Key term
Edexcel GCSE Geography A 1GA0
Changing Cities
Topic overviewGlobal urbanisation trends and ratesThe UK’s urban population and why urbanisation varies by regionThe chosen UK city: site, situation, connectivity and structureUrbanisation, suburbanisation and migration in the chosen UK cityPopulation change and deindustrialisation in the chosen UK cityInequality and changes in retailing in the chosen UK cityMaking the chosen UK city more sustainableThe chosen developing or emerging city: site, situation and structurePopulation growth and migration in the chosen developing or emerging cityInequality and quality of life in the chosen developing or emerging cityRapid urbanisation: challenges, and bottom-up and top-down responsesGovernment policy and quality of life in the chosen city
Coastal Landscapes and ProcessesLandscape option
Ecosystems, Biodiversity and Management
Topic overviewThe world’s large-scale ecosystems and what controls their distributionThe biosphere as a resource, and its commercial exploitationUK terrestrial and marine ecosystemsTropical rainforest characteristics and the nutrient cycleRainforest biodiversity and plant and animal adaptationsRainforest goods and services, and the causes of deforestationSustainable management of a named rainforestDeciduous woodland characteristics and the nutrient cycleWoodland biodiversity and plant and animal adaptationsWoodland goods and services, and the causes of deforestationSustainable management of a named deciduous woodland
Energy Resource ManagementResource option
Geographical Investigations – Fieldwork
Topic overviewRiver fieldwork: enquiry questions, methods and secondary dataCoastal fieldwork: enquiry questions, methods and secondary dataUrban fieldwork: enquiry questions and methodsUrban fieldwork: secondary data sourcesRural fieldwork: enquiry questions and methodsRural fieldwork: secondary data sourcesThe enquiry process: asking questions and choosing methodsThe enquiry process: presenting, analysing and concludingThe enquiry process: evaluating fieldwork
Geographical Investigations − UK Challenges
Geographical Skills
Topic overviewAtlas and map skills: distributions, patterns and sketch mapsDescribing the site, situation and shape of settlementsInterpreting diagrams, sketches and photographsUsing online census sourcesHypotheses, sampling and risk assessmentCollecting, recording and presenting dataWriting about findings and building an argument
Glaciated Upland Landscapes and ProcessesLandscape option
Topic overviewGlacial processes and the processes at work on relict landscapes todayPast climate and present UK weather in glaciated uplandsGlacial landforms of erosion and depositionCrag and tail, and drumlinsHuman activity and development in glaciated uplandsA named distinctive glaciated upland landscape in the UK
Global Development
Topic overviewDefining and measuring developmentThe global pattern of development and why it is unevenThe consequences of uneven development for quality of lifeStrategies to reduce uneven development: aid, top-down and bottom-upThe chosen country: location, context and internal unevennessEconomic change, trade, aid and investment in the chosen countryPopulation and social change in the chosen countryGeopolitics and technology in the chosen countryThe impacts of rapid development and how they are managed
Mathematics and Statistics Skills
Topic overviewCartographic skills: contours, transects, scale and distanceUsing GIS and geo-spatial dataChoosing, constructing and interpreting graphs and chartsNumerical skills: number, scale, proportion and ratioDrawing conclusions from numerical dataStatistical skills: averages, spread, percentages and correlationSpotting weaknesses in how data is presented
Resource Management
River Landscapes and ProcessesLandscape option
The Changing Landscapes of the UK
Water Resource ManagementResource option
Topic overviewThe global distribution of fresh water, and water surplus and deficitChanging water supply and demandHow water use differs between countriesWater supply problems in the UK and in developing countriesStakeholder attitudes to water, and desalinationSustainable management of water resources
Weather Hazards and Climate Change
Topic overviewGlobal atmospheric circulation and the transfer of heatNatural climate change and the evidence for itThe enhanced greenhouse effect and the effects of climate changeThe climate of the UK and how it variesHow tropical cyclones form, and where they occurWhy tropical cyclones are hazardous, and their impactsResponses to tropical cyclonesThe causes of drought and why some places are more vulnerableThe impacts of drought and responses to it
Weather Hazards and Climate Change
- 9 subtopics
- 26 things to know
- Paper 1
What Weather Hazards and Climate Change covers
Weather Hazards and Climate Change is examined in Paper 1, The Physical Environment. It covers global atmospheric circulation and the transfer of heat, natural climate change and the evidence for it, the enhanced greenhouse effect and the effects of climate change, the climate of the UK and how it varies, how tropical cyclones form, and where they occur, why tropical cyclones are hazardous, and their impacts, responses to tropical cyclones, the causes of drought and why some places are more vulnerable and the impacts of drought and responses to it.
Where it is assessed
Paper 1
The Physical Environment, 37.5% of the GCSE.
Check the Pearson Edexcel specification ↗The 9 subtopics
Each one has its own page.
