GCE 2008 Geography
GCE 2008 Geography
Why choose Edexcel?
This new GCE Geography specification builds on
the strengths of current specifications, namely
Edexcel GCE Geography specification A
(8214/9214) and Edexcel GCE Geography
specification B (8215/9215).
GCE 2008
• The Specification is brand new and
exciting
• The content recognizes the need to
engage with students and challenge them
• The geography is issues and enquiry based
and expects students to research and
question
• Fieldwork is integral, as are skills needed
in higher education
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GCE 2008 Geography

Guiding issues

• Evidence of assessment overload, • Changing global geography, not

especially at AS reflected by old specifications

• Declining numbers/competition from • A need for renewal, recognised in the

newer subjects Geography Action Plan

• Evidence of a repeated curriculum • The ‘stretch and challenge’ agenda

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GCE 2008
GCE 2008 Geography

Guiding principles

• AS should be stimulating and inspiring • Geography should be current and

‘real’, but set in historical and
• A2 should be challenging and theoretical contexts
questioning
• Choice should be present at AS and A2
• The loss of coursework should not
lead to a loss of fieldwork • Quality resources should be available
to teachers at an early stage
• A balance of local, global and regional
geographies

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GCE 2008
 Who was involved?

GCE 2008 Geography

Extensive survey
Student surveys and of HE views Centre surveys and
focus groups teacher focus groups

The FSC’s Juniper Hall: new spec. birthplace

Chief examiners and Edexcel Geography

Principal examiners support team (revisers,
from both Spec A and B subject officers)
Expert input:
Dr Rita Gardiner (RGS)
David Lambert (GA)
Eleanor Rawling
Vivien Pointon
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GCE 2008
GCE 2008 Geography
What are the key changes?

• 1 new specification; not an amalgam of A

and B

• 4 units, rather than 6

• No coursework – completely exam tested

• Reduction in assessment burden on

candidates

• Refreshed content

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GCE 2008
GCE 2008 Geography

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GCE 2008 Geography AS Unit 1 – Global Challenges

Global hazards, global hazard trends, global

hazard patterns

WORLD at RISK Climate change and its causes, global

warming impacts and options
The challenge of global hazards for the
future

Globalisation, global groupings, global networks

GOING GLOBAL Population and roots, on the move, world cities
The challenge of a globalising world

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GCE 2008
GCE 2008 Geography
Assessment for Unit 1 – Global Challenges

1 ½ hour examination including

resource booklet

Combination of:

• data response / short questions

• objective items
• longer / guided essay questions

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GCE 2008
 Using Figure 4(a):

GCE 2008 Geography (a) Which EU country was the source of most
immigrants to the UK?
(1)
Assessment for Unit 1: data response (i) Suggest reasons for this flow.
Figure 4(b) (2)
(b) Which EU country was the destination for most
UK emigration?
(1)
(i) Suggest reasons for this flow.
(2)
(c) Which of the following population movements is
best described as economic migration?

Tick the most appropriate box

Figure 4(a)
Migrations to and from the EU
People forced to leave a country to escape from famine
Those who arrive claiming to be victims of persecution
People travelling abroad to find work elsewhere
People entering a country unofficially
Those who retire to ‘a place in the sun’
(1)
Using Figure 4(b):
(d) Explain why the UK is a ‘global hub’ for the
movement of people.
(4)
(11 marks)
GCE 2008 Geography 10. Study Figure 10.
(a) Suggest why the various
groups shown hold differing
Assessment for Unit 1: guided essays views about this global trade
(10)

(b) Explain how people can

manage the environmental
and social costs of
globalisation for a better
world.
(15)

UK customers are generally happy but some businesses and workers are less pleased
Millions of Chinese people and their government support this venture
Maersk shipping lines has offices in 150 countries, and 500 large container ships
Critics of this world-wide commercial activity see this as ‘globalisation gone mad’
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GCE 2008
GCE 2008 Geography AS Unit 2 – Geographical Investigations

EXTREME WEATHER: extreme weather

watch, extreme impacts, increasing risks,
management
PHYSICAL OR
CROWDED COASTS: competition for coasts,
coping with pressure, increasing risks,
management

UNEQUAL SPACES: Recognising inequality,

inequality for whom?, managing urban and
rural inequality
HUMAN OR
REBRANDING PLACES: time to rebrand,
rebranding strategies, managing rural and
urban rebranding

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GCE 2008
GCE 2008 Geography
Assessment for Unit 2 – Geographical Investigations
1 hour examination including
resource booklet

2 longer response questions

Questions in three parts:

• data response
• investigation skills
• impacts/management issues

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GCE 2008
GCE 2008 Geography
Assessment for Unit 2 – data response

(a) Suggest some of the physical and

economic factors that may have made Florida
a crowded coast.
(10)
(b) Using named examples, examine some of
the environmental costs of coastal
developments such as those shown in Florida.

