STANDARD GRADE GEOGRAPHY EXAM REVISION HELPSHEET

Physical Landscapes – Rivers and Glaciation

• Processes by which rivers erode and deposit – eg. hydraulic action,
abrasion
• Processes by which glaciers erode and deposit – eg. “freeze-thaw”,
plucking, abrasion
• River features (eg. waterfalls, oxbow lakes) + Features of each course.
• Glacial features (eg. corrie, U-shaped valley and terminal moraine)

Elements of Weather and Weather Patterns

• Elements (eg. temperature, precipitation, wind speed and direction, cloud
cover etc)
• Instruments used to measure the elements ( eg. anemometer, rain gauge
etc)
• Weather stations – appropriate locations for these
• Weather forecasts – how are these done
• Methods of recording weather/ symbols - eg. synoptic charts, weather
maps, weather station circle (be able to read these!)
• The weather you get with fronts/depressions, and anticyclones + why

Climate Regions
• Characteristics of the Equatorial, Tundra, Hot Desert and Mediterranean
climates.
• Location (distribution) of these climate regions on maps.
• Identify these climates from climate graphs or tables
• Describe climate graphs – remember to refer to temperature (line) +
precipitation (bars)

How Physical Landscapes Affect Human’s Use of the Land

• How physical landscape features (eg. slope, height, soil, rivers) affect land
use
• How climate affects people/land use – eg. tourism
• How weather affects people/land use – eg. farming

Countryside Land Use and Conflict

• Main rural land uses in UK (eg. farming, quarrying, forestry,
tourism/recreation, water reservoirs, conservation)
• Benefits these land uses bring – eg. tourists spend money, quarries provide
resources.
• Problems/Conflicts these land use create – eg. quarries create noise and
dust, tourists erode farmers fields and leave gates open)
Environmental Issues

• Reasons rainforests are cut down (DEFORESTATION), the effects +

solutions.
• Reasons hot deserts are spreading (DESERTIFICATION), the effects +
solutions.
• How oceans become polluted (eg Mediterranean), the effects + solutions.

Settlements
• Reasons for early settlement locations – eg near water supply, flat land for
building
• Very old settlements on OS Maps – look for Olde English font eg Castle, Fort
• Settlement sites – the physical features of the land the settlement is built
on.
• Why some settlements grow – eg. good situation/location
• Functions – eg. market town, port, industrial town, tourist resort
• Characteristics of the different land use zones in a town – eg CBD, Inner
City – Old Industry/Housing, Modern Housing, Modern Industry, Greenbelt
• Be able to identify different land use zones on an OS Map – eg. main
features of CBD, housing density/street patterns of Old/New Housing areas
etc.
• Services (Low, Middle and High Order)
• Why settlements and service have different Spheres of Influence.
• Reasons for traffic congestion in CBD and solutions (eg. bypass, public
transport etc)
• Why inner city areas suffered urban decay and methods of urban
regeneration
• Reasons for and characteristics of New Towns (eg. CUMBERNAULD)
• Changes in land use of the edge of towns.

Farming
• The characteristics of Arable (crops), Pastoral (livestock) and mixed farms.
• eg; Inputs (what farmer needs), Processes (jobs done) and Outputs
(products)
• Reasons for the location of each type of farm
• How the farming landscape has changed over the years and reasons for
this.
• Diversification – how farmers earn money from activities other than
farming.

Industry
• Characteristics of primary, manufacturing (secondary) and service (tertiary)
industry
• Factors that affect the location of manufacturing industries. (eg.
transportation, raw materials, government assistance, labour supply,
market etc)
• Characteristics of Old and New Industrial Areas.
• Why location of industries can change over time.
• Effects of new industry opening – on jobs, local community and
environment.
• Effects of old industry closing – on jobs, local community and environment.

Population + Development
• Census – reasons for taking, why accuracy may be affected especially in
ELDCs
• How birth + death rates and migration affect population growth
• Reasons why countries have different birth and death rates
• Reasons why people migrate (move) – (eg. countryside to city, country to
country etc)
• Problems of rapid increase in population (eg. too many young puts pressure
on education, health care, housing)
• Problems of a decreasing/aging population (eg. less workers paying taxes,
cost of pensions)
• Methods of slowing population increase (eg China 1 child policy, better
contraception)
• Methods of increasing population/workforce (eg promote immigration, raise
retirement age etc)
• Population pyramids – be able to describe and explain them (eg. wide base
– means lots of children because...)
• Differences between Developed (EMDC eg. Japan) and Developing (ELDC eg
India) Countries.
• Development indicators (eg. GNP per capita, Literacy rates, % employed in
agriculture, life expectancy etc)

International Relations + Trade

• Purpose and benefits of alliances (eg EU)
• Reasons why EMDC (eg EU, Japan, USA) have lots of influence.
• Difference in Trade patterns between EMDCs and ELDCs (eg types of
goods traded, countries trade with, trade balance etc)
• Problems of ELDCs for trade – eg relying on primary goods, price
fluctuations etc.
• Barriers to world trade – eg. quotas, tariffs

International Aid
• Reasons why international aid and self help schemes are needed in ELDCs
• Methods of giving aid – eg. tied aid, voluntary aid
• Types of aid – eg. short-term (emergency aid) and long-term (development
aid)
 • Effects of aid and self help schemes
• Self-help (intermediate technology) versus Advanced Technology

GATHERING TECHNIQUES (how would you collect information for a

study)
• eg. Questionnaire, Interview, Observing and Recording Building/Land use,
Traffic Count, Measure River Speed, Taking Photograph, Drawing
Fieldsketches etc
• At General/Credit – refer to what information you would actually collect and
how you would do it. eg. use a questionnaire to gather locals opinions on
the new bypass.
• For reasons why (justify), you must say why collecting that information will
be suitable/useful – don’t ever just say it is easy to do!! eg. I would
interview the farmer and ask him what types of crops/animals he has. He is
an expert on his farm and he would also be able to tell me why he choose
these uses .

PROCESSING TECHNIQUES (how you would display/show the information

given)
eg. Bar, Line, Divided Bar, Multiply Line Graphs, Pie Charts, Weather Station
Circles, Rank Order, Drawing Cross-sections, Labelling (Annotating) Photographs/
Field-sketches, Drawing a land use map, Drawing a Flow Line Map etc.
At General/Credit – you may be given lots of information – mention what
information you would show in the pie chart(s). Eg I would use two charts to
show the % of land use on each farm NOT “I would use a pie chart”.
For reasons why (justify), ensure you say why that technique will be suitable. eg
The two pie charts could then be compared to see any similarities/differences.
Colouring in each land use would make them stand out and make % comparisons
easier.

KEY WORDS
DESCRIBE – say what you see, the main features/characteristics
EXPLAIN – give reasons for something – use words like because….,
COMPARE – say how are things are similar/different (may depend on the question
asked)
IDENTIFY – say what it is
MAP EVIDENCE – give grid references, names, use directions eg. to the north of
the farm etc.
PHYSICAL Features – these are created by nature.
HUMAN Features – these are created/built by humans.

READ ALL INFORMATION BEFORE STARTING EACH QUESTION. HIGHLIGHT KEY

WORDS AND LOOK AT THE NUMBER OF MARKS – write 1 SENTENCE/POINT per
MARK!!