Geography B

    Eduqas
    GCSE

    Specification: C112QS

    The EDUQAS GCSE Geography B specification covers 15 topics with 89 learning objectives (C112QS). Use the topic browser below to explore subtopics, exam tips, common mistakes, and key terminology for each area of the course.

    Starting Eduqas GCSE Geography B this term? The whole specification is below, unit by unit.

    This subject will help you develop key knowledge and skills required for exam success.

    15

    Topics

    89

    Objectives

    0

    Exam Tips

    0

    Pitfalls

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    Key Features

    • Master key concepts
    • Develop exam technique
    • Apply knowledge effectively

    About Eduqas GCSE Geography B

    Eduqas GCSE Geography B is a dynamic and contemporary course that explores the complex interactions between people and their environment. You will study a balanced mix of physical, human, and environmental geography, with a strong emphasis on real-world issues such as climate change, globalisation, and sustainable development. The specification is structured into three engaging themes: 'Changing Places, Changing Economies', 'Changing Environments', and 'Environmental Challenges', each designed to build your understanding of the world today.

    The course encourages you to think critically about the challenges facing our planet and to consider different perspectives on how these can be managed. You will develop key geographical skills, including map work, data analysis, and fieldwork, which are integrated throughout the themes. This approach not only prepares you for the exams but also equips you with valuable transferable skills for further study and future employment.

    Assessment Structure

    Eduqas GCSE Geography B is assessed through three written exam papers and a non-examined assessment (NEA) in the form of fieldwork. Component 1: 'Investigating Geographical Issues' is a 1 hour 30 minute written exam worth 40% of the qualification, covering all three themes and including a decision-making exercise. Component 2: 'Investigating Geographical Issues' is a 1 hour 30 minute written exam worth 40%, focusing on problem-solving and geographical skills. Component 3: 'Applied Fieldwork Enquiry' is a 1 hour 30 minute written exam worth 20%, based on fieldwork experiences and a cross-theme issue. There is no coursework; instead, fieldwork is assessed through the exam. The total marks for the qualification are 200.

    Why Choose Eduqas?

    • Eduqas offers a refreshingly contemporary and issues-based approach to geography, with a strong focus on current global challenges like climate change, sustainability, and inequality. This makes the content highly relevant and engaging for students who want to understand the world today.
    • The specification includes a decision-making exercise in Component 1, which develops critical thinking and problem-solving skills by asking you to evaluate real-world geographical issues and propose solutions. This is excellent preparation for further study and future careers.
    • Eduqas provides a wide range of high-quality support materials, including detailed schemes of work, sample assessment materials, and online resources, making it easier for teachers to deliver the course and for students to revise effectively.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Specification Topics

    15 topics

    Introduction - Aims and objectives

    develop the ability to think independently by applying geographical knowledge, understanding, skills and approaches appropriately and creatively to real world contexts. In so doing they should appreciate that geography can be ‘messy’ i.e. that real geography does not always match typical or predicted outcomes., develop the ability to think creatively, for example, by posing questions that relate to geographical process and concepts that include questioning about spatial pattern and geographical change, develop the ability to think scientifically by collecting and recording appropriate evidence from a range of sources, including fieldwork, before critically assessing the validity of this evidence and synthesising their findings to reach evidenced conclusions that relate to the initial aim of their enquiry

    3 objectives3 subtopics

    Prior learning and progression

    a stronger focus on forming generalisations and/or abstractions, including some awareness of theoretical perspectives and of the subject’s conceptual frameworks, an increased involvement of learners in planning and undertaking independent enquiry in which skills and knowledge are applied to investigate geographical questions, a greater stress on the multivariate nature of 'human-physical' relationships and interactions +3 more

    6 objectives6 subtopics

    Theme 3: Key Idea 3.4 Desertification

    An overview of the location and global distribution of environments vulnerable to desertification. How this distribution pattern is changing over time. The relationship of this distribution to the global circulation of the atmosphere and to the dominance of high pressure systems. Changing climatic patterns over periods of decades to include unreliable rainfall patterns and higher rates of evapotranspiration in hot semi-arid regions. Smaller scale processes related to changing patterns of vegetation, evapotranspiration and micro-climate., Human activities to include unsustainable use of water resources, over-grazing, poor land management and use of fire wood. The different viewpoints, values and attitudes of stakeholders in the region., A range of strategies employed by Non-Government Organisations (NGOs), working at a local level with communities, to include drip irrigation, magic stones and use of drought-tolerant crops. International strategies aimed at reducing the spread of areas experiencing desertification.

