Course
Physical geography 4 of 14 units taught
Water and carbon cycles
- AQA 3.1.1.2 · Edexcel Topic 5.1 · OCR 1.2
The water cycle as a system
- Name the global water stores and the flows between them
- Describe a drainage basin as an open system of inputs, stores, flows and outputs
- Use a water budget to explain seasonal surplus and deficit
- AQA 3.1.1.2 · Edexcel Topics 5.2 and 5.3 · OCR 1.2
Drainage basins and storm hydrographs
- Read lag time, peak discharge and the rising and falling limbs of a storm hydrograph
- Explain how basin shape, soil, rock, slope and land use change a hydrograph
- Explain how urbanisation and deforestation change runoff
- AQA 3.1.1.2 · Edexcel Topics 5.4 to 5.9
Drought, flooding and water insecurity
- Explain the physical and human causes of drought and flooding
- Explain why water insecurity is growing
- Evaluate hard and soft approaches to water supply
- AQA 3.1.1.3 · Edexcel Topics 6.1 and 6.2 · OCR 1.2
The carbon cycle: stores and fluxes
- Name the main carbon stores and the size of the fluxes between them
- Explain the biological and physical carbon pumps
- Explain how photosynthesis, respiration, decomposition and combustion move carbon
- AQA 3.1.1.4 · Edexcel Topics 6.3 and 6.7 to 6.9 · OCR 3.1
Human impacts on the carbon cycle and climate
- Explain how fossil fuel combustion and land use change alter carbon stores
- Explain the enhanced greenhouse effect and feedback loops
- Evaluate mitigation and adaptation
- AQA 3.2.5 · Edexcel Topics 6.4 to 6.6
Energy security
- Explain what makes a country energy secure
- Compare energy mixes and the players in energy supply
- Evaluate alternatives to fossil fuels
Coastal and glaciated landscapes
- AQA 3.1.3 · Edexcel Topic 2B · OCR 1.1 Option A
Coastal systems: energy and sediment
- Explain how wind, fetch and waves supply energy to a coast
- Explain sediment sources, cells and budgets
- Explain erosion, transport and deposition processes
- AQA 3.1.3 · Edexcel Topic 2B · OCR 1.1 Option A
Coastal landforms and change
- Explain the formation of erosional landforms from cliffs to stumps
- Explain the formation of beaches, spits, bars and dunes
- Explain how sea level change creates landforms
- AQA 3.1.3 · Edexcel Topic 2B · OCR 1.1 Option A
Coastal risk and management
- Compare hard and soft engineering
- Explain shoreline management plans and integrated coastal zone management
- Evaluate the costs and benefits of a scheme
- AQA 3.1.4 · Edexcel Topic 2A · OCR 1.1 Option B
Glacial systems and landforms
- Explain a glacier's mass balance from accumulation and ablation
- Compare warm-based and cold-based glacier movement
- Explain the formation of erosional and depositional landforms
- AQA 3.1.2 · OCR 1.1 Option C
Hot desert and dryland landscapes
- Explain the causes of aridity
- Explain the work of wind and water in deserts
- Explain desertification
Hazards and ecosystems
- AQA 3.1.5 · Edexcel Topic 1 · OCR 3.5
Plate tectonics, earthquakes and volcanoes
- Explain the processes at each type of plate boundary
- Explain how earthquakes, tsunamis and eruptions happen
- Compare magnitude scales and volcanic explosivity
- AQA 3.1.5 · Edexcel Topic 1 · OCR 3.5
Vulnerability, risk and hazard management
- Use the hazard risk equation and the pressure and release model
- Explain why the same hazard affects places differently
- Evaluate prediction, preparation, mitigation and the hazard management cycle
- AQA 3.1.6
Ecosystems under stress
- Explain nutrient cycling and energy flow in a biome
- Explain how human activity puts ecosystems under stress
- Evaluate conservation and sustainable management
Human geography 1 of 10 units taught
Global systems
- AQA 3.2.1 · Edexcel Topic 3 · OCR 2.2
Globalisation: flows and connections
- Name the flows of capital, labour, products and information
