Nature of the Subject

Through the IGCSE course, learners will study the relationships between people, places, and the environment. This will help learners to understand the physical and social processes that shape our world and how we interact with it.

This course aims to:

• Build core knowledge.

• Develop a sense of place, space, and location.

• Interpret and evaluate geographical information.

• Promote accuracy and objectivity.

• Teaching climate education.

• Encourage responsible global citizenship. 

Syllabus & Content

The syllabus is broken down into the two spheres of geography: Physical Geography and Human Geography. 

Within the content of Physical Geography, learners will cover five topics including:  Changing river environments, Changing coastal environments, Changing ecosystems, Tectonic hazards and Climate change.  

Within the content of Human Geography, learners will cover five topics including: Changing populations, Changing towns and cities, Development, Changing economies and Resource provision.

When studying impacts in Geography, they are defined as positive and/ or negative and social, economic and environmental. Learners are also given the opportunity to learn a range of different management strategies, solutions and techniques to physical and human problems, including action plans, agreements and policies.  Sustainability is also a core concept embedded into this syllabus and covered in all topic areas, especially when studying management strategies and techniques.

Learners also will find geographical skills are embedded across all components whereby learners will encounter a range of maps and graphs:  Distribution Maps, Population Pyramids, Flow Line Maps, Radial Graphs, Cross Sections and Topographical Maps. Learners will then be expected to extract, interpret, analyse and evaluate information presented on graphs, charts and diagrams.

Assessment

Paper 1 – Physical Geography Compulsory written paper, 1 hour 45 minutes, 75 marks. Worth 36%.

Learners must answer three sets of questions in total. Learners must answer all questions from Section A and learners then have an option to pick two sets of questions from Section B. These questions include a variety of short responses, skills-based questions and extended writing responses.

Paper 2 – Human Geography written paper, 1 hour and 45 minutes, 75 marks. Worth 36%.

Learners will follow the same structure in the Human Geography paper as explained above in the Physical Geography paper.

Component 3 – Coursework 

60 marks. Worth 28%.

Learners may be given the opportunity to carry out coursework to Hua Hin as a form of geographical enquiry whereby fieldwork will be carried out. Learners will develop a skill of solving ‘Big Questions’ in Geography, as well as gain valuable practice in collecting, analysing, presenting and evaluating data.  Coursework is internally assessed but externally moderated by Cambridge Assessment.

Teacher Introduction

The course enables students to understand the world we live in, give them a sense of place and responsibility to be part of the solution for future generations. 

In this course students will develop many skills needed for later life, these include, being able to make judgements based on information and recognise possible decisions, use geographical data to recognise patterns in such data and to deduce relationships, analyse and evaluate the relationships between human activity and the environment and applying these facts to new situations.