WJEC GCSE Geography Revision Guide

• ⏰Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes 

• 🏆Marks: 90 marks (30% of total grade) 

• 📌Content: Content covers an equal balance of physical geography and human geography, introducing core topics that set the context for the course.

1.1 Drainage Basin and Rivers

• The hydrological cycle (global and drainage basin systems).

• Drainage basin characteristics (inputs, stores, transfers, outputs). 

• River processes and landforms (erosion, transportation, deposition, including gorges, waterfalls, meanders, floodplains and oxbow lakes). 

• Inter-relationships between rivers and people (human uses, flooding impacts and hard/soft engineering).

1.2 Changing Coastlines

• Processes operating along a coastline (weathering, mass movement, erosion, transportation, deposition).

• Constructive and destructive waves. 

• Erosional and depositional landforms (cliffs, stacks, beaches, sand dunes, spits).

• Factors affecting coastal change (physical factors like geology and fetch,and human factors like management strategies).

1.3 Migration

• Causes of migration (push/pull factors for a named source and host country). 

• Impacts of international migration (social, economic, environmental impacts for both source and host countries). 

• Managing migration (strategies used, ethical considerations and public perceptions).

1.4 Settlement Change

• Urbanisation (processes and global patterns). 

• Urban land use patterns (CBD, rural-urban fringe, inner city, suburbs, informal settlements). 

• Global cities (defining and locating global cities and megacities). 

• Urbanisation in contrasting global cities (causes, impacts and responses to problems).

Revision Focus: Case studies from Wales and the wider UK are important, especially for the physical geography sections.

• ❓Question Types:  The paper assesses a mix of knowledge, application, and analysis, featuring four main categories of questions:

1. Objective Response Questions 

These are short, factual questions designed to test your precise knowledge of geographical terms and features.

• Format: These include multiple-choice questions, tick-box questions or questions requiring you to label a diagram using a provided list of terms.

• Mark Allocation: Typically 1 to 3 marks.

• Example: Defining a key term (e.g., 'drainage basin') or labeling parts of a drainage basin system.

2. Short Answer Questions

These require concise, directed responses, often asking for two or more distinct points of knowledge or application.

• Format: Questions that ask you to Outline, Identify, or Suggest a cause, effect, or response. They require clear, well-structured sentences.

• Mark Allocation: Typically 2 to 4 marks.

• Example: "Suggest two trends shown by the data in Table 1".

3. Source-Based and Applied Questions

A significant part of the paper requires you to interpret and apply knowledge to unseen geographical information provided in the exam booklet.

• Format: You will be given resources such as tables of data, maps, graphs or photographs. Questions will ask you to:

  • Describe the distribution or pattern shown on a map or graph.

  • Explain a concept and relate it back to evidence from the resource.

• Mark Allocation: These range from 3 to 6 marks.

• Skills Tested: They focus on your ability to use numerical and graphical data (numeracy skills) to describe or justify a geographical point.

4. Extended Answer Questions

These are the highest-tariff questions, requiring detailed, structured responses that demonstrate in-depth geographical understanding and evaluative thinking.

• Format: These questions ask you to Discuss, Explain in detail, Analyse or Evaluate a concept, process, or management strategy.

• Mark Allocation: These carry the highest marks, sometimes up to 9 marks, and often require the use of specific case study evidence.

• Expectation: Your ability to communicate and organise your ideas clearly is assessed in these longer answers. You must be clear, accurate, and well presented. You must go beyond simple description to offer balanced arguments, conclusions, and specific factual support.

🎯 Key things to note for exam practice

• Know command words: “describe”, “explain”, “outline”, “assess”, “discuss” all signal different depths of answer.




• Use evidence when required: many questions ask for map/diagram/data evidence (e.g., describing relief using contour lines).




• Be comfortable with numerical/data/map work: measuring distances, reading ranks, calculating trends.




• Practice extended writing: the higher-mark questions test your ability to structure an argument and use examples.




• Manage time: because marks vary widely, make sure you allocate time according to marks.

📖 Paper 2:  Our Dynamic and Diverse World

• ⏰Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes 

• 🏆Marks: 90 marks (30% of total grade)

• 📌Content: This is the second written examination, exploring the interconnectedness between people and places, with a strong focus on global challenges.

3.1 The Geography of Inequality

• Regional inequalities in Wales and the UK (patterns, causes, consequences and government responses). 

• Measuring development (indicators like HDI, GDP, literacy rate). 

• The development gap (causes like colonialism, globalisation, natural resources).

• Reducing the development gap (strategies like aid, fair trade, MNCs).

3.2 The Highs and Lows of our Weather

• Weather and climate (difference between them, patterns in Wales).

• Factors affecting temperature and rainfall (altitude, latitude, ocean currents, rainfall types). 

• Global atmospheric circulation (Hadley, Ferrel, Polar cells).

• Low and high pressure systems (depressions and anticyclones and their effects on UK weather).

3.3 Wild Weather

• Global hazards caused by extreme low pressure (e.g., tropical storms). 

• Global hazards caused by extreme high pressure (e.g., drought). 

• For a specific event of each, know the causes, impacts, and responses (emergency and future mitigation).

3.4 Continual Climate Change

• Causes of climate change (natural like Milankovitch cycles and human like enhanced greenhouse effect).

• Evidence that the climate is changing (e.g., ice cores, sea level rise).

• Consequences of climate change globally and in two contrasting places.

3.5 Managing Global Challenges

• Managing climate change (local, national and global strategies).

• Managing threats to our oceans (threats from climate change, plastics and pollution, and sustainable management approaches).

