Topic outline

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    Interactive Learner Guide
    Cambridge IGCSE™ Geography 0460 - for examination from 2020




    • Syllabus content - what you need to know about


    • You will have three assessments:

      • Two theory papers:
        • Paper 1 (Geographical Themes)

        • Paper 2 (Geographical Skills)


      • One practical assessment
        • either Component 3 (Coursework)
        • or Paper 4 (Alternative to Coursework).


      Your teacher will be able to tell you whether you are doing coursework (Component 3) or taking Paper 4.

      • If you are doing coursework, you will complete one assignment and take Paper 1 and Paper 2 in the examination.
      • if you are not doing coursework, you will take three papers in the examination, Paper 1, Paper 2 and Paper 4.


      Make sure you always check the latest syllabus, which is available at www.cambridgeinternational.org.





    • Command words

    • The flipcards below include command words used in the assessment for this syllabus.
      The use of the command word will relate to the subject context.



    • Example candidate response

    • All information and advice in this section is specific to the example question and response being demonstrated. It should give you an idea of how your responses might be viewed by an examiner but it is not a list of what to do in all questions. In your own examination, you will need to pay careful attention to what each question is asking you to do.


    • Question

       The question used in this example is from Paper 1 and is an example of a structured-answer question. Now let’s look at the question to see what the ‘command words’ for this question mean for your answer.


      (c) For a named country you have studied, describe the problems caused by over population.

      Describe is the command word in this question. This means that you state the main features of the problems caused by overpopulation. Using examples is an excellent way of supporting your descriptions.


    • Markscheme

      The mark scheme for the longer questions (7 marks) use levels. The same general levels are used for every question, and if you know what you need to do to achieve each of these levels, this should help you to plan your answer and give yourself the opportunity to achieve the best marks you can.


    • Example candidate response and examiner comments


      (c) For a named country you have studied, describe the problems caused by over population.

      Name of country: Ghana

      Ghana is noted to be one of the top countries known to be overly populated. With this, we see that there is pressure on Ghana’s resources. The population of Ghana is very high and because of this water supply would reduce, there would be pressure on the electricity in Ghana because so many people in the country are using the power. Ghana’s government revenue would reduce. The government of Ghana would put in a bit of money to improve medication to new ones, rebuild hospitals, care homes, provide new and well trained doctors, re-construct roads bring more water from another place where there is no supply of water. Ghana has a high rate of crime due to overpopulation. When there is a crowded area people who are uneducated would want to cause a scene and steal and kill people. There is a high spread of so many diseases in Ghana. Diseases such as cholera due to the water we drink as a country and also people use dirty hands to eat. When there are crowded, immediately one person gets the disease it spreads to another person and moves on. The settlements in Ghana are congested. An example is Nima. Nima is very congested and the homes are all together and there is even no space for a car to park. Over-population brings about unemployment because there are a lot of people in the country. Over-population brings noise.





    • Download the full learner guide to explore the Example Candidate Response further:



    • Revision

    • Explore the advice below to help you revise and prepare for the examinations.  It is divided into general advice for all papers and more specific advice for Paper 1, Paper 2, and Paper 4.


    • Consider your confidence with each topic area.
      Download the full learner guide to see the detailed expectations for each topic.
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    • Theme 1: Population and settlement

    • 1.1 Population dynamics
      1.2 Migration
      1.3 Population structure
      1.4 Population density and distribution
      1.5 Settlements and service provision
      1.6 Urban settlements
      1.7 Urbanisation

    • Theme 2: The natural environment

    • 2.1 Earthquakes and volcanoes
      2.2 Rivers
      2.3 Coasts
      2.4 Weather
      2.5 Climate and natural vegetation

    • Theme 3: Economic development

    • 3.1 Development
      3.2 Food production
      3.3 Industry
      3.4 Tourism
      3.5 Energy
      3.6 Water


    • Download the full learner guide to make use of the full guidance and revision checklists:



    • Useful websites

    • The websites listed below are useful resources to support your Cambridge IGCSE Geography studies


      • Geography all the way
        Geography All The Way

        This is a wide-ranging site which includes good coverage of the content of the 0460 IGCSE Geography syllabus, which will be useful both to teachers and learners. The approach is lively and there is basic text as well as some good photos, maps, diagrams, links to YouTube and even a few worksheets.


      • Nationmaster
        NationMaster

        A useful website to compare countries at different levels of development using a wide range of statistics. You can choose which countries or continents to compare and select different statistics including population, economy, agricultural information and environmental pollution data. A bar graph is drawn to show the chosen statistics and the results are mapped. There are further links on your chosen countries giving further information.


      • US Geological Survey
        U.S. Geological Survey

        This is a USA based site and has a lot of good, up-to-date information on the structure of the earth and the hazards of volcanoes and earthquakes. On the home page, go to the alphabetical index and find ‘volcanic activity’ or ‘earthquakes’. The FAQs are good for revision or further explanation. The hazards section provides useful case study information. The most exciting feature of this website is the links for daily monitoring of volcanoes and earthquakes i.e. to see what seismic activity is going on at that precise moment. You can follow the links for a specific US area, e.g. Alaska or select a world map of seismic activity at www.earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqsww/. By clicking on the map you can obtain further information about the depth and magnitude of the recent earthquake.


      • United States Census Bureau
        United States Census Bureau

        This home page contains the world population clock which constantly updates the number of people in the world. To find and use population pyramids of different countries, follow the link under ‘people’ to ‘international’ and then International Data Base (IDB) and ‘population pyramids’. Select a country, e.g. Namibia and submit the query to show the 2000, 2025 and 2050 expected pyramids. You can also choose a specific date for a pyramid but the most interesting feature is the dynamic pyramid which shows how the population changes over time. Choose countries with different birth and death rates or at different stages of economic development to compare population structures.