- Global atmospheric circulation and the transfer of heatWhy the equator receives more solar energy, the Hadley, Ferrel and Polar cells, low pressure near the equator and at 60° and high pressure at 30°, the trade winds and the Coriolis effect, and how circulation cells and ocean currents move heat.Open →
- Natural climate change and the evidence for itThe Quaternary period, glacials and interglacials, natural change compared with recent warming, Milankovitch cycles, solar output and volcanic eruptions, and the evidence from ice cores, pollen, tree rings and historical records.Open →
- The enhanced greenhouse effect and the effects of climate changeThe natural and enhanced greenhouse effect, carbon dioxide and methane from energy, transport, cement making and farming, rising sea level and its effects, retreating mountain glaciers and meltwater, and the effects of warming on food production and wildlife.Open →
- The climate of the UK and how it variesThe UK's temperate maritime climate, the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age, the mild south-west and more extreme east, the prevailing south-westerly wind and relief rainfall, latitude, the warm Atlantic current and frequent changes of weather.Open →
- How tropical cyclones form, and where they occurThe sea temperatures, latitudes and uplift tropical cyclones need, how they develop and weaken over land, their names in different oceans, the eye and eyewall, the cyclone season and warming oceans, and classifying storms on the Saffir-Simpson scale by sustained wind speed.Open →
- Why tropical cyclones are hazardous, and their impactsWhat makes an event a hazard, the winds, storm surge, rainfall, landslides and salt damage of a tropical cyclone, its social, economic and environmental impacts, why development changes the death toll and cost, and using social media with satellite images and socio-economic data to assess impacts.Open →
- Responses to tropical cyclonesPreparing for a tropical cyclone, how individuals, local people and aid organisations respond, monitoring and prediction, warnings and evacuation, a government's responsibilities after a storm, and how the level of development shapes responses.Open →
- The causes of drought and why some places are more vulnerableArid environments and how aridity differs from drought, semi-arid vulnerability, drought weather, meteorological and hydrological drought, how farming, dams and deforestation cause drought, the dry subtropics, the shifting rain belt, El Niño, rain shadows and future drought risk.Open →
- The impacts of drought and responses to itWhy drought is a hazard, its effects on food, health, ecosystems and soil, why it costs more money in developed and more lives in developing countries, and how individuals, aid organisations and governments respond.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Your recallNot started
Key term
Name the three Milankovitch cycles.
Key term
What is the key difference between aridity and drought?
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How does clearing forest make an area drier?
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Why does each square metre of the equator receive more solar energy than each square metre near the poles?
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Name the three circulation cells found between the equator and the pole in each hemisphere.
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What is meant by the enhanced greenhouse effect?
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Which two greenhouse gases are rising fastest because of what people do?
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How would you describe the type of climate the UK has?
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From which direction does the UK's prevailing wind blow, and what does it bring?
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What sea conditions are needed before a tropical cyclone can develop?
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Why do tropical cyclones never form directly over the equator?
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Why are the winds of a tropical cyclone so destructive?
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How does the rainfall of a tropical cyclone create hazards well inland?
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How does a country's level of development affect how it can respond?
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What should you be able to compare about the responses in your two contrasting countries?
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Why does drought put the food supply at risk?
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How does a drought endanger people's health?
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What weather is found in the belt of high pressure at about 30° north and south?
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What is the Quaternary period?
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How does generating energy add carbon dioxide to the atmosphere?
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Why is the UK milder in winter than many places at the same distance from the equator?
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How does the global circulation of air supply the uplift that starts a tropical cyclone?
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Why do landslides so often follow a tropical cyclone?
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What is an arid environment?
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How does a long drought damage ecosystems?
Take Weather Hazards and Climate Change further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Glacial period vs Interglacial
Glacial period: a long cold phase when temperatures fell and ice sheets advanced. Interglacial: a warmer phase between cold spells when the ice retreated.
Natural greenhouse effect vs Enhanced greenhouse effect
Natural greenhouse effect: atmospheric gases trapping enough outgoing heat to keep the planet warm enough for life. Enhanced greenhouse effect: extra warming from human emissions raising gas concentrations so more heat is trapped.
Eye vs Eyewall
Eye: the calm central column of sinking air with light winds and clear skies. Eyewall: the ring of towering cloud with the strongest winds and heaviest rain.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
Why does each square metre of the equator receive more solar energy than each square metre near the poles?
Model answer
Sunlight strikes the equator almost overhead so its energy is concentrated on a small area, while near the poles it arrives at a low angle and is spread thinly over a wider area.
- 2
Name the three circulation cells found between the equator and the pole in each hemisphere.
Model answer
The Hadley cell, the Ferrel cell and the Polar cell.
- 3
What happens to the air where the trade winds meet near the equator?
Model answer
It is heated, rises as an area of low pressure, and cools so that its water vapour condenses to give towering cloud and heavy rainfall.
- 4
What weather is found in the belt of high pressure at about 30° north and south?
Model answer
Air sinks and warms there, so cloud cannot form and the skies stay clear and almost rainless, which is why most hot deserts lie at those latitudes.
- 5
What are the trade winds?
Model answer
Steady surface winds blowing from the subtropical high pressure back towards the equator, from the north-east in the northern hemisphere and the south-east in the southern.
- 6
Why do surface winds curve instead of blowing straight towards the equator?
Model answer
The Coriolis effect, caused by the spin of the Earth, deflects moving air to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Weather Hazards and Climate Change revision questions
- What does Weather Hazards and Climate Change cover in Edexcel GCSE Geography A?
- 9 subtopics: global atmospheric circulation and the transfer of heat, natural climate change and the evidence for it, the enhanced greenhouse effect and the effects of climate change, the climate of the uk and how it varies, how tropical cyclones form, and where they occur, why tropical cyclones are hazardous, and their impacts, responses to tropical cyclones, the causes of drought and why some places are more vulnerable and the impacts of drought and responses to it. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Weather Hazards and Climate Change organised?
- By the Edexcel 1GA0 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in Weather Hazards and Climate Change, 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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