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Every Edexcel B Geography exam paper contains a resource booklet with maps, photographs, graphs, data tables, diagrams and other materials that you must use to answer questions. Many students lose marks not because they lack geographical knowledge, but because they fail to use the resources effectively. This lesson teaches you how to extract, interpret and apply information from every type of resource you are likely to encounter.
Resources are not decoration — they are essential to answering the questions. Examiners include resources because they want to test whether you can:
Exam Tip: If a question says "Using Figure 3..." or "With reference to the resource booklet..." you must use the specified resource. Answers that ignore the resource will be capped, even if your geographical knowledge is excellent. Always quote specific data, values or features from the resource.
Use a systematic approach when interpreting ground-level photographs:
| Zone | What to Look For |
|---|---|
| Foreground (closest to camera) | Surface features, vegetation, land use, people, infrastructure |
| Middle ground | Buildings, roads, rivers, field patterns, urban/rural character |
| Background | Hills, mountains, sky, distant features, horizon |
| Evidence of processes | Erosion, deposition, flooding, pollution, human modification |
| Scale indicators | People, vehicles, buildings that help judge size |
Weak description: "The photo shows a river and some buildings."
Strong description: "The photograph shows a wide, slow-flowing river in the middle ground, with extensive mudflats exposed on the left bank suggesting it is low tide. In the foreground, there is a concrete flood wall approximately 2 metres high protecting residential properties. The buildings in the background are modern apartment blocks of 5–6 storeys, suggesting recent urban development. There is evidence of coastal management in the form of rock armour (rip-rap) placed along the riverbank."
| Feature | What It Suggests |
|---|---|
| Regular grid pattern of streets | Planned urban development |
| Irregular, densely packed buildings | Informal settlement / slum |
| Large rectangular buildings with car parks | Industrial or retail areas |
| Green areas with tree cover | Parks, gardens or natural woodland |
| Brown/yellow areas | Agricultural land (harvested), bare soil or desert |
| Blue areas | Water bodies (rivers, lakes, sea) |
| White areas | Snow, ice or clouds |
| Dark grey/black areas | Tarmac roads, industrial sites |
| What to Identify | How to Report It |
|---|---|
| Highest bar | "The highest value was [X] at [location/time]" |
| Lowest bar | "The lowest value was [X] at [location/time]" |
| Overall pattern | "Values generally increase/decrease from left to right" |
| Anomalies | "Site C is an anomaly, showing a lower value than expected" |
| Range | "Values range from [lowest] to [highest]" |
| What to Identify | How to Report It |
|---|---|
| Overall trend | "Temperature increases steadily from January to July" |
| Rate of change | "The steepest increase occurs between March and May" |
| Maximum/minimum | "The peak value of 24°C occurs in July" |
| Fluctuations | "There is a sharp dip in October before values recover in November" |
| Comparison (if multiple lines) | "Line A is consistently higher than Line B, with the greatest difference in summer" |
| What to Identify | How to Report It |
|---|---|
| Type of correlation | "There is a strong positive/negative correlation" |
| Strength | "Points are closely clustered around the line of best fit" |
| Anomalies | "Point X at (3, 45) is an outlier that does not fit the trend" |
| Line of best fit | "The line of best fit shows that as X increases, Y decreases" |
| What to Identify | How to Report It |
|---|---|
| Largest segment | "Retail is the dominant land use, accounting for 45% of buildings" |
| Smallest segment | "Vacant properties make up only 5%" |
| Comparison | "There are more service businesses (30%) than food outlets (15%)" |
Exam Tip: When reading any graph, always include specific numbers with units in your answer. Saying "it goes up" is not enough. Say "river velocity increases from 0.2 m/s at Site 1 to 0.9 m/s at Site 6." The numbers prove you have used the resource.
Data tables provide precise numerical information. When working with tables:
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