Key term
WJEC A-Level Geography 601-8455-3
Coastal Landscapes
Topic overviewThe coast as an open systemSediment sources and sediment cellsTides and coastal currentsConstructive and destructive wavesHigh energy coasts and erosional landscape systemsLow energy coasts and depositional landscape systemsFetch, wave refraction and wave energyLithology and structural geology at the coastSub-aerial weathering and mass movementMarine processes of erosionErosional landforms of rocky coastsCoastal transport and longshore driftDeposition, flocculation and sediment sortingDepositional landforms of sandy coastsSand dunes and aeolian processesEstuaries, tidal flats and salt marshesCoral reefs and mangrove coastlinesCoastal change over different timescalesCoastal processes and human activityHuman impact on coastal landscape systems
Glaciated Landscapes
Topic overviewThe glacier as an open systemClimate change and the glacier budgetGlacier movementTypes of ice mass and their distributionGlacial weathering and erosion processesMacro-scale erosional landformsGlacial transport and depositional landformsFluvioglacial landformsSuites of landforms in glacial landscapesPeriglacial processes and ground icePeriglacial action of water and windGlacial change over different timescalesGlacial environments and human activity
Tectonic Hazards
Topic overviewThe internal structure of the EarthMechanisms of plate movementDivergent and conservative plate marginsConvergent margins and subductionHot spots and the global distribution of tectonic hazardsThe hazard profile and measuring magnitudeTypes of volcano and styles of eruptionPrimary volcanic hazardsSecondary volcanic hazardsImpacts of volcanic activity at different scalesContrasting volcanic eruptionsEarthquake characteristics and seismic wavesEarthquake hazards and ground behaviourTsunami processes and impactsContrasting earthquake eventsRisk, vulnerability and human factorsMonitoring, prediction and warningMitigation, response and the hazard management cycle
Changing Places
Topic overviewWhat gives a place its characterFlows and connections that shape placesMeaning, perception and attachment to placeHow places are representedEconomic restructuring and the Clark Fisher modelDeindustrialisation and social inequalityThe service economy and its impactsThe knowledge economy and clustersRebranding rural placesManaging change in rural placesRebranding urban placesManaging change in urban placesComparing a home place with a contrasting placeHow place change affects people's lives
Water and Carbon Cycles
Topic overviewThe water cycle as a global system and mass balanceGlobal water stores and residence timesCryospheric processes and sea-level changeDrainage basin inputs, stores and outputsFlows within the drainage basinRiver regimes and their controlsStorm hydrographs and hydrograph shapeAir uplift, cloud formation and precipitationExcess runoff and floodingDeficit in the water cycle and aquifer rechargeThe global carbon cycle and its storesCarbon pathways between land and the atmosphereCarbon transfers involving the oceansCarbon stores in biomes and land-use changeChanging carbon stores in peatlandsRising atmospheric carbon and its impactsFeedback within and between the water and carbon cycles
Global Migration
Topic overviewGlobalisation and a shrinking worldClassifying and mapping migrationCauses of international economic migrationConsequences and management of economic migrationRefugee movements and internal displacementRural-urban migration in developing countriesSuperpowers and global hub citiesMigration policy and public debate in the UKManaging refugee crisesInformal settlements in developing cities
Global Governance of the Oceans
Topic overviewSupranational institutions and global governanceLaws and agreements governing the oceansStrategic value of the oceans and maritime securityShipping, cables and illicit flowsSovereignty over ocean resourcesManaging marine environmentsOcean pollution and its managementGovernance across scales: an ocean case study
EcosystemsContemporary theme
Topic overviewThe value of ecosystems to peopleThe distribution of global biomesEcosystem structure, energy flow and productivityNutrient cycling in contrasting biomesMeasuring and threatening biodiversityConserving biodiversitySuccession and local ecosystemsThe Arctic tundra biomeSustainable use of the Arctic tundra
Economic Growth and Challenge: IndiaContemporary theme
Economic Growth and Challenge: ChinaContemporary theme
Development in an African ContextContemporary theme
Energy Challenges and DilemmasContemporary theme
Weather and ClimateContemporary theme
Fieldwork and Geographical Skills
Development in an African Context
- 7 subtopics
- 21 things to know
- A2 Unit 4
- A2 Unit 4, two contemporary themes chosen from four
What Development in an African Context covers
Development in an African Context is examined in A2 Unit 4, Contemporary Themes in Geography, where two optional themes are chosen from four; India, China and development in an African context are alternatives within one theme, Economic Growth and Challenge, so you study only one of them. It covers defining and measuring development, physical factors influencing development, economic factors influencing development, political, social and cultural factors in development, the environmental cost of development, desertification and strategies to promote development.
