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AQA A A2 - Hows revision going?

It's entirely possible I'm the only person sitting this exam, but just wondering how other people are getting on if you're sitting it :smile:

Exam's a week on Friday and I am struggling massively with glaciation and the physical case studies.

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Reply 1

xTash3007x

Eek I don't think I'm going to finish revision in time :frown:

Well I will, I'm just going to have to change technique lol. I've only done one topic :s-smilie:

We don't do cold environments or whatever it's called; just geomorphology, coasts, tourism and managing cities. Do you only do four too?
Meh. Really should go and do more revision I suppose- got a little bit more geomorphology to do, then I'm going onto coasts. You'll be finee, good luck everybody :smile:

xxx

Reply 2

dhr90

I'm not going to finish in time. Have done very little. I'm sitting Tectonics, Coast, managing cities, and population. At least I know its not glaciation and tourism anyway.

Thank heavens for getting a decent piece of coursework handed in! If it wasn't for that I'd be royally up the creek without a paddle or a boat and being circled by many hungry beasts.

What do you people want/need grade wise?

I can see the human paper letting me down big time. It's the essays I don't like :frown:

Reply 3

Orli19

I'm also doing this paper and worried slightly about the revision - so far I've done tourism to death, hopefully will start on coasts soon, but can't see me getting much done on managing cities or geomorphological hazards before next friday. I'm more concerned with the short answer questions then the essays - have been looking at loads of past papers and some of the questions are ridiculous - they seem to be worded in such a way its impossible to work out what the heck they want from you.

Our college had us doing essay questions for weeks and weeks to prepare, so more of less have the case studies memorised. I found that you can usually use the same case studies in every essay, you just have to word them in such a way that they apply to the question.

Reply 4

xTash3007x

I'm sure it will be okay for everyone- you'll get enough done, you never need as much detail as you revise and you probably know most of it already.
I think I'm more worried about the essay, just because of timing; they all seem so broad, you could write loads. My teachers gave us lists of all the essay questions from the past few years, which was helpful. I'll type them up if you don't have them- but if you'd like them, I think they're all on the Internet, aren't they?
But then yeah, sometimes the short answer questions are worded really strangely. I'm much more worried about physical; it always seems that you need more specific knowledge for it, but that you can sort of blag human.
And I'm hoping for an A, but could get away with a B if I get an A in my other two subjects. I re-submitted my coursework the other week, but need Cs overall to get an A with the old mark. What about everyone else?
I STILL haven't done that 'little bit' of geomorphology revision that I said I was going to finish like four and a half hours ago... I'll go and do it now methinks. Any minute now...

Reply 5

Lehane

One person in my class did glaciation at her old school so instead of doing coasts we all had to do glaciation which sucks cos the case studies are rubbish!

I'm also going geomorphology, tourism and managing cities, but I really hate essays. Plus I do maths and physics so I'm not used to writing!

Reply 6

Orli19

The best advice for the essays is to have a short introduction - introduce your ideas about the question, possibly state your viewpoint if it asks for it. Then start using your case studies to support your viewpoint. We have been told to constantly refer back to the question at the end of each paragraph of evidence - that way you are being explicit about your answer, rather then leaving it to the examiner to interpret. Then remember to finish off with a conclusion or summary - usually just restating your views, and how they are supported by the case studies.

It's also a good idea to give a balanced answer - make sure you write about both sides of the argument as this is what the examiners prefer (as opposed to a one sided argument) So if it asks "To what extent do you agree..." - a reply saying "i agree to some extent" allows you to put across both arguments easily.

As for the synoptic nature of the essay, the easiest way to make it synoptic is to use LEDC/MEDC comparisons. For coast questions, you can talk about tourism's effect on coastal areas/management. For Tourism essay you can bring in stuff from economic activity - TNCs and their controls on the tourist industry. Rural to urban migration in LEDCs as people search for work etc.

If you haven't already seen past questions then you should look at the mark schemes as they give you a good idea about what to include in the essays. http://www.aqa.org.uk/qual/gceasa/geoa_assess.php

Reply 7

joeyyyt

I'm just doing the physical paper, did human in Jan and got a C :frown:

i got 283 ums last year as well! Such a big step up, it's the essay's where all of my school struggled. A tip would be to do the tourism essay as those who did that got the best grade. I'm not doing coasts this time, so am pin ning my hopes ona good geomorph essay title!
Anyone else doing GGA7?

