1. Advanced Higher Geography
Erica M Caldwell
Senior Examiner SQA
November 2011 version

2. The Geographical Study
The Folio
The Geographical Study

3. THE GEOGRAPHICAL STUDY
Maximum length 25 sides of A4 paper or their equivalent.
Larger sheets e.g. A3, may be folded to A4 size.
A3 sheets count as two A4 sides so should be numbered accordingly.
All overlays, whole or part of sheets, count as separate or extra sheets/pages.
Font should be 12 except in diagrams.

4. So page 1 must be the cover.
The penalty of 10% of the marks will be deducted once the stated page limit has been exceeded i.e. 8 marks for the study.
The cover, title page, contents page, maps, diagrams, tables and appendices (if you must have them) ALL count as pages.
So page 1 must be the cover.
The bibliography is the only exception to the page count… but it if it is in excess of the 25 pages it must only be bibliography and have no other materials on it.

5. How to improve candidate performance in the Study
Text to go with graphs or stats should develop and look for reasons and relationships and should not merely describe what the graph shows!
If results don’t work well use secondary data to help back up or explain
Time for proper present’n …pages from field note books…bad news!
Study must have purpose
Proper Geographical introduction
Good quality location maps
Clearly marked sample areas
Don’t waste too much time, space on detailed, simple methodologies
Marks come from the data collected and what is done with it
Use approp’te size graphs

6. Using field centres with groups - purpose and issues
Is this a way of introducing field work techniques or is this the ONLY experience candidates have?
Are all your candidates using the same data?
How do you assess one hard working candidate v group work?
Studies need depth…take river studies…
Physical are often done better than human but…
Add in land use transect? Some settlement or transport?
Secondary data e.g. from BGS, SEPA, SNH, census

7. Some other points…
Using Street View to do an urban transect…what are the issues?
Have the stats tests been checked for ‘correctness’, ‘appropriateness’, within range of possible answers?
Quality of, and use of photos…
Quality of printer?

8. Choice of topic for the Study This is really important
difficulty and challenge of the chosen topic
its viability
of realistically being able to collect the amount of necessary data for a high quality AH study
credit demanding topics
take care with shared data and field centre work
when marking be aware of your own experience and expectations

9. Marking the Study Total marks 80 Four x 20 marks Presentation
Data and Content
Techniques
Relationships

10. The Marking Instructions
Use the introductory statements and the key word descriptors
The grids may help to differentiate
Don’t feel you have to make use of every part of the descriptor…guidance on the standard
Use key words to provide the range in those with several marks e.g …
The intro e.g. for 9 marks has some very helpful words for use in comments…

11. Presentation
Written text - quality, accuracy, attention to detail (checking the Spell Checker…is it US?)
Maps, diagrams, graphs: range/types: are they a suitable size for their relevance
Scale, key, acknowledgements are clear: examiners shouldn't need to “find” information
Properly laid out bibliography
Overall finish; design, layout
but…not just pretty or funky publishing…

12. Data and Content
Quality of data collected; is it well beyond Standard Grade??
Are there both primary and secondary sources of data?
Quantity; is there enough to make this an AH study?
Appropriateness; is the data collected related to specific aims or research questions?
Data…sound and suitable?
Effort; is there evidence of serious work being done? e.g. revisiting sites for comparison.

13. Techniques
Range and variety; the GMT section means there should be plenty of analytical and graphical techniques; good candidates search out more
Effectiveness; are they suitable for the data or results being presented?
Do they effectively bring out relationships for commentary in the text?
Are they understood? Using difficult techniques is fine so long as they are correct and the results understood
Focus; do they relate directly to the study questions????
What were the research or study questions?

14. Relationships
Need to be sought out at all stages from development of study questions onwards
Their quality related to research questions
Explanation or analysis of relationships and conclusion; lucid, mature…not merely a repetition of results
Appreciation of complexity of relationships
Theoretical background to analysis; flair in use of theory and background reading

15. It is often very obvious that more work could and should have been done but the candidate hasn’t done it.
If the weather is a problem, secondary data can help lift a study out of the mundane.
Constant excuses are very negative for the examiner!
Revisiting sites is an excellent way of deriving relationships!
Urban Studies: many are very simple, hardly beyond Standard Grade…use secondary sources and background theory
Interesting material is often stuck in an appendix when it would have had far more impact as an integrated part of the whole

