Three days left. OCR Paper 1, Our Natural World, covers global hazards, changing climate, distinctive landscapes and sustaining ecosystems. Every extended question rewards named case study data over vague description. Here's the order that gets you the most marks in the time you've got.
One focus per day, building to a timed run. Work it in order.
Ranked from analysed past papers. Start at the top: if you run out of time, you will have covered the most-tested ground.
Plate boundaries and an earthquake or volcano case study are core to Global Hazards and typically the source of an extended comparison question between a richer and poorer country.
The global atmospheric circulation model and a named tropical storm case study, covering formation, effects and responses, sit at the centre of the Global Hazards section.
Distinguishing natural from human causes of climate change, and mitigation from adaptation with named examples, is one of the most consistently tested distinctions on this paper.
If rivers is your Distinctive Landscapes option, erosion, transportation and deposition processes linked to specific landforms come up as labelling and explain questions almost every year.
If coasts is your Distinctive Landscapes option, longshore drift, the four types of erosion, and landforms like headlands, bays and spits are a reliable source of describe and explain questions using a Figure.
If glaciation is your Distinctive Landscapes option, plucking, abrasion and freeze-thaw weathering must be linked correctly to erosional and depositional landforms such as corries, arêtes and moraine.
Ecosystem structure, nutrient cycles and interdependence between plants, animals and the physical environment underpin every question on the ecosystems option, whichever biome you studied.
The named rainforest case study, with deforestation causes, rates and a specific management strategy, is essential where rainforests is your chosen global biome. Generic 'trees are being cut down' answers score low.
PrepWise has a one-page Knowledge Organiser for every topic above. In your final 3 days, use them the same way each time: cover the page, try to recall everything from memory, uncover and check what you missed, then repeat that topic again tomorrow.
Rules specific to Paper 1. On this paper, structure earns as many marks as knowledge.
For each case study you use, a tectonic hazard, a tropical storm, your landscape option, or your ecosystem, write down one number, one place name, and one date on an index card. Deploy at least one of these three facts in every answer that names the case study. Vague answers with no data cap out at the lower mark bands.
Make a point, back it with named evidence or data, develop why it matters or what the consequence is, then link back to the question. Repeat this pattern two or three times rather than listing facts. OCR is marking for a sustained line of reasoning across your response.
If the question says 'using Figure 3, describe...', you lose marks for an answer that ignores the map, graph or photo entirely. Quote a specific feature, value or trend from the Figure, then add your own knowledge on top.
'Describe' wants what the pattern or data shows: no reasons needed. 'Explain' wants the process or cause: you must say why. 'Assess' or 'evaluate' wants a balanced judgement with a conclusion, weighing both sides before you decide.
The errors examiners see most on this paper. Each one is an easy mark you already know how to keep.
Using a generic or invented case study instead of a named one → Examiners want a real location with real figures. 'A country in Africa' or 'a big storm' will not score full marks. Name the place, quote a number, give the date.
Describing the Figure instead of explaining the process behind it → If asked to explain a landform shown in a photo, describe the process, such as hydraulic action or longshore drift, that created it. Don't just restate what the image shows.
Writing an extended answer as a list of bullet points → Write in connected paragraphs using point, evidence, development, link. A list of facts with no development rarely reaches the top level, even if every fact is correct.
Muddling primary and secondary effects of a hazard → Primary effects happen immediately as a direct result of the hazard, such as buildings collapsing or flooding. Secondary effects happen afterwards as a consequence, such as disease outbreaks or economic decline. Keep these in separate lists when you revise.
Running out of time on the distinctive landscapes or ecosystems section → Check the mark allocation against the time you have left as you move through the paper. An extended question worth 8 or 9 marks should take roughly 12-14 minutes, no more.
The 60 minutes before you walk in. Review what you know and settle your nerves.
The marks come from applying it, not reading it. Practise exam-style Geography questions in PrepWise, get instant marking, and see whether your case-study detail is specific enough to score.
Open the Geography Knowledge Organisers, quiz every priority topic and walk in ready. Free during alpha.
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