Revision checklist for A LEVEL GEOGRAPHY

REVISION CHECKLIST for A Level Geography 9696

A guide for students

How to use this guide
The guide explains what you need to know about your AS/A Level Geography Examination. It
will help you plan your revision programme and will help to show what the examiners are
looking for in the answers you write.

It can also help you revise by ticking off topics you have been taught and you have learned for
the examination.

The Guide contains the following sections:

Section 1 - How will you be tested?
This section offers information on the different examination papers.

Section 2 - What will you be tested on?
This section describes the areas of knowledge, understanding, skills and evaluation that the
examiners will test you on.

Section 3 - What do you need to know?
This section shows the syllabus content in a simple way so that you can check:
• which topics you need to know
• details about each topic in the syllabus
• how much of the syllabus you have covered

Section 1 – How will it be tested?

1.1 The Examination you will take
If you are doing AS Level you will take one examination paper (Paper 1) of three hours.
If you are doing A Level you will take the same three-hour paper as above as well as two
further papers (Paper 2 and Paper 3) of 1 hr 30 minutes each.
Find out from your teacher which papers you will be taking and when.

1.2 About the papers
The table below gives you further information about the papers:
Paper number How long What questions What % of What is tested and
and name and how must you the Total what % of the Total
many answer? Mark is the Mark is it?
marks? paper?

Paper 1 3 hrs 5 short questions 100% if AS Knowledge 30%
Core Geography (100 marks) from a choice of 6 50% if A Understanding 30%
worth 10 marks Level Skills/Enquiry 20%
each plus 2 Evaluation/Decision
questions (1 from 20%
the physical core
and 1 from the
human core)
worth 25 marks
each, of your
choice

Paper 2 1 hr 30 2 structured 25% A Level Knowledge 35%
Advanced mins questions, each Understanding 35%
Physical Options (50 marks) on a different Skills/Enquiry 10%
topic, from 8 given Evaluation/Decision
questions (2 on 20%
each topic)

Paper 3 1 hr 30 2 structured 25% A Level Knowledge 35%
Advanced mins questions, each Understanding 35%
Human Options (50 marks) on a different Skills/Enquiry 10%
topic, from 8 given Evaluation/Decision
questions (2 on 20%
each topic)

1.3 Detailed information about each paper

Paper 1
Paper 1 tests the six core topics:
Physical Core:
• Hydrology and fluvial geomorphology
• Atmosphere and weather
• Rocks and weathering

Human Core
• Population
• Migration
• Settlement dynamics

There are three sections:

Section A (50 marks)

This contains six questions. You must choose and only answer five of them.
Three questions will be set on the Physical Core and three on the Human Core.
Be careful because although there are six core topics, this does not mean that there
will always be one question on each topic. Sometimes questions will be on just one
topic, sometimes on a combination of topics.
Each question is worth 10 marks and is fairly short. You must try to answer each question
equally well.

The questions make use of resources such as maps, graphs, photographs, diagrams and
sometimes survey maps (1:25 000 and 1:50 000) so you should practice your skills and ability
to understand and write about these

Section B (25 marks) Physical Core Topics

This contains three longer answer questions. You must answer only one of them.
There will be a question on each physical core topic.

Section C (25 marks) Human Core Topics

This contains three longer answer questions. You must answer only one of them.
Here questions may cover two or more topics because there are strong
interrelationships between all three topics (you really must revise all topics fully).
You are expected to use case studies form LEDCs (less economically developed countries)
and MEDCs (more economically developed countries)

In this section and in Section B the questions are structured, usually in two or three parts, and
give you the opportunity to express your answer in extended writing of longer paragraphs.
Again, some questions will make use of maps, graphs, photographs and diagrams.

Paper 2 and Paper 3

These are separate question papers but are timetabled on the same day and session. You
will complete Paper 2 and hand in your answers. Then you will have a short break (maximum
15 minutes) before starting Paper 3. So, both papers must be sat together on the same date,
on the same morning or the same afternoon.

Paper 2 has eight questions on the Advanced Physical Geography topics below (two on each
topic). You must answer two questions. Be very careful as each must be on a different
topic.

The topics are:
• Tropical environments
• Coastal environments
• Hazardous environments
• Arid and semi-arid environments

Paper 3 has eight questions on the Advanced Human Geography topics below (two on each
topic). Again you must answer two questions, being very careful as each must be on a
different topic.

The topics are:
• Production, location and change
• Environmental management
• Global interdependence
• Economic transition

In both papers the questions are worth 25 marks each and will be structured. You will be
given the chance to write extended answers and the questions may make use of resources
such as maps, graphs, photographs or diagrams. You will be asked to use these resources to
show your understanding of geographical ideas. It will not matter if you have not studied the
place/example used in a resource as you are only expected to interpret information from it
and show ideas that can be used in any similar situation. Usually, to gain the highest marks,
you will need to organise your writing well and use relevant case studies or developed
examples.

Learning Suggestion
Make sure you study and revise enough to really have a choice of topics and questions in the
examination. Perhaps the best compromise is to revise everything in a basic manner, so you
are prepared for any question, but then specialise in your strongest topics.

Section 2 – What will you be tested on?

The examiners take account of the following areas of ability in your examination papers (refer
to page 3 of your syllabus):

1. Knowledge: the facts and ideas you remember
2. Understanding and application: how you use what you know and apply it to unfamiliar
situations
3. Skills and enquiry: how you handle data and draw conclusions from it
4. Evaluation and decision-making: how you judge and are critical of facts and situations

These areas of ability are called Assessment Objectives. They are explained further in the
table below. Your teacher will be able to provide you with more detailed information on each
one.