- Explain the role of transnational corporations and technology
- Explain why some places are switched off
- AQA 3.2.1 · OCR 2.2 Options C and D
Global governance and the global commons
- Explain how international organisations govern trade and human rights
- Explain the idea of a global commons, with Antarctica as an example
- Evaluate the success of global governance
- Edexcel Topic 7
Superpowers
- Explain hard and soft power
- Explain how superpowers change over time
- Evaluate the influence of emerging powers
- Edexcel Topic 8B · OCR 2.2 Option B
Migration, identity and sovereignty
- Explain the causes and patterns of international migration
- Explain how migration affects identity
- Evaluate the role of the nation state
- Edexcel Topic 8A · OCR 2.2 Option C
Health, human rights and intervention
- Compare measures of development and human rights
- Explain types of intervention
- Evaluate the outcomes of intervention
Places and urban change
- AQA 3.2.2 · Edexcel Topic 4 · OCR 2.1
Changing places: meaning and representation
- Explain endogenous and exogenous factors that shape a place
- Compare insider and outsider meanings of place
- Use qualitative and quantitative sources to study a place
- AQA 3.2.2 · Edexcel Topic 4A · OCR 2.1
Regeneration and rebranding
- Explain why places need regeneration
- Compare players and their priorities
- Judge the success of regeneration with evidence
- AQA 3.2.3
Urban environments
- Explain urbanisation, suburbanisation and counter-urbanisation
- Explain urban climate and urban drainage
- Evaluate sustainable urban development
- AQA 3.2.4
Population and the environment
- Explain the demographic transition
- Explain the links between population, food and health
- Evaluate population futures
- AQA 3.2.5 · Edexcel Topics 5 and 6
Resource security
- Explain resource development and the resource frontier
- Compare water, energy and ore mineral security
- Evaluate resource futures
Skills and fieldwork 2 of 8 units taught
Statistics
- AQA 3.4.2.4 · Edexcel Appendix 1 · OCR 4.4
Averages, spread and standard deviation
- Choose the mean, median or mode for a data set
- Calculate the range and the interquartile range
- Calculate and interpret a standard deviation
- AQA 3.4.2.4 · Edexcel Appendix 1 · OCR 4.4
Spearman's rank correlation
- Rank two variables, including tied ranks
- Calculate the coefficient
- Test its significance against a critical value
- AQA 3.4.2.4 · Edexcel Appendix 1 · OCR 4.4
The chi-squared test
- Write a null hypothesis
- Calculate expected frequencies and the statistic
- Use degrees of freedom and a critical value to reach a conclusion
- Edexcel Appendix 1 · OCR 4.4
Mann-Whitney U and the t-test
- Choose a test of difference for two samples
- Calculate U for two small samples
- Interpret a t-test result
Data, fieldwork and extended answers
- AQA 3.4.2 · Edexcel Appendix 1 · OCR 4.1 to 4.3
Graphs, maps and data response
- Read logarithmic scales, dispersion graphs and choropleth maps
- Describe a pattern with data and anomalies
- Calculate percentage change, density and proportion
- AQA 3.3 · Edexcel Appendix 2 · OCR 5
Fieldwork: sampling and methods
- Choose random, systematic or stratified sampling
- Judge the reliability and validity of a method
- Plan for risk and ethics in the field
- AQA 3.3 · Edexcel Paper 4 · OCR Component 04/05
The independent investigation
- Write a focused question with a clear link to the specification
- Present, analyse and evaluate your data
- Draw conclusions your data can support
- AQA Papers 1 and 2 · Edexcel Papers 1 to 3 · OCR Components 01 to 03
Extended answers and mark-scheme levels
- Read command words: outline, explain, analyse, assess and evaluate
- Know what moves an answer up a level
- Plan a 9 to 20-mark answer with a judgement
