GEO4B - Brazil's Energy Mix

Hi, I'm studying geography A-level and will soon be doing the Issue Evaluation module about Brazil's energy mix and the belo monte dam.

If anyone else is doing this exam and has any revision tips or extra useful knowledge that is handy please share it. It seems difficult to 'guess' possible questions for the exam, so any information is appreciated

Thankyou :smile:

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Reply 1

elliedavis1

I'm having the same problem I don't really know what to revise as I'm not really sure of the type of questions I'm going to be asked? Need help on how to revise!!!!

Reply 2

summer_dreamer

Our teachers have given us a basic understanding of the topics involved (We didn't study Energy/Climate!) and then helped us to link them together. For example, Brazil's climate causes the varied rainfall over the Belo Monte, making it inefficient throughout parts of the year. However, Brazil does have Latin America's largest wind potential and a lengthy coastline, so could make use of wind power as an alternative.

We were also given 40 questions the teachers made up covering topics such as the advantages, disadvantages, stakeholders, Brazil's energy mix and alternative resources, skills (i.e. using data given to produce graphs) etc.

So basically, I think I am going to try to revise the basics of each topic and the synoptic links, as well as information we have researched which goes beyond the booklet.

I hope this helps and good luck! :smile:

Reply 3

Curtiss

Original post by summer_dreamer

I don't suppose you have a copy of those questions do you? They could be really useful. thanks

Reply 4

summer_dreamer

Original post by Curtiss

I don't suppose you have a copy of those questions do you? They could be really useful. thanks

Some of them are quite similar just different wording, so I have only written them out once. Hope it is helpful, but it is only what the teachers think might come up! :smile:

Belo Monte AIB.docx14.9KB

Reply 5

Curtiss

Original post by summer_dreamer

Some of them are quite similar just different wording, so I have only written them out once. Hope it is helpful, but it is only what the teachers think might come up! :smile:

Thanks

Reply 6

JenniS

Original post by summer_dreamer

Some of them are quite similar just different wording, so I have only written them out once. Hope it is helpful, but it is only what the teachers think might come up! :smile:

these are really good, what you thinking for '2. Evaluate the suitability of the area of the Belo Monte to build a dam '?? I was thinking its not that suitable since it involves diverting 80% of the Xingu, finding it difficult to think of 7 marks worth!

Reply 7

summer_dreamer

Original post by JenniS

I'm glad it is helping people! I guess you could talk about the dry season/rainfall as another! Also maybe about how many people would be displaced? I don't think there are many positives, personally, but my teacher suggested that we could just say it is one of the major areas and it is a short distance from some of the developing urban areas (which obviously require electricity). I think for a 7 mark question it is best to give a couple of positive and negative points in depth and then just conclude really :smile:

Reply 8

JenniS

Original post by summer_dreamer

yeh I mentioned those climate graphs and rainfall etc we could mention its convenient for the mining industry aswell, ooh and that although theres a few urban areas around most of the population is in the south so a long way from them! thanks

Reply 9

ZoeBalfour

on our vle website our teacher has put loads of helpful stuff up, including an faq booklet which is extremely in favour of the dam.. i found this so helpful
http://www.brasil.gov.br/para/press/files/faq-belo-monte-1, good for if we are asked to evaluate the benefits and costs to the dam
anyone else given the zigzag resource pack?

Reply 10

sheldorofazaroth

If a question comes up like that in the document, Discuss the disadvantages of the Belo Monte dam. Would you still talk a little about the advantages of the dam?

Reply 11

JenniS

Original post by summer_dreamer

sorry another question, what are you thinking for 'To what extent is industry responsible for growing energy demands in Brazil ' another one I am fairly clueless on

Reply 12

hayleyvictoria

Hello All,
Hope revision is going well for everyone
Can someone please summarise page 11 for me with details about the ITCZ and Trade Winds? I'm confused!
Thanks <3

Reply 13

JenniS

Original post by sheldorofazaroth

If a question comes up like that in the document, Discuss the disadvantages of the Belo Monte dam. Would you still talk a little about the advantages of the dam?

if the question literally says discuss the disadvantages, I would just talk about disadvantages :smile:

Reply 14

Cesca(Tony)

Original post by JenniS

sorry another question, what are you thinking for 'To what extent is industry responsible for growing energy demands in Brazil ' another one I am fairly clueless on

One of the biggest pig iron and steel producers - high energy-consumption industries in regards to production.

Reply 15

summer_dreamer

Original post by Cesca(Tony)

One of the biggest pig iron and steel producers - high energy-consumption industries in regards to production.

Original post by JenniS

sorry another question, what are you thinking for 'To what extent is industry responsible for growing energy demands in Brazil ' another one I am fairly clueless on

You could also add that the energy intensive industries, such as mining, produce goods which are in demand as exports. Exports provide income for Brazil which allows it to continue development in the future. The questions might not come up, it was just a way to get us to link information together and to help with revision! :smile:

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 16

Louisc94

Hi all, just a quick question, do any of you know if there will be questions which you pretty much can't answer unless you've done research on it like for one of the ZigZag mark schemes it said about knowing about Brazils oil dependence and debt in 1973?

Thanks.

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Reply 17

JenniS

has anyone got a brilliant answer for 'describe and justify a technique for representing the data in P3' had this as practice 8 marker, thought my answer was pretty good but it was only worthy of 5/8 :frown:

so any model answers anyone?

Reply 18

JakeNunley

Hiya, I did this question the other day and got 8/8 - not sure it was worth it though!

I basically stated the obvious for the description part - e.g. draw a circle, construct the segments using a protractor starting at 12 o'clock with the biggest segment - to work out the sizes times the %age by 3.6 etc. Then mentioned that since each segment represents a different source, you should shade each one differently, and add a key.

To justify, I wrote something along the lines of the fact that the data is in percentages which add up to 100% - so is perfect for a pie chart (since pie charts exploit relative proportions,) pie charts themselves provide a detailed and effective visual comparison of these proportions, which wouldn't necessarily be possible if using a different technique, as the figures are already in %ages, the calculation is easy (times by 3.6), and also, that the pie chart can be made proportional and located on a map, should you want to add a spatial dimension to the trend - i.e. to compare with China, which has an energy mix that is really different!

Hope this helped! Don't suppose you know how to describe/justify a technique for figure P6 - thought of a line graph but don't know whether to suggest divergent or compound, or how to justify :P thanks!

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 19

ALevelStudent95

Original post by summer_dreamer

Some of them are quite similar just different wording, so I have only written them out once. Hope it is helpful, but it is only what the teachers think might come up! :smile:

Hi there

I tried to open that document but it didn't open. It said 'error in loading document'