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
Fieldwork and Geographical Skills
- 6 subtopics
- 18 things to know
- AS Unit 2
What Fieldwork and Geographical Skills covers
Fieldwork and Geographical Skills is examined in AS Unit 2, Changing Places, where fieldwork is tested in Section B, and geographical skills are tested in every unit. It covers the six-stage enquiry process, sampling and data collection, presenting geographical data, statistical analysis of geographical data and fieldwork techniques and apparatus.
The 6 subtopics
Each one has its own page.
- The six-stage enquiry processSix stages of the geographical enquiry process, null hypothesis and secondary data useful in a geographical enquiry.Open →
- Sampling and data collectionRandom sampling, systematic sampling and stratified sampling.Open →
- Presenting geographical dataIsoline map, choropleth map and flow line map.Open →
- Statistical analysis of geographical dataThree measures of central tendency, range of a data set and interquartile range and state what it shows.Open →
- Fieldwork techniques and apparatusHow to sample pebbles for a study of longshore drift, how to measure river discharge and environmental quality survey.Open →
- Map skills: grid references, latitude and longitude, scale and directionFour- and six-figure grid references, latitude and longitude, 1:25 000 and 1:50 000 OS map scales, measuring straight and curved distances and areas, and giving direction by compass point and bearing.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Your recallNot started
Key term
How is a beach profile measured in the field?
Process
Name the six stages of the geographical enquiry process.
Key term
What is an isoline map?
Key term
Name the three measures of central tendency.
Process
What must be settled in the planning stage of an enquiry?
Key term
Define sampling.
Key term
What is a choropleth map?
Key term
When is the median a better summary than the mean?
Key term
How is a quadrat used along a transect through a dune system?
Key term
Define a null hypothesis.
Key term
Describe random sampling.
Key term
What is a dot map used for?
Key term
Define the range of a data set.
Key term
Describe how to measure river discharge.
Key term
What are latitude and longitude?
Process
How do 1:25 000 and 1:50 000 OS maps differ?
Key term
What is landscape character assessment?
Take Fieldwork and Geographical Skills further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Random sampling vs Systematic sampling
Random sampling: a design in which every member of the population has an equal chance of being chosen. Systematic sampling: a design in which sites are chosen at fixed intervals, guaranteeing even coverage.
Primary data vs Secondary data
Primary data: information gathered at first hand by the investigator. Secondary data: information gathered and published by somebody else and then used.
Correlation vs Causation
Correlation: a measured association between two variables, showing they move together. Causation: a claim that one variable produces the other, which no measurement of association alone can establish.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
Name the six stages of the geographical enquiry process.
Model answer
Context and planning, data collection, presentation and display, analysis and interpretation, conclusion, and evaluation.
- 2
What must be settled in the planning stage of an enquiry?
Model answer
The research question, the data needed to answer it, the methods and equipment to collect that data, and an assessment of risk and ethical issues.
- 3
What makes a good geographical research question?
Model answer
It is specific, answerable with data that can realistically be collected, and framed so that the answer is not obvious before the fieldwork begins.
- 4
Why should a hypothesis be stated before data are collected?
Model answer
It commits the investigator to a testable prediction, so the analysis tests the idea rather than being fitted to whatever the data happened to show.
- 5
Define a null hypothesis.
Model answer
A null hypothesis states that there is no relationship or no difference between the variables being tested.
- 6
Give three risks that should be assessed before coastal fieldwork.
Model answer
Being cut off by the incoming tide, unstable cliffs and rock fall, and slippery rocks and deep water.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Fieldwork and Geographical Skills revision questions
- What does Fieldwork and Geographical Skills cover in WJEC A-Level Geography?
- 6 subtopics: the six-stage enquiry process, sampling and data collection, presenting geographical data, statistical analysis of geographical data, fieldwork techniques and apparatus and map skills: grid references, latitude and longitude, scale and direction. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Fieldwork and Geographical Skills organised?
- By the WJEC 601-8455-3 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in Fieldwork and Geographical Skills, 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.
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