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OCR - Physical Geography AS 14th May 2013

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This January the grade boundaries for the physical paper was alot lower than normal. It took 55/75 to get an A (raw marks)

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Reply 21

MissMuffin95

Original post by KS1001

I did the coasts long answer 25 marker however after I finished, I realised I didn't fully address the question. I mostly focused on how an issue can be addressed by coastal management which a few brief mentions of how management may cause issues. How many marks do you think I'd lose for not fully answering the questions? :/

Omg I have exactly the same problem! I struggled with the wording of what they wanted so I think I've lost marks :
:s-smilie:

Reply 22

goodmorningworld

Original post by MissMuffin95

Omg I have exactly the same problem! I struggled with the wording of what they wanted so I think I've lost marks :
:s-smilie:

I wasn't sure what they wanted so I addressed both ways I saw it: a) Coastal protection in terms of standard defences - hard/soft engineering etc b) Protecting the coast from the impact of human activity through the Mediterranean Action Plan etc.

Was such a confusing question though!

Reply 23

casey13343

I viewed the 25 marker coastal essay as how coastal management has produced issues, whether environmental, economic or social. I thought the rivers 25 marker was extremely limited, in comparison to previous years, with little room for further development.

The short questions, especially the 9 markers, were also very limited - e.g. social impacts of flooding, which limits a case study to a particular area. However, the insert questions were fairly straightforward, compared to Jan 13, without any ambiguous pictures/data - e.g. the picture of the spit, oxbow lake and meander.

Personally, I think the grade boundaries will be around 55/75 (Jan 2013). The rivers and coasts section were less challenging however the cold environments 9 marker could have caused problems due to the 'short-term gain' case study and the limiting rivers 9 marker.

EDIT: If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 24

spookz

Original post by casey13343

What was the 6 marker about the one about the economics of rivers needing management or something?

Reply 25

pilotluke1

Original post by spookz

What was the 6 marker about the one about the economics of rivers needing management or something?

Why economic development river basins needs management

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Reply 26

Wors

I did the Thar Desert as a case study for the Arid 25 Marker, do you think 'impacts on the local ecosystem' meant negatives and positives? I only did negatives are their are tonnes of them (salinisation, desertification etc.) Will i lose marks for not doing both? The question didn't specifically ask for both or a comparison. Cheers

Reply 27

SaphC

Original post by Wors

No idea, I wrote mainly negatives- I did Sonoran desert with Phoenix being built, a bit about mining in Australia, but I did write one paragraph about national parks being started-etosha in Namibia for example, and a bit about ensuring sustainability. I think it's good to put a few positives in there to stand out, but it was mainly aimed at negatives.

Reply 28

24hoursmiles

What is people's general feeling about this paper? From my school. everyone thought it was really harsh, testing on only a few small aspects without giving scope for case study knowledge especially in the 9m for coasts and the rivers essay, focusing on factors rather than any effects or management...

Reply 29

Smudger710

Original post by spookz

What was the 6 marker about the one about the economics of rivers needing management or something?

I think it was asking for things like 'Without management conflict can arise between states, countries etc (I used the Colorado)'

cant remember what i said for a second point. :confused:

Reply 30

Smudger710

Original post by 24hoursmiles

yes my school all agreed, theres word going around that the human one next week is going to be very similar in the sense that they will be asking us questions from very small sections from the specification. :mad:

Reply 31

24hoursmiles

Usually though, if one paper is hard, the other is easier...hopefully!

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Reply 32

spookz

So what did you lot get in AS Geography? I got a B. Kind of upset when I realized there's 5marks separating most of the grades.

Reply 33

pilotluke1

I got a D overall in AS Geography, but I got a B in physical and a U in Human. I wasn't expecting the U, so I'm going to resit!

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Reply 34

24hoursmiles

I got a B...kind of gutted too...got an A in the physical, but a C in the human! Bit of a shock, loads of people I know have got lower grades on human

Reply 35

spookz

I think the short questions in the human paper got me the B, I struggled on the essay.

Reply 36

jamesmayey

Doing this exam as a mock tomorrow can anyone pls remember any of the questions that came up in the river and managing urban areas? Much appreciated

Reply 37

goodmorningworld

Original post by jamesmayey

Doing this exam as a mock tomorrow can anyone pls remember any of the questions that came up in the river and managing urban areas? Much appreciated

Managing urban areas was VERY similar to an earlier past paper question about social and economic factors, can't remember the exact wording - I just know that it was almost identical to one I had practiced the night before the exam and that is what got me my A last summer :biggrin: