Advanced Higher Geography

Erica M CaldwellSenior Examiner SQANovember 2011 version

The Folio

The Geographical Study

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.

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.

How to improve candidate performance in the Study

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

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!

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

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?

Choice of topic for the StudyThis 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

Marking the Study

Total marks 80

Four x 20 marks

Presentation

Data and Content

Techniques

Relationships

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. 14 - 12… The intro e.g. for 9 marks has some very

helpful words for use in comments…

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…

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.

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?

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

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

“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! ***************

The Folio

The Geographical Issues Essay

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.

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.

The Penalty

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

The Exception

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!

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!

“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

…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

Marking the Essay - 60 marks

15 marks for each of the headings

Presentation Research, content and relevance Structure and logical development Critical evaluation

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!!

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

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)

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