alexalexalex Posted November 1, 2016 Report Share Posted November 1, 2016 Hello guys! I'm just a bit desperate right now because I've just realised how absolutely horrible I am at Geography. Honestly, I try to study it for 10 minutes and I just get so frustrated. I just don't know how to approach it, it just feels like there is so so much I need to learn and memorise and I feel like every lesson I'm falling further and further behind. Does anyone have any tips?? How did you survive geo? Ik it sounds silly because everyone tells me about how Geo is supposed to be one of the easiest subjects, but for me it's the one I'm struggling the most with at the moment. Cheers! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
astonky Posted November 5, 2016 Report Share Posted November 5, 2016 I'm the type of persom who thinks that Geography is easy (but only if you know how to study for it). The key in this subject is to look closely at the syllabus and make your own notes that cover each bullet point in the syllabus. Notes This may sound easy at first (and it is easy provided your teacher gives you great notes) but else you may struggle to find information online. Some helpful websites include: buddinggeographers.wikispaces.com greenfieldgeography.wikispaces.com igcsegeography.wordpress.com thegeographeronline.com You'll probably need to consult other websites for your research, and in particular for the case studies (though I'll talk about case studies later in this post). The idea is for you to create comprehensive notes on all syllabus topics, including relevant and annotated diagrams - you'll need these for the long-responsive questions in the exams. Studying After you have a set of notes, there are two main ways for you to practise from these materials. The first way involves reciting everything you remember from your notes out loud, then go back to your notes and look over what you forgotnto mention. Take a short break and recite everything you remember now. Then look over your notes again. Repeat this process until everything is commited to memory (but don't learn your notes verbatim excluding definitions). This step works for up to 4-6 pages or up to 30 minutes at a time, depending on your experience with this method. If you're not fond of reviewing out loud, you try to reproduce your notes from memory, including the annotated diagrams. Then review your initial set of notes to see what you missed. Repeat on a different occasion (different day, or a few hours later). Finally, you should train your exam skills by doing past years papers (you can get them from your teachers) and reviewing them with the mark schemes (also from your teachers, or ask your teachers or me to correct them for you). Ideally you may have access to subject reports, these are documents which describe common student mistakes in the subject, and thus pinpoint as to what you should avoid. Case Studies Contrary to popular belief, you don't need to know insane levels of detail. 2-3 stats on each subtopic should suffice provided you can relate them tomthe argument and analyse them in the context of the essay question. Exams In the SL exam, you'll be taking two papers: Core themes and Options. As for Paper 1 Core Themes you'll have 4 large questions with subsections that require short-answer responses. The first question of each subsection asks you to interpret a diagram for which you should state the general trend, the anomalies and use evidence (figures) to back up your claims. The next questions are based on the theory, and the final question tests your case study knowledge as well as the theory. In these questions you should apply the theory to a suitable example, and then use a statistic to substantiate your claims. After these four large questions (one on each of the themes), there is one last large question in Paper 1 worth 15 marks. This question not only tests your theoretical knowledge but alsomyour essay writing skills. Aim for 1.5 to 2 sides of writing including a labelled diagram. First define the key vocabulary in the question, and then relate it to the argument of your text. In the body paragraph discuss evidence for your argument and evaluate counter-claims. Include a diagram to impress an examiner. In your conclusion restate your argument and the majn evidence supporting it. If possible link it to a recent issue (end using recent stats). In the options paper you'll have theory questions along a similar format of those in Paper 1, followed by a 10 mark essay (same strucutre as 15 mark just more condensed). Then you'll also have to do a 15 mark essay, as in Paper 1 (I think please correct me if I am mistaken as I do HL). I hope that covers it. 2 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mac117 Posted November 5, 2016 Report Share Posted November 5, 2016 So I might not have as helpful of an advice as @astonky, here are a few helpful links. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jSGJnIPk5zNr6s4YMCubhsqlWN3aTR62dJ-ce8Bq4Lk/edit?usp=drive_web - here are all the topics summarised with most of the options. This is a very useful document, and explains everything well. Sadly, I can't find the author to give the credit. https://quizlet.com/join/nqTjFrSnz - quizlet done by the Reddit user TheMrAlig22, so the credit goes to them. Very useful as well. http://greenfieldgeography.wikispaces.com - absolutely amazing, hands down my favourite website for geography. VERY detailed, so definitely "filter down" the information as you study. Good luck! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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