Geography

Exam Board: AQA

Geography is a robust subject that is rich in skills as well as knowledge and understanding of the links between the world and the people on it. Geography supports the art subjects and sciences making it very flexible for a future career choice. The course also includes two mandatory fieldwork opportunities where learning takes place outside of the classroom.

At GCSE you will study three key threads:

1. Living with the physical environment: the challenges of natural hazards such as earthquakes and hurricanes; looking at ecosystems from small scale to large biomes like the tropical rainforests and hot deserts; UK landscapes and how they have been formed over time by coastal and fluvial (river) processes.
2. Challenges in the human environment: Migration, urbanisation, urban growth and the emergence of megacities; Urban change across the UK; sustainable urban living; economic change across the world; Newly Emerging Economies and economic futures of the UK.
3. Challenge of resource management: how food, water and energy are fundamental to human development.

Assessment

100% examination — Three exams covering all the content above, fieldwork and decision-making skills. Question types include multiple choice, short response, data analysis and case study questions.

Where can it lead?

A GCSE in Geography will develop a range of transferable skills including communication and strong presentation skills, competent IT skills, independent research, the ability to work effectively in a team in a variety of roles, effective time management, and combining information from a variety of sources with excellent writing skills, along with numerical and statistical skills. These could be useful in the following areas: an expedition leader, a travel writer, a TV researcher, a conservation worker, an architect, an urban planner, an environmental consultant, a financial risk assessor, a banker, an accountant, a lawyer, a transport/logistics, manager, a diplomat, Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO), a human rights officer, the armed forces, a surveyor, a town planner, an environmental engineer (all fields of engineering), marketing, a social worker, a hydrologist, hazard prediction and management and a weather presenter.