AQA A-Level Geography sample questions and answers (7037)
Guide overview All 11 topics Sample questions Papers and weighting Look inside Questions and answers
55 sample questions and answers
Taken from every topic of AQA A-Level Geography, specification 7037. The full guide has 3,320.
Component 1
Water and Carbon Cycles
377 questions in the guide, across 32 subtopics. More from this topic
-
Systems, Stores and Flows
What are flows (or transfers) in a system?
Show the answer
Movements of energy or matter between stores within a system. -
Spearman's Rank, Chi-Square and Data Analysis
What is the purpose of the Chi-square test?
Show the answer
To determine whether observed frequencies differ significantly from expected frequencies. -
Remote Sensing, GIS and Big Data
What is GIS?
Show the answer
Geographic Information Systems — computer-based systems for collecting, storing, analysing and presenting spatial data. -
The Global Water Stores
What forms of water are stored in the atmosphere?
Show the answer
Water vapour, cloud droplets and ice crystals. -
Infiltration and Overland Flow
What is infiltration-excess overland flow (Hortonian flow)?
Show the answer
Surface runoff that occurs when rainfall intensity exceeds the infiltration capacity of the soil.
Component 1
Hot Desert Systems and Landscapes
223 questions in the guide, across 17 subtopics. More from this topic
-
Deserts as Systems: Inputs, Stores, Flows and Feedback
What are stores or components in a physical geography system?
Show the answer
Stores or components are places where energy or matter is held within the system. -
The Aridity Index
Calculate the aridity index when mean annual precipitation = 460 mm, mean annual potential evapotranspiration = 2200 mm.
Show the answer
Aridity index = 460 ÷ 2200 = 0.209. -
Thermal Fracture and Rock Breakdown
What is exfoliation?
Show the answer
The peeling away of curved sheets of rock from exposed surfaces due to pressure release or thermal stress. -
Desert Water Sources and Ephemeral Streams
What does it mean that water action in deserts is episodic?
Show the answer
It occurs infrequently but with high intensity, producing significant geomorphological work in short periods. -
Barchan and Seif Dunes
What happens to sand when it reaches the crest of a barchan?
Show the answer
Sand accumulates at the crest.
Component 1
Coastal Systems and Landscapes
199 questions in the guide, across 14 subtopics. More from this topic
-
Energy Inputs to the Coastal System
Where does sediment go when it leaves a coastal system as an output?
Show the answer
Sediment is lost to offshore zones beyond the active coastal system -
Coastal Flows and Feedback
Give two examples of coastal landforms.
Show the answer
Cliff, beach, spit, stack, arch, cave (any two individual features) -
Marine Erosion and Transport Processes
Define solution (corrosion) as a marine erosion process.
Show the answer
The chemical dissolving of soluble rocks such as chalk and limestone by seawater. -
Cliffs, Notches and Wave-Cut Platforms
How do sub-aerial weathering processes affect cliff profiles?
Show the answer
They weaken rock above the wave-attack zone, contributing to mass movement and shaping the cliff face between marine erosion events. -
Sand Dune Formation and Succession
What are embryo dunes?
Show the answer
The earliest stage of dune development, small accumulations of sand around debris at the top of the beach.
Component 1
Glacial Systems and Landscapes
227 questions in the guide, across 17 subtopics. More from this topic
-
Glaciers as Systems: Inputs, Stores and Flows
What is iceberg calving?
Show the answer
The breaking off of chunks of ice from the glacier terminus, typically into water, representing a loss of mass from the system. -
Dynamic Equilibrium, Landforms and Landscapes
If a glacier's ablation consistently exceeds its accumulation, what would happen to its snout position and why?
Show the answer
The snout would retreat because more ice is being lost than gained, disrupting dynamic equilibrium. -
The Distribution of Cold Environments
What determines the location of periglacial areas?
Show the answer
They occur at high latitudes or high elevations, in cold regions adjacent to or beyond glacial margins. -
Corrie Formation
How does the steep backwall of a corrie become progressively steeper during glaciation?
Show the answer
Freeze-thaw weathering shatters rock above the glacier surface; loosened debris falls onto the ice, maintaining and steepening the backwall. -
Roches Moutonnées, Drumlins and Erratics
How can the asymmetry of a roche moutonnée be used to reconstruct past glacial conditions?
Show the answer
The smooth stoss side faces up-glacier and the rough lee side faces down-glacier, so the asymmetry indicates former ice flow direction.
Component 1
Hazards
407 questions in the guide, across 30 subtopics. More from this topic
-
Natural Hazards: Types, Perception and Responses
Identify four economic factors that influence hazard perception.
Show the answer
Wealth, income levels, access to insurance, and economic dependence on hazard-prone locations. -
The Internal Structure of the Earth
At what depth does the liquid outer core begin, and what layer does it surround?
Show the answer
The outer core begins at approximately 2,900 km depth and surrounds the solid inner core -
Volcanic Hazards and Eruption Magnitude
Which volcanic gas can cause suffocation in low-lying areas due to its density?
Show the answer
Carbon dioxide -
How Earthquakes Happen
What type of wave are S-waves and what limitation do they have?
Show the answer
S-waves are shear waves that can only travel through solids, not liquids. -
The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
What happened at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in 2011?
Show the answer
The tsunami knocked out power and cooling systems, causing meltdowns in three reactors and a level 7 nuclear accident.
Component 1
Ecosystems Under Stress
357 questions in the guide, across 26 subtopics. More from this topic
-
Biodiversity Levels and Causes of Decline
What is ecosystem diversity?
Show the answer
The variety of different habitats, biological communities and ecological processes within a region -
Ecosystem Inputs, Outputs, Stores and Transfers
How does water leave an ecosystem?
