Summer 2022 consultation outcome for Geography

On 30 September, the Department for Education and Ofqual published the outcomes of the consultation on proposed summer 2022 adaptations, including optionality and advance information.

The consultation concluded that all of the proposals set out in the consultation document would be implemented.

GCSE Geography in Summer 2022

For GCSE Geography, the following arrangements have been confirmed for summer 2022:

Optionality

To make exams in 2022 less daunting, students will have a choice of topics on which they are required to answer questions. This helps to address teacher concerns about the ability of students to cover all the required subject content in the time available.

For the Pearson Edexcel GCSE Geography specifications, our centres will need to deliver only two of our three topics in one of the papers: 

GCSE Geography A additional optionality will be in Paper 2 where Section A (Changing cities) remains compulsory but students will only be required to answer Section B (Global Development) or Section C (Resource management).

GCSE Geography B additional optionality will be in Paper 1 where Section A (Hazardous Earth) remains compulsory but students will only be required to answer Section B (Development dynamics) or Section C (Challenges of an urbanising world). 

Fieldwork

As for summer 2021 the requirement for centres to make a declaration to exam boards confirming they provided all students with the opportunity to undertake fieldwork on two occasions has been removed.

Students will not be required to answer exam questions relating to their own fieldwork experience. The unfamiliar fieldwork questions relating to physical and human geography will be retained in the exam. The following changes will be made:

GCSE Geography A

• There will be no questions about students’ own fieldwork, students will answer unfamiliar fieldwork questions only.
• Specification A, Paper 3: In Section A students must answer either Q1 Rivers or Q2 Coasts and in Section B students must answer either Q3 Urban or Q4 Rural.
• Each question will be marked out of 10 and each question will be based around a fieldwork context relating the fieldwork environment you’ve studied.

GCSE Geography B

• There will be no questions about students’ own fieldwork, students will answer unfamiliar fieldwork questions only.
• Specification B, Paper 2: In Section C1 students must answer either Q8 Coasts or Q9 Rivers and in Section C2 students must answer either Q10 Urban or Q11 Rural.
• Each question will be marked out of 10 and each question will be based around a fieldwork context relating the fieldwork environment you’ve studied.

We have provided some detailed support documents which help clarify these changes and provide example papers:

For GCSE Geography, the optionality of topics proposed means that no Advance Information will be given. Advance Information is in place for qualifications AS and A level Geography, where there is no additional optionality.

AS and A level Geography in Summer 2022

For A level Geography, the following arrangements have been confirmed for summer 2022:

Advance Information

To help students focus their revision in Summer 2022 advance information will be provided by 7 February 2022 at the latest. This advance information is likely to be at a high level in terms of identification of specification content and is based on the following principles:

• The advance information should not be so detailed that students are
  able to memorise answers to write in the exam.
• It should not be so extensive or specific that it would damage a
  student’s progression to higher level qualifications in the subject.
• It should still be possible to differentiate between students on the
  basis of their performance.

You can find more about Advance Information on how  Edexcel A level Geography (2016) Summer 2022 support page

There are no changes to the A level Geography specification content or assessment in Summer 2022 and NEA will be submitted as usual by the 15 May deadline. Ofqual ran a consultation on NEA last summer and announced:

• The requirement for the written statement that centres have given students the opportunity to undertake 4 days of fieldwork has been removed.
• The joint exam board guidance on collecting primary data for the NEA for permitting primary data collected virtually is carried forward to 2022. Primary data must still form part of the investigation. It is acceptable for students to collect primary data without going ‘into the field’, students can collect primary data through virtual fieldwork or desk-based studies.

International GCSE Geography in Summer 2022

We have tried to ensure parity between the UK GCSE and International GCSE Geography. For International GCSE Geography, the following arrangements have been confirmed for summer 2022:

Fieldwork

The requirement for students to conduct their own fieldwork has been removed.  Familiar fieldwork will not be assessed in Paper 1 or Paper 2 with questions on students’ own fieldwork removed for 2022.

Questions in Paper 1 and Paper 2 will be set in an unfamiliar fieldwork contexts only.

Additional Optionality

Paper 2 - Human geography

Section A Candidates choose one out of three questions on: economic activity and energy, rural environments, urban environments

International AS and A level Geography in Summer 2022

We are able to confirm that due to the modular nature of International AS and A level qualifications there will be no adjustments to these papers in 2022. However we will carried forward arrangements from 2021: 

To support our teachers and students during this period we are making the following changes for the January 2022 and May/June 2022 assessment:  ​

• Remove the fieldwork statement – For this period, there is no requirement to carry out 2 days fieldwork outside the classroom and school grounds.  ​

• Instead, schools can use last year’s or any other previously collected data to go through the fieldwork process to prepare students to answer the familiar fieldwork context questions in Section B of Unit 2.  ​

• Mark schemes in Section B of Unit 2 will give equal credit to virtual/remote primary data collection, reference to primary data collected in previous years, as well as reference to the candidate’s own primary fieldwork experience if this has been carried out.​