AQA A-level Geography
Open the official qualification source
Available here: original skills, concepts and selected sourced evidence exercises. This is not a complete course or a claim that every option and examination task is covered.
Physical and human examinations each contribute 40%; the independent investigation contributes 20%.
The independent investigation is 3,000–4,000 words. Use this site for unrelated methods training, not assessed investigation writing.
2027 assessment route
| Component | Duration | Marks | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Physical geography | 150 minutes | 120 | 40% |
| Human geography | 150 minutes | 120 | 40% |
| Geographical investigation | Independent assessment | 60 | 20% |
Assessment objectives
- AO1: Knowledge and understanding (30–40%)
- AO2: Application, analysis and evaluation (30–40%)
- AO3: Quantitative, qualitative and fieldwork skills (20–30%)
Save your taught options
Topic coverage by component
Partial means a few linked exercises cover part of the topic. It does not mean the topic has been taught in full.
Physical geography
Water and carbon: 36 marks. Landscape option: 36 marks. Hazards or ecosystems: 48 marks.
- Water and carbon cycles: Drainage basins as systems, Forest conversion and distant demand — partial
- Hot desert systems and landscapes (option): no dedicated concept lesson yet
- Coastal systems and landscapes (option): Coastal processes and management — partial
- Glacial systems and landscapes (option): Glacier change and measurement — partial
- Hazards (option): Hazard, exposure and vulnerability, Plate motion and tectonic hazards — partial
- Ecosystems under stress (option): Ecosystem interdependence — partial
Four and six figure grid references · Map scale and distance · Bearings · Contours and relief · Gradient · Climate graphs · Population pyramids · Scatter plots · Choropleth maps · Percentage change · Mean, median and range · Source evaluation · Interquartile range · Standard deviation · Spearman rank correlation · Chi-square goodness of fit
Human geography
Global systems: 36 marks. Changing places: 36 marks. Section C option: 48 marks.
- Global systems and global governance: Global value chains — partial
- Changing places: Matching evidence to a claim, Evaluating regeneration — partial
- Contemporary urban environments (option): Urban transport and access — partial
- Population and the environment (option): no dedicated concept lesson yet
- Resource security (option): Water security and competing uses, Power, energy and reliable supply — partial
Four and six figure grid references · Map scale and distance · Bearings · Contours and relief · Gradient · Climate graphs · Population pyramids · Scatter plots · Choropleth maps · Percentage change · Mean, median and range · Source evaluation · Interquartile range · Standard deviation · Spearman rank correlation · Chi-square goodness of fit
Geographical investigation
Independent 3,000–4,000 word investigation; teacher assessed and moderated.
- Individual fieldwork investigation: Sampling and representativeness, What a statistical test can establish, Matching evidence to a claim — partial
Four and six figure grid references · Map scale and distance · Bearings · Contours and relief · Gradient · Climate graphs · Population pyramids · Scatter plots · Choropleth maps · Percentage change · Mean, median and range · Source evaluation · Interquartile range · Standard deviation · Spearman rank correlation · Chi-square goodness of fit
Fieldwork and independent assessment
At least four days of fieldwork, including human and physical geography. Centre declaration is required.
The investigation must use an individually defined question and field data. Group collection does not remove the requirement for independent analysis and writing.
Case and example requirement slots
This inventory records distinct roles and dimensions. Further specification auditing is needed for an exhaustive list. Saved examples can be assigned to roles from Your practice.
- Rainforest water and carbon: Cycles; Environment; Human interaction
- Local river catchment: Stores and flows; Field evidence; Flooding or supply
- Local desert environment (option): Processes; Field evidence; Management
- Desertification setting (option): Causes; Human responses
- Local coastal environment (option): Processes; Field evidence; Challenges
- Contrasting coast beyond the UK (option): Risks; Opportunities; Responses
- Local glaciated environment (option): Processes; Field evidence; Challenges
- Contrasting glaciated setting beyond the UK (option): Risks; Opportunities; Responses
- Multiple hazards beyond the UK (option): Hazard interaction; Community responses
- Local hazardous setting (option): Community experience; Responses
- Region experiencing ecological change (option): Change; Community responses
- Local ecosystem (option): Human interaction; Sustainable development
- Specified transnational corporation: Organisation; Production; Country impacts
- Traded food or manufactured product: World trade
- Antarctica as a global common: Threats; Treaties; Governance
- Local changing place: Lived experience; Representation; Connections
- Contrasting changing place: Significant contrast; Representation; Connections
- First contrasting urban area (option): Well-being; Physical environment; Sustainability and attitudes
- Second contrasting urban area (option): Well-being; Physical environment; Sustainability and attitudes
- Population change country or society (option): Pattern; Causes; Implications
- Local place and health (option): Environment; Socioeconomic character; Experience
- Global or regional resource security (option): Water, energy or ore; Welfare; Management
- Specified place and resource availability (option): Water, energy or ore; Environment; Cost and use
- Major water supply scheme (option): Dam or barrage; Distribution; Environmental impacts
- Major energy development (option): Distribution; Environmental impacts
- Major mineral extraction scheme (option): Specified ore; Distribution; Environmental impacts
Linked concepts and case exercises cover selected parts of topics. A mapping is not proof that all specification content is taught here.
Carbon cycle processes, desert processes, population and health, Antarctica governance and complete place studies are not taught by the current short concept library.
AQA publishes AO ranges; the interface must not turn these into invented exact percentages.
Case-study sections and explicit TNC, commodity and resource developments are mapped. Other geographical exemplification within detailed content is not exhaustively inventoried.
What is available here
Shared maps/data/methods practice, sourced case evidence and original assessment packs. Whole-course completeness and examiner-equivalent marking are not claimed.
Skills practice · Written-answer practice · Create an original assessment
Mapped content areas
- Water and carbon
- Landscape systems
- Global connections
- Changing places
- Hazards
- Fieldwork and statistics
Check your taught examples
- A tectonic hazard eventName and date the event.; Separate the tectonic process from exposure and vulnerability.; Use contrasting examples where your specification requires them.
- Coastal managementIdentify the defended or realigned coastal stretch.; Explain how the intervention changes risk and sediment or habitats.; Evaluate consequences for different people and timescales.
- Water supply and securityDefine the supply area and period.; Connect physical availability, demand and infrastructure.; Evaluate financial, energy, ecological and distributional effects.
- RegenerationDefine the project boundary and baseline.; Distinguish announced objectives from completed outcomes.; Evaluate outcomes for residents, workers and businesses separately.
- Energy supply and transitionsDistinguish capacity from generation.; Identify the technology, location and time period.; Assess reliability, access and environmental consequences.
- An ecosystem and its managementIdentify the ecosystem’s scale and processes.; Explain interactions and human pressures.; Do not attribute every change to a single cause.
- Migration and population changeDefine the origin, destination and period.; Distinguish internal migration from international movement.; Use evidence about differing household choices.
- Global production and connectionsTrace flows of goods, investment, labour or information.; Distinguish exports from domestically retained value.; Explain uneven opportunities and dependencies.
- Place and changing meaningsDefine the neighbourhood or place.; Combine numerical indicators with lived experience.; Compare whose perceptions and outcomes the evidence represents.