Exam Connection: How This Topic Is Examined

🎯 Exam Connection: How This Topic Is Examined

Frequency: This topic appears across OCR B Component 2 and AQA Paper 2 at very high frequency. Extended evaluation questions (6-8 marks) on water management strategies are among the most commonly set questions in both papers.

Typical question stems:

• "Explain why water security is a global challenge." (4 marks)
• "Describe the differences between physical and economic water scarcity." (4 marks)
• "Explain how one large-scale water management strategy can increase water supply." (6 marks)
• "Evaluate the effectiveness of contrasting approaches to managing water insecurity." (8-9 marks)
• "To what extent are small-scale approaches to water management more sustainable than large-scale schemes?" (8-9 marks)

Level 1 → Level 2 → Level 3 progression (for 6-9 mark questions):

• Level 1 (1-2 marks): Names a strategy or type of scarcity without explaining it. "Large dams are used to store water." No case study, no explanation of mechanism, no evaluation. Reads like a list.
• Level 2 (3-5 marks): Describes how a strategy works with some specific evidence. "The Three Gorges Dam stores floodwaters during the wet season and releases them slowly. This has reduced Yangtze flooding. It also generates 22.5 GW of electricity." Some accuracy, some case study — but no evaluation of trade-offs.
• Level 3 (6-8 marks): Evaluates contrasting approaches with named evidence and makes a supported judgement. "Large-scale schemes like the Three Gorges Dam address national water challenges but impose significant social costs — 1.2 million people were displaced, and the Yangtze River dolphin is now functionally extinct. Small-scale approaches like sand dams in Kenya (Excellent Development — 300 dams, 100,000 beneficiaries) are more sustainable and equitable but cannot operate at national scale. The most effective water management systems combine both — large infrastructure for national supply with community-led conservation and small-scale appropriate technology for rural access. The key judgement is not which is 'better' in general but which is appropriate for the specific context and who bears the trade-offs."

Named case studies that get marks: Three Gorges Dam (China), Aral Sea (Soviet/Central Asia), Cape Town Day Zero (South Africa), sand dams in Kenya (Excellent Development), fog catchers in Atacama (Chile/Peru). The more specific the evidence — dates, statistics, named organisations — the more marks you earn.