    3 objectives3 subtopics

    Theme 1: Key Idea 1.2 Urban and rural processes and change in the UK

    How urban and rural areas are used for leisure. Advantages and disadvantages of leisure use for both local residents and leisure users. The impacts of increasing leisure use on rural honeypots. Positive and negative impacts of major sporting events on localities. Study of one location where leisure use is managed and the effectiveness of the management strategy., How regional inequalities and social factors contribute to population movement within the UK. How commuting and tele- working influence where people live and work in the UK. How migration, from outside the UK, has social and economic consequences for urban and rural areas of the UK. The factors leading to depopulation in some rural areas of the UK., The challenges of creating sustainable living environments in urban and rural locations. Coverage must include the importance of transport systems in creating sustainable communities. +5 more

    8 objectives8 subtopics

    Theme 2: Key Idea 2.2 Shaping the landscape - rivers and river management

    The physical factors (to include geology and vegetation) and human activities (to include urbanisation and changes to ecosystems) that cause rivers to flood. Climatic patterns that cause seasonal floods. Extreme weather events that cause flash floods., Coverage of landforms must include v-shaped valleys, waterfalls, gorges, meanders, ox-bow lakes, floodplains and estuaries. How human activity affects river landscapes to include creation of reservoirs, dredging and straightening of channels., Conflicting views on drainage basin management. The reasons why stakeholders have different views, values and attitudes and why this may lead to controversy. The economic and social impacts of river management on locations downstream. +4 more

    7 objectives7 subtopics

    Component 3: Applied Fieldwork Enquiry - Conceptual Frameworks

    Applying understanding of uniqueness / identity. Comparing and contrasting the features of two distinctive locations to identify the uniqueness of place: • the characteristics of coastal features in two locations • the characteristics of river features in two locations • the characteristics of an ecosystem in two locations • two villages or two urban environments • quality of life in two neighbourhoods., Applying understanding of change and movement in relation to place. Identifying patterns of movement (in either a human or physical context) and the reasons for, or effects of, these movements: • migration survey which focuses on push-pull factors and their impacts in either an urban or rural locations • diurnal flows within urban environments and the effects for example, on transport systems • study of commuter flows between an urban and neighbouring rural location • comparing river flows in contrasting river stages and/or over time • identifying seasonal change in a local ecosystem., Applying understanding of inequality and associated concepts such as deprivation or equality of access to services. Analysing patterns of inequality: • how positive and negative externalities impact on standard of living in urban or rural environments • comparing access to services in rural and urban communities within the hinterland of one large urban area • evaluating quality of life for a named socio-economic group (for example, young families) in one community • assessing quality of the urban environment and its impact on house prices across an urban transect • evaluating the success of an urban regeneration scheme in reducing deprivation. +3 more

    6 objectives6 subtopics

    Component 3: Applied Fieldwork Enquiry - Methodological Approaches

    Analyse sediment size/shape as a result of longshore drift along a coastline, Changing land use over time in an urban/rural environment, Use of a transect across a feature to: Assess quality of life or environmental quality across an urban area +15 more

    18 objectives18 subtopics

    Theme 3: Key Idea 3.3 Water resources and management

    An overview of past and present global trends in water supply and demand. The concepts of water footprints and water security. The social, economic and environmental reasons why supply and demand for water varies over time and place. The links between population change, economic growth, consumerism and increasing demands for water., Ways in which an imbalance of supply and demand can be met within one country at a local scale. The international issues facing future water management across national boundaries., The concept of over-abstraction and the reasons for water transfer schemes. The impact of over-abstraction and unsustainable use of water on people, the economy and environment. Coverage to include the impacts in countries at contrasting levels of development (note the link to how human activity may contribute to desertification in 3.4.2).

    3 objectives3 subtopics

    Theme 1: Key Idea 1.3 A global perspective on development issues

    (a) The reasons MNCs have for locating in countries at different levels of development, including in the UK and one LIC or one NIC (one of the same countries chosen in the first strand of 1.3.3). The advantages and disadvantages of the development of global MNCs (for the MNC) and the consequences for the host country to include economic, social and environmental consequences., How the key drivers of globalisation (identified in enquiry question 1.3.2) have caused uneven levels of development at a global scale and within nations. The consequences of this uneven development. Coverage must include the UK and at least one Low Income Country (LIC)* and one Newly Industrialised Country (NIC)*. The following causes and consequences must be covered:, (d) The social, cultural, political and economic consequences, both positive and negative, of globalisation on societies. To include globalisation's effects in the UK and at least one Low Income Country (LIC) and one Newly Industrialised Country (NIC)* (the same countries used in the first strand of 1.3.3). Coverage must include international patterns of migration, globalisation of consumer products, globalisation of culture and threats to local and national identity. +5 more