Revision Focus: Use your mathematical and statistical skills to interpret data related to inequality and climate change.

• ❓Question Types:  The paper's question structure is similar to Unit 1, designed to assess your knowledge (AO1), application (AO2), and analytical/evaluative skills (AO3). It uses a mix of four key question types:

1. Objective Response Questions 

These are quick, low-mark questions designed to test your knowledge of specific terms and facts.

• Format: Typically multiple-choice or one-word/short-phrase answers that require you to identify a definition, location or classification.

• Purpose: To confirm your understanding of fundamental geographical keywords and concepts (AO1).

2. Short Answer Questions

These questions ask you to outline, describe or explain a concept or process concisely.

• Format: Questions that require a series of points or brief explanations (e.g., "Outline one human and one physical cause of the development gap").

• Mark Allocation: Typically 2 to 4 marks.

• Purpose: To test your ability to recall knowledge and apply it (AO2) to specific scenarios.

3. Source-Based and Applied Questions

A core part of the paper uses unseen resources to test your geographical skills.

• Format: You will be given resources such as maps (e.g., choropleth maps showing inequality), data tables (e.g., development statistics), and photographs. Questions require you to:

  • Describe patterns or trends shown in the data.

  • Justify the use of a particular graphical method (e.g., a multiple line graph).

  • Explain concepts using evidence extracted from the resource.

• Purpose: These questions are based around applied situations and are key for assessing analysis and interpretation skills (AO3).

4. Extended Answer Questions

These are the high-mark questions that require detailed and structured writing, often involving case studies.

• Format: These include questions that ask you to Discuss, Explain in detail, or Evaluate.

• Mark Allocation: These carry the highest marks (often up to 9 marks) and require sustained writing and clear structure.

• Expectation: You must demonstrate balanced evaluation and provide a final reasoned judgment using specific case study evidence from topics like inequality, wild weather or climate change. These questions heavily target your AO3 (Analysis, Evaluation, and Judgement) skills.

✨Here are some top tips to make your revision more effective:

 1. Know the structure inside out🧩

Before you start revising, make sure you understand what’s in each paper:

• Both are 1 hour 30 minutes, worth 90 marks, and make up 30% each of your GCSE.

• Expect a mix of short, structured questions and longer, extended responses.

• Questions can be based on maps, graphs, photos, or case studies - so revision shouldn’t just be reading notes!

 2. Master your key terminology🧠

Geography loves its specialist terms - and examiners love when you use them correctly!

• Create flashcards for key words (e.g. “sustainability”, “erosion”, “urbanisation”).

• Test yourself or get a friend/family member to quiz you.

• In your answers, try to use terminology naturally to show understanding.

💡 Pro tip: Define key terms in the introduction of your longer answers - it instantly boosts clarity and marks.

3. Practice interpreting data and diagrams📊 

You’ll often have to read maps, graphs, photos or tables.

• Practise identifying patterns, trends and relationships.

• When describing data: use numbers (“the population increased by 20% between 2000 and 2020”) rather than vague phrases like “it went up”.

• Label diagrams clearly and include arrows or annotations - neat, simple and effective!

📈 Try sketching quick diagrams from memory - like a river profile or urban land-use model - and label them.

 4. Learn how to structure extended answers🗣️

For 6–8 mark questions, structure is everything:

• P.E.E.L. (Point, Evidence, Explain, Link) works wonders!

• Always link back to the question - every paragraph should earn marks.

• If it’s an evaluate question, include both sides of the argument, then give a reasoned conclusion.

📝 Example:

“One advantage of renewable energy is that it reduces greenhouse gas emissions (Point + Explain). For example, wind farms in Wales supply electricity without burning fossil fuels (Evidence). This helps tackle climate change and promotes sustainability (Link).”

5. Time yourself during practice⏰

In the real exam, pacing matters!

• You have about 1 minute per mark - so a 6-mark question deserves roughly 6 minutes.

• Don’t get stuck on one question - move on and come back if needed.

• When practising at home, set a timer to get used to writing under pressure.

⌛ Try doing one full paper under timed conditions a few weeks before the exam.

 6. Use real case studies and examples🧭

Case studies make your answers more authentic and detailed.

• Learn a few strong, detailed examples for each topic (e.g. flooding in Bangladesh, urban change in Cardiff).

• Remember: you don’t need every fact - just the key names, dates and impacts.

• Use a case study summary sheet for each - bullet points, quick stats and key effects.

🌍 Bonus: Stick maps or pictures near your desk to help visualise locations!

7. Revise actively - not just passively🔁

Reading notes is easy… but not very effective!

• Try mind maps, flashcards, practice questions and quizzes.

• Teach a friend or even your pet - explaining topics out loud helps memory. 

• Use colour and symbols to make notes visual and memorable.

8. Identify your weak spots early🧩

• Do a mini mock or past paper and highlight where you lost marks.

• Focus your revision on those tricky areas - whether that’s physical processes or human geography concepts.

• Don’t ignore skills questions (like map reading and data interpretation) - they add up quickly!

9. Stay calm, confident and consistent😌

• Start early, revise in small chunks and take breaks.

• Eat well, sleep properly and give your brain a rest the night before.

• On exam day: read every question carefully, underline key command words (like “describe”, “explain”, “evaluate”).

💬 And remember: You know more than you think you do - stay calm and think like a geographer!

🌟 Final Tip

Geography isn’t just about memorising - it’s about understanding connections: people, places, environments and how they all link together.
If you revise smart - not just hard - you’ll be ready to smash those exams! 💥