A level Geography

What do I need to know or be able to do before taking this course?

If the subject has been studied at GCSE then a grade B pass is the minimum qualification. The study of GCSE Geography, however, is not essential. What is more important is that you should have a lively and enquiring mind, an interest in the world around you and a willingness to explore new ideas and an ability to communicate your ideas effectively.

What will I learn on this AS and A2 course?

• What are the forces influencing our natural environment: the landscapes (fluvial, coastal, tectonic, and glacial), the plants and animals (including man) and the weather and climate?
• What are the issues affecting people and the places where they live? How are cities and the countryside changing? Why are they changing?
• How are people affecting the environments (physical and human) we all live in? What are the opportunities, the challenges and the constraints?
• What are the economic forces that drive the world economy, (globalisation), and how are they changing?
• What decisions are being made about the use and management of resources, their sustainability, and who makes these decisions?
• An appreciation of current events and world problems such as the effects of natural hazards and the plight of refugees.
• How to plan a fieldwork exercise investigation: hypothesis testing, the collection of primary and secondary data and how to analyse it. The production of a 3,500 word individual project in the Upper Sixth. (For example, on rivers or coasts.)
• Develop the ability to make links and connections across a wide variety of topics which affect the world that we live in.

The full specification can be obtained from www.wjec.co.uk/geography

Where might this subject take me?

Students with AS or A-Level Geography have access to a wide range of career and higher education opportunities. You learn and use a variety of transferable skills throughout the course. These include: collecting, analysing and interpreting data, communicating your findings in different ways and identifying and developing links between different parts of the subject. These skills are in great demand and are recognized by employers, universities and colleges as being of great value.

Geography combines well with almost all other AS and A-level subjects. Taken with sciences like Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and geology, Geography supports applications for almost any science-based university course, for example, dentistry, medicine, engineering and environmental sciences. If studied with humanities like English, History, or Economic, Geography again supports an equally wide range of university courses such as law, politics, business, media and philosophy.

AS and A-level Geography develops the transferable skills that employers are looking for and they can lead to a very wide range of employment opportunities, including with further training, accountancy, law and journalism.