AS Geography

AS GEOGRAPHY CIE 9696

Entry Guidance
This course is offered only to a limited number of highly motivated students with a keen interest in Geography. Students should have achieved at least a B grade at IGCSE Geography and English, and have consistently demonstrated that they have the self-motivation, study skills and time-management skills to cope with a demanding course.

What the course leads to
Studying Geography provides you with valuable skills and a firm base for lifelong learning. It has been identified as one of ten recession-proof degree subjects.  Geography graduates have one of the highest rates of graduate employment. They enter a very wide range of career areas and, put simply, there is no such thing as a geography job, there are jobs that geographers do.

Geography has been defined amongst the key ‘facilitating’ subjects by the Russell Group, (20 leading UK universities,) meaning it is an A-Level subject that opens many doors, keeping the widest range of options and choices available for further study and employment.  Economics? History? Chemistry? Biology? Politics? Physics? Geography includes them all.
 

Course Aims
The course helps students develop:

• an understanding of the principal processes operating within physical geography and human geography
• an understanding of the causes and effects of change on natural and human environments
• an awareness of the usefulness of geographical analysis to understand and solve contemporary human and environmental problems
• the ability to handle and evaluate different types and sources of information, to think logically, and to present an ordered and coherent argument in a variety of ways

Course Content
AS Geography students will study hydrology and fluvial geomorphology, atmosphere and weather, rocks and weathering (including plate tectonics), population, migration, and settlement dynamics. In the A2 year, topics include coastal environments, hazardous environments, energy and environmental management.

Course Assessment
In May/June of the AS year, students will sit an externally assessed examination consisting of two equally weighted papers, one on Human Geography and the other on Physical Geography.  Each paper consists of three data response questions and one structured question from a choice of three.