Upper 6th Form CurriculumSyllabus Followed: Edexcel A
Geography at A2 Level should be studied by those who want to make sense of the world they live in. It provides an understanding of the physical environments and human issues of the 21st Century. It sits as comfortably with Science subjects as with Arts, Humanities or Languages and will add breadth to any subject combination.
The A2 course takes the subject on from AS, studying different physical systems and more intricate human ones. It adopts a new approach to less familiar physical areas of the subject, such as the atmosphere, glaciers and ecosystems. The human topics studied are economic systems and development processes. The third unit assesses an understanding of the synoptic links across the whole specification.
The method of assessment at A2 is through essays. The research for, and practice of, essay writing will be an important part of your commitment to the subject. You will also be expected to read widely, observe and digest relevant current affairs on a world scale, familiarise yourself with basic statistical and graphical methods and analyse data presented to you in a variety of forms.
The teaching of the subject at A2 is split between at least two subject teachers, enabling the study of at least two aspects of the subject at any time.
To quote Michael Palin:
“Geography is one of those richly comprehensive subjects whose relevance is all around us. Where we come from, what we do, what we eat, how we move about and how we shape our future are all directly the province of the geographer. More than ever we need the geographer’s skill and foresight to help us learn about our planet, how we use it and how we abuse it.”
Geography provides graduates for a wide range of careers from management and accountancy, to information analysts and conservation researchers. Geography graduates are highly employable.
