KS5 Subject: Geography

What topics will you study in KS5 Gepgraphy?

At A Level, students follow the AQA Geography specification, developing a deeper understanding of the relationships between people, places, processes and environments. The course combines physical and human geography and encourages students to analyse complex geographical issues, evaluate different perspectives and make informed judgements.

Paper 1: Physical Geography

Water and Carbon Cycles

Students explore the water and carbon cycles as interconnected natural systems, examining their stores and flows, changes over time and the influence of human activity and climate change.

Coastal Systems and Landscapes

Students investigate coasts as dynamic systems, examining coastal processes, landforms, sea-level change and the challenges associated with protecting and managing coastal environments.

Hazards

Students examine tectonic, volcanic, seismic, storm and wildfire hazards, considering why hazards occur, their impacts on people and places, and how communities respond to and manage risk.

Paper 2: Human Geography

Global Systems and Global Governance

Students investigate globalisation and increasing global interdependence, exploring international trade, transnational corporations, inequalities and the governance of global systems and the global commons, including Antarctica.

Changing Places

Students explore how places are shaped, experienced and represented, considering how connections, identities and external forces cause places to change over time. Students investigate contrasting places using both quantitative and qualitative evidence.

Contemporary Urban Environments

Students examine urbanisation and urban change in contrasting settings, exploring urban forms, inequality, climate, drainage, waste and the opportunities and challenges involved in creating more sustainable and liveable cities.

Geography Fieldwork Investigation (NEA)

Students complete an independent geographical investigation based on a question or issue they develop themselves. The investigation includes field data collection and allows students to apply geographical theory, research methods, data analysis and evaluation to an area of individual interest.

The investigation is 3,000–4,000 words and contributes 20% of the A Level qualification.

Geographical Skills: Throughout the course, students develop increasingly sophisticated cartographic, graphical, statistical, numerical, qualitative, fieldwork and geospatial skills. These skills are embedded across both physical and human geography and enable students to interpret evidence, identify relationships, analyse geographical data and critically evaluate geographical issues.

Do you have a reading list for this subject?

Geography does not stop at the classroom door. These books explore some of the biggest questions shaping our world – from climate change and global power to inequality, cities and the future of our planet.

Human Geography

• Prisoners of Geography (Tim Marshall)
• The Power of Geography (Tim Marshall)
• Factfulness (Hans Rosling)
• The World Is Flat (Thomas L. Friedman)
• Dead Aid (Dambisa Moyo)
• The Almighty Dollar (Dharshini David)
• Fifty Things That Made the Modern Economy (Tim Harford)
• Inequality and the 1% (Danny Dorling)
• Divided: Why We’re Living in an Age of Walls (Tim Marshall)
• Happy City (Charles Montgomery)
• The New Silk Roads (Peter Frankopan)

Physical Geography

• Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth (James Lovelock)
• Coastal Systems (Simon Haslett)
• The Holocene: An Environmental History (Neil Roberts)
• Eruptions That Shook the World (Clive Oppenheimer)
• Let There Be Water (Seth M. Siegel)
• The Shock of the Anthropocene (Christophe Bonneuil and Jean-Baptiste Fressoz)
• There Is No Planet B (Mike Berners-Lee)
• How Bad Are Bananas? (Mike Berners-Lee)
• The Water Will Come (Jeff Goodell)
• Adventures in the Anthropocene (Gaia Vince)

How will you be assessed during the course?

• Paper 1: Physical
• Paper 2: Human
• Paper 3: Synoptic paper (Year 13 only)

How can you help your child excel in this subject?

A Level Geography requires students to become increasingly independent and engaged with the world beyond the classroom. Encourage your child to keep up with current geographical issues, read widely and make connections between what they see in the news and the topics they study.

Regularly revisiting key concepts, processes, case studies and supporting evidence is essential. Students should also practise planning and writing extended responses, using precise geographical evidence to develop well-supported analysis, evaluation and judgements.

A consistent routine for independent study, wider reading and revision will help students manage the demands of the course and prepare successfully for their examinations and NEA.