Key term
OCR GCSE Geography A J383
Ecosystems of the Planet
Topic overviewAbiotic and biotic components, and how ecosystems interactThe world’s biomes: where they are and what they are likeWhere the tropical rainforests are, and what they are likeWhere the coral reefs are, and what they are likeRainforest processes and nutrient cyclingTwo threatened ecosystems: a rainforest and a coral reef
Environmental Threats to Our Planet
Topic overviewClimate change through the Quaternary, and since 1000ADThe evidence for climate changeNatural causes of climate change, and the enhanced greenhouse effectThe consequences of climate changeThe world’s climatic regions and global atmospheric circulationHow global circulation produces extreme weatherTropical storms: causes, distribution and frequencyA drought caused by El Niño or La Niña
Fieldwork Skills
Geographical Skills
Topic overviewConstructing maps, and reading cross-sections and transectsCoordinates, scale, distance and reading information from a mapGradient, contours, spot heights and GISChoosing, constructing and presenting graphs and chartsReading and interpreting the main graph and chart typesNumber, area, scale and the relationships between unitsProportion and ratio, and measures of central tendency and spreadPercentages and percentiles, and designing data collection sheetsReading tables, and describing relationships in bivariate dataTrend lines and lines of best fitPredicting from data, and spotting weak statistical presentationDrawing and justifying conclusions from dataInterpreting images and written sources, and recognising biasJudging the limits of maps, graphs, statistics and images
Landscapes of the UK
People of the Planet
Topic overviewDefining and measuring developmentThe global pattern of development: ACs, EDCs and LIDCsWhy development is uneven, and the role of aidA developing or emerging country: its context and economyRostow’s model and the country’s path of developmentCities, megacities and world citiesWhy urban growth rates differ around the worldRapid urbanisation in poorer countries: causes and effectsA major city in a poorer or emerging country
People of the UK
Topic overviewThe UK’s trade, media and cultural links with the worldThe UK’s geographical diversity and its inequalitiesUneven development within the UK, and the effects of economic growthHow the UK’s population structure has changed since 1900Immigration into the UK in the twenty-first centuryUrban trends in the UK and their effectsA major UK city: its people, challenges and ways of life
UK Environmental Challenges
Topic overviewAir masses, the North Atlantic Drift and the UK’s extreme weatherA UK flood event: causes, effects and responsesHow people use, modify and change UK ecosystemsThe UK’s renewable and non-renewable energy sourcesChanging UK energy supply and demand, and sustainable useRenewables in the UK, and the future of fossil fuelsWhat shapes the UK’s energy choices
Geographical Skills
- 14 subtopics
- 42 things to know
- Component 03
What Geographical Skills covers
Geographical Skills is examined in Component 03, Geographical Skills. It covers Constructing maps, and reading cross-sections and transects, Coordinates, scale, distance and reading information from a map, gradient, contours, spot heights and GIS, Choosing, constructing and presenting graphs and charts, reading and interpreting the main graph and chart types, number, area, scale and the relationships between units, proportion and ratio, and measures of central tendency and spread, percentages and percentiles, and designing data collection sheets, reading tables, and describing relationships in bivariate data, trend lines and lines of best fit, predicting from data, and spotting weak statistical presentation, drawing and justifying conclusions from data, interpreting images and written sources, and recognising bias and judging the limits of maps, graphs, statistics and images.
Where it is assessed
Component 03
Geographical Skills, 40% of the GCSE, drawing on the whole course.
Check the OCR specification ↗The 14 subtopics
Each one has its own page.
- Constructing maps, and reading cross-sections and transectsThe four things every map needs, labels against annotations, choosing a scale, sketch maps and keys, cross-sections and their axes, vertical exaggeration, the U shape of a glaciated valley, and what transects, including one from a city's edge to its centre, can show.Open →
- Coordinates, scale, distance and reading information from a mapEastings and northings, four and six-figure grid references, what a scale of 1:50 000 means, measuring distance and winding routes, compass bearings, and reading settlement patterns, tourism and change from a map.Open →
- Gradient, contours, spot heights and GISContour lines and intervals, spot heights, calculating gradient, isolines, GIS and its layers, base maps, choropleth maps and their weakness, flow line, desire line, sphere of influence, thematic and route maps, and atlas maps compared with 1:25 000 maps.Open →
- Choosing, constructing and presenting graphs and chartsWhich graph suits change over time, parts of a whole, separate categories, relationships and grouped continuous data, which axis takes the independent variable, and the title, labels, scale, annotation and colour a graph needs.Open →
- Reading and interpreting the main graph and chart typesDivided and horizontal bar graphs, histograms, what line and scatter graphs reveal, dispersion graphs, angles and percentages on pie charts, climate graphs, proportional symbol maps, pictograms, cross-sections beside contour maps, population pyramids, radial graphs and rose charts.Open →
- Number, area, scale and the relationships between unitsHectares and square metres, the area of a field and of an irregular shape such as a lake, the ground covered by an OS grid square, large and small-scale maps, three ways of giving scale, converting metric units, population density and per capita.Open →
- Proportion and ratio, and measures of central tendency and spreadRatios, magnitude, frequency and proportion, calculating the mean and the median, the mode and modal class, the range, lower and upper quartiles and the interquartile range, cumulative frequency, and when the median is a better average than the mean.Open →
- Percentages and percentiles, and designing data collection sheetsCalculating percentage increases and decreases, percentiles and the 50th percentile, data collection sheets, why larger samples are more trustworthy, systematic and stratified sampling, reliable measurements, and the purpose of a control site.Open →
- Reading tables, and describing relationships in bivariate dataReading a table's title, headings and units, anomalies, finding the biggest change, why raw totals mislead, tables against graphs, bivariate data, positive, negative, strong and weak relationships, why a relationship does not prove cause, and what a good description of one includes.Open →
- Trend lines and lines of best fitTrend lines and what upward, curved and steep ones show, lines of best fit and whether they must touch every point or the origin, leaving out anomalies, estimating unmeasured values and how reliable they are, and how a line of best fit differs from joining the points.Open →
- Predicting from data, and spotting weak statistical presentationInterpolation and extrapolation, predicting from a steady rate of growth, the assumption behind every trend, and why axes without zero or units, percentages without totals, crowded pie charts and chosen years mislead.Open →
- Drawing and justifying conclusions from dataWhat a conclusion is, how it differs from a result, justifying it with figures, referring back to the question, partial support, anomalies, staying within the data, and why proof is never claimed.Open →
- Interpreting images and written sources, and recognising biasInterpreting photographs, vertical and oblique aerial photographs, ground-level photographs against satellite images, annotating images, cartoons and diagrams as evidence, bias in a written source and the wording that reveals it, why the author matters, fact and opinion, and checking an article's reliability.Open →
- Judging the limits of maps, graphs, statistics and imagesThe limits of old maps, choropleth against proportional symbol maps, graphs without keys, a mean on its own, single photographs, sketch maps, mismatched graph types, small surveys, and percentages from small populations.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Your recallNot started
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What is a contour line, what is the usual contour interval on a 1:50 000 map, how does spacing show steepness, and what is a spot height?
