GeographyQ&A by dot point

How marine erosion, transport and deposition create distinctive erosional and depositional landforms along the coast.

Coasts as systems within sediment cells, the marine and sub-aerial processes that create erosional and depositional landforms, the causes of coastal recession and flooding, and how coastal risk can be managed sustainably.

How coastal recession, sub-aerial processes, eustatic and isostatic sea-level change and storm surges alter coastlines over time.

How glacial and periglacial erosion, transport and deposition create erosional, depositional, fluvioglacial and periglacial landforms.

Why glaciated and periglacial landscapes are valued, how they are threatened by physical and human processes, and how their fragility creates management conflict.

Glaciers as systems with a mass balance, the glacial, fluvioglacial and periglacial processes that create landforms, and the value, threats and sustainable management of past and present glaciated landscapes.

How hard and soft engineering, ICZM, Shoreline Management Plans and the views of different players are used to manage coastal flooding and erosion.

How tectonic hazards are managed using the hazard management cycle, the Park model, prediction and monitoring, mitigation and preparedness at local, national and international scales.

Why disaster occurrence and impact varies, using the risk equation, vulnerability, resilience, the Pressure and Release model, hazard profiles and the distinction between primary, secondary and tertiary impacts.

The causes of tectonic hazards, why some develop into disasters, the impact of tectonic processes on people and places, and how risk can be managed through prediction, mitigation and the disaster cycle.

The reasons globalisation is contested at different scales, from anti-globalisation movements and localism to alternative models such as transition towns and policy responses including protectionism.

How population structure and cultural diversity vary between and within urban and rural places, the causes of demographic and cultural change, how people perceive and experience their changing places, and the tensions that diversity and change can create.

The causes and acceleration of globalisation, the role of technology, transport, TNCs and global institutions, the switched-on and switched-off places, and the social, economic and environmental costs and benefits of an interconnected world.

The economic, social and cultural impacts of globalisation through global shift, migration and cultural diffusion, and its consequences for the development gap and the physical environment.

How dimensions of inequality such as housing, income, services and health produce spatial patterns of segregation, and how deprivation and inequality are measured.

How governments, planners, developers and communities manage regeneration through rebranding and reimaging, and how economic, social, demographic and environmental indicators measure its contested success.

How place attachment, perception and identity vary between insiders and outsiders, and how places are represented through formal data and informal media.

How key players from government to community groups use policies, regeneration and community action to reduce cultural and social inequality, and how their success is measured.

How economic change and connectedness shape places and identities, why some places need regenerating, the players and strategies involved in rebranding and regeneration, and how the success of regeneration can be measured and contested.

Contested spheres of influence such as the Arctic and South China Sea create tensions over borders, resources and alliances, while shifting global power restructures economies and reshapes norms.

Geopolitical intervention ranges from development aid to military action and sanctions, and its effectiveness is judged against stability, development, health indicators and human rights outcomes.

How development and human wellbeing are defined and measured, the variations in health and human rights between and within countries, the role of international organisations and intervention, and how the success of aid, development and military intervention can be assessed.

The causes and patterns of international migration, how globalisation and migration affect national identity, the changing meaning of nation states, borders and sovereignty, and the tensions between supranational governance and national independence.

Nation states are defined by sovereignty over territory and shared identity, but globalisation, supranational governance, separatism and annexation threaten their territorial integrity.

Superpowers maintain power through the global economic architecture and neo-colonial relationships, and shape global politics, resource demand and the physical environment.

The characteristics and sources of superpower status, the changing pattern of global power over time, the role of superpowers in the global economy, governance and the environment, and the geopolitical tensions and spheres of influence this creates.

Human disruption of the carbon cycle, the climate consequences and tipping points it triggers, the uncertainty in projecting future change, and the mitigation and adaptation responses available.

The global carbon cycle as a system of stores and fluxes, the fast biological and slow geological cycles, the biological and physical ocean pumps, terrestrial stores and the greenhouse effect, ocean acidification and planetary health.

The evidence and causes of climate change, the role of feedbacks linking the water and carbon cycles, the projected physical and human consequences for places, and the mitigation and adaptation strategies needed for a sustainable future.

Energy security and the national energy mix, the factors shaping it, energy pathways and chokepoints, the players that influence supply, and the links between energy, the carbon cycle, water and climate.

Hard supply-side mega projects, soft sustainable demand-side schemes, integrated water resource management and transboundary treaties as competing strategies for managing a finite and contested water resource.

The carbon cycle as a system of stores and fluxes, the role of the biological and physical pumps and human disruption, the meaning and drivers of energy security, the energy mix and pathways, and the links between carbon, energy and sustainability.

The global water cycle as a system with stores and flows, drainage-basin processes and the water budget, the physical and human causes of water insecurity, and the conflicts and management strategies that surround a finite water resource.

The global hydrological cycle as a closed system of stores and fluxes, the drainage basin as an open system, the water budget and storm hydrographs, and the physical and human factors that drive floods and drought.

Water scarcity and stress measured against the Falkenmark thresholds, the physical and human causes of rising insecurity, the contested price of water, and the geopolitics of transboundary rivers and aquifers.

The nature and demands of the Edexcel Paper 3 synoptic investigation: how the pre-released resource booklet links the compulsory content across the specification, how the geographical skills and players-and-attitudes framework are applied, and how to structure the evaluative decision-making essay.

The nature, requirements and assessment of the independent investigation (the non-examined assessment): an independent fieldwork-based enquiry of 3000 to 4000 words using primary and secondary data, structured through the enquiry process and marked against Pearson's criteria.