General guide for NCEA Level 1 Geographers
**LONG POST ALERT** Geography was my favorite subject in Year 11 and always cared for it and basically neglected other subjects lol. I got a Merit Endorsement in Level 1 Geography (so close to Excellence but, oh well). I’m so happy to share with you what I’ve learnt in this subject after a successful year also a successful completion of 3 levels of NCEA. Geography is a study of human interactions with our natural and cultural environment.
Some helpful advice on INTERNALS are to always; do lots of research (particularly on the case studies you will be doing for each standard), gather lots of relevant information/data that might be useful for your assignments. Before you start writing your report (internals) make sure you follow the instructions clearly shown on your internal instructions. Look out for key words such as "Describe, Explain, Justify, Evaluate, etc" and know what they mean before you write your report. For example, if it says Explain, don't just describe because you should be providing reasons like how/why, etc. My best recommendation is to always PLAN on what you are going to write (on a piece of paper) so you have a clear visual idea on what things would look like and so you will less likely go off tangent cuz you have a plan. But make sure it answers the questions on the instructions sheet. Usually you would have 3-4 tasks per internal except 7 (i think) on the 1.5 Research standard. For example, let's look at a question from an internal "Fully Explain the causes of global pattern of earthquakes", highlight the key words such as "Fully Explain, causes, global pattern. You then provide the at least 2 (or better 3 so you have more examples) reasons that you want to touch on as to explain why . You may structure it like this: Introduction - The global pattern of earthquakes are _ due to; _, _ and _. Body Paragraph 1 - The first cause of _ pattern is _. Then Explain why/how in a few sentences. Provide multiple evidence/factual information (as possible). (You may also weave throughout the paragraphs). Support it with relevant diagrams/maps (they must be annotated to show the features) and use key concepts and appropriate geographic vocabulary. Body Paragraph 2- Second cause of pattern is _. " " " (same process) Body paragraph 3 - " " " (same process) Conclusion - Come up with a summary based on the information you had; link back to the intro. (these structure is worth an Excellence if you can follow them well) When you write your report up, always make sure you structure them well on what you want to focus on, etc - and stick to it. Don't go off tangent. Some helpful advice on EXTERNALS are; 1.1 Extreme Events Standard - learn as much content as possible for your case study. Questions that are likely to come up are; explaining processes/vulnerability to event/causes of event/natural and cultural features/human response (might be missing one more but idk). Learn as much of them from your case study as possible. You are also expected to draw relevant maps/diagrams - make sure you use appropriate conventions and that they are also annotated. This standard is a mixture of drawing diagrams and explaining aspects. You may also follow the similar structure I've given you earlier. (Sorry I didn't do 1.2 Population Concepts) 1.4 SKILLS - Learn as much geographic skills as you need such as; precis mapping, drawing line/bar graphs using appropriate conventions, and more You also will be given resource booklet given to help you explain the aspects / answer the questions. Follow the instructions on your paper carefully - if they ask you to look at resource A, refer to resource A cuz that's where you get all the relevant info from. You may also use the structuring given to you above to help you for the writing parts of the exam. Whatever exam papers you do, do lots of practice on past exam papers to get you well prepared and also get your teacher's feedbacks regularly so you know how you're progressing and what you still can improve on, etc. HOPE THESE HELPS!!! Any questions/clarifications needed, just let me know and we'll go through it together. HAVE FUN LEARNING!!! :)