Examiners commentaries 2008

Examiners commentary 2008

09 Human geography
General remarks
Learning outcomes
At the end of this unit and having completed the essential reading and
activities you should be able to:
understand the theoretical contribution and development of geography
to the social sciences
critically analyse processes of contemporary economic, social, cultural
and political change from a geographical perspective
appreciate the importance of understanding both diversity and
homogeneity to the process of geographical enquiry
discuss alternative understandings of how the global and the local
human environment are connected.
Planning your time in the examination
These general remarks are repeated each year for, in the main, candidates
new to the unit. Most of these points have been made in Examiners reports
in previous years and in other commentaries covering the broad remit of
subjects that look at Geography from a social science viewpoint. With new
candidates signing up for the unit each year, they are well worth
repeating. However, it is curious (to Examiners at least) how candidates
seem to think that the specific comments on questions are more important
or useful than the general ones. The general comments provided here on
how to approach the examination remain still, by far, the most important
advice that can be given and must be considered non-optional for practical
implementation. The first point to make probably the most important of
all is about time management in the examination. Without good time
management, no matter how much you know and how much revision you
have done, you will not perform well.
You must answer four questions must be answered in this paper no
more and no less. When Examiners are confronted with more than four
answers and you would be surprised how many times they are they
simply mark the first four in the answer book. So to write more than four
answers is a waste of time. Four questions into three hours means you
should spend 45 minutes on each. Obvious, yet there will be some
candidates reading this note who will not follow this simple, but vital,
requirement. It is just not that easy to pass, let alone do well, if you only
attempt three questions or if the fourth is hurried. Every year, without
exception, there are scripts that fall exactly into this category.
Furthermore, it is also just not that helpful if the last question degenerates

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Examiners commentaries 2008
into note form. Please divide your time equally among each of the four
questions you answer. It is genuinely better to stop writing and leave an
answer unfinished than to misallocate time. If you leave a blank page in
the answer book at the end of your 45 minutes you can always return to
the question in the final minutes of the examination if you have some
spare time. Candidates often ask why it is important to do this. Well, apart
from the obvious point made above about restricting yourself to being
marked out of 75 per cent if you only answer three questions, you need to
understand that it is always easier to obtain the first few marks on a
question than it is to obtain the last. Every one of you, if you have studied
the subject and undertaken some revision, can obtain the initial marks on
all of the questions posed. It is less certain that everyone can perform to a
first-class level, no matter how long they spend on their answer. So make
sure that you do the basics in a satisfactory way before worrying about
trying to achieve the highest marks on a question and this means
answering four questions no exceptions!
What are the Examiners looking for?
It is as well to have in mind the objectives of this unit when considering
what the Examiners are looking for in your examination paper.
The specific objectives of the unit are:
to introduce the key current debates in geography and to position
these debates within the history of geographical ideas
to enable the acquisition of a broad knowledge of a range of
contemporary geographical issues and to understand how these have
developed over time
to provide a basic understanding of economic, social, cultural and
political concerns from a global and local perspective.
As a consequence, any opportunity that arises for you to demonstrate that
you have achieved these objectives would be worth taking. Some such
opportunities will explored in the specific comments on the previous years
examination paper that accompany these more general observations.
Key steps to improvement
Three things are worth saying at this point.
1. You must all have heard the phrase reading for a degree in answer, say,
to the question what are you doing? Nothing could be more
representative of the truth. You are all reading for your degree. Any
opportunity that you can show that you have been reading will improve
the quality of your performance.
This year was only the second year that we have formally examined the
revised syllabus with the benefit of the new subject guide. As a result, the
examination reflected this more detailed syllabus and the materials
presented in the new guide. Certainly there was less emphasis on classical
location theories (although they were covered) and traditional concepts
such as those of the region and those involved in depicting rural
settlement. Only one question was set for which an understanding of

