Case Studies

In order to get a decent mark in Geography you need to use case studies and examples in your answers. If you don’t include them, you can’t get high marks. Even if a question doesn’t ask for an example, throw one in your answer, just to be safe. For many landforms, you don’t need to name a specific example, just an area where you can find these landforms. For example, naming a specific pothole would be a bit silly, but naming an area where you can find them is quite sensible.

Rivers

Case Studies

• Flooding in a MEDC (Boscastle 2004)
• Flooding in a LEDC (Bihar 2008)
• Hard engineering project (The Three Gorges Dam, China)
• Soft engineering project (Restoring the River Cole)

Examples

• Potholes: The Strid on the River Wharfe (Yorkshire, UK)
• Waterfall: Pecca Falls (Ingelton, Yorkshire)
• Braided Channel: The Tagliamento (Italy)
• Levees: Along the Mississippi River (USA)
• Oxbow Lake: Found throughout Cuckmere Haven (Sussex, UK)
• Bird’s Foot Delta: The Mississippi Delta (USA)
• Cuspate Delta: Niger Delta (Nigeria)
• Arcuate Delta: Nile Delta (Egypt)
• River Terraces: Along the River Isis¹ (Oxford, UK)

Coasts

Case Studies

• An example of cliff collapse and the effects of the collapse on the people living there (Barton-on-Sea)
• Hard Engineering Project (New Brighton)
• Soft Engineering Project (Thursaston)
• An example of coastal flooding due to either sea level rise or a natural disaster (Tōhoku Tsunami, Japan)

Examples

• Headland & Bay: Swanage Bay (South East Dorset, UK)
• Wave Cut Notches & Platforms: Around Hilbre Island (North West England)
• Arches, Stacks, Stumps & Geos: Again, all around Hilbre Island (North West England)
• Spit: Spurn Head (East Yorkshire, UK)
• Bar: Slapton Ley (Devon, UK)
• Tombolo: Chesil Beach (Isle of Portland, UK)
• Halosere/Salt Marsh: Parkgate (Wirral, UK)
• Psammosere/Sand Dune: Formby Beach (Sefton, UK)
• Rias: Lim Bay (Croatia)
• Fjord: Geirangerfjord² (Norway)
• Dalmatian Coastline: Dalmatian Coast (Croatia)

Population

Case Studies

• Pro Natalist Country (France)
• Anti Natalist Country (China)
• Immigration Control (USA-Mexico)
• Transmigration (Indonesia)
• Inner City Area & Suburbs (Leeds)
• Rural area (Isle of Purbeck)

Examples

There are tonnes of examples for the population topic. Far too many to list. Just try and remember every little fact and figure you see. Populations, birth rates, population densities, locations, GDPs, as much as you can.

Health Issues

Case Studies

• An infectious disease (AIDS in Uganda)
• A non-infectious disease (Coronary Heart Disease)
• Famine (Ethiopian Famine)
• A comparison of different healthcare schemes (France vs USA vs UK Healthcare)
• Tobacco Transnational Corporation (British American Tobacco)
• Pharmaceutical Transnational Corporation (Glaxosmithkline)
• Local variations in healthcare (Wirral)

Examples

Much like the population topic, there are loads of examples for the health issues topic. Again, just try and remember as many little facts and figures as you can and add them into your answers.

“Fudging” Examples

While it’s pretty important you learn the case studies and examples to get a good mark, how well you learn the figures is not quite as important. You can generally fudge figures in the exam. For example, if you’re discussing the Indian government’s response to the 2008 Bihar floods, you could say they created a £115m relief package but if you can’t remember that number just make up a sensible one.

Likewise, if you can’t remember an example of a landform, invent one. Did you know there’s a River Shuǐ in China with lots of rapids? There isn’t really³ but the examiner doesn’t know that and he/she is unlikely to check that it exists. If they do, you won’t lose any marks, you just won’t gain any either. If you can’t remember an example, making one up is worth a shot.