16. “Them”…these awful markers???
Remember markers see the finished product…
cannot give credit for potential
cannot reward effort unless it is obvious and contributes to a very well written piece of work
shouldn’t have to look for key, scale, page numbers, try to work out abbreviations &c
Candidates must not assume that markers know their area. They need to introduce it and provide proper maps.
S6 pupils need to learn to meet your deadlines and allow the time you agree with them for the final writing up, drawing diagrams &c so that they don’t end up in a rush stuffing in bits of their fieldwork notebooks! ***************

17. The Geographical Issues Essay
The Folio
The Geographical Issues Essay

18. The Rules of the Game: Essay
Maximum length of 12 sides of A4 paper or their equivalent.
Larger sheets can be folded to A4 size.
An A3 sheet will count as two A4 sides and that each overlay, whether a whole or part sheets, will each count as a sheet in its own right.

19. The Penalty
For the Geographical Issues essay, a flat penalty of 10% of the marks available for the piece of work in question will be deducted once the stated page limit has been exceeded i.e. 6 marks for the essay.
The page limits apply to ALL PAGES THAT ARE SUBMITTED, regardless of their content, and will therefore include any covers, title pages, contents page, maps, diagram, tables and appendices.

20. The Exception Word Count
The only exception to the rule on page limits applies to the bibliography which is excluded from the page count for the Geographical Issues Essay.
Word Count
Although the word count has been removed, there is no
intention that the essay should
be much longer than about 2,000 words
The font size should be 12 for the main body of the work.
Print for diagrams and footnotes will
obviously be smaller size

21. How good candidates can do less well than they should
Write overlong essays
This often shows little or no selection of materials
Or…summarise so much that the final product is bland
Fail to look for suitable, relevant illustrations
Waste time “overproducing” i.e. using fancy publishing styles which make it difficult to read
Many essays of 5-6,000 words do worse than those which remain within the “spirit” of the “old” prescriptive word count: candidates literally talk themselves out of better marks!

22. Choice of topic
Although topic choice is not separately marked, it is vital to choose a topic with enough “meat” and controversy to allow a quality essay to be written.
Contextualisation: can only come through if candidates have done a lot of background reading and this is made obvious in the final essay. They need to use their background reading to prove/ disprove/ challenge/ corroborate/ back up the viewpoints or sources they are discussing.
This is where real quality critical evaluation of the sources or viewpoints comes from, not from rants about words or phrases being biased!

23. “Good” viewpoints or sources
Who are the people whose viewpoints are chosen? Name, position &c
Are the people credible? A properly organised group of protesters with access to good statistics will have more weight than one eccentric protestor! A well respected academic…
Value of newspapers? Quality? Credibility of reporter, his/her sources? Have the “right”* people been questioned?
What do *their own websites say? Have they published any quality articles or research papers?
Why are they qualified to pontificate? …cont’d

24. …continued
Who else agrees (or disagrees) with them? {contextualisation}
Is there real research or reliable statistics to back up the viewpoint? {contexualisation}
Enough controversy to make it interesting?
Range of sources i.e. not all from a local weekly newspapers
Take care with relying too much even on “quality” newspapers…the articles are already summarised; 3 newpaper articles don’t make for substantial sources
Look for academic papers, journals, books

25. Marking the Essay - 60 marks
15 marks for each of the headings
Presentation
Research, content and relevance
Structure and logical development
Critical evaluation

26. Presentation
Text is very well written; quality/high standard of grammar; well finished;shows attention to detail
Graphics/illustrations; appropriate use; relevant and referred to in text; acknowledged; enhance the essay
Bibliography is extensive; effective background reading; shows contextualisation
Abbreviations are explained!!

27. Research, content and relevance
Standard of research reflected in quality of materials consulted; intellectual substance
Choice of content; appropriateness; range of viewpoints; contextualisation
Relevance; clear understanding of the topic; provide a distinctive perspective

28. Structure and logical development
Proper scene-setting introduction
Clear description of the sources to give a basis for evaluation and critical commentary
Clear specific arguments which show understanding and insight
Organisation; written as an essay (although many will follow the NAB idea and still work quite well)

29. Critical commentary Is explicit and effectively incorporated
Has commentary on the sources and viewpoints and is not a continuous rant about individual words
Shows balance and is supported by other reading i.e. contexualisation
Well argued conclusion which is not just a repetition of points already made; provides focus theend