Geography 3910 考試技巧

常見錯誤

1. 1high涉及分數: 5Section B extended writing (AS 1 and AS 2)

   Fifteen-mark essays describe a generic place, for example 'a country' or 'a river', rather than a named, specific case study, which caps the answer at Level 2, a ceiling of around 10 marks.

   如何避免: Before you write, note down the place name, one statistic, and one dated fact for the case study you are using, then build the essay around them from the first sentence.
2. 2high涉及分數: 3Data response questions across AS 1, AS 2 and AS 3

   Data from a resource, such as a river level in metres or a temperature change in degrees, gets described in vague terms instead of quoted as an actual figure.

   如何避免: If the resource gives a number, put that number in your sentence. A trend described without a figure attached reads as an impression rather than evidence.
3. 3medium涉及分數: 2Fluvial processes

   Bedload erosion, meaning attrition between particles, gets confused with erosion of the channel boundary itself, which covers hydraulic action, abrasion and corrosion.

   如何避免: Keep the two separate: attrition is particles wearing each other down as they collide, while hydraulic action, abrasion and corrosion describe the river wearing away its own bed and banks.
4. 4medium涉及分數: 3Statistical testing in AS 3

   In Spearman's rank correlation questions, candidates confuse the degrees of freedom, which is the sample size minus 2, with the sample size itself, and read the wrong row of the significance table.

   如何避免: Write \( n - 2 \) explicitly before you look up the critical value, and state whether your calculated correlation is positive or negative in words, not just as a number.
5. 5medium涉及分數: 2Cartographic and choropleth map skills

   Choropleth map keys are built with overlapping category intervals, for example 10 to 20 and 20 to 30 sharing the boundary value, or with gaps left between bands.

   如何避免: Build the key before you shade anything. Check every data value falls into exactly one band, with no overlaps and no gaps, then shade from dark for the highest values to light for the lowest.
6. 6high涉及分數: 2Graphical construction in AS 3

   Graphs constructed in AS 3 are missing a full title naming both variables, axis units, or a key, even when the plotting itself is accurate.

   如何避免: Title every graph with both variables named, label both axes with units, keep the scale regular, and add a key whenever more than one data set is plotted.
7. 7medium涉及分數: 3Question 1(c)(ii): geographical reasoning

   Statistical results are stated as a bare number without saying what they mean geographically, missing the link back to the theory or model the fieldwork was testing.

   如何避免: After any calculation, add one sentence connecting the result to the geographical theory it supports or challenges. A correlation coefficient on its own earns fewer marks than one that is explained.
8. 8medium涉及分數: 2Planning and risk assessment

   Risk assessment answers confuse avoidance strategies, the preventative steps taken before fieldwork, with contingency planning, the actions taken if an accident happens anyway.

   如何避免: Keep the two in separate sentences: avoidance comes before the incident, contingency comes after it. Name at least one example of each when a question asks for both.