HSC GEOGRAPHY Presenter Mr. Steven Newman

HSC
GEOGRAPHY
Presenter
Mr. Steven Newman
All Saints College St Mary’s Maitland
(Senior School)
Important Documents
• The Syllabus
• HSC Examination Paper Structure
1.0 Syllabus
• Key to successful HSC study is to KNOW
your SYLLABUS.
• HSC questions come from there.
1.1 Important Syllabus
Check List
• The Sacred “Dot Points”
• THREE UNITS
– Ecosystems at Risk
– Urban Places
– People and Economic Activity
• Outcomes? (2007 Ecosystem question)
1.1.1 Sacred “Dot Points”
• Dot Points should act as your Headings
and Subheadings.
Memory Joggers
• HSC questions (especially extended
response questions) come from the dot
points.
• They can act as a good summary guide.
Mind Maps
1.1.2. Units:
Ecosystems at Risk
• TWO Parts
•Ecosystems and their management
•Case Studies
Ecosystems and their
Management
• General Information on Ecosystems and
how they work (function)
• Important to be able to draw upon a
variety of examples to support each dot
point. Do not rely on TWO case studies
here.
Ecosystem Case Studies
•Have TWO specific Case Studies.
•Markers comments from 2007:
Defining an area as an ecosystem is inappropriate and students
studying case studies such as islands or stretches of coast that
contain several ecosystems should be specific about naming and
differentiating between the collection of ecosystems.
•Identify and Define the type of Ecosystem you are
studying e.g Coral Reefs, Coastal Sand Dunes
•Identify a specific example of one: e.g Great Barrier
Reef, Stockton Bight Sand Dunes
•Basic Geography of your case study RELATAIVE
location and ABSOLUTE location. Be able to draw a
quick MUD MAP.
Urban Places
• Three Clear Topics
– World Cities
– Mega Cities
– Urban Dynamics
World Cities
• Spatial Distribution of these places; Predominantly located in
the Developed World
• World Cities are best understood in terms of FLOWS.
• World Cities command and control the flow of money, ideas,
people and culture in a Globalised world.
• This gives World Cities their distinct Characteristics:
– Money: Financial Centres (Flow of money) stock
exchanges, HQs for Fortune 500 companies.
– In turn controlling the flow of money requires the
infrastructure to be able to do this, Telecommunication
nodes, Air travel hubs, transportation nodes.
• Culturally, people with money want to be where other people
with money are. Hence the Cultural Authority
Mega Cities
• A definition based purely on population Size.
• Syllabus uses old United Nations Definition of 8
million or more inhabitants of a Metropolitan
Area.
• New Definition used by UN and World Bank etc
is “10 million”.
• You are safe to use both.
• Spatial Pattern: A Developing World Phenomena
• Characteristics: Can use challenges as
Characteristics, but ensure you use the term
“characteristics” in a response.
• Need to draw upon a few examples not just ONE
case study. Remember the Bossy “s”.
Urban Dynamics
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This is in 3 Sections
9 urban Dynamics of Change
Case Study of ONE Urban Dynamic
Study of a Large City
9 Urban Dynamics
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Suburbanisation
Exurbanisation
Counterurbanisation
Decentralistaion
Urban Decay
Urban Renewal
Urban Consolidation
Urban Village
Spatial Exclusion
Crucial to have examples of
each.
Focus on ONE for your Case study
of a country town or suburb
ONE Case Study
• Ensure you have studied ONE Urban
Dynamic in ONE Suburb/Country Town.
• That is, NAME the Urban dynamic and
NAME the suburb/town
• E.g.
• Urban Dynamic: URBAN RENEWAL
• Suburb/ Town: Pyrmont
Large City
• Needs to be a city form the developed world
• Better off doing an Australian City
• Sydney is an obvious choice because of
proximity and most have had contact with it.
• Ensure you understand the results of Urban
Dynamics
• SCEG
– Social
– Cultural
– Economic
– Growth
People and Economic
Activity
• Two Parts to this unit:
–Economic Activity
–Economic Enterprise
Distinguish between the
two
Economic Activity
Is an Activity that is occurring Globally- Tourism, Viticulture, Aquaculture
• Define your Economic Activity
• Good little Acronym to remember the second dot
point BEESPOT
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Biophysical
Ecological (link to global warming)
Economic
Sociological
Political
Organisational
Technological
Economic Enterprise
• Refers to a specific example or Case
Study of ONE business (enterprise) that is
involved in the Economic Activity you
studied.
2.0 HSC EXAM
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Know the Exam Structure
3 hour Exam
20 Multiple Choice (20 marks)
Short Answer Questions (40
marks)
• 2 Extended Response (40
marks)
Combination of
Skills and
knowledge
2.1 Multiple Choice
Skills Check list
35 minutes
Interpreting/reading Skills
Topographic maps
Cartograms
Choropleth / Thematic Maps
Line, Column, Bar ,Compound and Pie
Graphs
Semi-logarithmic graphs
tables,
flow diagrams
Photos Types (Oblique, Aerial, Satellite)
Orientate a photo to a map.
Direction
Calculating Skills (ratios)
Scale
Vertical Exaggeration (VE=x)
Gradient (1:x)
Percentage change
Proportional Circles
Vertical Exaggeration
Gradient
Distance, speed, time
Percentage change.
Bearings
Constructing Skills
Cross Sections
Vegetation Transects
Proportional Circles
Precis Maps
Choropleth/ Thematic Maps
2.2 Short Answers
• You have 70 minutes
• Combination of Skills and Knowledge.
• Get straight into question. Answer
question in first sentence and then support
with detailed examples.
• You do not benefit by writing more than the
lines provided. The skill here is to write
succinctly!
Extended Responses
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75 minutes
Choice of TWO extended responses from Three questions (ONE question for
each unit)
Essay writing
– Read Question
• Determine Dot point
• Bossy word
• Bossy S
– Paragraphs (Body of Extended Response)
• ONE paragraph = ONE point
• Sentence Back
• Paragraph Structure
– Identify a trend, pattern or major point
– Explain it using geographical concepts
– What are the implications
– Signposts – key words that show you are answering the question.
Try to use Stimulus Booklet
Get past the staple in 8 page booklet
Use statistics and illustrative example throughout.
BOS states 600 words is sufficient, I recommend that you use time as a better
gauge.
All these notes can be found at
http://www.mrstevennewman.com