Mapping out clearly what needs to be done for your Geography exam

Using past exam papers is key, as many of the questions on this year’s paper may have appeared before.

Look at short questions from previous papers, which will help in preparing the Physical section.

Practice geographical skills such as sketch maps, OS maps, aerial photographs, as well as analysing graphs, charts and so on.

Revise key areas in the physical section such as rocks, physical landforms, plate tectonics and practice diagrams that may be used in the exam.

When looking at past exam papers, read the questions carefully and try to be clear what the question wants you to write about – in other words, avoid pitfalls in the question and stick to what the question asks for,

The exam is based on SRPs (Significant Relevant Points) so, when studying, try to learn the facts/information in the form of these SRPs.

When preparing answers at home or doing sample answers, try to do so using a similar time frame that you will have in the exam.

Junior Cert Geography Using previous exam papers is very important.

The short questions represent 40 per cent of the overall paper and cover all aspects of the course.

Revision of short questions allows students to cover all aspects of the syllabus.

For the long questions, when answering questions, adopt the SEE policy: State, Explain, Example.

Try to develop points made by interrogating the answer by asking who, what, when, where, and so on.

Practice diagrams that may be asked in the physical section.

There is always a long question based on the OS map and/ or aerial photograph, so practice the basic skills here such as drawing sketch maps, grid references, measuring distance, measuring area and so on.