ASSESSMENT WHAT THE WHAT YOU NEED TO BE ABLE TO DO
OBJECTIVE OBJECTIVE
MEANS

1. Knowledge Remembering • define and explain geographical terms e.g.
facts bifurcation ratio ideas e.g. urbanisation
• describe and explain certain
• principles e.g. granite weathers much faster
in the Tropics theories e.g. Malthus models
e.g. rural-urban migration
• describe where selected places or
environments are and what they are like e.g.
Sahel
• describe and explain how physical and
human processes operate e.g. soil creep or
gentrification

2. Understanding and How you use what • understand that physical and human
Application you know and elements are made up in a complex way,
relate it to other and that each part of one influences a part of
situations another e.g. valley slopes will be affected by
rivers and rivers will in turn be affected by
the slopes
• understand that when geographical
processes occur they cause changes in
environments and distributions at that place
and/or other places e.g. rivers erodes
mountain valleys but deposit alluvium
downstream
• understand that places/environments have
both things in common and unique
differences e.g. urban areas have CBDs but
different arrangements of land use zones
• understand how looking at areas of different
size or scale may change the relevance or
importance of factors, change the patterns
etc e.g. population density of a city or a
country
• understand the importance of changes
taking place over time periods and the
effects of different lengths of time e.g.
demographic transition e.g. wave action on
a beach in a day compared with waves
building a spit over years
• relate your understanding to new
situations/places not necessarily learnt by

you e.g. drainage basin inputs in a semi-arid
region
3. Skills and Enquiry How you study • obtain data from fieldwork e.g. Q (discharge)
data and come to from a river channel
conclusions about • obtain data from other sources e.g. books,
it libraries, government statistics, internet
• study the data collected to see what it shows
e.g. find patterns of housing from a land use
survey or aerial photo
• read, understand and draw conclusions from
- maps: survey maps (1:25 000 and 1:50
000 scales), flow line, isoline, choropleth,
sketch, etc.
- diagrams: two and three dimensional,
with/without annotation, flow diagrams etc
- graphs: bar graphs, divided bar graphs,
line graphs, scatter graphs (including line
of best fit), pie charts, proportional circles,
triangular graphs, climate graphs, etc
- photographs: colour, black/white, aerial,
terrestrial, satellite
- written text: newspapers, articles, books,
interviews etc
- cartoons
- data tables
• understand how to tackle a geographical
task e.g. how to go about collecting traffic
flow data
• know how reliable information can be e.g.
questionnaire from a few children vs official
statistics
• be able to collect together and understand
information e.g. compile mean, median,
mode from a data set or draw a scatter
graph from fieldwork data
• be able to make up your own methods of
enquiry and use your geographical
understanding to make sense of what you
find e.g. devise a fieldwork hypothesis or
explain an unusual land-use pattern
4. Evaluation and How you make • judge by how much processes and change
Decision Making judgements and influence places/environments e.g. effects of
conclusions based different types and rates of mass movement
on information on slopes
known • judge the success of schemes, plans and
developments e.g. shanty town
improvements
• see things from different people’s/groups’
points of view e.g. impact of immigration
• recognise differences of opinion (conflicts of
interest) about geographical issues/
developments e.g. tourist developments in
rural areas
• understand and judge how decisions are
made and their physical and human effects
e.g. planning for flood control
• understand that there can be more than one
solution e.g. population growth (or decline)
and development

Section 3 What do you need to know?

In the table below you will find the things you may be tested on in the examination. They are
arranged in the order they occur in the syllabus under Curriculum Content. If there any words
or terms you do not understand, ask your teacher

How to make full use of the Table
The table has columns which give you information and which you can use.

Unit: The core topics and advanced physical and human option topics – they
are called units in the main syllabus
Topic: Subdivisions of the core and option topics - use throughout the course
to check what you have covered
You should be Here you can check in detail what you know/are able to do
able to:
Checklist: Here you can tick off what you have done or what you have learned
well (use a pencil for later re-use)
Comments: Here you can:
i. add further information of your own, such as names of case studies
needed
ii. add learning aids, such as “winds blow from high to low pressure”
iii.pinpoint areas of difficulty you need to check further with your
teacher or textbooks

N.B. the table below cannot contain absolutely everything you need to know, but it
does use examples wherever it can.

Paper 1: Core Geography
Physical Core

UNIT TOPIC YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO CHECKLIST COMMENTS

1. Hydrology and 1.1 The drainage • understand the hydrological cycle as it is applied to drainage
Fluvial basin system basins.
Geomorphology • understand the terms that are used e.g.
- watershed
- drainage basin
- drainage density
• describe and explain the processes at work in a drainage basin
• understand the drainage basin as a system with inputs, outputs,
stores and flows which include:
- precipitation,
- evaporation,
- evapotranspiration,
- interception,
- throughfall,
- stemflow,
- overland flow,
- infiltration,
- percolation,
- throughflow,
- baseflow,
- groundwater,
- recharge,
- springs.
- water table
• know what inputs and outputs are and how they affect and are
affected by stores and the flows
• understand the way water moves through the system (from store
to store), both above and below ground - from initial precipitation
to interception to overland flow to infiltration to movement through
the soil and rock to the channel

• understand how water is held in stores both above and below the
land surface (know all the terms and their meaning, such as
ground water, water table)
• understand how a change in one part of the system will cause
changes in other parts
• interpret complex diagrams or flow charts of water movement
• apply the above to basins in a variety of different climatic
environments e.g. very wet (tropical rainforest), seasonal rainfall
etc