    8 objectives8 subtopics

    Theme 3: Key Idea 3.2 Ecosystems under threat

    The reasons for conservation and management. The ways in which hot semi-arid grasslands and one other ecosystem have been managed (note the link to how environments vulnerable to desertification can be managed in 3.4.3) . Strategies for sustainable management., An overview of how humans use, modify and change ecosystems and environments in order to obtain food, energy and water resources., How hot semi-arid grasslands and one other ecosystem have been damaged by human activity. How processes within the ecosystem have been affected (note the link to how human activity can contribute to desertification in 3.4.2). The effects of the damage at the local scale, to include the effect on biodiversity, and at the global scale.

    3 objectives3 subtopics

    Theme 2: Key Idea 2.1 Shaping the landscape - coasts and coastal management

    Contemporary management options to reduce risk of coastal floods/erosion. Coverage must include: • costs/benefits of hard engineering options such as sea walls, groynes, gabions and rock armour • costs/benefits of soft engineering options to include beach nourishment, beach stabilisation and wetland creation • concepts of ‘hold the line’ and ‘retreat the line’., Geomorphological processes should include weathering, mass movement and marine processes. At a local scale, erosional marine processes must include hydraulic action, abrasion, attrition and solution. Coverage must also include the processes of transportation and deposition including longshore drift, traction, saltation, suspension and solution., The potential impacts of climate change on coastal communities in at least two countries at different levels of development. Management challenges which arise from sea level rise and the increased frequency of storms. +3 more

    6 objectives6 subtopics

    Theme 1: Key Idea 1.1 Urbanisation in contrasting global cities

    The growth and character of two global cities. One city must be located in either a low income country (LIC)* or newly industrialised country (NIC)*. The other city must be located in a high income country (HIC). For each city, learners must set their studies within the regional, national and global context of that city., (b) The resulting ways of life. The social, economic and cultural patterns within the city., (c) Current challenges to include: addressing poverty and deprivation; housing provision and quality; and infrastructure challenges of transport and waste disposal. +3 more

    6 objectives6 subtopics

    Theme 2: Key Idea 2.4 Climate change - cause and effect

    The consequences of climate change for people and environments. These must be in addition to the impact of climate change on coastal management strategies described in 2.1.4 above. Coverage must include the consequences on at least two of the following: • Farming and food supply • Wildlife and habitats • Water and water supplies • Where people live and population movement • Tourism and tourist destinations., How individuals can play a part in reducing the risk of climate change. How and why local and national UK government may attempt to reduce the risk of climate change., Natural processes that create the greenhouse effect. Evidence for global warming, including the role of human activity as one contributory factor in global warming. +2 more

    5 objectives5 subtopics

    Theme 2: Key Idea 2.3 Weather and climate

    An overview of the global circulation of the atmosphere to include the operation of cells in the troposphere. An overview of the location and distribution of distinctive climate zones across the globe. The features of the hot semi-arid climate (note the link to the study of hot semi-arid grasslands in 3.1.1) and one other climate zone., The characteristics of the UK climate including regional variations. Coverage must include seasonality, average monthly temperature and precipitation rates. The influence of global atmospheric circulation, latitude, altitude, air pressure, and distance from the sea., How global circulation creates areas of high and low pressure. Distribution and location of these pressure systems. Typical weather patterns and extreme weather hazards associated with high and low pressure systems. Coverage should include the use of weather charts. Temporal and spatial changes in extreme weather to include seasonal and longer term changes in the tropics which result in drought ( note the link to changing patterns of desertification in 3.4.1) and the seasonal distribution of cyclone/hurricanes. +1 more

    4 objectives4 subtopics

    Theme 3: Key Idea 3.1 How ecosystems function

    The characteristics of one small scale ecosystem in the UK. The benefits of the ecosystem for local communities. The challenges of managing the ecosystem and how different stakeholders perceive its value., The physical processes that link living/biotic components (plants, animals, decomposers) and non-living/abiotic components (temperature, light, moisture) in hot semi-arid grasslands and one other biome. Coverage must include nutrient stores and flows, energy flows and food webs (producers, primary, secondary and tertiary consumers). The concept of biodiversity., The location and distribution of biomes at a global scale and their relationship to climate zones. An overview of the characteristics and interdependence of climate, soils, vegetation, animals and humans in two contrasting biomes. Coverage must include hot semi-arid grasslands (note the link to the study of hot semi-arid climate in 2.3.2 and to the relationship between changing climatic patterns and the environment in 3.4.1) and one other biome.

    3 objectives3 subtopics

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