exam mark
Need to answer 2 out of semi-structured essay questions from 6: each one supported by stimulus resource, such as a photograph, graph, synoptic chart or press cutting: 2 questions on each of the 3 areas of study – each one answered should be from a different area of study. Each worth 25 marks
Unit 5: Human Environment (1 hour 30 minutes) – 15% (30%) of exam mark
Need to answer 2 out of semi-structured essay questions from 6: each one supported by stimulus resource, such as a photograph, graph, cartoon, table of data or press cutting: 2 questions set on each of the 3 areas of study – each one answered should be from a different area of study. Students will be expected to use relevant maps and diagrams, and to draw on their personal investigation. Each worth 25 marks
Unit 6: Synoptic Unit (2 hours) – 20% (40%) of exam mark
2 sections.
Section A will consist of one compulsory exercise, involving analysis of text, maps, data and other illustrative material. Students will have to draw together material in an unfamiliar context. There will be several sub-sections to the exercise which will be marked out of 50.
Section B will consist of 4 essay questions from which the student will have to answer one. It will explore links between different sections of the course, particularly the links between physical and human environments. Students should use relevant maps and diagrams and draw on their own personal investigations. The question will be marked out of 25.
What will I have to revise ?
Everything done this year, PLUS the ‘Synoptic’ sections of each unit (shown on the syllabus summaries you received at the start of each section) - worth rereading and being aware of the fieldwork investigations we carried out too.
See the SYNOPTIC PAGE for more detail on what you need to revise.
There are several key points to remember:
Essay writing skills are very important (see KAY's page for more)
Remember that they will be marked on a series of levels of response (see earlier handout)
Choose a question based on the essay title rather than the stimulus diagram.
Essays should have a beginning - the introduction which should be a context statement but also say something.
A middle - this is the core of the essay organized by paragraphs, each one of which takes an aspect of the question, with examples
An end - the conclusion - this should not be a precis of the middle. Say something that involves both "therefore...." and, if you can, "however...." - for level 4 & 5 you need to put in a twist.
Use diagrams if you think they will be useful - make them big and bold, annotate them, and refer to them in the text - they should not just be 'free standing illustrations'.
A coherent essay allows the reader to flow from the first point to the last.
Make examples work: e.g " some cities are growing very rapidly e.g Africa" is not good..
Recommendations:
DO NOT DO THE FOLLOWING:
Use 'Truisms' :e.g "many things influence the distribution of population in an area"
Confess to incomprehension: "although there are many theories, no one really knows why rivers meander"
Use sweeping generalisations: "Africa is an area of rapidly growing population"
Exaggerate
DO THE FOLLOWING:
Ability to qualify effectively: e.g 'Climate is probably the main determinant of variation in population density at a continental scale'
Ability to quantify effectively: 'Mean annual rainfall varies between 600mm and 2500mm in the UK, declining sharply from west to east'
Use terminology effectively: 'the population of a country is dynamic, therefore an age-sex pyramid cannot show how the population is changing'
ADVICE FROM INSET ATTENDED BY MR. DOUGLASS A FEW YEARS AGO
Make sure you choose a question from the topics we have covered.
Don't be fooled by an easy looking resource.
If you find that you have picked the wrong question, change within the first 5-10 minutes or stick with it.
Read all questions first before making your choice. Underline the commands words, put a circle round the topic words, and a squiggly line under the focus or slant of the question.
Brief outline essay plans are helpful. Essays need to have a proper structure.
If using diagrams, make them big and bold.
Don't be put off by the length of the question. Sometimes the longer written questions give more clues to the structure the examiner wants to see.
Try these other REVISION STRATEGIES.
