AQA GCSE Geography sample questions and answers (8035)
Guide overview All 20 topics Sample questions Papers and weighting Look inside Questions and answers
57 sample questions and answers
Taken from every topic of AQA GCSE Geography, specification 8035. The full guide has 1,429.
Paper 1
Climate Change
26 questions in the guide, across 2 subtopics. More from this topic
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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?
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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. -
The evidence, causes and effects of climate change
In what ways does agriculture add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere?
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Cattle and other livestock give off methane as they digest their food, and flooded rice paddies release methane while nitrogen fertiliser releases nitrous oxide. -
Managing climate change: mitigation and adaptation
Why is carbon capture and storage not on its own an answer to the problem?
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It is expensive and still largely experimental, it uses extra energy to run, and it can only treat large fixed sources rather than emissions from transport.
Paper 1
Coastal Landscapes in the UK
71 questions in the guide, across 5 subtopics. More from this topic
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Waves and coastal processes: weathering, mass movement, erosion, transport and deposition
What is mechanical weathering on a coast, and which type is most common?
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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. -
Waves and coastal processes: weathering, mass movement, erosion, transport and deposition
What is abrasion at the coast?
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Waves pick up sand, shingle and pebbles and hurl them at the cliff face, so the loose material scrapes and grinds the rock away like sandpaper. -
Coastal landforms of erosion and deposition
Explain how a cliff retreats and leaves a wave cut platform behind it.
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Waves cut a notch into the base of the cliff between the tide marks until the rock above overhangs and collapses, and this is repeated so the cliff moves steadily inland. What is left where the cliff once stood is a gently sloping rocky ledge, exposed at low tide.
Paper 1
Cold Environments
54 questions in the guide, across 4 subtopics. More from this topic
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Cold environment characteristics, interdependence and adaptations
How are the climate, the permafrost and the soil of a cold environment linked in summer?
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The cold keeps the ground frozen, and because meltwater cannot drain away through the permafrost the thin soil above is left waterlogged and boggy. -
Cold environment characteristics, interdependence and adaptations
Name two ways, besides thick fur, that animals get through a cold environment winter.
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Many hibernate or migrate to warmer areas until the snow melts, and some grow a white winter coat that hides them against the snow. -
Cold environment biodiversity
How does a warming climate threaten the species of a cold environment?
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Shrubs and trees spread polewards and out-compete the mosses, lichens and low plants, while animals that depend on snow and ice lose the habitat they need.
Paper 1
Ecosystems
26 questions in the guide, across 1 subtopics. More from this topic
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Ecosystems at every scale: interrelationships, balance and global distribution
What does it mean to say an ecosystem is in balance?
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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. -
Ecosystems at every scale: interrelationships, balance and global distribution
Why is temperate grassland almost treeless, and how do its seasons differ from the savanna?
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Its rainfall is too low and unreliable for trees, so grasses dominate, and instead of a hot wet and dry season it has warm summers and cold winters.
Paper 2
Energy
64 questions in the guide, across 4 subtopics. More from this topic
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Energy surplus and deficit, and why demand is rising
Which countries tend to have the biggest energy surpluses?
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Those with large reserves of fossil fuels, or great potential for hydro or geothermal power, set against a fairly small home demand. -
Energy surplus and deficit, and why demand is rising
Name three physical factors that decide how much energy a country can produce.
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Its geology and whether it holds coal, oil, gas or uranium; its climate and relief, which govern sunshine, wind and river power; and whether it lies near a plate boundary for geothermal heat. -
The impacts of energy insecurity
Give two economic costs that follow from energy insecurity.
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Fuel and electricity prices rise so households and businesses pay more, and huge sums must be spent importing energy or working ever more expensive reserves.
Paper 2
Food
54 questions in the guide, across 3 subtopics. More from this topic
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Food security and insecurity: patterns, causes and impacts
Why does a growing population raise food consumption even if people's diets do not change?
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Because there are simply more mouths to feed each year, so the total amount of food the country needs keeps rising. -
Food security and insecurity: patterns, causes and impacts
How does poverty reduce both the growing and the buying of food?
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Poor farmers cannot afford seed, fertiliser, machinery or irrigation so their yields stay low, and poor families cannot afford to buy the food that is available. -
Strategies to increase food supply
What is meant by the new green revolution?
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A push to raise yields in ways that also protect soil, water and wildlife, using improved seed, water-saving methods and knowledge shared with small farmers.
Paper 3
Geographical Applications: Fieldwork Enquiry
105 questions in the guide, across 10 subtopics. More from this topic
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Choosing an enquiry question, its theory and its sources
What is meant by the theory or concept that underpins an enquiry?
