Courses / GCSE / Geography GCSE

Geography GCSE

CAIE IGCSE
Geography is a vast and fascinating subject, and our distance learning IGCSE Geography course provides a great overview of its two main branches: physical geography and human geography.
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Overview

The planet we live on is complex, beautiful, and fascinating. From the highest mountains to the deepest oceans, there’s so much to discover and explore. If you’d love to learn more about our natural environment, as well as the impact that humankind has upon it and our strategies to live sustainably, then IGCSE Geography is a great choice.

As you study, you’ll develop invaluable transferable skills that will prepare you for employment or higher education.

What you will learn

  1. Unit 1 - Population and Settlement

    • Population dynamics
    • Reasons for high and low birth rates
    • Reasons for high and low death rates
    • The ‘One Child’ Policy
    • Migration
    • Population structure
    • Reading population pyramids
    • Ageing populations
    • Dependant populations
    • Youthful populations
    • Population density and distribution
    • Factors influencing population
    • The Sphere of Influence
    • Settlement hierarchy
    • Types of settlements
    • Urban settlements
    • Urban land use
    • The Burgess (Concentric Ring) Model
    • Central Business Districts (CBD)
    • The Hoyt (Sector) Model

  2. Unit 2a - The Natural Environment: Volcanoes, Earthquakes, and Rivers

    • What causes earthquakes to occur?
    • The Richter and Mercalli Scales
    • The different types of volcano
    • Hazards, effects, and responses
    • The characteristics of rivers
    • The Global Hydrological Cycle
    • Drainage basins
    • River profiles, courses, and processes
    • Waterfalls and gorges
    • Levees, dams, and reservoirs
    • Flooding and management

  3. Unit 2b - The Natural Environment: Coasts, Weather, Climate, and Natural Vegetation

    • Waves
    • Coastal erosional processes
    • Formation of headlands and bays
    • Formation of cliffs and wave-cut platforms
    • Characteristics of a cave, arch and stack
    • Depositional landforms
    • Sand dunes
    • Formation of beaches
    • Coastline management
    • Coral reefs
    • Mangrove swamps
    • The difference between weather and climate
    • Instruments used to measure weather
    • Cloud types
    • How clouds form
    • Cloud cover
    • The layers of tropical rainforests
    • Nutrient cycling
    • Causes and impacts of deforestation
    • Sustainable management strategies
    • Deserts

  4. Unit 3a - Economic Development: Development, Food Production, Industry

    • Development indicators
    • The Human Development Index (HDI)
    • Uneven development
    • The Clarke Fisher Model
    • Causes of economic change
    • Globalisation
    • Transnational corporations (TNCs)
    • The different types of agriculture
    • Causes of food shortages
    • The effects of food shortages
    • Solutions to food shortages
    • Types of industry
    • Factors influencing the location of an industry

  5. Unit 3b - Economic Development: Tourism, Energy, Water, Environmental Risks

    • Why tourism has increased
    • Environmental, economic, and social impacts of tourism
    • Energy security
    • Sources of energy
    • Global demand for water
    • The impact of water shortages
    • Reservoirs and aquifers
    • Soil erosion
    • Desertification
    • The Greenhouse Effect
    • Resource conservation

  6. Unit 4 - Fieldwork

    • Preparing for Paper 4
    • Qualitative and quantitative data
    • Discrete and continuous data
    • Graphs and charts
    • Choropleth Maps
    • Isoline Maps
    • Desire Line Maps
    • Flow Line Maps
    • Dot Maps
    • Proportional Symbols
    • River fieldwork
    • Measuring river velocity, depth, and width
    • Measuring wetted perimeter and discharge of rivers
    • The methodology for an urban enquiry
    • The risks to be considered for an urban enquiry

  7. Unit 5 - Preparing for the Paper 1 Examination

    • Preparation for Paper 1
    • Practice Paper 1

  8. Unit 6 - Preparing for the Paper 2 Examination

    • Preparation for Paper 2
    • Practice Paper 2

Awarding Body

cambridge-assessment-caieCambridge Assessment International Education (CAIE) is the world’s largest provider of A-level courses and GCSE courses, qualifications and exams, delivering assessments to over 8 million learners in over 170 countries.

Course Outcome

Upon successful completion of this home learning course, you will receive an IGCSE in Geography, issued by CAIE. This syllabus (0976) has been chosen specifically because it is best suited to distance learning.

How is this course assessed or examined?

You can enrol now for examinations for Summer 2024.

You’ll be required to complete two standard GCSE written exams and one piece of coursework which will be marked by your tutor.

    • Assessment 1 – Written exam: 1 hour 45 minutes, 45% of IGCSE, 75 marks weighted to 100 marks.

    • Assessment 2 – Written exam: 1 hour 30 minutes, 27.5% of IGCSE, 60 marks.

  • Assessment 3: Coursework (2000 words) or Written Exam (1 hour 30 minutes) – 27.5% of IGCSE, 60 marks.

We provide a guaranteed exam space in one of our partner exam centres around the UK. Check where your closest exam centre is.

During your course, you’ll be required to complete various assignments. These do not contribute to your final grade but provide you with an opportunity to submit work to your tutor for marking and feedback. This will help you to monitor your progress.

Entry requirements

There are no formal entry requirements for this level two Geography GCSE course, however, it is recommended that you have an intermediate ability to read and write in English.

Geography GCSE

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