Edexcel B · 1GB0
Edexcel B GCSE Geography
25 topics and 267 questions for Edexcel B's three papers.
The three papers
- Paper 1 Global Geographical Issues. 94 marks, 90 minutes.
- Paper 2 UK Geographical Issues. 94 marks, 105 minutes.
- Paper 3 People and Environment Issues: Making Geographical Decisions. 64 marks, 90 minutes.
Extended answers are worth 8 marks, and Paper 3 ends with a 12-mark decision; Mia reads yours against the levels and names the level it reaches.
Natural hazards and climate Edexcel Paper 1 Topic 1
- Edexcel B 1.7, Edexcel B 1.8LessonPractice
Natural hazards and plate tectonics
- Define a natural hazard and explain what raises or lowers hazard risk
- Describe the Earth's layers and the global pattern of earthquakes and volcanoes
- Explain what happens at constructive, destructive and conservative plate margins
- Edexcel B 1.9LessonPractice
Earthquakes and volcanoes: effects, responses and management
- Tell primary from secondary effects and immediate from long-term responses
- Compare a tectonic hazard's effects in places of contrasting wealth
- Explain why people live in hazardous areas and how monitoring, prediction, protection and planning reduce risk
- Edexcel B 1.1, Edexcel B 1.4LessonPractice
Global circulation and tropical storms
- Describe the global atmospheric circulation: cells, pressure belts and surface winds
- Explain where and why tropical storms form, and describe their structure
- Explain how climate change might affect tropical storms
- Edexcel B 1.5, Edexcel B 1.6LessonPractice
Tropical storm hazards, impacts and responses
- Describe the hazards a tropical storm brings: wind, rain, storm surge, flooding and landslides
- Explain why some countries are more vulnerable than others
- Weigh how monitoring, prediction, protection and planning reduce a storm's effects
- Edexcel B 1.2, Edexcel B 1.3LessonPractice
Climate change: evidence and causes
- Read the evidence for climate change from ice cores, tree rings, records and sea level
- Explain natural causes: orbital changes, volcanic activity and solar output
- Explain how human activity strengthens the greenhouse effect, and why projections are uncertain
The living world Edexcel Paper 3 Topics 7 and 8
- Edexcel B 7.1, Edexcel B 7.2LessonPractice
Ecosystems and global biomes
- Use producers, consumers, decomposers, food webs and nutrient cycling to explain how an ecosystem works
- Explain what happens when one part of an ecosystem changes
- Describe where the world's major biomes are and what controls them, and the goods and services they provide
- Edexcel B 8.1, Edexcel B 8.3LessonPractice
Tropical rainforests and deforestation
- Explain how climate, soils, plants, animals and people in a rainforest depend on one another
- Explain how plants and animals adapt to rainforest conditions
- Explain the causes and impacts of deforestation
- Edexcel B 8.5LessonPractice
Managing forests sustainably
- Explain why tropical rainforests are valuable to people and the environment
- Weigh selective logging, conservation, ecotourism, international agreements and debt reduction
- Judge which strategies are most sustainable, and for whom
- Edexcel B 8.2, Edexcel B 8.4, Edexcel B 8.6LessonPractice
The taiga: threats and protection
- Explain how the taiga's climate, soils, plants and animals depend on one another
- Explain the threats from logging, mining, energy, pests, disease and fire
- Weigh the challenges of protecting wilderness areas against using the taiga's resources
Physical landscapes in the UK Edexcel Paper 2 Topic 4
- Edexcel B 4.1, Edexcel B 4.2LessonPractice
The UK's physical landscapes
- Locate the UK's main upland and lowland areas and river systems
- Explain how rock type, past tectonics and glaciation shaped upland and lowland Britain
- Explain how weathering, erosion, people and climate shape distinctive landscapes
- Edexcel B 4.3, Edexcel B 4.4LessonPractice
Coastal processes and landforms
- Explain weathering, mass movement, erosion, transport and deposition at the coast
- Explain how waves and geology form headlands, bays, cliffs, wave-cut platforms, caves, arches and stacks
- Explain how deposition forms beaches, spits, bars and sand dunes
- Edexcel B 4.5LessonPractice
Coastal management
- Weigh the costs and benefits of hard and soft engineering at the coast
- Explain managed retreat and why some coasts are left to erode
- Judge a coastal management scheme and the conflicts it creates