1.2 Rainfall – discharge • understand flood hydrographs and basic terms e.g.
relationships within - discharge
drainage basins - rising limb
- falling limb
- lag time
- peak
- stormflow
- baseflow
- storm event
• be able to draw typical flood hydrographs
• describe and understand the difference between a flood
hydrograph and an annual hydrograph (river regime graph)
• describe and understand the factors that create different
hydrographs e.g.
- climate and weather variations (precipitation type and
intensity, temperature, evaporation, transpiration,
evapotranspiration, antecedent moisture)
- drainage basin characteristics (size, shape, drainage
density, slope)
- geology, soils and vegetation (porosity and permeability of
soils, rock type, vegetation type, land-use).
• understand how the factors above affect where water is stored and
how it moves (flows)

1.3 River channel • describe and explain the main types of river processes of
processes and - erosion, (abrasion/corrasion, solution, hydraulic action,
landforms attrition),
- transport (traction, saltation, suspension and solution),
- deposition and sedimentation
• describe and understand where and when they operate
• relate them to other river factors like velocity and discharge
• read such graphs as Hjulstrom Curve and scatter graphs such as
V vs. Q
• describe and explain how rivers flow:
- velocity variations
- laminar, turbulent, helicoidal
• reasons for differences in flow patterns
• draw, describe and understand the types of channel patterns
- in plan i.e. straight, braided, meandering
- in cross-section
• describe and explain a range of ‘river’ landforms:
- inside the channel e.g. riffle and pool, river cliff, point bar
- on the channel edge e.g. levée, floodplain, along the
course e.g. gorge, rapids, waterfall, bluff, alluvial fan,
deltas
• describe and understand examples
1.4 The human impact • describe and explain what changes occur in a drainage basin
caused by
- land-use change
- urban development
- people taking water from the river and groundwater i.e.
abstraction
- storage by dams, barrages etc
• understand how these changes affect the flows and stores in ;
- the drainage basin generally
- the channel particularly
• understand the following about floods and flooding:
- causes
- effects

- predicting and forecasting
- recurrence
- methods of preventing
- methods of lessening the impact - i.e. amelioration
- concept of flood risk
• understand the same as the above about drought

2. Atmosphere 2.1 Local energy • understand how energy comes to and leaves Earth in the daytime
and Weather budgets e.g. incoming solar radiation, reflected solar radiation, energy
absorbed into the surface and subsurface, sensible heat transfer,
long wave earth radiation, latent heat transfer –evaporation.
• understand how energy comes to and leaves Earth in the night
e.g. long wave earth radiation, latent heat transfer – dew, sensible
heat transfer, absorbed energy returned to earth
• describe and understand the weather phenomena associated with
these energy transfers e.g. mist, fog, dew, temperature inversions
2.2 The global energy • understand which places on Earth gain more heat than they lose,
budget and vice versa
• understand how such imbalances are overcome by heat being
transferred around the earth i.e. the global circulation of the
atmosphere involving
- three cell model
- Rossby Waves
- jet streams
• describe and understand world patterns of:
- temperature
- pressure
- winds
• know the variations in these patterns and how they change
seasonally
• understand the influence on these patterns of
- latitude
- land/sea distribution
- - ocean currents
- appreciate the difference in scale between local and

global
2.3 Weather processes • know how moisture occurs in the atmosphere (vapour, liquid,
and phenomena solid)
• describe the processes that alter these states i.e. evaporation,
condensation, freezing, melting, deposition and sublimation
• understand humidity and what affects it
• describe and understand how air can be cooled at the surface
(radiation cooling)
• describe and understand what causes air to rise (convection and
orographic uplift)and then cool
• describe and understand what lapse rates are, particularly
- dry adiabatic
- saturated adiabatic
- environmental
• understand how lapse rates relate to the state of the atmosphere :
- stable
- unstable
- conditionally unstable
• be able to draw or interpret simple graphs to show stability and
lapse rates
• understand how the above relates to precipitation (including ideas
of relative humidity, saturation, dew point, condensation level,
condensation nuclei) be able to relate lapse rates and stability to
cooling and weather phenomena
- particularly clouds and rain,
- but also hail, snow, frost, dew, fog
2.4 The human impact • know and understand the effect on climate of an urban area
compared with the surrounding rural area temperature – heat
island, humidity, precipitation, pollution, winds
• know the greenhouse effect and global warming -- possible
causes and consequences (greenhouse gases and the energy
budget)
3. Rocks and 3.1 Elementary • recognise the global pattern of plate boundaries (world map
Weathering Plate tectonics knowledge useful)
• understand the different types of plate boundary, why they occur

and the processes that operate there :
- constructive boundary
- destructive boundary
- collision boundary
- passive/conservative/transform
• understand sea floor spreading
• describe and explain the landforms formed at boundaries, such as:
- fold mountains
- ocean ridges and associated rift valleys
- ocean trenches
- island arcs
- volcanoes and earthquakes (generally – are studied in
depth in Paper 2 Hazardous environments)
• Draw, or interpret, maps or diagrams of boundaries and landform
formation