Reply 8

Car Expert

I'm doing Coasts, Geo Hazards, Tourism and Population. I'm aiming to do one of those units each day for revision at the moment. In terms of planning which essay I'll do, for the human paper it's likely I'll do the tourism essay because with the population unit, the essay topic could be on population, resources or farming, and coming from a London background, farming is certainly my weakest area on the syllabus. Plus I have the most case studies for tourism and have achieved the best marks with essays on this topic. I'm undecided for the physical side, I may just see what comes up and choose my preferred option.

Currently gathering some volcano case studies before it's too late (I've got plenty of earthquakes in comparison, including L'Aquila of course)! I've found YouTube a good resource to use.

Reply 9

xTash3007x

Lehane

Aww, just because of her? How annoying lol. I don't really like the look of glaciation... I'm sure it'll be fine though, and there are loads of case studies for coasts.
Eek I always think those subjects sound really difficult lol; I'm doing French and Spanish, so I'm not used to writing in English :p:

joeyyyt

I'm just doing the physical paper, did human in Jan and got a C :frown:

Oh at least you've got one out of the way! The C shouldn't really bring you much then- I got 288 UMS last year and can still get an A with a C in all the modules this year.

I don't know which essays I'll do, I'm just going to look at the questions. Probably tourism though...

Car Expert

Currently gathering some volcano case studies before it's too late (I've got plenty of earthquakes in comparison, including L'Aquila of course)! I've found YouTube a good resource to use.

Really? I have lots more for volcanoes =S I never thought of going on YouTube... I would have a look, but it seems like so much effort hehe.
For volcanoes, I have Etna, Unzen, Mount St. Helens, Montserrat, Pinatubo, Nyiragongo and Nevado del Ruiz, by the way (there were more, but I haven't looked at them lol).

And thanks, Orli19 :smile:

Eek a week today! I still have so much more to do :frown:

hehe.

Reply 10

fn_101

Oh God, I have no volcano case studies. Only like Krakatoa and....that's it....Help?!

I'm doing population, tourism, coasts and geomorphological hazards on Fri. Got taught cold environments too but missed most of the lessons as I was ill so sticking to the other two. Need to get C's to scrape an A overall, so should hopefully be okay but have only made notes on the physical units so far...still need to memorise them and do the human stuff.
REALLY worried about the physical essay. Cannot get above a D in the ones I've practiced. And the short answer questions too. I don't understand them.
Human essay should be okay - done a few practices over the year and can get 26/27 but the one I did a few weeks ago got a C on so :s-smilie:

Just hope I stick to my usual style in the exam and do okay!

Reply 11

Lehane

Physical questions are so obscure. We used to look at the mark schemes when we got them for homework and the answers were completely the opposite to what the question was about.

Reply 12

Orli19

Lehane

Physical questions are so obscure. We used to look at the mark schemes when we got them for homework and the answers were completely the opposite to what the question was about.

Seems like this for all the questions to me... gotta love AQA.

Reply 13

dhr90

Am I the only person not sitting the tourism unit? Our teacher said it looked easier but though we could handle the population/managing cities one so we did that. Annoying really, why not just take the easiest to get the grades in?

Reply 14

Lehane

dhr90

That's exactly the same as my school except we did glaciation instead of coasts which we all did for GCSE.

Reply 15

style

Im going to fail coasts topic :frown:

I cant find any notes on it.

Reply 16

Orli19

Some stuff on coasts here: http://www.s-cool.co.uk/alevel/geography/coastal-processes.html

and here: http://www.s-cool.co.uk/alevel/geography/deltas-and-estuaries-and-changes-to-coastal-areas.html

Case Study of Holderness Coastline: http://cgz.e2bn.net/e2bn/leas/c99/schools/cgz/accounts/staff/rchambers/GeoBytes/GCSE%20Revision/Unit%201/Coasts/Coastal%20Case%20Study/case_study_of_coastal_erosion_Humberside.htm

Info on North Sea Storm surge: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Sea_Flood_of_1953

Doesn't quite cover all you need to know about coasts, but quite a good chunk of it. Also there is a couple of sticky posts in this forum with loads of links to useful sites, as well as revision stuff.

Reply 17

comicbookgirl

Does anyone know anything about Agenda 2000 in the population and resources module? Can't find anything in my notes. :frown:

Good luck to everyone, only 4 days to go now :s-smilie:

Reply 18

LeeJT

Is anyone else going into either Paper 4 or Paper 5, with the intention of answering a specific essay topic. I have came to the point where I am thinking of answering the Cold Environments Essay (Question 6) and the Managing Cities (Question 5) on Human irrespective of what the other essay questions are. Obviously, I will still revise the other two topics (one human and one physical) in sufficient depth for the short questions. I know this may not be the wisest move, but surely they'll be in line with similar years? Is anyone else doing this?