Higher Geography

Young people are curious about the World around them. Geography encourages this curiosity and provides the facts and skills to explore and understand how people, economies and cultures interact with their environments. 

Michael Palin said that ‘Geography is the subject which holds the key to our future’, particularly regarding climate change. As well as the practical skill of using maps, Geography also provides many transferable skills used in study and work: comparing and interpreting information; describing and explaining; understanding cause and effect; and appreciating different environments and cultures. Employers like the broad range of skills it offers.

There are three sections to the course, Physical, Human Environments and Global Issues.

Physical and Human Environments

The physical part of this course contains the following units:

Atmosphere – global weather patterns

Biosphere – soil structures

Hydrosphere – River channels and river drainage basins.

Lithosphere – Coastal and Glacial landforms.

The human side of this course is based upon the following subjects:

Rural Land Use Conflicts - Rural land use conflicts in upland areas.

Population – Population Changes and their effects

Rural –. The impact of rural land use degradation in the Sahel.

Urban – Land use management in cities, their conflicts and solutions in developed and developing world cities.

Global Issues

We do two of six possible options for this part of the course;

Development & Health – measuring development of countries and causes of disease.

Global Climate Change – physical and human causes, local and global effects and management strategies.

The course assessment is primarily in two parts. The Course Assignment is 27% of the overall grade and two exam papers form 73%. The Assignment is based on a geographical topic or issue they have researched, is written up in one hour thirty minutes. The two exams papers are 1hour 50 minutes and 1 hour 10 minutes.