AQA GCSE Geography

Explore selected parts of your course through skills practice, process lessons and sourced case evidence.

Issue evaluation uses a resource booklet available twelve weeks before the examination; a clean copy is supplied in the examination.

Two primary-data enquiries take place outside the classroom and school grounds, on at least two occasions, covering contrasting physical and human environments.

2027 assessment route

8035 version 1.1, 12 September 2023 · checked 2026-10-07

Assessment objectives

• AO1: Location and process knowledge (15%)
• AO2: Geographical understanding (25%)
• AO3: Application, analysis and judgement (35%)
• AO4: Geographical and fieldwork skills (25%)

Save your taught options

Topic coverage by component

These links cover selected parts of the specification. Use your school course and the official specification to check the full requirements.

Fieldwork and independent assessment

Two enquiries in contrasting environments must include physical and human geography. Centre fieldwork declaration is required.

Paper 3 assesses the enquiry process and unfamiliar contexts. Issue evaluation material is released 12 weeks before the examination; a clean copy is supplied in the examination.

Case and example requirement slots

Check the requirements for each example you study. Assign saved examples to these roles from Your practice.

• Tectonic hazard: wealthier setting: Named event; Effects and responses; Contrast with poorer setting
• Tectonic hazard: poorer setting: Named event; Effects and responses; Contrast with wealthier setting
• Named tropical storm: Effects; Responses
• Recent UK extreme weather: Causes; Impacts; Management
• Small UK ecosystem: Interdependence; Food web; Nutrient cycling
• Tropical rainforest: Deforestation; Impacts; Management
• Hot desert (option): Opportunities; Challenges
• Cold environment (option): Opportunities; Challenges
• UK coastline landforms (option): Erosion; Deposition
• UK coastal management scheme (option): Need; Strategies; Effects and conflicts
• UK river valley landforms (option): Erosion; Deposition
• UK flood management scheme (option): Need; Strategies; Social, economic and environmental issues
• UK glaciated upland landforms (option): Erosion; Deposition
• UK glaciated upland tourism (option): Attractions; Impacts; Management
• Major LIC or NEE city: Location; Growth; Opportunities and challenges
• Planning for the urban poor: Quality of life
• Major UK city: Migration; Urban opportunities and challenges; Urban sprawl
• Urban regeneration project: Reasons; Features
• LIC or NEE tourism: Reducing development gap
• One LIC or NEE: Industry and TNCs; Trade and aid; Environment and quality of life
• Sustainable modern industry: Environmental sustainability
• UK rural population growth: Social and economic change
• UK rural population decline: Social and economic change
• Large agricultural development (option): Advantages; Disadvantages
• Local LIC or NEE food scheme (option): Sustainable supply
• Large water transfer (option): Advantages; Disadvantages
• Local LIC or NEE water scheme (option): Sustainable supply
• Fossil fuel extraction (option): Advantages; Disadvantages
• Local LIC or NEE renewable energy (option): Sustainable supply

Named case and example slots are recorded separately. Broader applied examples, including transport infrastructure, are not exhaustively inventoried.

UK extreme weather need not be a tropical storm. Its family tag is a discovery aid only. A case must meet the slot dimensions.

Choose two UK landscape units, one desert/cold unit and one resource unit with your centre.

What is available here

Explore maps and data, practise methods, use case evidence and try an original assessment pack.

Skills practice · Written-answer practice · Create an original assessment

Mapped content areas

• Natural hazards
• Ecosystems
• Climate
• Rivers
• Coasts
• Development
• Urban change
• Resources
• Population
• Maps and data
• Fieldwork methods
• Evidence evaluation

Check your taught examples

• A country’s developmentUse the required national scale and income/development context.; Explain economic change, international connections and uneven social outcomes.; A city intervention alone cannot fulfil a national case.
• Urban growth and changeIdentify the city and its national context.; Connect opportunities and challenges to growth and migration.; A transport project covers only part of a whole-city case.
• A UK cityIdentify the city and its regional connections.; Explain social, economic and environmental change.; Add your taught evidence beyond the intervention shown here.
• Tropical rainforest use and managementIdentify the rainforest and country or region.; Explain causes, consequences and management of forest change.; An Indonesian Borneo example is not automatically a Malaysian case.
• A tectonic hazard eventName and date the event.; Separate the tectonic process from exposure and vulnerability.; Use contrasting examples where your specification requires them.
• A tropical stormName and date the storm.; Explain hazards, impacts and responses.; Identify whether a number is an estimate, observation or forecast.
• 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.
• River flooding and managementSeparate the catchment, affected settlement and intervention.; Explain rainfall, flows, exposure and response.; Assess residual risk and avoid promising complete protection.
• Water supply and securityDefine the supply area and period.; Connect physical availability, demand and infrastructure.; Evaluate financial, energy, ecological and distributional effects.
• 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.
• Glaciated landscapesIdentify past and current glaciation.; Connect landforms to erosion, transport and deposition.; Distinguish glacier area, volume and mass.
• Food production and accessSeparate yield, food supply and household access.; Define the intervention and evidence area.; Compare benefits, costs and environmental effects.
• A hot desert environmentExplain water availability and adaptation.; Study opportunities, challenges and management using place-specific evidence.; A process explanation alone is incomplete case coverage.