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The established geographical idea or model that the fieldwork sets out to test in a real place. -
Risk assessment in fieldwork
How can the risk of slipping or being swept away in a river be reduced?
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Work only at shallow, slow-flowing sites, wear boots with grip, never enter the water alone, and stay supervised with everyone accounted for. -
Primary and secondary data, and sampling methods
Which kinds of physical data could be measured in the field?
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Channel width, depth and velocity, beach gradient, pebble size and roundness, soil moisture, air temperature and wind speed.
Paper 1, Paper 2, Paper 3
Geographical Skills
251 questions in the guide, across 21 subtopics. More from this topic
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Atlas maps: coordinates, distributions and patterns
What do the letters N, S, E and W after a pair of coordinates tell you?
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Whether the place lies north or south of the Equator, and east or west of the Prime Meridian. -
OS maps: scale, grid references, distance and direction
How can the length of a winding road or river be measured on a map?
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By laying string or the edge of a paper strip along the curve in short straight stages, marking each turn, then straightening it out against the scale bar. -
OS maps: transects, landscape description and human activity
How is a headland shown on a large scale map?
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As high ground with closely spaced contours jutting out into the sea, usually with cliff symbols along its edge.
Paper 1
Glacial Landscapes in the UK
67 questions in the guide, across 5 subtopics. More from this topic
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The last ice age in the UK, and glacial processes
Explain how freeze-thaw weathering breaks up rock in a cold upland.
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Water collects in a crack, freezes and expands by about 9%, pushing the crack wider, and repeated freezing and thawing eventually snaps off angular fragments of rock. -
The last ice age in the UK, and glacial processes
What is rotational slip?
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It is the curved, downhill and rotating movement of ice within a hollow, which deepens the hollow into an armchair shape. -
Glacial landforms of erosion, transport and deposition
What are truncated spurs?
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They are steep, blunt-ended cliffs along the side of a glaciated valley, left where the glacier sliced straight through ridges of land that once jutted out into it.
Paper 1
Hot Deserts
52 questions in the guide, across 4 subtopics. More from this topic
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Hot desert characteristics, interdependence and adaptations
Describe the soils and plant cover of a hot desert.
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The soils are thin, sandy or stony and low in nutrients, and vegetation is sparse and widely spaced with bare ground between the plants. -
Hot desert characteristics, interdependence and adaptations
Name three features that help a desert plant lose as little water as possible.
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A thick waxy skin, spines or tiny leaves instead of broad ones, and stomata that open only during the cooler night. -
Hot desert biodiversity
How does taking too much groundwater threaten desert wildlife?
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The water table falls, so springs, oases and wetlands dry up and the deep-rooted trees and shrubs that other species depend on die.
Paper 1
Natural Hazards
16 questions in the guide, across 1 subtopics. More from this topic
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What a natural hazard is, and what affects hazard risk
Where do atmospheric hazards originate, and name two of them.
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In conditions and processes within the atmosphere; tropical storms and droughts are two examples. -
What a natural hazard is, and what affects hazard risk
How does poverty raise hazard risk?
Show the answer
Poorer people are often forced to live in the most dangerous places and cannot afford safe buildings or the means to escape.
Paper 2
Resource Management
45 questions in the guide, across 3 subtopics. More from this topic
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Why food, water and energy matter, and how unequally they are shared
Why is a clean, treated water supply so important to public health?
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Untreated water carries diseases such as cholera and typhoid, so a safe supply cuts illness, keeps children in school and keeps adults able to work. -
Why food, water and energy matter, and how unequally they are shared
What is meant by the consumption of a resource, and why is it so uneven between countries?
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Consumption is the amount of a resource actually used, and it is far higher in wealthy countries because people there own more goods, travel further and eat a more varied diet. -
Resources in the UK, and the changing demand for food
What problems can export-crop farming create for people in the country that grows it?
Show the answer
The best land and scarce water go to crops nobody there eats, wages for the pickers are often very low, and staple food can become scarce or expensive.
Paper 1
River Landscapes in the UK
82 questions in the guide, across 5 subtopics. More from this topic
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The long and cross profiles of a river, and fluvial processes
How does hydraulic action wear away the bed and banks of a river?
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The sheer force of the moving water forces air into cracks in the rock, and the repeated pressure breaks pieces away. -
The long and cross profiles of a river, and fluvial processes
How do traction and saltation move material along a river bed?
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Traction rolls the largest boulders along the bed, while saltation bounces smaller pebbles and grains of sand along in a series of short hops. -
River landforms from source to mouth
What is a meander, and where in a river's course are meanders common?
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A meander is a pronounced bend in the channel, most common in the middle and lower course where the river crosses flatter land.
Paper 1
Tectonic Hazards
48 questions in the guide, across 4 subtopics. More from this topic
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Plate tectonics, plate margins and where earthquakes and volcanoes occur
Describe the worldwide pattern of volcanoes.