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How do choropleth maps, flow line maps, desire line maps and sphere of influence maps show their data?
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What four things should every map you produce include?
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What are eastings and northings?
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In which order are the numbers of a grid reference read?
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Which type of graph best shows how a value changes continuously over time?
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Which chart suits data that makes up parts of a single whole?
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What does a divided bar graph show that a simple bar graph does not?
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When is a horizontal bar graph easier to read than a vertical one?
Numbers
How many square metres are there in one hectare?
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A rectangular field measures 200 m by 50 m. What is its area?
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What is a ratio?
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Twenty of the 100 shops in a centre stand empty. What is the ratio of empty shops to occupied ones?
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How is a percentage increase calculated?
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A town grows from 200 000 people to 250 000. What is the percentage increase?
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What should you check first when reading a table of figures?
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What is an anomaly in a set of figures?
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What is a trend line on a graph?
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What does an upward trend line on a scatter graph tell you?
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What is extrapolation?
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What is wrong with a graph whose axes carry no units?
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What is a conclusion?
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What is the difference between a result and a conclusion?
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What should you establish first when interpreting a photograph?
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What is the difference between a vertical and an oblique aerial photograph?
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Why might an old map be a poor guide to an area today?
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How could a graph that has no key be improved?
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What is the difference between a label and an annotation on a map?
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What does a four-figure grid reference identify?
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What is a contour line?
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Which graph would you choose to compare one quantity across separate places or categories?
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What is a line graph best at revealing?
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How can the area of an irregular shape such as a lake be estimated from a grid map?
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What does magnitude mean?
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The number of farms in a parish falls from 80 to 60. What is the percentage decrease?
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How do you find the biggest change in a table rather than simply the biggest number?
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What does a steep trend line mean compared with a shallow one?
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Why is a percentage quoted without the total it came from weak evidence?
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Why should a conclusion refer back to the question or hypothesis it started from?
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What can a ground-level photograph show that a satellite image cannot?
Evaluation
How could the evidence from a single photograph be strengthened?
Take Geographical Skills further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Eastings vs Northings
Eastings: grid lines numbered across a map from left to right. Northings: grid lines numbered from the bottom of a map upwards.
Contour line vs Spot height
Contour line: a mark joining all points on a map at the same elevation above sea level. Spot height: a dot with a number giving the exact elevation in metres of one point.
Interpolation vs Extrapolation
Interpolation: estimating a value that lies inside the range of the collected readings. Extrapolation: extending a trend beyond the measured range to estimate a value never recorded.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
What four things should every map you produce include?
Model answer
A title, a north arrow, a scale bar or stated scale, and a key explaining every symbol or colour used.
- 2
What is the difference between a label and an annotation on a map?
Model answer
A label only names a feature, while an annotation adds a short explanation of what it is or why it matters.
- 3
How do you choose a suitable scale for a map you are making?
Model answer
Pick a scale that fits the whole study area into the space available while still showing the detail you need.
- 4
What is a sketch map?
Model answer
A simplified map showing only the main features of an area, usually not to an exact scale.
- 5
Why is a key needed on a map that uses shading or symbols?
Model answer
Without one the reader cannot tell what each colour or symbol stands for, so the map cannot be interpreted at all.
- 6
What is a cross-section in geography?
Model answer
A side-on view of the ground along a chosen line, showing how the height of the land changes across it.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Geographical Skills revision questions
- What does Geographical Skills cover in OCR GCSE Geography A?
- 14 subtopics: constructing maps, and reading cross-sections and transects, coordinates, scale, distance and reading information from a map, gradient, contours, spot heights and gis, choosing, constructing and presenting graphs and charts, reading and interpreting the main graph and chart types, number, area, scale and the relationships between units, proportion and ratio, and measures of central tendency and spread, percentages and percentiles, and designing data collection sheets, reading tables, and describing relationships in bivariate data, trend lines and lines of best fit, predicting from data, and spotting weak statistical presentation, drawing and justifying conclusions from data, interpreting images and written sources, and recognising bias and judging the limits of maps, graphs, statistics and images. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Geographical Skills organised?
- By the OCR J383 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in 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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