AQA GCSE Geography Active Recall Guide (8035)
AQA · GCSE
AQA GCSE Geography Active Recall Guide
Every topic of specification 8035 written as exam-style questions with the answers printed after them. 1,429 questions across 20 topics and 105 subtopics, including every optional topic and the geographical skills examined on all three papers.
- AQA
- GCSE
- Specification 8035
- 1,429 questions
Guide overview All 20 topics Sample questions Papers and weighting Look inside Questions and answers
What the exam asks of you
AQA GCSE Geography is assessed by three written papers. Living with the Physical Environment and Challenges in the Human Environment are 1 hour 30 minutes and 88 marks each, worth 35 per cent apiece. Geographical Applications is 1 hour 30 minutes and 76 marks, worth 30 per cent, and includes an issue evaluation on a pre-release booklet plus questions on your own fieldwork.
Geographical skills are examined across all three papers rather than on one, which makes the skills topic the single most valuable thing on the course.
| Paper | Covers | Length | Marks | Weighting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Paper 1 Living with the physical environment |
Natural Hazards Tectonic Hazards Weather Hazards Climate Change Ecosystems Tropical Rainforests Hot Deserts Cold Environments UK Physical Landscapes Coastal Landscapes in the UK River Landscapes in the UK Glacial Landscapes in the UK Geographical Skills |
1 hour 30 minutes | 88 marks | 35% |
|
Paper 2 Challenges in the human environment |
Urban Issues and Challenges The Changing Economic World Resource Management Food Water Energy Geographical Skills |
1 hour 30 minutes | 88 marks | 35% |
|
Paper 3 Geographical applications |
Geographical Applications: Fieldwork Enquiry Geographical Skills |
1 hour 30 minutes | 76 marks | 30% |
What is in the guide
All 20 topics
Every topic has its own page with its subtopics, what it covers and sample questions.
Sample questions
Taken from the guide. Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.
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The evidence, causes and effects of climate change
What present-day physical changes are taken as evidence that the world is warming?
Show the answer
Glaciers are retreating and leaving fresh moraine, Arctic sea ice is shrinking in extent and thickness, and mean sea level is rising as oceans warm and expand. -
Waves and coastal processes: weathering, mass movement, erosion, transport and deposition
What is mechanical weathering on a coast, and which type is most common?
Show the answer
It is the breaking up of rock into fragments with no change to its chemistry, most often freeze-thaw, where water in a crack freezes, expands and prises the rock apart. -
Cold environment characteristics, interdependence and adaptations
How are the climate, the permafrost and the soil of a cold environment linked in summer?
Show the answer
The cold keeps the ground frozen, and because meltwater cannot drain away through the permafrost the thin soil above is left waterlogged and boggy. -
Ecosystems at every scale: interrelationships, balance and global distribution
What does it mean to say an ecosystem is in balance?
Show the answer
That the numbers of plants, animals and decomposers stay roughly stable over time because the flows of energy and nutrients between them are in equilibrium. -
Energy surplus and deficit, and why demand is rising
Which countries tend to have the biggest energy surpluses?
Show the answer
Those with large reserves of fossil fuels, or great potential for hydro or geothermal power, set against a fairly small home demand. -
Food security and insecurity: patterns, causes and impacts
Why does a growing population raise food consumption even if people's diets do not change?
Show the answer
Because there are simply more mouths to feed each year, so the total amount of food the country needs keeps rising. -
Choosing an enquiry question, its theory and its sources
What is meant by the theory or concept that underpins an enquiry?
Show the answer
The established geographical idea or model that the fieldwork sets out to test in a real place. -
Atlas maps: coordinates, distributions and patterns
What do the letters N, S, E and W after a pair of coordinates tell you?
Show the answer
Whether the place lies north or south of the Equator, and east or west of the Prime Meridian.
How the guide is worked
Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.
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Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
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Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
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Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.
Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.
Look inside
Questions for a subtopic print together and the answers for that section print after them.
- Climate Change26
- Coastal Landscapes in the UK71
- Cold Environments54
- Ecosystems26
- Energy64
- Food54
- Geographical Applications: Fieldwork Enquiry105
- Geographical Skills251
- Glacial Landscapes in the UK67
- Hot Deserts52
- Natural Hazards16
- Resource Management45
- and 8 more
- How are waves at sea created, and what three factors control how large they become?
- What is the difference between the swash and the backwash of a breaking wave?
- What are the characteristics of a constructive wave?
- What does a destructive wave look like, and what effect does it have on a beach?
- What is mechanical weathering on a coast, and which type is most common?
- How does chemical weathering break down rock at the coast?
- What is mass movement, and how does sliding differ from slumping?
- What is a rock fall, and what does the fallen material form at the foot of the cliff?
- How does hydraulic power erode a cliff?
- They are created by the wind blowing across the surface of open water, and their size depends on how strong the wind is, how long it blows for and the fetch it has crossed.
- The swash is the water rushing up the beach once the wave has broken, and the backwash is the water draining back down the beach under gravity.
- It is low and long and breaks gently, and its strong swash and weak backwash push more material up the beach than they drag away, so the beach is built up.
- It is tall and steep and breaks often, and its weak swash and powerful backwash drag material back down the beach, so the beach is worn away.
- It is the breaking up of rock into fragments with no change to its chemistry, most often freeze-thaw, where water in a crack freezes, expands and prises the rock apart.
- Slightly acidic rainwater and salty spray react with minerals in the rock and dissolve them, so rocks such as chalk and limestone are slowly eaten away and weakened.
- Mass movement is the downhill movement of loose rock, soil and mud under gravity, common where waves have undercut the base of a cliff. In a slide the material moves straight downslope as one mass, while in a slump it rotates along a curved surface so the top of the block tilts backwards.
- Fragments loosened by weathering break away from a steep rock face and drop to its base, where they build up as a sloping pile of loose scree.
- Breaking waves force air and water into cracks in the rock under great pressure, and as the water pulls back the trapped air expands again, widening the crack until pieces are blasted out.
questions
Scroll sideways to turn through the pages.
Questions students ask first
I only do some of these topics. Is the rest wasted?
No. On Paper 1 you take Tropical Rainforests plus either Hot Deserts or Cold Environments, and one or two of the three UK landscapes. On Paper 2 you take one of Food, Water or Energy.
Every option is in the guide because schools choose differently. Work yours and skip the rest.
Which topics are on which paper?
Paper 1 is natural hazards, tectonic and weather hazards, climate change, ecosystems, the rainforest and hot desert or cold environment options, and the UK physical landscapes. Paper 2 is urban issues, the changing economic world and resource management. Paper 3 is the issue evaluation and fieldwork. The breakdown is here.
What is the pre-release booklet?
AQA publishes a resources booklet twelve weeks before Paper 3 and the issue evaluation is set on it. You cannot revise the booklet in advance of its release, but you can revise the geography it will draw on, which is the rest of the course.
Do I need my own fieldwork?
Yes. Paper 3 asks about the two fieldwork enquiries your school carried out, so you need your own data, methods and conclusions. The guide covers the enquiry process and the techniques, which are common to every centre.
AQA GCSE Geography Active Recall Guide
Every question paired with its answer, grouped by topic and subtopic, ready to work in three passes.