Show the answer
Through evapotranspiration from soil and vegetation surfaces. -
Environmental Controls and Ecosystem Feedback
How do temperature changes from climate change affect ecosystems?
Show the answer
They alter growing conditions, metabolic rates, and can cause heat stress in organisms. -
Savanna Climate, Soils and Adaptations
What problems does the laterite duricrust cause in savanna soils?
Show the answer
It can impede root penetration and drainage. -
Succession and Climatic Climax
Where do mosses establish during a lithosere and why?
Show the answer
Mosses establish in crevices where debris accumulates, providing a foothold for colonisation.
Component 2
Global Systems and Global Governance
265 questions in the guide, across 20 subtopics. More from this topic
-
Global Flows of Capital, Labour, Goods and Information
Why are skilled workers significant in the global flow of labour?
Show the answer
Skilled workers possess specialised qualifications or expertise that are in demand internationally, leading to brain drain from some countries and brain gain in others. -
Transport and Communications in Globalisation
How have databases and cloud computing accelerated globalisation?
Show the answer
They enable storage, processing, and real-time sharing of vast amounts of data across locations, allowing businesses to coordinate operations globally. -
Unequal Flows and Global Stability
How can unequal flows within global systems promote development?
Show the answer
By enabling knowledge sharing, remittance income and access to global capital. -
Transnational Corporations
What is profit repatriation and why is it considered a negative impact of TNCs?
Show the answer
When TNCs transfer profits back to their home country rather than reinvesting in the host country, reducing local economic benefits. -
What Global Governance Means
What role do institutions play in global governance?
Show the answer
They are organisations and bodies that create, monitor, and enforce rules governing international relations and global systems.
Component 2
Changing Places
220 questions in the guide, across 15 subtopics. More from this topic
-
What Place Means
What characterises an insider perspective on place?
Show the answer
Personal experience of living in or belonging to a place, giving subjective emotional attachment and detailed local knowledge. -
Endogenous Factors: Location, Physical and Built Setting
What does land use refer to as an endogenous factor?
Show the answer
How land is utilised, including residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural, and recreational purposes. -
Exogenous Factors, Relationships and Connections
How do flows of resources function as an exogenous factor?
Show the answer
The movement of raw materials, goods, and energy connects places through supply chains and trade relationships. -
Continuity and Change in Places
Why should geographers understand how the lives of others are affected by continuity and change in places?
Show the answer
To appreciate diverse experiences and perspectives, and to recognise that place changes impact different groups in different ways. -
Migration, Investment and Cultural Change in Places
What role do funding allocation changes play in shaping socio-economic characteristics?
Show the answer
Changes in public or private funding allocation affect service provision, infrastructure quality, regeneration potential, and employment opportunities, directly altering local socio-economic conditions.
Component 2
Contemporary Urban Environments
386 questions in the guide, across 28 subtopics. More from this topic
-
Urbanisation and Its Related Processes
What population threshold defines a megacity?
Show the answer
An urban agglomeration with a population exceeding 10 million inhabitants. -
Megacities and World Cities
How does advanced infrastructure characterise world cities?
Show the answer
World cities possess high-quality transport networks, telecommunications systems, and utilities that support global business operations. -
Economic Inequality within Cities
How do housing quality variations reflect economic inequality within cities?
Show the answer
Housing quality varies significantly between neighbourhoods, with some areas having well-maintained, spacious properties while others contain substandard, overcrowded, or deteriorating housing stock. -
The Urban Heat Island and Urban Precipitation
Why do higher concentrations of condensation nuclei in urban air increase precipitation intensity?
Show the answer
Particulate pollution provides more nuclei around which water vapour can condense, facilitating raindrop formation. -
Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems
What is a swale in the context of SUDS?
Show the answer
A swale is a shallow, vegetated channel designed to convey, filter and infiltrate surface water runoff.
Component 2
Population and the Environment
322 questions in the guide, across 25 subtopics. More from this topic
-
The Physical Environment and Population
Define population density.
Show the answer
The number of people per unit area, typically expressed as persons per square kilometre. -
Zonal Soils: Chernozems and Latosols
What type of agriculture do chernozems typically support?
Show the answer
Large-scale commercial grain production, particularly wheat and maize. -
The Dimensions of Food Security
How does expansion of cultivated area increase food availability?
Show the answer
Bringing new land into agricultural production increases the total amount of food that can be grown. -
Physical Environment and Disease
Why do low-lying areas with poor drainage have higher disease vector populations?
Show the answer
Poor drainage creates stagnant water bodies that serve as breeding sites for disease vectors such as mosquitoes. -
Global Health Initiatives and Disease Studies
What is the purpose of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria?
Show the answer
To mobilise and invest funding to support programmes targeting these three diseases in low and middle-income countries.
Component 2
Resource Security
337 questions in the guide, across 27 subtopics. More from this topic
-
Stock and Flow Resources and Reserves
What are flow resources?
Show the answer
Renewable resources that are naturally replenished over time and can be used indefinitely if managed sustainably. -
Environmental Impact Assessment
Why are baseline studies conducted during an EIA?
Show the answer
To establish existing environmental conditions against which potential impacts can be measured. -
Water Sources and Demand
What forms of precipitation contribute to water supply?
Show the answer
Rainfall and snowmelt. -
The Costs of Supply and Managing Demand
Give two examples of water-efficient technologies.
Show the answer
Low-flow appliances (e.g. dual-flush toilets, aerated taps) and drip irrigation systems. -
TNCs, National Interests and Energy Impacts
How does maximising export revenues represent a national interest in energy?
Show the answer
Energy-exporting nations seek to generate income from their resources to fund development and government spending.
AQA A-Level Geography Active Recall Guide
The other 3,265 questions, with the answers printed after each section.