Frequently Asked Questions

The course is run over two academic years. It is made up of five compulsory modules which are delivered through two or two and a half hours of contact time per week, over five terms.

The folio exercises, investigative fieldwork and research topic must be submitted to our Consultative Moderator for approval before being used as a means of assessment.

A suggested timetable for submission to us is detailed below:

Unit	Date to be sent to the Moderator
Folio 1	Autumn Term – Year 1
Folio 2	Spring Term – Year 1
Fieldwork Investigation	Autumn Term – Year 2
Research Topic	Autumn term – Year 2

Yes, you can receive guidance from either the Principal Officer with responsibility for Geography or from one of our Consultative Moderators. Please contact us directly for further details.

No, students will not receive a certificate if the assessment tasks have not been approved by us.

No, we do not formally report attainment in individual assessment units. Some Centres award Completion Certificates to students after they complete an assessment unit. To request a supply of Completion Certificates contact us.

The specification is not prescriptive; teachers are free use teaching approaches and examples most suited to their group.

A folio must contain three pieces of work and should be completed in the classroom under timed, supervised conditions. In total, the folio should take approximately 3-4 hours to complete.

The oral assessment is set by us, but administered by the class teacher and moderated using audio cassettes. Students are interviewed by their teacher and must answer questions, respond to stimuli and take part in discussion for 5 to 10 minutes. The interview questions/topics for discussion are based on the key ideas of Module 4: The Sustainable Development of Tourism. The oral involves the use of stimulus materials such as photographs, graphs, maps, tables of figures and/or newspaper/magazine extracts, Students are allowed time to look at and familiarise themselves with the stimulus materials in the week immediately preceding the oral test. It is essential that the oral assessment is carried out in a relaxed atmosphere and that teachers adopt a conversational approach that puts students at ease.

Centres are advised to include one or two tests only to each side of the cassette tape.

The fieldwork investigation must be based on one aspect of Module 1, 2 or 3. However, the module selected for the fieldwork investigation must be different from the two modules selected for the folios.

The investigation must be a first-hand study of a small area, for example the student’s home area or the school grounds. Teachers are free to set the assignment but we must approve it. Teachers must ensure that the investigation is appropriate to the student’s ability.

Students can work together in groups following a design set out by the teacher but in this scenario, all written work must be completed individually under supervised conditions.

Students are marked on their ability to:

• collect data;
• produce maps, graphs and diagrams;
• interpret and relate data to the chosen theme or topic to reach a clearly defined conclusion; and
• present work in terms of neatness and arrangement of material.

Teachers should encourage students to use ICT where appropriate. The time taken to complete the fieldwork investigation will vary from student to student.

The research topic assesses students’ understanding of the key ideas in Module 5.

Teachers are free to choose the key idea and to set questions to be assessed but we must approve them first. The research topic must be short and focused and based on secondary data.

Students can present their research and findings in a variety of formats including brochures, newspaper reports, posters, interview transcripts, videos, oral presentations, storyboards and/or scripts.

Students are marked on their ability to:

• research material relevant to the enquiry and show knowledge and understanding of relevant concepts, ideas and facts;
• the quality of reasoning – the ability to interpret and relate the information obtained to the chosen question in order to reach a clearly explained conclusion;
• the ability to form an opinion on the issue and to recognise the values and attitudes involved; and
• communication and appropriateness of format.

We recommend the use of ICT in research and presentation. The time needed to complete the assessment will vary from student to student.

Centres must send a minimum of five sets of work or one fifth of the total entry for each assessment unit for moderation. Do not send more than 10 samples of work for each assessment unit. The sample must be a cross section of standards from the group.

At the end of the course, (late April), the following items should be sent to the moderator:

• the Class Record Sheet (signed/dated by the teacher), with the total candidature for the centre, listed in alphabetical order. An asterisk should be placed beside those students whose coursework has been submitted to the moderator;
• the Oral Test mark sheets for all students with audio cassettes for moderation. The cassettes used for the orals must include the name and number of the individual student at the beginning of each recording;
• samples of the students’ work for the folios, fieldwork investigation and research topic. Each sample of work for moderation must be accompanied by a completed Candidate Record Sheet;
• the coursework submission sheet which allows schools to give additional relevant information for the moderator.