This set covers checking place, date and source, selecting facts, linking causes to responses, comparing cases and updating notes. All data are invented for practice. Questions run from easier to harder.
Write your own answer first. Then open the worked answer and compare the reasoning, not only the result. Record each slip in the mistake log and retest queue, and note real cases in the evidence ledger.
Questions
Q1. A note says “Flooding left 500 families homeless.” Name three details to add before you use it.
Show answer
Add the place, the date or period and the source (who counted the families). Without them the fact cannot be checked.
Q2. A statistic is given with no year. How should you treat it?
Show answer
Treat it as incomplete, not current. Look for the year in the original source, or leave it out until you can date it.
Q3. Of 6,000 homes in a town, 2,400 flooded. What percentage flooded?
Show answer
2,400 ÷ 6,000 = 0.4, so 40%. Check: 40% of 6,000 = 2,400.
Q4. The question is “Explain why the flood was severe.” Which of these facts is least useful: heavy rain of 180 mm, a low floodplain location, or the date of the mayor’s visit?
Show answer
The date of the mayor’s visit. It describes a response, not a reason for the severity. The rain and the floodplain location both explain why.
Q5. 180 mm of rain fell in 4 hours. Drains carry 30 mm per hour. Find the rainfall rate and the hourly excess.
Show answer
180 ÷ 4 = 45 mm per hour. Excess = 45 − 30 = 15 mm per hour.
Q6. Put in a logical chain: “residents sheltered in a hall”, “river overflowed”, “homes were flooded”.
Show answer
River overflowed, homes were flooded, residents sheltered in a hall. Cause, then impact, then response.
Q7. Town P: 18 deaths among 9,000 people. Calculate deaths per 100,000.
Show answer
18 ÷ 9,000 = 0.002, and 0.002 × 100,000 = 200 per 100,000.
Q8. City Q: 40 deaths among 400,000 people. Compare with Town P from Q7 and add one caveat.
Show answer
Q: 40 ÷ 400,000 = 0.0001, and × 100,000 = 10 per 100,000. P’s rate (200) is 20 times Q’s (10). Caveat: the hazards and years may differ, and each is one event.
Q9. A 2019 note says “no flood wall”. A 2024 report says one was built in 2022. Write the updated record.
Show answer
Keep the 2019 line. Add: “2022: flood wall built (source: 2024 report)”. Mark the 2019 statement as superseded. Do not delete it.
Q10. Flooded homes fell from 800 to 600 after a wall was built, but rainfall fell from 160 mm to 120 mm. Calculate both percentage falls and judge the claim “the wall caused the fall”.
Show answer
Homes: (800 − 600) ÷ 800 = 0.25, so 25%. Rainfall: (160 − 120) ÷ 160 = 0.25, so 25%. Both fell by the same share, so the data cannot show the wall caused the fall. Say it “may have contributed” and look for a storm of equal size.
If you got these wrong
- Q1 or Q2 wrong: revisit verifying place, date and source.
- Q3 or Q4 wrong: revisit selecting a few relevant facts.
- Q5 or Q6 wrong: revisit linking causes, impacts and responses.
- Q7 or Q8 wrong: revisit when two cases are not comparable.
- Q9 or Q10 wrong: revisit updating a case without rewriting history.
Return to the module page, case-study reasoning, to plan another pass. If one error type keeps repeating, online one-to-one Geography tuition is a way to have a teacher trace it with you.