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

• This is in 3 Sections

• 9 urban Dynamics of Change

• Case Study of ONE Urban Dynamic

• Study of a Large City

9 Urban Dynamics• 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

• Define your Economic Activity• Good little Acronym to remember the second dot

point BEESPOT– Biophysical– Ecological (link to global warming)– Economic– Sociological– Political– Organisational– Technological

Is an Activity that is occurring Globally- Tourism, Viticulture, Aquaculture

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

• 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 Choice35 minutes

Skills Check listCalculating Skills (ratios)ScaleVertical Exaggeration (VE=x)Gradient (1:x)Percentage changeProportional CirclesVertical ExaggerationGradientDistance, speed, timePercentage change.Bearings

Interpreting/reading SkillsTopographic mapsCartogramsChoropleth / Thematic MapsLine, Column, Bar ,Compound and Pie GraphsSemi-logarithmic graphs tables, flow diagramsPhotos Types (Oblique, Aerial, Satellite)Orientate a photo to a map.Direction

Constructing SkillsCross SectionsVegetation TransectsProportional CirclesPrecis MapsChoropleth/ 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• 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