1. The SKILLS exam Learning Objectives
Understand what is required for the skills exam
Review and practise some of these skills.

2. On TUESDAY morning at 10.45am,
24th MAY 2011, you will have to sit the following exam:
1 hour
50 marks
Worth 30% of AS (and 15% of A level)
2 sections
Answer ALL questions on the paper
YOU WILL NEED
Calculator
Protractor
Pair of compasses
Pencil
Rubber
Ruler
Pencil sharpener
Black pen

3. QUESTION 1
½ hour; 25 marks
Geographical skills questions based on either RIVERS or POPULATION
You will need some knowledge of BOTH core topics but designed to test skills over knowledge
e.g. can you draw a graph from a table of data?

4. QUESTION 2
½ hour; 25 marks
Geographical skills questions based on FIELDWORK
You will need to describe and explain what you did on your river field trip and how you analysed the data afterwards.

5. Basic Skills Investigative Skills Cartographic Skills Graphical Skills
There are many different skills you need to be able to do:
Basic Skills
Investigative Skills
Cartographic Skills
Graphical Skills
ICT Skills
Statistical Skills

6. You will not be expected to name any of these skills
These are some of the skills we have already covered at least once in class: You will also have covered many of these skills in GCSE Maths and Geography
Annotating diagrams, sketches, photos, graphs etc
Overlays
Literacy and numeracy skills
Risk assessing
Data presentation
Atlases
Field sketches
OS maps (incl. isolines)
Maps with located proportional symbols
Flow line maps
Choropleth maps
Line, bar and scatter graphs
Pie charts
Triangular graphs
Radial diagrams
Logarithmic scales
Use of databases
Use of GIS
Presentation using ICT
Mean, mode median
Interquartile range
Standard deviation
Spearmans’ rank
You will not be expected to name any of these skills
You will be expected to interpret/complete graphs/maps/diagrams etc and to perform simple calculations
Understanding command words is essential; for example, a common pitfall is explaining when the question asks for description.

7. Basic Skills Literacy (using good English and geographical language)
Annotations
(labels that describe and explain; they may be on sketches, diagrams, maps, photos etc)
Using overlays

8. Investigative Skills Identifying aims and geographical questions
Collecting data
(using appropriate sampling techniques from both primary and secondary sources)
Analysing, presenting and interpreting data
Drawing conclusions
(and showing awareness of their validity)
Evaluating your research
Risk assessment

9. Cartographic Skills Atlases Degrees and Minutes 51°30’ 51°00’ 50°30’
50°00’
02°30’
02°00’
01°30’
01°00’

10. Cartographic Skills Atlases, base maps, sketch maps, OS maps
(you need to be able to find and give grid references, sketch areas from atlas maps, identify the
shape of the land using contours, measure distances, describe patterns etc.
Maps with located proportional symbols
(these could include squares, circles, semi-circles or bars)
Maps showing movement
(flow lines, desire lines and trip lines)
Choropleth, Isoline and Dot maps

11. Graphical Skills
Line graphs (simple, comparative, compound and divergent)
Bar graphs (simple, comparative, compound and divergent)
Scatter graphs (and use of best fit line)
Pie charts & Proportional divided circles
Triangular graphs
Radial diagrams
Logarithmic scales
Dispersion diagrams

12. ICT Skills Remotely sensed data
(photos and images captured by satellite)
Databases
(e.g. national statistics website, environment agency website, meteorological office data)
GIS
(e.g. google earth/maps, mapzone)
Presentation using ICT
(producing text, maps, images, graphs etc on the computer)

13. Statistical Skills Measures of Central tendency (Mean, Mode, Median)
Measures of Dispersion
(Range, Interquartile Range, Standard Deviation)
Statistical Tests
(Spearman's Rank)

14. Unit 2 Geographical Skills
River Harbourne
Location (+)
Theory/Aims
Methods
Results displayed and statistical tests
Conclusions linked to theory
Evaluation and improvements

15. Location
Make sure that you can draw an annotated sketch map of the drainage basin showing the location

16. Description of the location
River Harbourne is located in South Devon and is a small tributary of the Dart river system
Source is located on Dartmoor at 350m above sea level on granite outcrop.
River flows in a south easterly direction for 22 km along the long profile before discharging into the Dart estuary.

17. PAST PAPER
Describe the location of your fieldwork and explain why it was suitable for your investigation.

18. Theory

19. Theory Explain the geographical concept, process or
theory that underpinned your enquiry

20. What is the difference between an aim and a hypothesis?

21. How did you carry out your risk assessment?

22. width
depth
Wetted perimeter

24. Scatter diagrams

25. Beenleigh
Harbourne Head
Harbourneford
Bow Bridge
Palmer Dam
Harbourne Estuary
Rolster Bridge

26. Fieldwork plan – Homework due March 4th
Stage
Points to consider
AIM
What is the aim of the study? What are you trying to find out? What was the underpinning theory?
HYPOTHESES
What hypotheses can be tested? Which variable can be correlated against each other or in. relation to some other variable such as distance down steam or distance from CBD etc.
DATA COLLECTION
What methods can be used to collect data for each of your hypotheses? Why were they the best? What equipment will be required to carry out the investigation? What were the risks associated, and how do you respond to them?
DATA PRESENTATION
What method(s) would be suitable to test relationships between the variables being tested? Why is this method suitable? Illustrate this technique.
DATA ANALYSIS
What method(s) could be applied to analyse the data? Is there any correlation between the variables? What are the advantages of using this method?
RESULTS
What did you learn? Were there any anomalous results? What/how did it contribute to your understanding?
IMPROVEMENTS
What could you do to improve it?