Eduqas GCSE Geography A (C111): complete guide to the three components, themes and fieldwork

WJEC Eduqas GCSE Geography A (specification C111) is a linear course assessed by three written examinations at the end of Year 11. It is the theme-led member of the Eduqas two-specification family: content is organised into eight numbered themes, and the course builds towards an applied fieldwork paper that ends in a decision-making exercise. There is no coursework grade, but you must complete two fieldwork enquiries in contrasting environments. This page is the index: below is a map of the three components, the themes in each, the case studies you must learn, and the skills that run across the whole course.

Geography A or Geography B?

Eduqas (part of WJEC) offers two GCSE Geography specifications, and they are not interchangeable.

• Geography A (C111) is the theme-led route. Content is split into eight numbered themes (Landscapes and Physical Processes, Rural-urban Links, Weather, Climate and Ecosystems, Development and Resource Issues, plus optional themes), with a conventional physical-then-human structure. It has the larger national entry.
• Geography B (C112) is the enquiry and problem-solving route. Content is organised into three broad units (Changing Places and Changing Economies, Changing Environments, Environmental Challenges), and the third paper is a problem-solving exercise.

Both are mainstream, both cover the same regulated GCSE Geography content, and the grade is worth the same. The choice is your school's, and it changes the component names and the question style, so always confirm which one you are sitting. This guide is for Geography A (C111).

The three components

Eduqas splits Geography A into three written papers, each 1 hour 30 minutes, covering physical and human landscapes, environmental and development issues, and applied fieldwork.

• Component 1: Changing Physical and Human Landscapes. Theme 1 (Landscapes and Physical Processes), Theme 2 (Rural-urban Links) and one optional theme (Theme 3 Tectonic Landscapes and Hazards or Theme 4 Coastal Hazards and their Management). 35%.
• Component 2: Environmental and Development Issues. Theme 5 (Weather, Climate and Ecosystems), Theme 6 (Development and Resource Issues) and one optional theme (Theme 7 Social Development Issues or Theme 8 Environmental Challenges). 35%.
• Component 3: Applied Fieldwork Enquiry. Fieldwork methodology and analysis, application of your own two enquiries, and a decision-making exercise based on a resource booklet. 30%.

Marks for spelling, punctuation, grammar and specialist terminology are awarded on the extended answers, totalling about 5 percent of the overall marks.

Component 1: Changing Physical and Human Landscapes

This is the physical and human landscapes half of the course, built from two core themes plus one optional theme.

Theme 1: Landscapes and Physical Processes (core)

The distinctive landscapes of the UK, the geomorphic processes that shape rivers and coasts, the landforms they create, drainage basins and the causes and effects of flooding, and how landforms and landscapes are managed.

Theme 2: Rural-urban Links (core)

The urban-rural continuum in the UK, population and urban change in the UK (including counterurbanisation and inner-city change), and urban issues in contrasting global cities.

Optional theme (one of two)

Either Theme 3: Tectonic Landscapes and Hazards (plate processes, tectonic landforms, vulnerability and hazard reduction) or Theme 4: Coastal Hazards and their Management (vulnerable coastlines, coastal flooding and erosion, and how the hazard is managed).

Component 2: Environmental and Development Issues

This is the environmental and development half of the course, again two core themes plus one optional theme.

Theme 5: Weather, Climate and Ecosystems (core)

Climate change through the Quaternary period, weather patterns and processes (including air masses and hazards such as drought and tropical storms), how ecosystems function, the impact of human activity on ecosystems, and the management of biomes such as tropical rainforests.

Theme 6: Development and Resource Issues (core)

Measuring global inequalities, the causes and consequences of uneven development at the global scale and within an LIC and an NIC, globalisation, trade and aid, population change and development, and resource management.

Optional theme (one of two)

Either Theme 7: Social Development Issues (measuring social development and responses to it) or Theme 8: Environmental Challenges (consumerism, climate change, sustainable tourism and ecosystem restoration).

Component 3: Applied Fieldwork Enquiry

This paper assesses fieldwork and brings the course together on an unfamiliar place.

Part A: fieldwork methodology and analysis

Using unfamiliar fieldwork material to assess how data are collected, presented and analysed, and to evaluate methods.

Part B: applying your own enquiries

Using your two fieldwork enquiries (one physical, one human) to answer wider geographical questions about why and how fieldwork is carried out.

Part C: decision-making exercise

A resource booklet about an unfamiliar UK place or issue leads to a high-tariff decision-making question, where you weigh options and reach a justified decision using the resources and your own understanding.

The skills that run across the course

Each theme rewards content knowledge, but the marks come from applying it through a fixed set of question types.

1. Process explanation. Describing how a landform develops or how a physical or human process works, often with a labelled diagram.
2. Case-study application. Using named facts, figures and place names to support an answer.
3. Data and statistics. Reading maps and graphs, and calculating and interpreting statistics such as the mean, median, range and interquartile range, across every component.
4. Decision making and evaluation. Weighing options and reaching a justified conclusion, especially in the Applied Fieldwork Enquiry and the higher-tariff Assess, Evaluate and To what extent questions.

The themes, dot point by dot point

Each module has an overview guide, dot-point answer pages and a quiz. Browse the full set at /gcse-eduqas/geography/syllabus.

For the official specification

Eduqas publishes the full specification (C111), past papers and mark schemes at eduqas.co.uk. Always revise from the current specification and Eduqas's own past papers, because the command words, mark tariffs and the Component 3 resource booklet are board-specific.