- Edexcel B 4.6LessonPractice
River processes and landforms
- Describe how a river's long and cross profiles change downstream
- Explain erosion, transport and deposition in a river
- Explain how waterfalls, gorges, meanders, ox-bow lakes, levees and floodplains form
- Edexcel B 4.7, Edexcel B 4.8LessonPractice
Flooding and river management
- Read a flood hydrograph: lag time, peak discharge and the rising and falling limbs
- Explain the physical and human causes of flooding
- Weigh hard and soft engineering for managing flood risk
Urban issues and challenges Edexcel Paper 1 Topic 3 and Paper 2 Topic 5
- Edexcel B 3.1, Edexcel B 3.2, Edexcel B 3.3LessonPractice
Urbanisation and megacities
- Describe global urban trends and where megacities are growing fastest
- Explain the roles of rural-urban migration and natural increase
- Explain how economic change drives urban growth and changing land use
- Edexcel B 3.4, Edexcel B 3.5, Edexcel B 3.6, Edexcel B 3.7LessonPractice
A growing city in a developing or emerging country
- Explain the opportunities a growing city offers: jobs, services and investment
- Explain the challenges of squatter settlements, the informal economy, services and pollution
- Weigh top-down and bottom-up schemes that improve quality of life
- Edexcel B 5.3, Edexcel B 5.4, Edexcel B 5.5, Edexcel B 5.6, Edexcel B 5.7, Edexcel B 5.8LessonPractice
Change in a major UK city
- Explain how migration shapes a UK city's growth and character
- Explain the opportunities and challenges urban change brings: deprivation, housing, derelict land and the rural-urban fringe
- Weigh regeneration and rebranding projects
Development and the changing economy Edexcel Paper 1 Topic 2 and Paper 2 Topic 5
- Edexcel B 2.1, Edexcel B 2.2LessonPractice
Measuring development and the development gap
- Use GNI per head, HDI, birth and death rates, literacy and access to water to measure development
- Read the demographic transition model and population pyramids
- Explain the physical, economic and historical causes of uneven development and its consequences
- Edexcel B 2.3LessonPractice
Reducing the development gap
- Weigh investment, industry, aid, intermediate technology, fair trade, debt relief, tourism and microfinance
- Tell top-down from bottom-up strategies
- Judge how far one strategy reduced the gap in one country
- Edexcel B 2.4, Edexcel B 2.5, Edexcel B 2.6, Edexcel B 2.7LessonPractice
Development in an emerging country
- Explain an emerging country's location, links to the world and changing industrial structure
- Weigh the role of transnational corporations, aid and international links
- Explain how rapid economic growth changes quality of life and the environment
- Edexcel B 5.1, Edexcel B 5.2LessonPractice
The changing UK economy and population
- Explain deindustrialisation, globalisation and the growth of the post-industrial economy
- Explain the north-south divide and the changing rural landscape
- Explain how migration and an ageing population change the UK
Resource management Edexcel Paper 3 Topic 9
- Edexcel B 9.1, Edexcel B 9.2, Edexcel B 9.3, Edexcel B 9.4, Edexcel B 9.5, Edexcel B 9.6LessonPractice
Energy resources and security
- Classify energy resources as renewable or non-renewable and explain who has access to them
- Explain why global energy demand is rising and what energy insecurity means
- Weigh new fossil fuel supplies against renewables, efficiency and conservation
Skills, fieldwork and decisions Edexcel Paper 2 Topic 6 and Paper 3 Section D
- Edexcel B Geographical skillsLessonPractice
Maps, graphs and numbers
- Read grid references, scale, direction and contours on Ordnance Survey maps
- Read and draw climate graphs, choropleth maps, scatter graphs and population pyramids
- Work out percentages, means, medians, modes, ranges and interquartile ranges
- Edexcel B 6.1, Edexcel B 6.2, Edexcel B 6.3, Edexcel B 6.4LessonPractice
Fieldwork and enquiry
- Write a fieldwork question that can be answered with data
- Choose sampling methods and primary and secondary data, and explain the risks
- Present, analyse and evaluate fieldwork results and conclusions
- Edexcel B Paper 3 Section DLessonPractice
Issue evaluation and making decisions
- Read a resource booklet and pick out the evidence that matters
- Weigh the economic, social and environmental costs and benefits of each option
- Choose and justify an option, and say why you rejected the others