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Almost all volcanoes lie in narrow lines that follow the edges of the plates, especially around the rim of the Pacific Ocean and along the mid-ocean ridges. -
Plate tectonics, plate margins and where earthquakes and volcanoes occur
What happens to the plates at a destructive margin?
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The denser oceanic plate is forced down beneath the lighter continental plate in a process called subduction, and melts as it sinks into the mantle. -
The effects of and responses to a tectonic hazard
Why are fires often listed as a secondary effect of an earthquake?
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Because the shaking first fractures gas pipes and electricity cables, and the fires those broken services start then spread through the wreckage.
Paper 2
The Changing Economic World
126 questions in the guide, across 8 subtopics. More from this topic
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Classifying development, and how it is measured
What is meant by the development gap?
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The difference in wealth and wellbeing between the richest and the poorest countries of the world. -
Why measures fall short, the Demographic Transition Model, and causes of uneven development
In Stage 1 of the Demographic Transition Model, what are birth and death rates doing, and what happens to population?
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Both are high and swing up and down, so the population stays small and grows very slowly. -
The consequences of uneven development
Why is health worse in the least developed countries?
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There are fewer doctors, hospitals and medicines, and many people have no clean water, no sanitation and too little food.
Paper 1
Tropical Rainforests
59 questions in the guide, across 5 subtopics. More from this topic
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Rainforest characteristics, interdependence and adaptations
Why is the soil beneath a rainforest thin and infertile even though the vegetation above it is dense?
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The heavy rain leaches nutrients downwards out of reach of roots, and most of the nutrients are held in the living vegetation and recycled straight back from fallen leaves rather than stored in the soil. -
Rainforest characteristics, interdependence and adaptations
How are the leaves of rainforest trees adapted to constant heavy rain?
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They are waxy and have pointed drip tips so water runs off quickly, which stops algae and fungi growing on them and stops the weight of water breaking branches. -
Rainforest biodiversity
What does it mean to say a species is endemic to one rainforest?
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It lives naturally there and nowhere else on Earth, so if that forest is destroyed the species is lost completely.
Paper 1
UK Physical Landscapes
14 questions in the guide, across 1 subtopics. More from this topic
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The UK's upland areas, lowland areas and river systems
Which two upland moors rise above the lowlands of south-west England?
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Dartmoor and Exmoor, in Devon and Somerset. -
The UK's upland areas, lowland areas and river systems
Where does the Thames flow, and where does it reach the sea?
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It flows eastwards across southern England through London, and reaches the North Sea through its wide estuary.
Paper 2
Urban Issues and Challenges
121 questions in the guide, across 8 subtopics. More from this topic
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Global urbanisation: patterns, trends and what drives them
What is counter-urbanisation?
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The movement of people out of large cities to live in smaller towns and rural areas. -
The rise of megacities
How has the number of megacities changed over the last few decades?
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It has risen sharply, from only a handful in the middle of the twentieth century to several dozen today. -
A major city in a poorer or emerging country, and planning for the urban poor
Why does a shortage of sanitation systems lead to disease?
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Untreated sewage reaches the water people drink and wash in, spreading illnesses such as cholera and typhoid.
Paper 2
Water
59 questions in the guide, across 4 subtopics. More from this topic
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Water surplus and deficit, and why demand is rising
Which parts of the world tend to have the deepest water deficits?
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Dry subtropical belts such as North Africa, the Middle East, western Asia and inland Australia, and any densely populated or heavily irrigated region such as northern India and the western United States. -
Water surplus and deficit, and why demand is rising
How can geology limit the water available in an area?
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Permeable rock lets water sink out of reach or store only where an aquifer exists, while impermeable rock sheds it quickly to rivers instead of holding it underground. -
The impacts of water insecurity
Name three sources that pollute a water supply.
Show the answer
Untreated sewage, industrial waste discharged into rivers, and fertiliser and pesticide washed off farmland.
Paper 1
Weather Hazards
89 questions in the guide, across 7 subtopics. More from this topic
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Global atmospheric circulation: pressure belts and surface winds
What weather is typical underneath a belt of rising air?
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Cloud and heavy rainfall, because the rising air cools and its water vapour condenses. -
Global atmospheric circulation: pressure belts and surface winds
Which prevailing wind brings most of the UK's weather, and from which direction does it blow?
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The westerlies, which blow from the south-west across the zone between about 30° and 60° north. -
Where tropical storms form, and why
Between which latitudes do tropical storms almost always develop?
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Roughly between 5° and 30° north and south of the equator.
AQA GCSE Geography Active Recall Guide
The other 1,372 questions, with the answers printed after each section.