3.2 Weathering • describe and understand the types of :
and Rocks - physical (mechanical) weathering (freeze-thaw,
heating/cooling, wetting/drying, exfoliation/spheroidal,
crystal growth, pressure release)
- chemical weathering (hydrolysis, hydration, carbonation,
solution, oxidation, organic action – humic acids and
chelation)
• understand why different types of weathering occur in different
climatic zones (Peltier diagram)
• describe and understand the effectiveness of weathering in
different environments -- rates and consequences
• understand all the factors that influence weathering :
- rock type
- structure
- climate
- vegetation
- soil
- relief (gradient of slope, shelter or exposure / direction
slope is facing)

• know the properties of granite and limestone (chemical and
physical)
• understand how these rocks react to weathering and erosion

3.3 Slope processes • know how slope form differs (shape, steepness, uniformity)
and development • know and understand how slopes develop and change their form
depending on the factors of :
- rock type
- structure
- climate
- vegetation
- soil
- relief (gradient of slope, shelter or exposure / direction
slope is facing)
• know and understand slope processes of mass movement:
- heave
- flow
- slide
- fall
• know the conditions for each of the mass movements to occur
• know the effects of these on slope form
• demonstrate good examples and diagrams
3.4 The Human • describe and understand how human activities influence:
Impact - rocks
- rates of weathering
- slope form
- slope processes
• understand the effects of particular activities e.g. quarrying,
mining, pollution, acid rain, dumping materials on land, contour
ploughing, building

Throughout this section it is important to know
examples and case studies comparing and
contrasting MEDCs with LEDCs

Paper 1: Core Geography
Human Core

You should illustrate your answers, where appropriate, with reference to case studies drawn from LEDCs (less economically developed countries) and MEDCs
(more economically developed countries) since 1970.
There are strong interrelationships between the three topics in the Human Core and questions spanning two or more topics may be set in both Sections A and C.

1. Population 1.1 Natural Increase as • describe and understand how population increases naturally
a component of (without migration) in relation to :
population change - birth rate
- death rate
- fertility rate
- infant mortality rate
• describe and understand the factors affecting levels of births and
deaths, fertility and mortality
• interpret age/sex pyramids
• understand how a population group is made up i.e. its structure,
and know some of the component parts :
- age
- gender
- dependency
- dependency ratio

1.2 Demographic • know and understand how and why birth rates and death rates
transition change with time
• draw, interpret and explain the demographic transition model
through stages 1-4 with the possible addition of stage 5
• be critical in describing and understanding the model’s uses,
limitations and extensions
• know and understand issues of aging populations
• describe and understand various development indices such as:
GNP, income per capita, life expectancy, health, education,
transport, fuel use etc

• know and understand the two-way link between population and a
country/region’s development, i.e. population as a resource or a
drain.
• know and understand how development links with changes in
demographic indices e.g. life expectancy

1.3 Population- • understand what resources are
Resource Relationships • understand the term ‘carrying capacity’
• know and understand the causes and consequences of food
shortages
• know and understand how resource development e.g. food
production, relates to technology and innovation
• know and understand how constraints e.g. war, climatic hazards,
link to population and resources
• explain and look critically at the concepts of :
- overpopulation
- optimum population
- underpopulation
• understand the concept of a population ceiling and population
adjustments over time (the J-curve and the S-curve)
• draw and explain graphs to illustrate the above
• understand how theories e.g. Malthus, Boserup relate
• describe and understand the term sustainability and how it can be
applied to changing populations and resources
1.4 The • know and understand in detail a case study of one country’s
Management of population policy regarding natural increase (population increase
Natural increase or decline). In this you should:
• know and understand how the country attempts to control
population (the management policies)
• know how and why this country faces difficulties in managing its
natural increase
• understand how the policies attempt to solve these problems
• critically judge the success level of these policies
1. Migration 2.1 Migration as a • describe and understand the types of migration (excluding all

component of movements of less than one year’s duration)
population change • study attempts to classify these
• understand the reasons for migration i.e. causes
- economic, social, political, cultural, racial,
- push factors, pull factors
• describe and understand the ways by which people migrate, i.e.
- the processes (how migration is achieved)
- the patterns (spatial movements of migrants)
• understand the effects of constraints, obstacles and barriers e.g.
distance, cost, national borders

2.2 Internal migration • describe and understand rural-urban and urban-rural movements
(within a country) - causes
- effects on areas people leave (source)
- effects on areas people go to (receiving areas)
- include the effects on population structures
• describe and understand how migration can occur in steps from
villages to small towns, from one town to another and on to cities
etc
• describe and understand movements within urban areas – their
causes and effects
• be able to distinguish between intra and inter e.g. inter-urban and
intra-urban is essential
2.3 International • describe and understand voluntary and forced (involuntary)
migration movements
- causes e.g. economic
- patterns e.g. refugee flows
- effects on areas people leave (source)
- effects on areas people go to (receiving areas)

2.4 A case study of • describe and understand in detail one example of an international
international migration flow of people
- causes
- character

- scale
- pattern
- effects on source
- effects on receiving area
(this may or may not include an element of management)
3. Settlement 3.1 Changes in rural • understand why there are changes taking place in rural
Dynamics settlements settlements and the issues these raise (include rural-urban and
urban-rural migration and effects of urban growth)
• realise that the changes are different in MEDC and LEDC villages
• describe the main changes occurring :
- structure of population
- types of housing
- nature of services/facilities
- occupations
- land-use changes
- aesthetic character
• understand reactions to these changes
• Create a case study of
- either a typical village or hamlet
- or a rural area
i. show how there is development and growth (or decline)
ii. look critically at (evaluate) the issues arising from
development (effects and responses)
(depending on which you choose, the changes to
consider will be slightly different or additional, such as
inroads by industry, recreation, transport etc)
3.2 Urban trends and In relation to MEDCs and LEDCs
issues of urbanisation • define:
- urbanisation
- urban growth
- suburbanisation
- counter-urbanisation
- re-urbanisation
- gentrification
- urban renewal

