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2014 Notes from the Marking Centre – Geography

Introduction

This document has been produced for the teachers and candidates of the Stage 6 Geography course. It contains comments on candidate responses to particular parts of the 2014 Higher School Certificate examination, highlighting candidates’ strengths and indicating where they need to improve.
This document should be read along with:

Section II

Question 21

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

  • identifying at least two impacts (part a)
  • identifying at least two fieldwork activities such as water turbidity tests, pH tests (soil/water), photographs, observations, surveys, species counts (part b)
  • outlining how primary and secondary sources can be used to provide relevant information in order to investigate an issue (part c)
  • identifying a traditional management strategy (part d)
  • demonstrating understanding of ecosystem protection and functioning (part d).

Candidates need to improve in these areas: 

  • focusing on the area specified, in this case, Little Rotomah Island, rather than other areas on the map
  • not confusing ‘fieldwork activities’ with ‘management strategies’ (part b)
  • being more specific than simply referring to ‘data collection’ (part b)
  • expressing how a primary source could be used in the investigation (part c)
  • distinguishing between primary and secondary sources (part c)
  • not confusing traditional management strategies with contemporary management strategies (part d).

Question 22

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

  • describing factors such as biophysical, ecological, economic, sociocultural, technological, organisational, and political that affect the nature and spatial patterns of an economic activity (part a)
  • supporting their response with examples and statistics (parts a and b)
  • demonstrating understanding of the interrelationship of the environment and an economic enterprise (part c).

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

  • distinguishing between the economic activity and the economic enterprise (parts a and c)
  • covering all aspects of the question, including nature and spatial patterns, and factors of the economic activity (part a)
  • using relevant factors to outline the economic impact on the activity (part b)
  • providing appropriate examples and statistics 
  • understanding the term ecological dimension (part c).

Question 23 

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

  • identifying TWO urban dynamics from the photographs and showing how they were different (part a)
  • explaining the role of world cities (part b)
  • using examples when referring to the operation of economic authority and cultural authority and their effects on other places (part b)
  • using geographic terms and concepts relevant to economic and cultural authority (part b).

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

  • making specific reference to the source (part a)
  • showing the differences between two urban dynamics, not simply the photographs (part a)
  • explaining rather than describing (part b)
  • referring to and giving reasons for the importance of both economic and cultural roles (part b)
  • responding to the question rather than listing examples of world cities (part b).

Question 24

Better responses showed strength in these areas:

  • demonstrating sound understanding of vulnerability and resilience and providing specific details (part a)
  • explaining why it is important to manage and protect ecosystems (part b)
  • using geographical terminology in their response (part b)
  • using appropriate terminology, such as ‘intrinsic value’ or ‘heritage value’, to show why it is important to manage and protect ecosystems (part b)
  • making use of illustrative examples (part b).

Weaker responses needed improvement in these areas:

  • understanding that resilience and vulnerability are different (part a)
  • explaining how ecosystems are resilient (part a)
  • understanding the meaning of terms like ‘intrinsic value’ and ‘heritage value’ (part b)
  • supporting their response with reference to examples (part b).

Section III

Question 25

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

  • identifying an economic enterprise and demonstrating understanding of the implications of relevant global changes, such as climate change, exchange rates, political agreements, trade barriers, tariffs, technological advancements and the rising costs of fuel, on the enterprise
  • referring to a range of global changes or discussing at least two in detail
  • supporting relevant facts and figures with illustrative examples such as recent media articles and statistics
  • incorporating geographical terminology.

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

  • making an analysis rather than outlining the nature of the economic enterprise
  • referring to global change, not local change
  • linking the implications of the relevant global change back to the economic enterprise
  • using relevant geographic terminology, examples and statistics.

Question 26

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

  • demonstrating knowledge of historical changes affecting mega cities
  • including reasons for change, such as push/pull factors, globalisation, rural urban migration, economic restructuring
  • using case study examples to examine the character of mega cities
  • using appropriate geographical terminology.

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

  • distinguishing between a world city and a mega city
  • referring to a variety of case studies and illustrative examples of mega cities
  • incorporating geographical terminology
  • understanding the directive term ‘account for’
  • understanding the spatial distribution of mega cities.

Question 27

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

  • demonstrating knowledge of traditional and contemporary management strategies
  • using criteria to evaluate
  • using statistics and appropriate geographical terminology.

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

  • using case studies to demonstrate the effectiveness of strategies and ecological sustainability
  • using a range of examples to support evaluation.
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