OCR GCSE Geography A Active Recall Guide (J383)
OCR · GCSE
OCR GCSE Geography A Active Recall Guide
Every topic of specification J383 written as exam-style questions with the answers printed after them. 749 questions across 8 topics and 59 subtopics, covering all three papers including the geographical and fieldwork skills.
- OCR
- GCSE
- Specification J383
- 749 questions
Guide overview All 8 topics Sample questions Papers and weighting Look inside Questions and answers
What the exam asks of you
OCR GCSE Geography A, Geographical Themes, is assessed by three written papers. Living in the UK Today and The World Around Us are one hour and 60 marks each, worth 30 per cent apiece. Geographical Skills is 1 hour 30 minutes and 80 marks, worth 40 per cent, and examines fieldwork alongside the skills while drawing on the whole course.
There are no optional topics. Geographical skills also earn marks on the first two papers, which makes the skills topic the most valuable single thing on the course.
| Paper | Covers | Length | Marks | Weighting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Component 01 Living in the UK Today |
Landscapes of the UK People of the UK UK Environmental Challenges |
1 hour | 60 marks | 30% |
|
Component 02 The World Around Us |
Ecosystems of the Planet People of the Planet Environmental Threats to Our Planet |
1 hour | 60 marks | 30% |
|
Component 03 Geographical Skills |
Geographical Skills Fieldwork Skills |
1 hour 30 minutes | 80 marks | 40% |
What is in the guide
All 8 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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Abiotic and biotic components, and how ecosystems interact
What does it mean to say that the parts of an ecosystem are interdependent?
Show the answer
Every part relies on the others, so a change in one of them forces changes in all the rest. -
Climate change through the Quaternary, and since 1000AD
What is meant by an interglacial?
Show the answer
A warmer phase between two glacials, usually only ten to fifteen thousand years long, when the ice retreated. -
Framing an enquiry question and choosing your methods
What should be checked about a location before an investigation is planned there?
Show the answer
That it is safe and accessible, that permission is held where it is needed, and that it shows enough variation for the question to have an answer. -
Constructing maps, and reading cross-sections and transects
What is a sketch map?
Show the answer
A simplified map showing only the main features of an area, usually not to an exact scale. -
The UK’s upland, lowland and glaciated landscapes
Which parts of the UK show the clearest evidence of past glaciation?
Show the answer
The uplands of Scotland, the Lake District, north Wales and the northern Pennines, where ice sheets and valley glaciers once reached. -
Defining and measuring development
What is meant by sustainable development?
Show the answer
Growth that meets the needs of people today without preventing future generations from meeting their own needs. -
The UK’s trade, media and cultural links with the world
Which single country is the UK's largest trading partner?
Show the answer
The United States of America, which buys more UK exports than any other individual nation. -
Air masses, the North Atlantic Drift and the UK’s extreme weather
What is the North Atlantic Drift?
Show the answer
A warm ocean current that carries surface water from the Gulf of Mexico north-eastwards across the Atlantic towards north-west Europe.
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.
- Ecosystems of the Planet82
- Environmental Threats to Our Planet88
- Fieldwork Skills41
- Geographical Skills172
- Landscapes of the UK66
- People of the Planet122
- People of the UK93
- UK Environmental Challenges85
- When did the Quaternary period begin?
- What is the overall pattern of global temperature through the Quaternary?
- What is meant by a glacial period?
- What is meant by an interglacial?
- Which kind of climate phase are we living in today?
- Why did sea level fall during each ice age?
- What is meant by the medieval warming?
- What was the Little Ice Age?
- What is meant by modern warming?
- About 2.6 million years ago, and it runs through to the present day.
- Temperature has swung repeatedly between long cold glacial phases and shorter warm interglacial phases rather than staying steady.
- A cold phase, lasting roughly a hundred thousand years, when ice sheets and glaciers advanced far beyond their present limits.
- A warmer phase between two glacials, usually only ten to fifteen thousand years long, when the ice retreated.
- An interglacial, which began roughly twelve thousand years ago when the last ice advance ended.
- So much water was locked up in growing ice sheets and glaciers that it never returned to the oceans.
- A mild spell in the centuries around and after 1000AD, warm enough for crops and vines to be grown further north in Europe than before.
- A long cool spell that followed the medieval warming, when glaciers advanced and European winters were cold enough to freeze rivers such as the Thames.
- The rise in global average temperature that began in the late nineteenth century and has become much faster since the middle of the twentieth.
questions
Scroll sideways to turn through the pages.
Questions students ask first
Which topics are on which paper?
Component 01, Living in the UK Today, is Landscapes of the UK, People of the UK and UK Environmental Challenges. Component 02, The World Around Us, is Ecosystems of the Planet, People of the Planet and Environmental Threats to Our Planet. Component 03, Geographical Skills, is the skills and fieldwork topics and draws on the whole course. The breakdown is here.
Component 03 is 40 per cent. What is actually on it?
Geographical skills and fieldwork, applied to material from across the whole course. It is the largest single share of the grade and it is the paper students most often underprepare for, because skills feel like something you either have or do not rather than something to learn.
Do I need my own fieldwork?
Yes. Component 03 examines the fieldwork your school carried out, so you need your own data and your own enquiry. The guide covers the enquiry process, the techniques and the analysis, which is the part that is common to every centre’s fieldwork.
Are the map and graph skills covered?
Yes. Ordnance Survey maps, grid references, scale and distance, relief and cross-sections, graph types and when each is used, measures of central tendency, and interpreting data presented in unfamiliar forms.
OCR GCSE Geography A Active Recall Guide
Every question paired with its answer, grouped by topic and subtopic, ready to work in three passes.