AS / A2 Geography

WHY TAKE THIS COURSE?
Geography will provide you with a wide range of useful skills and an interesting mix of topics. It will help you understand the World today. The syllabus is designed to explore present day issues and provide you with an opportunity to develop your opinions. In addition, A Level Geography is highly thought of by employers and University admission tutors.

WHAT WILL I STUDY?
There are four key areas studied at AS:
Population - Changing population and its effect on society, managing population growth, migration and urban population change.
Glaciation - The landforms and processes associated with cold lands (ice, meltwater and permafrost). Exploitation and development of these cold land areas, including the future of Antarctica.
Energy - Managing energy, including sources, environmental impact and sustainable use of energy.
Rivers - River features and processes, hydrology and the causes and management of flooding. Rivers also form the compulsory fieldwork element of the course. Students will study and collect data on the River Wyre in the Trough of Bowland. Students who continue onto A2 will have the opportunity to study topics such as hazard management, plate tectonics, weather forecasting, world cities and Globalization in more detail.

HOW WILL I BE ASSESSED?
There are just 2 examinations before you gain your AS Geography qualification. The theory content of the syllabus is examined by one examination, two hours long and is a mixture of short questions and essays. Skills and fieldwork are assessed by a one hour practical examination. Students need to be familiar with the use and extraction of data from photographs, maps, graphs, statistics and articles.

WHAT SKILLS AND SPECIAL QUALIFICATIONS DO I NEED?
Geography students should be confident in the use of statistics and be able to construct longer written answers. A GCSE pass in Geography is desirable but not essential as many of the topics studied are new to the whole group.

WHAT CAN I DO NEXT?
Geography provides students with an excellent set of transferable skills. Geographers have gone onto an extremely wide range of careers from Air Traffic Controllers to Politicians. Geographers have good analysis and data organisational skills and are therefore ideally equipped for all management roles.

PRIESTLEY EXTRA
Geography offers a range of practical and fieldwork experiences, including a biannual visit to Iceland to experience the unique mix of volcanoes and ice.