Following the Ofqual/DfE consultations, the adjustments for GCSE Geography (optionality), along with the changes to NEA and fieldwork announced in June, are designed to mitigate the impacts of the disruption that students have faced during the pandemic without undermining the value of their qualifications and their ability to progress successfully to further study. Please read this information alongside the specification.

Overview of changes for GCSE (9–1) Geography B

Ofqual have confirmed that students taking geography in summer 2022:

• will not be asked questions during the exams in relation to their own fieldwork experience.
• will still be asked questions during the exams on unfamiliar fieldwork contexts.
• centres do not need to sign a Fieldwork statement confirming that fieldwork has taken place on at least two occasions.
• there will be optional topics for GCSE Geography.
• there will be no advanced information for GCSE Geography (due to optionality).

We have produced updated sample assessment material to show how the assessment will look in 2022.

We encourage centres to engage with fieldwork activities ‘in the field’ wherever possible. ‘In the field’ could include in the school grounds and local area (to the school or student’s homes). Virtual fieldwork could be used to support the enquiry process and development of fieldwork skills.

Further information and support can be found on our website.

GCSE(9–1) Geography B for academic year 2021/22

Students must complete all three assessments to be awarded a GCSE in Geography in summer 2022.

Content overview	Assessment overview
Changing climate (mandatory) Distinctive landscapes (mandatory) Sustaining ecosystems (optional) Global hazards (optional) Resource reliance (optional) Fieldwork Geographical skills	Our natural world (01) 49 marks 1 hour written paper 31% of total GCSE
Urban futures (mandatory) Dynamic development (mandatory) UK in the 21st Century (mandatory) Fieldwork Geographical skills	People and society (02) 50 marks 1 hour written exam 31% of total GCSE
Geographical skills Decision making exercise * Indicates inclusion of synoptic assessment.	Geographical exploration (03)* 60 marks 1 hour 30 minutes written exam 38% of total GCSE

The table above indicates any changes, and these are explained here:

• the qualification total has changed from 200 to 159 marks.
• the component weightings have changed, Components 01 and 02 from 35% to 31% and Component 03 from 30% to 38%.
• the removal of own fieldwork questions from Components 01 and 02, equates to 15 marks.

Understanding the changes to the exam papers

The following information refers to Component 01 only:

We have introduced three sections in the question paper to clarify where optionality is in the assessment:

• In Section A students will answer all the questions for topics (2) Changing climate and (3) Distinctive landscapes.
• In Section B students will answer one option: from either (1) Global hazards, or (4) Sustaining ecosystems, or (8) Resource reliance. These three options will have the same total marks. Please note: (8) Resource reliance has been moved from component 02 to 01 to provide the optionality in one paper.
• In Section C students will answer unfamiliar fieldwork questions.
• The exam paper has reduced in marks, for component 01 from 70 to 49 marks to reflect the optionality of questions and removal of the own fieldwork questions.
• The duration of the exam paper has changed from 1 hour and 15 minutes to 1 hour (as students will answer three topics instead of four and own fieldwork questions have been removed).

Section C: Fieldwork

• We will remove questions which relate to the student’s own fieldwork experience
• There will still be questions related to unfamiliar fieldwork contexts. The questions will be in the same style as those shown in the sample assessment materials, practice papers, and the past papers from 2018 2019 and November 2020.
• The unfamiliar fieldwork questions will relate to a physical fieldwork context. There will be seven marks for lower tariff questions.
• The physical fieldwork context is rivers.

The following information refers to Component 02 only:

We will still have two sections in this paper.

• In Section A students will answer all the questions for topics (5) Urban futures, (6) Dynamic development and (7) UK in the 21st Century. Please note: one topic (8) Resource reliance will be removed and moved into Component 01, reducing this section by 13 marks.
• In Section B students will answer one unfamiliar fieldwork question.
• The exam paper has reduced in marks, from 70 to 50 marks, to reflect the removal of one topic and own fieldwork questions.
• The duration of the exam paper has changed from 1 hour and 15 minutes to 1 hour (as students will answer three topics instead of four and own fieldwork questions have been removed).

Section B: Fieldwork

• We will remove questions which relate to the student’s own fieldwork experience
• The unfamiliar fieldwork question will relate to a human fieldwork context. There will be one higher tariff question (eight marks) with a further three marks for SPaG.
• The human fieldwork context is urban.

There will be no changes to Component 03.

For GCSE geography B in Component 03, the questions will not draw content from the optional topics. If students choose to include information in their answers from the optional topics(s), then they would be credited for this, if it’s relevant to the question. The nature of the component means that students can and do include a wide variety of topic information and they would still be able to take this approach and be credited for it.

There will be three marks associated to SPaG in each of the three components’ assessments. This equates to nine marks across the qualification.

What has changed?

Sample assessment materials

In Components 01 and 02, questions related to student’s own fieldwork experience have been removed. This equates to 15 marks.

In Component 01 there are two mandatory and three optional topics. The question paper will have three sections. Assessment time, total mark and the component weighting has changed (see table above).

In Component 02 there are three mandatory topics. Resource reliance topic has moved to component 01. Assessment time, total mark and the component weighting has changed (see table above).

In Component 03 the component weighting has changed (see table above).

Specification

Centres do not need to sign a Fieldwork Statement confirming that fieldwork has taken place on at least two occasions (as per the specification).

Fieldwork

We encourage centres to engage with fieldwork activities ‘in the field’ wherever possible. ‘In the field’ could include the school grounds and local area (to the school or student’s home). Virtual fieldwork could be used to support the enquiry process and development of fieldwork skills.

Optionality of topics

There will be optionality of content in the summer 2022 exams, this includes the following topics: (1) Global hazards or (4) Sustaining ecosystems or (8) Resource reliance.

Teachers would therefore teach six out of the existing eight topics, picking one of the topics to deliver from the three optional (1 or 4 or 8) ones. Teachers would therefore not teach the other two topics.

Contact us

You can contact us by email geography@ocr.org.uk, on Twitter @OCR_Geography or call on 01223 553998.