• understand the conflicting demands for land on the edge of a city
as the city grows
• understand the effects of changing accessibility (cars etc)
• understand the effects of changing lifestyles
• understand the concept of a world city
• understand how and why world cities grow
• understand the development of a hierarchy of world cities (what it
is based on, how cities are ranked etc)

3.3 The changing • understand the factors (including planning) which affect the
structure of urban location of activities like services, retailing and manufacturing
settlements • describe and understand how these patterns change over time
and the reasons why this happens
• understand ‘functional zonation’ and competition for space (spatial
competition) in urban areas and the concept of bid-rent
• describe and understand the character of the CBD and the
changes taking place there
• describe and understand residential segregation and the
processes that result in different residential zonation eg filtering.
3.4 The management of • for each of the following:
urban settlements 1. LEDC squatter settlement and/or shanty town
2. MEDC inner city area (not CBD)
3. providing infrastructure for any city
4. strategies for reducing urbanisation in LEDCs
describe a case study in terms of :
- showing the difficulties and problems of management
- judging how well the solutions suggested are working

Paper Two: Advanced Physical Geography Options

Questions may require the use of case studies, so it is essential that real, rather than theoretical, examples are studied.

-
1. Tropical 1.1 Tropical climates • describe the characteristics of air masses found between
Environments the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn and how they move
• understand the concept of the heat equator and how it
influences pressure belts and winds
• describe and explain how its location varies at any one time
• describe and explain how its location changes through the
year
• be aware of the influence of ocean currents
• describe and explain the role of ITCZ and the characteristics
of weather associated with it
• describe and explain the role of subtropical anticyclones and
their associated weather
• describe and explain the resulting main climate types i.e.
equatorial, monsoon, savanna,
- varying patterns, in time and location, of rainfall
- varying patterns, in time and area, of temperature
• use examples and case studies
1.2 Tropical • know and understand the components and links of an
Ecosystems ecosystem
• define and understand these terms :
- plant community
- climax vegetation
- plagioclimax vegetation
- plant succession
- sere
- nutrient cycling
- energy flows
- tropic level
- soil catena

- soil fertility
• for tropical rainforest and savanna
- know (with diagrams) the vegetation structure
- understand how the vegetation has developed with
time (particularly in relation to climate, soil and
human influences, but also other factors such as
relief and drainage)
- know where, how and why the structure of each
vegetation type varies
- understand how nutrients move and are stored
- understand energy flows and trophic levels
- use Gersmehl diagrams
- draw and interpret a wide range of sketches,
diagrams, photos
• understand soil-forming processes in the Tropics e.g.
laterization
• relate processes to soil types and profiles (with diagrams) :
- latosols/oxisols
- tropical red earth
- tropical brown earth
• know examples of tropical soil catenas and explain the
effect of slope on processes forming them
• understand how and why soil fertility varies (think about
effects on soil processes)
1.3 Tropical • recap on weathering processes in equatorial and savanna
Landforms climatic regions
• understand these processes in terms of
- what happens
- where they occur (i.e. under, as well as on, the
surface)
- how fast they occur (rate)
- what factors affect them e.g. temperature, rock
structure etc,
• describe and explain how deep weathering profiles and the

basal surface of weathering develop
• describe and explain how landforms develop in granite –
tors, inselbergs, etchplains, pediplains
- think about weathering processes (include deep
weathering)
- erosion (include regolith removal)
- rock characteristics (such as jointing)
- time scale of process operation
• describe and explain the development of landforms in
limestone - tropical karst
- think about the same ideas as for granite
• draw diagrams, interpret photographs
1.4 Sustainable • understand what is meant by sustainable management
Management of • make one case study on the sustainable management of
Tropical either the tropical rainforest ecosystem
Environments or the savanna ecosystem
in terms of :
- detailing the problems faced and
- - judging how these problems are being tackled and
how effective the attempted solutions are
2. Coastal 2.1 Wave, marine • describe and explain how waves are created in the open
Environments and sub-aerial ocean
processes • understand the basic terminology of waves
e.g. wave length, period, frequency etc
• be aware of factors that cause waves to differ in
size/strength e.g. fetch
• describe and understand what happens to waves when they
approach the shore:
- breaking waves
- swash and backwash
- refraction
• describe the different types of waves and their effects on
beaches:
- low energy/high energy

- constructive/destructive
• explain wave action on cliffs :
- hydraulic action
- quarrying
- corrasion/abrasion
- solution
- attrition
• explain the action of sub-aerial weathering on cliffs
• describe the sources of beach sediment:
- cliffs
- offshore seabed
- rivers
- drift along coast
- human action
• describe the characteristics of beach sediments:
- types e.g. cobbles, coarse sand fine sand, mud
- particle size
- particle roundness
- particle distribution on beach
• explain how sediments are transported :
- along the beach (longshore drift etc)
- up and down the beach
- in relation to sediment size and wave energy
- sediment cells
• explain where and why sediments are deposited e.g. on
beaches, in estuaries

