Geography
ADVANCED LEVEL EDEXCEL
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What do I need to know or be able to do before taking the course?
The main aim of the course is to engage students and challenge their geographical imaginations by stimulating and renewing the interest in Geography, a subject that offers so much to the understanding of our planet. The course allows geographers the flexibility to build a course that suits their own particular interests and needs using a range of approaches. Fieldwork and research skills are essential and a key feature at both AS and A2. Fieldwork will be tested in the exam at AS. Innovative methods of assessment are used including a variation in questioning style, multiple choice, extended responses and fieldwork skills. A range of skills and techniques will be developed over the 2 years including: data presentation, data analysis; use of sources, organisation, research skills, oral communication, team work, essay writing, data response and decision making. You must have achieved A*-B GCSE in Geography.
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Structure
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AS
Unit 1 Global Challenges Topic 1: World at risk Topic 2: Going Global Unit 2 Geographical Investigations
Students must study one physical and one human topic.
There is a week’s residential fieldwork, at a www.field-studies-council.org site, during the course. The cost is approximately £300 per student. This is examined at AS level. |
A2
Unit 3 Contested planet Topic 1: Energy security Topic 2: Water conflicts Topic 3: Biodiversity under threat Topic 4: Superpower geographies Topic 5: Bridging the development gap Topic 6: The technological fix? Unit 4 Geographical Researching – students must study one of the following options:
1: Techtonic activity & hazards 2: Cold environments – landscape & change 3: Life on the margins - food supply problem 4: The world of cultural diversity 5: Pollution & human health risk 6: Consuming the rural landscape - L&T | ||||||||
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Assessment
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AS
Unit 1 1.5 hr written examination - 60% of AS level Unit 2 1hr written examination - 40% of AS level |
A2
Unit 3 written examination
Unit 4 written examination |
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Career Opportunities
The wide range of skills and knowledge developed on the course will prepare you for a range of subject specific careers from a hydrologist controlling water supplies and flooding, to an urban planner, managing change in our settlements. In addition the data handling and problem solving approaches are advantageous in a variety of careers in management and administration. The Geography department can supply further details on request
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