Geographical Skills

What Geographical Skills covers

Geographical Skills is examined in all three papers. It covers reading atlas, thematic and OS maps (grid references, scale, gradient, cross sections and transects), using sketch maps and photographs, choosing, constructing and reading graphs, charts and maps, the number and statistical skills the papers test, and using maps, images, GIS and data as evidence. It also teaches how to frame an enquiry, build an argument and write it up, and the issue evaluation skills of Paper 3 Section A: weighing stakeholders' views and the options, and reaching a justified decision.

The 21 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• Atlas maps: coordinates, distributions and patternsLatitude and longitude, the Equator and Prime Meridian, describing distributions as clustered, linear or dispersed, anomalies in mapped patterns, and reading population, migration, drainage, relief, transport and settlement layout on atlas maps.Open →
• Reading thematic maps for physical and human associationsWhat a thematic map shows, finding positive and negative associations between two mapped patterns, the physical and human factors such maps display, why a match does not prove cause, and handling places that do not fit.Open →
• OS maps: scale, grid references, distance and directionWhat the 1:50 000 and 1:25 000 scales mean, grid squares, four-figure and six-figure grid references, measuring straight and winding distances, and the eight compass points.Open →
• OS maps: gradient, contours and landscape featuresContour lines and their spacing, spot heights, calculating gradient as a ratio, reading heights and grid numbers off a map, and recognising valleys, steep uplands and ridges from the pattern of contours.Open →
• OS maps: relief, cross sections and drawing inferencesNaming relief features, drawing cross sections with an exaggerated vertical scale, V-shaped and U-shaped valleys, and inferring farming, river crossings, drainage, industry, forestry and steep slopes from map evidence.Open →
• OS maps: transects, landscape description and human activityTransects against cross sections, headlands, river courses, flood plains, corries and troughs on a map, and the symbols that point to tourism, farming and commuter villages.Open →
• Comparing maps, sketch maps and photographsComparing maps of different dates and scales, what a sketch map is and what it must carry, and how ground level, oblique aerial and vertical aerial photographs and satellite images differ.Open →
• Describing landscapes from photographs, and annotating themDescribing a photograph by foreground, middle ground and background, identifying landforms, vegetation, land use and settlement, drawing a field sketch, and the difference between labels and annotations.Open →
• Choosing and constructing the right graph or chartLine charts, bar charts, pie charts, pictograms, histograms, divided bars, scattergraphs and population pyramids, how to match a graph to the kind of data, and what every graph must carry.Open →
• Completing choropleth, isoline, dot, desire-line and flow mapsHow choropleth, isoline, dot, desire-line, proportional symbol and flow line maps display data, estimating values between isolines, and plotting readings accurately on an existing graph.Open →
• Reading population pyramids, choropleth and flow-line mapsInterpreting population pyramids with wide or narrow bases and missing age groups, reading choropleth maps and their weaknesses, what a flow line shows, and reading range, median and spread from dispersion graphs.Open →
• Number, scale, proportion and ratio, and designing data sheetsConverting units and areas, map scales in words, larger and smaller scales, designing data collection sheets, accuracy and reliability, control groups, ratios, proportions and percentages, and the link between magnitude and frequency.Open →
• Drawing conclusions from numerical dataInformed conclusions that quote figures, dealing with readings that do not fit, why rising together is not cause, judging the strength of a conclusion, results against conclusions, and the limits of averages and small samples.Open →
• Averages, spread, percentages and correlationMean, median, mode and modal class, range, quartiles and interquartile range, cumulative frequency, percentage increase and decrease, percentiles, bivariate data, lines of best fit, interpolation and extrapolation.Open →
• Spotting weaknesses in how data is presentedSelective presentation, stretched or truncated axes, percentages without totals, averages that hide spread, choropleth class boundaries, out-of-date figures, graphs showing only two dates, unstated sources and misleading pictograms.Open →
• Using maps, fieldwork data and GIS as evidenceWhat maps show as evidence and their limits, primary and secondary maps, quantitative and qualitative fieldwork data, and how geographical information systems use layers of geo-spatial data for tasks such as mapping flood risk.Open →
• Using imagery, written, visual and graphical sourcesSatellite imagery and its value after a hazard, what infrared shows, the limits of orbital images, written and digital sources and how to judge them, and visual and graphical sources.Open →
• Using numerical and statistical information as evidenceNumerical against statistical information, common development statistics, rates such as birth rate, calculating population density, what a figure needs to count as evidence, comparing different years, and indices such as the Human Development Index.Open →
• Framing an enquiry and writing about itWhat a geographical enquiry is, good enquiry questions and hypotheses, the stages of an enquiry in order, and writing descriptively, analytically and critically with precise place names, figures and diagrams.Open →
• Building an argument and reaching a conclusionWhat an extended written argument is, how to structure it, weighing the opposing case, backing every claim with evidence, and what a conclusion must and must not do.Open →
• Issue evaluation: stakeholders, options and a justified decisionThe Paper 3 issue evaluation and its pre-release resource booklet, identifying stakeholders and why they disagree, weighing their views, evaluating the social, economic and environmental impacts of each option at different scales, and choosing and justifying a decision.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Geographical Skills further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Latitude vs Longitude

  Latitude: how far north or south a place lies from the Equator, in degrees. Longitude: how far east or west a place lies from the Prime Meridian, in degrees.

• Eastings vs Northings

  Eastings: the grid numbers read along the bottom of the map first. Northings: the grid numbers read up the side of the map second.

• Histogram vs Bar chart

  Histogram: continuous data grouped into equal classes with touching columns. Bar chart: separate categories compared by the height of columns with gaps between them.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What does latitude measure?

   Model answer

   How far north or south a place lies from the Equator, given in degrees.

2. 2

   What does longitude measure?

   Model answer

   How far east or west a place lies from the Prime Meridian, given in degrees.

3. 3

   Which line of latitude is 0 degrees?

   Model answer

   The Equator, which runs round the middle of the Earth halfway between the poles.

4. 4

   Which line of longitude is 0 degrees, and where does it run?

   Model answer

   The Prime Meridian, which passes through Greenwich in London.

5. 5

   In which order are the two coordinates of a place normally given?

   Model answer

   Latitude first, then longitude.

6. 6

   What are the largest values that latitude and longitude can take?

   Model answer

   Latitude reaches 90 degrees at each pole, and longitude reaches 180 degrees on the far side of the globe from the Prime Meridian.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Geographical Skills revision questions

What does Geographical Skills cover in AQA GCSE Geography?

21 subtopics: atlas maps: coordinates, distributions and patterns, reading thematic maps for physical and human associations, os maps: scale, grid references, distance and direction, os maps: gradient, contours and landscape features, os maps: relief, cross sections and drawing inferences, os maps: transects, landscape description and human activity, comparing maps, sketch maps and photographs, describing landscapes from photographs, and annotating them, choosing and constructing the right graph or chart, completing choropleth, isoline, dot, desire-line and flow maps, reading population pyramids, choropleth and flow-line maps, number, scale, proportion and ratio, and designing data sheets, drawing conclusions from numerical data, averages, spread, percentages and correlation, spotting weaknesses in how data is presented, using maps, fieldwork data and gis as evidence, using imagery, written, visual and graphical sources, using numerical and statistical information as evidence, framing an enquiry and writing about it, building an argument and reaching a conclusion and issue evaluation: stakeholders, options and a justified decision. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Geographical Skills organised?

By the AQA 8035 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.