2.2 Coastal • describe and explain the development of cliffs --- retreat of
landforms of cliffed cliff face over time and the lengthening of the wave-cut
and constructive platform until cliff becomes “dead”
coasts • N.B. differentiate between this development of a typical cliff
face on its own and the changes over time along a typical
coastline of variable geology e.g. headland and bays
• understand that these retreats will vary according to the
rocks, the processes acting, both wave and sub-aerial and

the time factor
i.e. structure, rock type, fetch, exposure, wave direction etc
• understand the variations found in cliff profiles (side
view/cross section) at the present, caused by such factors
as:
structure, rock type, fetch, wave energy and direction,
offshore depth, sub-aerial weathering and erosion, mass
movement, human influences etc
• explain landforms created at cliffs e.g. cave, arch, stack,
stump, geo, wave-cut platform
• draw and describe different beaches in profile, explaining
their characteristics in relation to sediment types and the
waves affecting them
• describe and explain how and why the profile changes in the
short term/seasonal/long term
• understand that beaches also vary in plan
• describe and explain small scale features of a beach e.g.
beach cusps, sand ripples
• describe and explain the location, characteristics and
formation of different types of beaches and depositional
landforms:
- drift and swash aligned beaches
- spits – simple and compound
- tombolos
- offshore bars
- barrier beaches/islands
- coastal dunes
- estuarine features (sand/mud banks)
- salt marsh/mangrove swamp
2.3 Coral Reefs • demonstrate knowledge of where in the world coral reefs are
found
• describe the characteristics of the three main types:
- fringing e.g. Tahiti
- barrier e.g. Great Australian

- atoll e.g. Bikini Atoll
• understand the conditions necessary for coral growth and
development
• describe and illustrate the different theories put forward for
the development of reefs around the world
• understand and explain the causes of sea level change and
relate the effects of sea level change to changes on coral
reefs
• demonstrate knowledge of the problems facing reefs (see
2.4)
2.4 Sustainable • develop a detailed case study to show the problems facing
management of sustainable management, using either one coastline or a
coasts number of coastlines e.g.
- tourism pressures
- rising sea-level
- human activity offshore
- land-use changes on the coastline
- sea defence changes up-drift
• critically judge the effectiveness and outcomes of attempted
solutions
3. Hazardous 3.1 Hazardous • describe and explain the relationship of volcanoes/
Environments environments earthquakes to the world’s plate boundaries (convergent,
resulting from crustal divergent, conservative) and hot spots
movement • realise that different boundaries have different types of
hazard or differing intensity, and why
• describe and understand the details of earthquakes, such as
wave types, epicentre, focus, seismic scales, frequency,
length
• describe and explain the effects of earthquakes and related
hazards
- land shaking
- landslides
- tsunami
• describe and explain the main types of volcanoes and

volcanic eruptions
• demonstrate knowledge of the products of eruption :
- nuées ardentes
- lava flows
- mudflows (lahars)
- pyroclasts
- ash,
- steam and poisonous gas emission
• describe how earthquakes and volcanoes can be monitored
and hence predicted, and to what level of success
• consider different perceptions of risk by people in varied
world locations
• appreciate the effects of earthquakes and eruptions on
people, property and environment
3.2 Hazardous • describe the nature of those mass movements which lead to
environments hazardous impact
resulting from mass • explain the causes of them, especially in relation to stability
movement and instability of slopes
• consider the effect (impact) in scale and time
• describe the nature of avalanches
• explain the causes of them and the hazards produced
• for each hazard describe how it can be monitored and
hence predicted, and to what level of success
world locations
• appreciate the effects on people, property and the
environment
3.3 Hazard resulting NB: Be aware the syllabus restricts itself to
from atmospheric tropical storms i.e. storms found between the
disturbance tropics, and tornadoes
• know the difference between tropical storms and tornadoes
• demonstrate knowledge of regional names for tropical
storms e.g. cyclones

• understand where storms start and the normal track they
take (be able to analyse a world map)
• understand the ways in which storms :
- originate
- develop (or not)
- have typical cross-section characteristics
- take particular directions
- quickly “die” over land
• appreciate how and why tropical storms cause hazards e.g.:
- storm surges
- coastal flooding
- severe river floods (especially in lower course),
- landslides,
- high winds,
- air pressure imbalances
• describe and explain similar material for tornadoes
- where they are found
- their characteristics
- what causes them
- how they are hazardous
• for both tropical storm and tornado hazards, describe how
they can be monitored and hence predicted, and with what
level of success
world locations
• appreciate the effects on people, property and the
environment
3.4 Sustainable • develop a single, detailed case study of any one hazardous
management in environment from your studies above (not an actual hazard
hazardous type or single event hazard)
environments • appreciate the problems of managing such a hazardous
area
• describe the methods so far attempted to solve these
problems, and make judgements on them

• critically consider other possible solutions
4. Arid and Semi-Arid 4.1 The distribution • define and describe differing levels of aridity
Environments and climatic • understand ideas such as effective precipitation, water
characteristics of hot balance, potential evapotranspiration
arid and semi-arid • demonstrate knowledge of the limitations of standard
environments definitions
• find and name hot arid and semi-arid areas on a world map
• understand why and how these areas are found in such
limited locations – influence of :
- world pressure belts e.g. sub-tropical high pressure
- world wind patterns
- pattern of world ocean currents – cold currents
- rain shadow effects
- effective precipitation
• describe and understand the climate characteristics of these
areas
- degrees of aridity
- strong desiccating winds
- daily (diurnal) and seasonal insolation patterns
- annual precipitation variations
- annual temperature variations
• describe what the climatic conditions were like in the past,
especially the wetter phases (Pleistocene pluvials)
• recognise the evidence for past wetter climates
4.2 Processes • revise the types of weathering that take place e.g. - boulder-
producing desert - thermal fracture controlled
landforms - exfoliation (scree) slopes
- chemical weathering - rock plains
- pressure release - erg
- freeze-thaw (but only at high altitudes or places
where temperatures fluctuate about 0ºC with water
available)
• describe and understand what the weathering does to rocks
and the products it creates i.e. block and granular