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Examiners commentaries 2008
classical location theory was required. So the best advice is to consider the
revised syllabus carefully, make full use of the new resources, look at the
examination advice given therein and read this commentary to provide a
general sense of what is required to answer questions properly. The
question papers for 2007 and 2008 are more useful for your preparation
than those from 2006. You are advised to prepare in depth for a
reasonably wide range of topics.
2. Another way that you can improve your answer again involving
reading is to read the newspaper (a good one!) or read the news on the
internet. Your subject is a highly contemporary one and practically
everything that is happening in the serious news has some bearing on the
subject that you are studying. Of course the internet too has much valuable
material. You must be sure though that the source of the material is
reliable. There are many groups out there that perhaps are a little
economical with the truth or who have a particular line to take. One
particularly reliable source that has recently made a batch of interesting
and useful materials available is the Royal Geographical Society based in
London. The RGS has recently advertised the production of new materials
for its public engagement programme. This takes the form of discussion
and debate on key geographical topics. There are articles and videos by top
commentators, all easily and freely accessible via the web links below. All
of the key topics are interesting. All are useful in the sense of providing
you with illustrative material that you can weave into your answers for
many questions. You even have the opportunity of hearing the views of
people such as Sir Bob Geldof and Kofi Annan on economic growth, trade,
war, hunger, climate change, etc., in an African context. Some topics even
relate directly to your syllabus such as population migration and many
are tangentially relevant. So if it is difficult for you to access a good daily
newspaper, perhaps you would like to have a look at the resources below.
Topics include:
Migration, skills and the job market
www.21stcenturychallenges.org/challenges/migration/
Video: www.21stcenturychallenges.org/challenges/migration/media-
gallery/video/
Razing the rainforest
www.21stcenturychallenges.org/challenges/rainforest/
Video: www.21stcenturychallenges.org/challenges/rainforest/media-
gallery/video/
London under water
www.21stcenturychallenges.org/challenges/london-under-water/
Video: www.21stcenturychallenges.org/challenges/london-under-
water/media-gallery/video/
Concreting the countryside
www.21stcenturychallenges.org/challenges/countryside/



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Examiners commentaries 2008
Video:
www.21stcenturychallenges.org/challenges/countryside/media-
gallery/video/
Future of low carbon energy
www.21stcenturychallenges.org/challenges/low-carbon-energy/
Video:
www.21stcenturychallenges.org/challenges/low-carbon-energy/media-
gallery/video/
Africa in the 21st century
www.21stcenturychallenges.org/challenges/africa/
Video:
www.21stcenturychallenges.org/challenges/africa/media-gallery/video/
3. The third thing to say is somewhat more mundane and is taken up in a
bit more detail in the next section. You can improve your performance by
practising your examination technique. Some people are naturally good at
exams. The rest of us have to acquire the skill of good examination
technique and that usually comes with practice. Quite simply, the more
essays you write, the better at essay writing you become.
Examination technique
We have already mentioned time management, but there are a number of
other general points about examination technique that are well worth
repeating.
When writing answers in exams you are often advised that you should
make a plan and answer the actual question posed not one that you
hoped for or revised for. Answering the question set is paramount. The act
of making a plan means that you have thought about the question. If you
have a plan you know where you are going. You would be surprised how
many candidates say that they are going to do one thing in an answer and
end up doing something totally different or come to a conclusion totally
opposite to what they said in their introduction. If you have a plan for the
beginning, middle and end of your answer, this can be avoided.
The Examiners are not just looking to see how much you know about the
subject. If they were, then questions would just say: Tell us everything
that you know about X or Y. No, Examiners are looking for something
else. They want to try to find out whether you have understood the
material. They do this by asking you a specific question. The basic idea is
that if you have undertaken your studies and revised thoroughly then you
can use this experience to formulate an answer to the question that has
been put to you. The skill is being selective in using what you have learned
to answer the question. And this really is a skill. The good news is that you
can acquire this skill by practice: many candidates write practice answers
or at least practice plans as part of their revision programme. Sometimes it
is a good idea to do this type of revision with a fellow candidate and if you
can have someone read and comment on your practice answers, then this
is all the better. Past examination papers provide a more than adequate
supply of questions.

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Examiners commentaries 2008
The examination is, of course, conducted in English. You must take care to
make your arguments clear. This means following the basic points of
grammar. It is altogether much better to write a little less if it means that
the sentences make sense and are properly formed. A good rule of thumb
is: one clear idea per paragraph made up of short but complete sentences.
All of the above does not mean that model answers should be learned.
There is no doubt that you must learn some facts and some theories and it
makes good sense to memorise the structure of topics, but it is just not
necessary to learn individual sentences for replication. In fact, there is a
tendency not to concentrate on the meaning of what is being said if
sentences are simply learned by heart. A diagram, perhaps a graph, may
well be helpful in answering certain questions and these would have to be
memorised. But, really, what the Examiners want to see is a candidate
attempting to answer the question posed in a logical way, using the
revision detail to hand.
It should be noted that in answering questions in this subject it is the
structure of the argument that is more important than taking the right
line or providing the correct judgement. Very often there is no correct
answer and sometimes it is helpful for candidates to reason on the basis of
their own value-judgement or assessment. Examiners do like to see that
candidates are able to demonstrate that they have thought about their
topic, have undertaken some reading, and are capable of understanding
the question and can interact with it. The important point is that the
question must be approached with logic and a preparedness to explore the
arguments. All of these things have been said many times before in this
and other reports, but their importance cannot be overemphasised.

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