This course encourages students to develop their knowledge of locations, places, processes and environments, at all geographical scales from local to global across the specification as a whole.

Students will develop an in-depth understanding of the selected core and non-core processes in physical and human geography at a range of temporal and spatial scales, and of the concepts which illuminate their significance in a range of locational contexts.

Changing Places

This section focuses on people's engagement with places, their experience of them and the qualities they ascribe to them, all of which are of fundamental importance in their lives. Students acknowledge this importance and engage with how places are known and experienced, how their character is appreciated, and the factors and processes which impact upon places and how they change and develop over time.

Contemporary Urban Environment

This section focuses on urban growth and change which are seemingly ubiquitous processes and present significant environmental and social challenges for human populations. The section examines these processes and challenges and the issues associated with them, in particular the potential for environmental sustainability and social cohesion.

Global Systems and Governance

This section focuses on globalisation – the economic, political and social changes associated with technological and other driving forces which have been a key feature of global economy and society in recent decades.

Water and the Carbon Cycle

This section focuses on the major stores of water and carbon at or near the Earth’s surface and the dynamic cyclical relationships associated with them. These are major elements in the natural environment and understanding them is fundamental to many aspects of physical geography.

Hazards

This section of the specification focuses on the lithosphere and the atmosphere, which intermittently but regularly present natural hazards to human populations, often in dramatic and sometimes catastrophic fashion.

Coastal Systems and Landscapes

This section of our specification focuses on coastal zones, which are dynamic environments in which landscapes develop by the interaction of winds, waves, currents and terrestrial and marine sediments. The operation and outcomes of fundamental geomorphological processes and their association with distinctive landscapes are readily observable.

All students are required to undertake fieldwork in relation to processes in both physical and human geography. Students must undertake a minimum of two days of fieldwork during their AS course. Fieldwork can be completed in a number of ways: locally or further afield, on full days or on part days.