disintegration
• demonstrate knowledge of the major erosion agents
operating in these areas, now and in the past
• describe and explain the action by wind:
wind erosion
- abrasion/corrasion
- deflation
wind transport
- critical velocities
- traction
- saltation
- suspension/sandstorms
wind deposition
- reduced wind velocity
- behind obstacles
- lee of hills/ridges
Landforms/features
- small scale e.g. ventifacts
- larger scale e.g. yardang, zeugen,
pedestals/mushroom rocks, deflation hollows
- -depositional sand dune types
- landscapes
• explain the occurrence and action (erosion, transport and
deposition) of water
- isolated storms, low occurrence, flash floods – sheet
floods and stream floods
• describe and explain the development of landforms
associated with water action e.g. wadi/arroyo
• draw, describe and explain the development of landscapes
and landforms in the piedmont zone:
wadis, boulder-controlled slopes, inselbergs, mesa and
butte, residual plateaux, mountain front, alluvial fans,
pediment, bahadas, playas, salt lakes
• critically examine ideas of which processes formed a
landscape or landform

• critically examine the effects of present climates and past
climates
4.3 Soils and • realise the variety of flora and fauna in arid and semi-arid
vegetation areas (biodiversity).
• understand biomass productivity and why it is limited here
• describe and understand the main problems facing such
ecosystems
• understand how fragile it is and how easily it can be
damaged naturally or by human intervention
• understand why its nutrient cycle is so limited
• show how flora and fauna adapt to the extreme conditions
(temperatures, physical and physiological drought)
• describe the main soil types – their profiles, and
characteristics
• explain how the soil forming processes. e.g. upward
capillary movement of water and minerals, develop these
characteristics
• describe desertification and understand what is meant by
soil degradation
• explain the process of desertification
• know the causes and effects of these processes in different
semi-arid areas
4.4 Sustainable • relate in detail one case study of sustainable management
management in an arid or semi-arid area such as
- growth pole settlement e.g. Kharga, Egypt
- new irrigation farming in Thar Desert, Pakistan
- mining settlement e.g. Kalgoorlie, Coober Pedy in
Australia
- tourist township in Mohave Desert, USA
• be aware of the problems faced (including desertification)
and make a critical assessment of the solutions attempted
or possible solutions

Paper 3 Advance Human Geography Options

Case studies should be chosen from both LEDC’s and MEDC’s since 1970.

1. Production, 1.1 Agricultural • describe and understand the factors influencing agricultural
Location and Change systems and food practices and land-use on farms:
production physical
e.g. temperature/sun/rainfall variations, soil and drainage
social
e.g. education of farmer, land tenure
economic
e.g. demand, distance from markets
political
e.g. government subsidies, trading bloc policies
• understand the role of changing technology to overcome
constraints e.g. irrigation, mechanisation, new seed
varieties
• understand the idea of an agricultural system with
- inputs,
- throughputs
- subsystems
- outputs
• study in detail one arable system and one pastoral system.
• understand the ideas of production methods and
associated productivity:
- intensive e.g. market gardening in the Fens (UK)
- extensive e.g. sheep farming in New Zealand
• demonstrate knowledge of the issues involved in attempts
to intensify production e.g.
- replace slash and burn in Indonesia
- the Green Revolution
- small-scale self help schemes e.g. mini-hydro in
Nepal
• demonstrate knowledge of the issues involved in extending

cultivation in LEDC’s e.g.
- irrigating oases in Egypt
- draining swamplands in Malaysia
- - fish farming in Indonesia
1.2 The • develop a single case study for one country:
management of - title: the need for agricultural change
agricultural change - scale: at the scale of both the individual farmer and the
country itself
- content:
- why changes are needed,
- why changes are difficult,
- attempts made to bring about change by
management
- critical evaluation of the success of these
attempted solutions
Possible examples could be Italy, UK, Zimbabwe, China,
Indonesia
1.3 Manufacturing • recall all the factors affecting the location of manufacturing
and related service industry and related service industry :
industry - suitability and cost of land
- raw material origin
- power source
- labour supply
- capital available
- location of markets
- economies and diseconomies of scale
- transport
- infrastructure
- inertia
- government policies
- linkages available
• demonstrate knowledge of some of the main places where
industries develop:
- break of bulk sites (e.g. deepwater ports)
- riversides for heavy plants

- suburban trading estates on routeways and near
market
- in or next to CBD for services (and later relocation
outside city)
• understand where and why industries tend to develop
together
- industrial agglomeration
- functional linkages
- industrial estates
- export processing zones (EPZ)
• understand the informal sector:
- causes
- characteristics
- location
- impact
1.4 The • develop a single case study: for one country
management of - title: industrial policy
industrial change - content:
- description and explanation of the policy
- following the setting up of the policy, the changes
in the location, character and organisation of
industrial production
- description of some of the issues faced and a
judgement on the success of the solutions to these
issues and problems
Possible examples could be UK, Italy, China, Malaysia, Brazil
2. Environmental 2.1 Sustainable • for energy, give examples of:
Management energy supplies - renewable resources
- non-renewable resources
• describe, at a country level, the factors affecting:
- the level of demand for energy
- the supply of energy
- the balance between energy sources
consider ideas such as:

- level of country’s development
- how many resources country has
- capital available for national scale projects
- technology available
- laws governing pollution
- government policy, priorities and future plans
• compare trends between MEDC’s and LEDC’s
consumption of :
- fossil fuels
- nuclear power
- renewables: wind power, wave power, HEP, solar,
biofuels
• describe at the local scale the effects on the environment
of:
- energy production
- transport of energy
- usage of the power
• describe at the global scale the effects on the environment
of :
- energy production
- transport of energy
- useage of the power
2.2 The • develop a case study of one country’s overall :
management of electrical energy strategy (plans for producing electricity)
energy supply • develop a case study of one named, located scheme
within that country (e.g. a power station):
• for these studies consider issues of:
- changes in demand and supply
- actual production of electricity
- location
• make critical assessments of the success of the overall
strategy and of the selected scheme
2.3 Environmental • describe and understand the causes, magnitude and
degradation effects of the major forms of pollution of :

- land
- air
- water - inland, ocean
• understand how and why the demand and supply of water
varies
- in different places
- with changes in time
• understand the effects on the environment of supplying
water
• understand issues such as water quality
• understand how and why rural environments can be
damaged (use contrasting examples such as Zimbabwe
[LEDC] or Wales [MEDC]) e.g.
- overpopulation
- poor agricultural practices e.g. overgrazing
- deforestation
- quarrying
- military training grounds
- golf courses in rainforest etc
• understand how and why urban environments can be
damaged (use contrasting examples such as Rio de
Janeiro or London) e.g.
- too rapid urban growth
- unchecked industrial growth
- old industrial areas in decline
- inadequate services and facilities
- inadequate infrastructure
- residential segregation problems
- no-go crime zones etc
• understand the problems and difficulties faced in attempts
to improve the quality of these degraded environments
• identify environments most at risk (physical and human)
e.g.
- wetlands
- coastlines

- polar and tundra areas
- areas of rapidly increasing population
• describe and explain why they need protecting and the
ways of protecting them
• look at the outcomes of the protection measures and
assess their effectiveness
2.4 The • choose one degraded environment and show :
management of a - the causes of its degradation
degraded - the problems faced by the area
environment - attempts to improve the area
- problems of these improvement attempts
(constraints)
- judgement on the success of these attempts to
solve the problems
3. Global 3.1 Trade flows and • demonstrate knowledge of
Interdependence trading patterns - visible and invisible imports
- visible and invisible exports
• appreciate the uneven flows of trade around the world
• understand the factors affecting global trade and so
causing these flows e.g.
- resource endowment
- locational advantage
- historical factors such as colonial links
- political isolation of certain countries
- trading blocs and agreements
- changes in the global market
• demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the World
Trade Organisation (WTO)
• demonstrate knowledge and understanding of Fair Trade
• describe and explain the role of Fair Trade
3.2 Debt and aid and • at the national scale, describe and explain debt
their management - its nature
- its causes

- the problems it creates
• describe and explain
- the debt crisis (countries affected, causes,
problems created etc)
- debt relief (organisations involved, actions, issues
etc)
• describe and explain different types of aid and donors
- relief aid
- development aid
- tied aid
- bilateral or multilateral aid
• describe and explain the effects of aid on receiving
countries
• critically assess these effects
3.3 Development of • understand the reasons for growth in world tourism
international tourism • describe and explain the trends in this growth
• demonstrate knowledge and understanding of
- carrying capacity
- multiplier effect
• describe the impacts, at both local and national scale, of
tourism on the destination’s :
- environment
- peoples (society)
- economy
• explain and critically examine the life cycle model of
tourism
• describe recent developments in world tourism e.g.
- ecotourism
- adventure tourism
- extreme tourism
3.4 The • develop one case study of a tourist area or actual resort to
management of a include :
tourist destination - its growth

- reasons for its development
- its ability to sustain itself
- - your judgement on how tourism here affects the local
environment, the people and their economy
4. Economic 4.1 National • demonstrate knowledge of primary, secondary, tertiary and
Transition development quaternary sectors of an economy and their roles in
economic development
• understand that global differences in social and economic
wellbeing exist, and know where the differences are
• explain the causes (physical and human) of these
differences in wellbeing
• explain and comment on indicators of social/economic
inequality e.g. HDI
4.2 The globalisation • demonstrate a basic knowledge of world patterns of:
of industrial activity - resource distribution
- production
- markets
• describe and explain foreign direct investment (FDI)
• describe and explain the new international division of
labour (NIDL)
• demonstrate knowledge about the transnational
corporations (TNCs -multinationals) in terms of:
- their growth and reasons for this
- distribution around the world (their spatial structure)
• develop a case study of one TNC – how it is organised and
how it operates around the world
• describe and explain the emergence and growth of newly
industrialised countries (NICs)
• appreciate the connections between the growth of industry
in some LEDCs and NICs and the decline in MEDCs
4.3 Regional • appreciate that social and economic differences exist
Development between regions within a country
• understand the concept of core and periphery

• describe and explain the process of cumulative causation
(from initial advantage(s)) and understand such terms as
spread and backwash
NB here ‘regional’ does not mean a region of the world
4.4 The • develop one case study of a single country’s policy for
management of social and economic development at
development - either the national scale
- or at the regional scale (differences between
regions of that country).
• describe and explain what is being done and the problems
encountered
• critically assess the success of attempts made to overcome
these problems

Revision checklist for A LEVEL GEOGRAPHY

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Revision checklist for A LEVEL GEOGRAPHY