This set practises the skills of extended geographic explanations: reading data and maps, linking a process, using evidence, matching the command word, and concluding fairly. All places and figures are invented for practice.
Cover each answer, write your own response in full, then compare it with the worked version. The map scale, contour and gradient practice and the statistics and distribution explorer help with the number questions.
Questions
1. Rain fell in an invented town: 36 mm in 2 hours. Find the rate in mm per hour.
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36 ÷ 2 = 18 mm per hour. Check: 18 × 2 = 36.
2. On a map with scale 1:50 000, two villages are 3.6 cm apart. What is the real distance in km?
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3.6 × 50 000 = 180 000 cm. 180 000 ÷ 100 = 1 800 m = 1.8 km. Check: 1.8 km = 180 000 cm, and 180 000 ÷ 50 000 = 3.6 cm.
3. Daily rainfall (mm) over five days: 12, 8, 30, 6, 4. Find the mean and the median. Which suits the data better, and why?
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Sum: 12 + 8 + 30 + 6 + 4 = 60, so the mean is 60 ÷ 5 = 12 mm. Ordered: 4, 6, 8, 12, 30, so the median is 8 mm.
The median suits better here because one very wet day (30 mm) pulls the mean up. Check the sum again: 12 + 8 = 20, 20 + 30 = 50, 50 + 6 = 56, 56 + 4 = 60.
4. An invented town’s population rose from 8 000 to 9 200. Find the percentage increase.
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Increase = 9 200 − 8 000 = 1 200. 1 200 ÷ 8 000 = 0.15, so 15%. Check: 8 000 × 1.15 = 9 200.
5. A river falls from 120 m to 20 m over a horizontal distance of 4 km. Find the gradient as 1 in n.
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Vertical drop = 100 m. Horizontal = 4 km = 4 000 m. 100 ÷ 4 000 = 0.025 = 1/40, so 1 in 40 (2.5%). Check: 4 000 ÷ 100 = 40.
6. In 2020, Town A was 55% urban and Town B was 38% urban. Write one comparison sentence and give the difference in percentage points.
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Town A was more urbanised than Town B, at 55% compared with 38%, a difference of 17 percentage points. Check: 55 − 38 = 17, and 38 + 17 = 55.
7. Name the kind of answer each command word asks for: (a) describe, (b) explain, (c) assess.
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(a) Describe: say what the pattern or trend is, using data. (b) Explain: give reasons in linked steps, saying why or how. (c) Assess: weigh evidence on more than one side and reach a supported judgement. Confirm the exact meanings in the Cambridge command word list for your exam year.
8. Complete the chain: Strong waves hit the base of a cliff, … , so the cliff collapses.
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Strong waves hit the base of a cliff, so the base is cut away and a notch forms. This leaves the rock above unsupported, which means it becomes unstable and cracks open, so the cliff collapses. Each phrase is caused by the one before it.
9. Improve this evidence: “Floods happened in a town last year.” Use the invented fact: Riverton, 12 June, 62 mm in 3 hours.
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On 12 June in Riverton, 62 mm of rain fell in 3 hours, about 20.7 mm per hour, so drains and soil could not absorb it and the river overtopped. Check: 62 ÷ 3 = 20.67. The improved version names the place and date, gives a figure and ties it to a step.
10. Rewrite to qualify the conclusion and remove the unsupported political judgement: “Flood barriers failed because officials did not care.”
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For example: Flood barriers gave protection up to their design level, but the June flow exceeded it, so they reduced the risk without removing it. The rewrite states what the evidence shows, gives a limit and makes no claim about anyone’s motives.
If you got these wrong
- Questions 1 to 6 (numbers, maps, data): revise preparing a map or data problem and check units, scale conversion and which kind of change you are quoting.
- Question 7 (command words): go back to interpreting a command word.
- Question 8 (missing links): rebuild the chain with process sequences and linked reasons.
- Question 9 (vague evidence): see supporting an explanation with case evidence.
- Question 10 (conclusion): practise writing a qualified conclusion.
Log each mistake in the mistake log and retest queue, then retest it a few days later.
If one type of question keeps returning, our teachers can work on it with you in online one-to-one Geography tuition. Return to the module overview for the study route.