Detailed Delve: Paper 1 AQA A-Level Geography examiner report

Many of us have really good intentions of reading the examiner reports but often don't find the time to read them properly, particularly as they are so detailed. However, the examiner reports are a really useful tool to help inform your teaching, and in particular where to focus your efforts on. And with that in mind we will be publishing summaries of the reports for the 2 papers this week. I am hoping that by highlighting key comments and breaking them down into manageable chunks, they will become much more accessible for all.

Don't forget that this year AQA have included exemplar answers with commentary highlighting good and weak answers which is really useful for your own or departmental CPD.

What went well?

• 4-markers were straightforward and on the whole answered well - both for the core topics (where they were asked to discuss the impact of human factors on the water cycle) and those for the options where students were able to talk about processes and characteristics of something
• Map skills were good - students were identify patterns and anomalies on maps, and manipulate data
• Effective answering of the 'novel situation' questions
• 9-mark cross specification questions were answered well
• Some good evaluation seen on the 20-markers

Areas for improvement

• Some misunderstanding of key terms and definitions (particularly in landform options)
• Some students are still trying to explain patterns rather than just describe them in the skills questions
• Some 'lifting' of material for the 'novel situation' questions without applying own knowledge
• Some students were unable to make links across their 20 markers so couldn't access higher levels

4-markers (AO1)

These questions assess knowledge and understanding, and require students to outline key processes, concepts, interaction and change...

Better answers - included development of valid points by adding new ideas, included knock-on effects of something.

Weaker answers - showed misunderstanding of key terms, and were vague when describing processes.

6-markers (AO3 skills-based)

These questions assess how students interpret, analyse and evaluate data, evidence and resources...

Better answers - concise and well-considered, look at big picture patterns, back up big picture patterns with smaller details, discuss anomalies and why they don't fit the general pattern, do not offer any sort of explanation (which is not credit-worthy), support ideas with data.

Weaker answers - struggle to identify patterns or anomalies, don't make use of data effectively, drift into explanations that are not worth any marks, misunderstand data so end up writing about things that are not accurate.

6- and 9 markers (AO1/AO2 stimulus-based)

These questions assess knowledge and understanding when applied to novel situations (resource prompts)...

Better answers - contain both student's own knowledge and an argument, apply own understanding to the resource that has been provided, make distinct reference to the resource so it is clear that the stimulus is being referred to, identify key pieces of information from the resource and then offers explanation linked to it from own knowledge.

Weaker answers - only deal with one aspect of the question - either talking about just the resource, or just their own knowledge (no linking between the two), offer only basic explanation and show limited understanding of impacts/strategies/xxx.

20 markers

These questions assess knowledge, understanding and application - constructing arguments and drawing conclusions...

Better answers - show secure and detailed knowledge, apply case studies effectively, demonstrate an appreciation of a range of spatial and temporal scales, offer a clear and sustained line of reasoning throughout, offer substantiated conclusions.

Weaker answers - sometimes misunderstand the question - either because it has been misread or they don't understand the demands, recall knowledge but don't tailor it to the specific question, show a lack of knowledge of the topic and/or case study material (due to insufficient revision)

Synoptic question (AO1/AO2)

This question assesses knowledge and understanding applied to links across specification content - it can either be a 9- or 20-marker, and can be on either paper - this year it was worth 9 marks and was on this paper...

Better answers - are argued well, supported by evidence and have a sustained line of reasoning, show strong subject knowledge, apply case study support to back up knowledge, are focused on the question throughout

Weaker answers - rely heavily on knowledge without assessment or evaluation, recite material but don't tailor it to the demands of the question.