Geography 2019 HSC exam pack (archive)

Students should:

• have a clear understanding of key words in the question and recognise their different requirements, such as, ‘evaluate’, ‘assess’ and ‘explain’
• read the question carefully to ensure that they do not miss important components of the question
• use a plan to guide the response
• sustain their judgements throughout the response rather than adding a sentence on judgement at the end of each paragraph
• use relevant geographic terminology to support their judgement throughout their response
• support responses with relevant and contemporary examples
• engage with what the question is asking rather than presenting a pre-prepared response
• provide well organised, cohesive and sustained information throughout the response.

Question 22

In better responses, students were able to explain:

• TWO environmental effects on the proposed mine (b)
• TWO social effects on the proposed mine (c).

Areas for students to improve include:

• understanding the difference between social and environmental effects on the proposed mine (b and c).

Question 23

In better responses, students were able to:

• refer to specific components that influence weather and climate (b)
• give examples of how specific components of weather and climate have determined the global location of an ecosystem (b)
• refer to how resilience and vulnerability are affected by natural stress (c).

Areas for students to improve include:

• referring to how the dynamics of weather and climate influence the ecosystem and not the location of the ecosystem (b)
• understanding that the dynamics of weather and climate, include aspects such as temperature, rainfall, wind speed and direction, pressure systems and humidity (b)
• making reference to specific examples of how natural stress affects resilience as well as vulnerability (c).

Question 24

In better responses, students were able to:

• correctly identify a dynamic other than urban village and clearly articulate how the dynamic has influenced the character of a country town or suburb (a)
• provide specific evidence or statistics that illustrates the change in character of the country town or suburb (a)
• clearly identify TWO challenges of megacities from the developing world and address the affects that these challenges have on the city e.g. poor sanitation leads to health problems (b)

Areas for students to improve include:

• greater understanding of the definition and contexts of urban dynamics e.g. urban consolidation increasing population density (a)
• addressing both aspects of the question, that is urban dynamic and change in character (a)
• providing specific evidence and/or statistics that supports how the urban dynamic is changing the character of the country town or suburb (a)
• understanding the requirements of the question, that is to describe the effects of the challenge and not just outline the challenge (b)
• providing correct locations of megacities from the developing world (b).

Question 25

In better responses, students were able to:

• accurately identify an economic enterprise (a)
• correctly outline the effects of environmental constraints on an economic enterprise (a)
• include specific examples of the effects of environmental constraints relevant to an economic enterprise (a)
• accurately identify an economic activity (b)
• clearly explain the social and economic impacts of an economic activity (b)
• provide examples and statistics to show the social and economic impacts of an economic activity (b).

Areas for students to improve include:

• understanding what is meant by environmental constraints (a)
• differentiating between an economic enterprise and an economic activity (a and b)
• demonstrating a better understanding of what is meant by the social and economic impacts rather than factors that explain the nature, spatial patterns and future directions (b).

Question 26

In better responses, students were able to:

• identify the reasons as to why it is important to manage and protect ecosystems at risk  
• demonstrate a deep knowledge and understanding of why it is important to manage and protect ecosystems at risk               
• make explicit use of appropriate case studies and illustrative examples and link them to the reasons.

Areas for students to improve include:

• answering the specific question that is asked rather than writing about the topic in general
• understanding of terminology relating to ecosystems at risk.
   

Question 27

In better responses, students were able to:

• demonstrate a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of how the nature and distribution of world cities influences their role in the operation of global networks.

Areas for students to improve include:

• directly addressing the specific question rather than a general discussion on world cities.

Question 28

In better responses, students were able to accurately:

• identify a global economic activity
• explain how biophysical and technological factors affect the nature of the economic activity in a global context.

Areas for students to improve include:

• understanding what biophysical and technological factors are, as identified in the syllabus
• using a range of relevant and current examples that come from a global context
• differentiating between global economic activity and local enterprise.