Exam & Revision Guidance Geography 2017 Exam & Revision Guidance OCR-B

Exams Course is made up of 3 parts. Students have already completed their controlled assessment (25%), the other two parts are done via exams: 22nd May - Sustainable Decision Making (25%) – this will cover Population and Settlement. The paper will require students to make use of an unseen resource booklet to complete a decision making exercise by considering different approaches to resolving an issues whilst taking into account the values and attitudes of different stakeholders and the degree to which the options can be seen as sustainable. 6th June - Key Geographical Themes (50%) – this includes sections on Rivers and Coasts, Economic Development and Natural Hazards

Progress so far… Controlled assessment complete Rivers and coasts, economic development and natural hazards have all been taught in full Majority of students are being requested for period 6 (Thursday). Students have completed a checklist in terms of the areas they feel most and least comfortable with. Period 6 sessions are being based on the biggest areas of concern and are focussing on both foundation and higher paper separately so please encourage to attend! Population and settlement will have been delivered in full by Easter. Remainder of lessons from then will focus on revision/exam preparation.

What should students be doing? Should be well underway revising units for the ‘themes’ paper. The biggest challenge with Geography is the amount of content – this cannot be a subject that they leave until a week before the exam! Attending period 6 whenever requested or drop-in sessions on a Monday Speaking to teaching staff as often as they need to about concerns, queries or areas of difficulty – please encourage them to do this – they’re the priority so time will be found to help them. Working with the revision resources that have been given out, with particular focus being given to areas where they know they are likely to struggle (refer to checklist for this) If they know exam technique is an issue, they should be completing as many practice questions as they can – again time will be found to mark them and provide feedback

Specific Areas to focus on - Themes The themes paper will include 3 case study questions (one at the end of each section, based on an example that students have studied). These are worth 9 marks each (plus 3 for SPaG). That’s 36 marks on a paper out of 99 (36.3%). These questions are the areas students were most concerned about on their checklist and obviously they cannot afford to do badly on them. Period 6 will largely focus on these case study questions but this would be a sensible starting point for students at home. As well as preparing them for the case study questions, revising these examples will also help to reinforce the Geographical concepts/ideas that underpin them.

Specific Areas to focus on - SDM The final question on this paper i.e. ‘the decision’, is worth 16 marks, out of 40 in total (40%) Students have found these questions difficult in mocks and seem to find new ways to lose marks each time they complete one of them. The key messages with these questions are Read the question properly Plan the answer before writing anything Focus on the word sustainability – its central to the whole paper! Revision/preparation for this paper should be centred on practicing these questions – particularly planning the structure of their answer and links to sustainability.

Specific Areas to focus on – Exam Technique This is crucial – especially for students aiming for the top grades – and it is an area many students struggle to get right all the time For case studies… Students need to work out what the 3 developed ideas are going to be before they start writing They must ensure that they develop their answers.

Specific Areas to focus on – Exam Technique This is crucial – especially for students aiming for the top grades – and it is an area many students struggle to get right all the time Writing developed answers: In simple terms this means acknowledging the full extent of the point that they have made It can often be achieved by using connectives such as ‘this means that’, ‘this resulted in’, ‘as a result’, because of this’… E.g. - case study example One effect of the earthquake in Haiti was that the airport and its runway were destroyed; this meant that it was very difficult for emergency aid to reach the people. This resulted in many people dying from their injuries as they could not receive the help that they needed in time.

Specific Areas to focus on – Exam Technique This is crucial – especially for students aiming for the top grades – and it is an area many students struggle to get right all the time Writing developed answers: In simple terms this means acknowledging the full extent of the point that they have made It can often be achieved by using connectives such as ‘this means that’, ‘this resulted in’, ‘as a result’, because of this’… E.g. - a non-case study example If rain falls on an area of impermeable rock it cannot soak into the ground and because of this it flows over the surface and quickly reaches the river. This means that the water reaches the river more quickly than the river can drain it away, therefore causing a flood

Specific Areas to focus on – Exam Technique This is crucial – especially for students aiming for the top grades – and it is an area many students struggle to get right all the time On the decision making paper: The final question will ask for students to discuss sustainability. They MUST discuss it and they must do so in a clear way that makes it obvious to the examiner The points about sustainability should be an extra development on the sorts of answers that we have just looked at. E.g. I feel that educating local parents about how to prepare for and react to an earthquake would be the most effective option. This is a good thing because people would be able to prepare effectively before an earthquake by getting supplies etc. and they could react calmly when it did take place as they would have already arranged a meeting point with their family. Both of these things would mean that the amount of injury and overall damage would be reduced. This method can be seen as sustainable because the parents will pass on what they have learnt to their children who will then tell their children in future. This means that it will have a long-lasting positive effect.

How could they revise? (and how can you help?) For case studies a good technique to use is BLACK and RED Students make a mind map, list etc. about a particular case studies using their exercise book, revision guide etc. Having completed it, students try to replicate as much of it as they can, from memory, in BLACK PEN Once this is done, students compare their ‘from memory’ version to the original. Anything that they missed is added to their memory version in RED PEN This can then be repeated as many times as necessary. Each version should be kept should that students can be aware of/focus on the areas they’re struggling with. Help from you You could be ‘quiz master’ – you hold the complete original whilst they complete the version from memory and allow them to ask for 5 or 3 pieces of information that they can’t remember. The amount could go down the more they practice Encourage explanation/development – look at the case study with them and ask them to explain to you (written or verbally) – ‘how did that happen?’ ‘why is that a bad thing?’

How could they revise? (and how can you help?) One of the challenges for case studies is the number of specific facts and figures that students need to know. An easy way to revise this is by using sorting cards/flashcards Students make a set of cards based on all of the facts and figures that they need to know e.g. dates, number of deaths, tectonic plates etc. Once these are complete they can be used in a number of ways: Students sort all of the cards into piles based on which case study they belong to Having done this students could them sort them into ‘causes’, ‘effects’ and ‘responses/management’ Students could complete the other side of the card to show what the fact/figure is actually for e.g. ‘1070’ on one side – ‘number of deaths from flooding in Bangladesh’ on the other Help from you You can test students with these cards (in both directions) if they have written on both sides Encourage explanation/development – e.g. why were so many people killed in the flooding in Bangladesh?

How could they revise? (and how can you help?) QUIZLET – Internet site that allows users to test their knowledge using sets of flashcards Students can create their own sets of flashcards to focus on areas they’re finding difficult All free and has an app available for download so can be used on their phones Once flashcards have been revised then different games are available that test whether or not students have actually learnt the information Really good for ‘non-case study revision’ Help from you Different users can record their scores once they’ve completed the tests so you could complete with them Create sets of cards for them (use their revision notes on areas they have been working on) If, for whatever reason, you can’t access Quizlet then flashcards are still an excellent way to help with revision – particularly of keywords.

Final points All of the revision techniques that others have mentioned tonight will be applicable to Geography Really important that students start early so they can experiment and find the method that works for them A common concern from students is ‘I don’t know the best way for me to revise’ – the earlier the start, the more chance they have of finding it One last thing… Music without words!