Year 11 IGCSE revision

465_careers_revision IGCSE REVISION

It’s the final countdown!! A huge well done to all of your for Paper 1 and Paper 2. I could not be more proud of you! However, there is still one more paper to shine in and it is still worth 27.5% so it is well worth preparing for thoroughly. The key with this paper is, even more than before, to find all the questions (!) read the question carefully and answer it fully, step by step. There is not much theory to learn for this one but it is definitely worth following the tips below. Good luck!

PAPER 4 REVISION TIPS: please find below information about your exam. You can also find a revision sheet and some extra past papers on google classroom.

This exam is 1 hour and 30 minutes long. It is worth 60 marks.
It is made up of 2 large questions, each 30 marks. You must answer both questions (i.e. all questions on the paper)
Each question asks about an investigation into one of your geographical themes. 1 question will be on a human geography theme (usually but not exclusively settlement, tourism or population) and 1 question will be on a physical geography theme (usually rivers, coasts or weather)
It can be very hard to spot the questions on this paper so make sure you don’t miss any!Read everything carefully as it is very wordy and look out for marks as where there are marks indicated e.g. (3) or (5) then there must be a question.
You do not need much theory for this paper but it is a good idea to run through your notes, especially key words beforehand. You will be asked some questions at some point that require geographical knowledge e.g.
“As well as having to travel long distances or taking a long time to collect water, suggest other problems with the water supply in villages like Bacharna and Kalijal” or “Explain how sand dunes like those shown in Photograph A are formed”. However, these rarely contribute more than 8 marks of your total paper.
You will be asked various questions on how to plan and carry out a field investigation including questions on sampling methods, health and safety, reliability, accuracy and methodology including methods such as a beach profile, river cross section, river velocity, pebble survey, weather instruments, bipolar assessment, urban transect, footpath profile etc. and the instruments used. If in doubt, have an educated guess. Try and include every single step of the process and every item of equipment, number of students, how many times to repeat, how many locations etc. Don’t forget to revise how to write a questionnaire
Examples: a) “Suggest two disadvantages of each traffic count being done for one hour” b) “Suggest three factors which the students should have considered when choosing a site for this rain gauge” c) “Describe how the students would use a quadrat like the one shown in Photograph B (Insert) to do this fieldwork task” d) “Give two reasons why their teacher suggested that this plan might produce unreliable results” e) “Describe an appropriate method to choose a fair sample of 20 houses in each village” f) “Suggest two practical difficulties for the researchers of collecting data using a questionnaire”
Data analysis. Watch out for the questions that ask you to complete a graph! You will be using your inserts a lot so make sure you are looking at the correct figure. Look at overall trends before zooming in on specific patterns e.g.
“The researchers made the conclusion that Hypothesis 1: There is a positive relationship between the average time spent by villagers collecting water and the average distance they travel to collect it was partly true. What evidence in Table 4 and Fig. 8 supports this conclusion?”
Hypothesis questions: first of all, you MUST state whether the data in the graph, table etc. supports or disproves the hypothesis. Then you should use specific data to support your answer. Make sure you read the graph correctly and add as much detail as possible. Ensure you refer to all but only the figures you are asked about e.g. “What conclusion would the students make about Hypothesis 1: The amount of traffic on the four roads varies during the day? Support your decision with evidence from Fig. 3 and Table 1 (Insert)”.
A lot of this paper is common sense but the best revision is practise papers and mark schemes and chapter 13 of your textbook which is actually very good!