(10)
(c) Describe and explain a programme of
fieldwork and research you would use to
investigate the impacts of either coastal
erosion or coastal flooding, along a stretch of
coastline.
(15)
TOTAL 35 marks

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GCE 2008
GCE 2008 Geography A2 Unit 3 – Contested Planet

Over-arching themes

The planet is ‘contested’ in a variety of ways, for example:

Increasing demands on a diminishing resource base.
Conflicting over the use of resources versus their protection.
Questions of economic development and inequality.
Should the aim be to make current patterns of consumption more
sustainable, or are more radical actions needed?
Is technological development the solution to problems of resource
depletion and environmental degradation, or it is part of the
problem?

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GCE 2008
GCE 2008 Geography
Organisation of Unit 3
PLAYERS
Providing resources:
the costs and problems of consumption;
management options and challenges

Unequal patterns of consumption: Synoptic

poverty – v - wealth
Themes
The role of technology:
In overcoming resource scarcity: inequality FUTURES ACTIONS
and resource management issues.

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GCE 2008
GCE 2008 Geography A2 Unit 3 – Contested Planet

Energy Security Energy demand, supply, impacts of energy security, the

future of energy supply

Geography of water supply, risks of water insecurity, water

Water Conflicts
conflicts and the future

Defining biodiversity, what threatens biodiversity,

Biodiversity under Threat management of threats

Superpowers and geopolitics, impacts and influence of

Superpower Geographies superpower economies, superpower change and futures

Bridging the Development Gap Causes, implications at different scales, reducing the
development gap

Inequalities in access to technology, technology and

The Technological Fix development, technology and the planet’s future

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GCE 2008
GCE 2008 Geography
Assessment for Unit 3 – Contested Planet

2½ hour examination including

resource booklet

Pre-released synoptic materials

• Section A – 2 extended essay

questions

• Section B – 3 synoptic short essay

style questions

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GCE 2008
GCE 2008 Geography A2 Unit 3 – Contested Planet

Paper overview
Q1 Water

Q5 Development Q2 Energy
Q6 a-c
Synoptic
TECHNOLOGICAL
FIX

Q4 Superpowers Q3 Biodiversity

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GCE 2008
GCE 2008 Geography
Assessment for Unit 3: extended essays

(a) Explain the pattern of alien species

invasions, and suggest the possible
impacts of alien species on
ecosystems
(15)
(b) Evaluate the relative importance of
global and local threats to one named
global ecosystem.
(15)

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GCE 2008
GCE 2008 Geography A2 Unit 4 – Geographical Research

Choice for centres and candidates

Physical and Human options, but not a physical and human
divide
Some ‘old favourites’ renewed (tectonic hazards)
Some new topics (cultural diversity / glaciation)
Research
Flexibility in teaching and learning

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GCE 2008
GCE 2008 Geography
Tectonic activity and hazards
Cold Environments
Life on the margins and food supply
The world of cultural diversity
Pollution and Human Health at Risk
Consuming the rural landscape
GCE 2008
A2 Unit 4 – Geographical Research
Hazards and causes, physical impacts, human impacts,
hazard response and the future
Location, climatic processes and their causes, landforms
and landscapes, glaciation, challenges, opportunities and
management
Feast or famine, causes of food supply inequalities,
desertification and life at the margins, management and
security
Definition and value of culture, spatial cultural variations,
impact of globalization, cultural attitudes and the
environment
Health risks, complex causes, pollution and health risk
links, managing health risks
Growth of leisure and tourism landscapes, fragility of rural
landscapes, impact on rural landscapes, management
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GCE 2008 Geography
Assessment for Unit 4 – Geographical Research

1½ hour examination

Pre-released materials
(a research steer)

• 1 long report question relating

to chosen option study

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GCE 2008
GCE 2008 Geography A2 Unit 4 – Geographical Research
OPTION 1: Tectonic activity and hazards
The physical causes of tectonic hazards and responses to
them OPTION 1: Tectonic activity and hazards

Question 1
Discuss the relationship between the nature of tectonic hazards
and human responses to them.
(70)

OPTION 5: Pollution and Human health at risk

The need for international action
OPTION 5: Pollution and Human health at risk
Question 5
Explain why international initiatives are increasingly needed to
cope with the risks of disease and pollution.
(70)

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GCE 2008
GCE 2008 – e-Spec

Electronic, interactive
version of the specification
Content easy to evaluate
and discuss

Free inside the specification

in September 2007

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GCE 2008
GCE 2008 – How do I Keep Up to Date?
Keep informed – sign up for email alerts on:
• www.edexcel.org.uk/gce2008
Regional Office and Team Support
Keep in touch :
• GCE enquiries – telephone 0844 576 0025
• ‘Ask the Expert’ service www.edexcel.org.uk/about/ask

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GCE 2008