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Geography A Level - How is it like?

I'm a Year 11 student about to go into A-Levels. My choices will probably be Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Geography (hoping to do engineering at university), but I don't know how Geography is like. Is it as essay based as people make it out to be? English is definitely my weakest subject and writing any essay seem near-impossible for me, but GCSE Geography has been easier for me and sometimes I enjoy it - so if essays in Geography are like English ones, I'm screwed. However our class didn't cover topics like rivers and coasts (or did the fieldwork) because of the lockdowns so I've never experienced the full GCSE. I will do the OCR exam board so how can I prepare for the A Level beforehand? I know revising the A Level before sixth form starts is probably a waste of time, and there are barely any transition resources available. Can any Y12/13 students doing Geography help me with the transition I'm about to make, or give any tips and tricks for handling the A Level and coursework? Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Reply 1
Avatar for terrafir
terrafir
5
I can't speak for OCR but I cannot imagine it is too different from AQA.
The longest questions you will get is 20 marks. They are basically just large comparisons of case studies. The whole way of setting it out is important but nothing as complicated or detailed as anything English based.
The transition is nothing you need to worry about. Teachers should start off easy going on you, just expanding on GCSE things. But if you are desperate then check out coolgeography.co.uk just to have a look at what kinda topics you're gonna be doing.
The whole coursework bit is done in year 13. You basically come up with a questions that is either human or physical or something that mixes them both together like "what are the effects of humans on ecosystems?" or "what impact does relief have on city planning?"
Like what effect does human/physical thing have on physical/human thing?
Hi there, I do maths and geography at A-Level, definitely recommend them. I do Ed Excel Geography and it is essay-based, there are 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12 and 20 markers, which are hard to do well on but as long as you know the content and can evaluate well it is okay. I find the 12 and 20 markers difficult to score highly on because our teachers haven't really gone over it but it will be okay. They aren't like English where you need to think of made-up theories about what quotes infer. It's more evaluating policies and schemes like coastal management, the effects of sea levels rising, you will need to know lots of case studies and statistics to quote to back up your points, but there aren't questions asking about one case study. If you are very interested in and good at geography in detail then you will be fine, if not, I wouldn't take it.
Original post by AzureWiggling
Hi there, I do maths and geography at A-Level, definitely recommend them. I do Ed Excel Geography and it is essay-based, there are 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12 and 20 markers, which are hard to do well on but as long as you know the content and can evaluate well it is okay. I find the 12 and 20 markers difficult to score highly on because our teachers haven't really gone over it but it will be okay. They aren't like English where you need to think of made-up theories about what quotes infer. It's more evaluating policies and schemes like coastal management, the effects of sea levels rising, you will need to know lots of case studies and statistics to quote to back up your points, but there aren't questions asking about one case study. If you are very interested in and good at geography in detail then you will be fine, if not, I wouldn't take it.

Also, there is the NEA which is a dissertation on your own case study and answering a question, about 8 pages typed and it's worth 25% of mine, but I haven't started mine yet, I recommend you search on here about the nea because that is definitely essay-based.
Reply 4
Avatar for Ice.Log
Ice.Log
OP
12
Just searched up an OCR Geography past paper - only 1 question from the 3 papers is a 33 marker. The rest are standard 16, 6 and 10 markers, so I'm not too scared about that. Thanks for all the responses so far, it's been really useful:smile:. @AzureWiggling hope you smash that NEA! Good luck!
Hi! I do the Eduqas board so the longest essay i have is 45 marks and there’s three on one paper, but if you’re not doing this board there should be anything to worry about!!
You can honestly learn the answers to bigger questions really easily! You will have loooaaadds of case studies so learning them back to front is the easiest way to guarantee marks, even when you don’t know the exact focus of the question. As long as you follow a structure of Point, Evidence, Explain and then link back to the question (or something similar to this if you have your own style) you will honestly smash it!!
Depending on the style of teaching, the NEA can be the easiest part of the course, we’ve literally had our spoon fed to us, so it’s honestly up to you how far you take it and how much you do!!
Good Luck!!
Reply 6
Avatar for Ice.Log
Ice.Log
OP
12
Original post by freyaxrfx
Hi! I do the Eduqas board so the longest essay i have is 45 marks and there’s three on one paper, but if you’re not doing this board there should be anything to worry about!!
You can honestly learn the answers to bigger questions really easily! You will have loooaaadds of case studies so learning them back to front is the easiest way to guarantee marks, even when you don’t know the exact focus of the question. As long as you follow a structure of Point, Evidence, Explain and then link back to the question (or something similar to this if you have your own style) you will honestly smash it!!
Depending on the style of teaching, the NEA can be the easiest part of the course, we’ve literally had our spoon fed to us, so it’s honestly up to you how far you take it and how much you do!!
Good Luck!!

Thanks for the advice. It's makes me feel a lot more confident about taking Geography A-Level. Honestly I didn't want another science subject like Chemistry as I wasn't really interested in it, and Geography lessons would feel like a break from all the maths in Physics, maths and further maths.

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