In this blog I am going to summarise the key points across different questions types on Paper 2.

Don't forget that last year AQA started to include exemplar answers with commentary highlighting good and weak answers which is really useful for your own or departmental CPD.

MCQs

What was done well?

• Most students could correctly name the continent
• Most students could effectively use the key in the resources map question

Areas for improvement

• Working percentage increase - over half of students didn't calculate this correctly

Point marked questions

What was done well?

• Completing graphs and charts
• Accurately read data off graphs
• Able to make a point and develop it for 2/3 mark questions
• Many students were able to make some key points about their named UK city
• Good use of key vocabulary in these questions

Areas for improvement

• Some answers just contained one statement and no development when it was needed for the second/third mark
• Careful reading of questions - some were misread so the answer was irrelevant
• Some students do now know how to calculate the median

4-mark questions

Question about how natural increase and migration affects the growth of LIC/NEE cities - tested AO2 and AO3 - generally answered well.

Weaker answers...

• didn't make much use of source material when asked
• suggested a connection but didn't explain the link to urban growth

Better answers...

• made good use of source material to develop answers
• thought about growth in terms of population, whilst others focused on economic growth
• weaved information from the resource with their own understanding

Question about the causes of uneven development - tested AO1 and AO2 - generally answered well.

Weaker answers

• suggested a cause of uneven development but didn't explain how it affected development
• often made inaccurate and sweeping statements, such as countries having no trade

Better answers...

• showed good understanding of the development gap between HICs and LICs as well as regional differences within countries
• made reference specific countries, e.g. the situation between the north and south in Nigeria

6-mark questions

Section A

Question about how the growth of commuter settlements impacts the rural-urban fringe - tested AO2/3 - overall answered poorly.

Weaker answers...

• didn't know that the rural-urban fringe was - and many didn't understand that it was a moveable zone between the city and the countryside
• focused on the impact on residents, rather than the geographical impacts

Better answers...

• made use of the map and photo
• wrote about the nature of the impacts, sometimes classifying them, e.g. environmental through reference to increased air pollution with much greater traffic
• supported their point with a local example

Section B

Question about social and economic impacts of rural depopulation - tested AO2/3 - answered much better than the previous 6-marker.

Weaker answers...

• relied too much on the figure and didn't develop their ideas
• showed little understanding of the issues of population decline
• showed little understanding of rural areas at all (an issue for a lot of students who live in large UK cities)
• could be quite dramatic, describing rural issues that are more relevant to LICs than the UK, e.g. famine from the lack of food grown, societal collapse, etc

Better answers...

• make links between population decline and the impact on the economy and services
• used place examples to support their suggested changes, e.g. the Outer Hebrides
• made good use of the resource, e.g. commenting about the school closing and the impact of this
• make links between the different newspaper headlines, and how these led to rural decline

Section C

Question about challenge of managing water quality and water pollution - tested AO2/3 - mostly answered in Level 2.

Weaker answers...

• were very simplistic in their response
• didn't focus enough on the question wording, so didn't talk about the challenge enough
• misread the wording of the question and talked about water quantity rather than quality

Better answers...

• made good use of the figure
• expressed a clear opinion about the nature and extent of the challenge

Question about named strategies to increase the sustainability of food/water/energy supply - tested AO1/AO2 - mostly answered well with good examples.

Weaker answers...

• talked about sustainability as a general concept
• simply stated that the methods named in the question would be sustainable
• didn't connect the concepts to their case studies in any depth
• struggled to clearly articulate the benefits of reducing food waste (food option)
• couldn't explain how water conservation contributed to sustainability (water option)
• mentioned transport as an afterthought, rather integrating it meaningfully (energy option)

Better answers...

• recognised the principle of seasonality in food production (food option)
• explained the functioning and benefits of grey water (water option
• understood the rationale and value of energy conservation (energy option)
• made good use of case study detail to support arguments, adapting them to the demands of the question

9-mark questions

These always test AO1, AO2 and AO3.

Section A (+3 SPaG)

Question about how urban growth in LICs/NEEs has created social and economic opportunities - this was the weaker of the two 9-markers.

Weaker answers...

• showed that some students struggled to interpret the photo effectively (which had been designed to highlight positive features of these cities), and instead focused too much on their own case study knowledge without engaging with the resource
• lacked the 'discuss' element

Better answers...

• included very good recall of case study detail
• showed good understanding of urban processes
• explained how urban growth creates different kinds of opportunities for people and places
• considered the significance of the different opportunities

Section B

Question about the impacts of a TNC on a host country - this was generally answered better than the Section A 9-marker, with lots of accurate reference to named TNCs.

Weaker answers...

• were very generic and could have been written about anywhere
• just stated that the TNC affected the economy, without explaining how

Better answers...

• were supported by accurate case study detail (often Shell in Nigeria, or Unilever in India/Nigeria)
• had effective evaluation of the impacts of these TNCs