Where it is assessed
A2 Unit 4
Contemporary Themes in Geography, where two optional themes are chosen from four.
Check the WJEC specification ↗The 7 subtopics
Each one has its own page.
- Defining and measuring developmentDevelopment in a geographical context, gross domestic product and gross national income.Open →
- Physical factors influencing developmentHow a rich mineral resource base can promote development, how soil quality influences development and disadvantage of being landlocked for development.Open →
- Economic factors influencing developmentFree trade, quota in trade policy and trade bloc.Open →
- Political, social and cultural factors in developmentHow the quality of governance affects development, corruption and give one way it slows development and how colonialism shaped the economies of former colonies.Open →
- The environmental cost of developmentHow rising incomes increase environmental pressure, ecological footprint and how cash crop monoculture reduces resilience.Open →
- DesertificationThree physical causes of desertification, four human causes of desertification and how overgrazing leads to desertification.Open →
- Strategies to promote developmentWhy infrastructure investment is described as an enabler of development, official development assistance and tied aid.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Your recallNot started
Key term
Explain the albedo feedback in desertification.
Key term
Define development in a geographical context.
Key term
Explain how a rich mineral resource base can promote development.
Key term
Define free trade.
Key term
Define consumerism.
Key term
Explain why infrastructure investment is described as an enabler of development.
Key term
Define gross domestic product.
Key term
Give two reasons a resource base does not guarantee development.
Key term
What is a tariff?
Key term
Explain how the quality of governance affects development.
Key term
Explain how rising incomes increase environmental pressure.
Key term
Define desertification.
Key term
Define official development assistance.
Key term
Define gross national income.
Key term
How does access to energy resources affect a country's development prospects?
Key term
What is a quota in trade policy?
Key term
Define corruption and give one way it slows development.
Key term
What is an ecological footprint?
Key term
Which region is most often cited as suffering severe desertification?
Key term
Distinguish bilateral from multilateral aid.
Take Development in an African Context further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Gross domestic product vs Gross national income
Gross domestic product: the total value of what is produced inside a country's borders in a year. Gross national income: the total earned by a country's residents and businesses, including what they earn abroad.
Bilateral aid vs Multilateral aid
Bilateral aid: assistance passing directly from one government to another. Multilateral aid: assistance channelled through an international organisation to which many states contribute.
Emergency aid vs Development aid
Emergency aid: assistance meeting immediate needs for food, water, shelter and medicine after a disaster. Development aid: assistance funding schools, clinics and infrastructure over a period of years.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
Define development in a geographical context.
Model answer
Development is the process by which a country improves the economic, social and political wellbeing of its people.
- 2
How has the meaning of development changed since the mid-twentieth century?
Model answer
It has widened from economic growth alone to include health, education, rights, freedom and environmental sustainability.
- 3
Define gross domestic product.
Model answer
Gross domestic product is the total value of goods and services produced within a country in a year.
- 4
Give two weaknesses of GDP per capita as a measure of development.
Model answer
It is an average that hides inequality, and it counts only what is traded, ignoring subsistence and unpaid work.
- 5
What does purchasing power parity adjust for?
Model answer
It adjusts income figures for differences in the local cost of living, so that incomes in different countries can be compared meaningfully.
- 6
Define gross national income.
Model answer
Gross national income is the total income earned by a country's residents and businesses, including earnings from abroad.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Development in an African Context revision questions
- What does Development in an African Context cover in WJEC A-Level Geography?
- 7 subtopics: defining and measuring development, physical factors influencing development, economic factors influencing development, political, social and cultural factors in development, the environmental cost of development, desertification and strategies to promote development. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Development in an African Context organised?
- By the WJEC 601-8455-3 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in Development in an African Context, on a schedule.
Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.
Or £46 a year, about £3.83 a month. Cancel anytime.