Climate Change is the OCR A-Level Geography (H481) unit on how and why climate has changed, from the geological past to the industrial era, and on what can be done about it. It is one of five Geographical Debates on Paper 3; students study two, and each one is examined in all three sections of that paper. The specification requires case studies of one AC and one EDC to illustrate their contribution to greenhouse gas emissions over time, and of two contrasting countries at different stages of economic development for the challenges of mitigation and adaptation.
The whole of Climate Change for OCR A-Level Geography (H481), built around the five enquiry questions.
How and why has climate changed in the geological past?
How and why has the era of industrialisation affected global climate?
Why is there a debate over climate change?
In what ways can humans respond to climate change?
Can an international response to climate change ever work?
Every specification bullet point is covered, clearly identified, and in one download. No more searching across your paper files, teacher PowerPoints, OneNote and Google Classroom assignments, or generic free notes you have found online.
Every process in the specification is covered in the way the exam asks for it: what causes it, who it affects, and why responses differ from one country to the next. That is what the extended questions in Sections B and C need.
Examiner's Warnings — concise summaries of the common mistakes identified in the OCR Examiner's Reports, so that you do not make the same ones and do not need to go and read them yourself.
Past exam paper questions, and where to find them — every question OCR has already set on each topic, so that you know how this material is tested in the exam.
Potential Future Questions — written with the same command words and the same wording structure as the OCR questions, so that you can see what is likely to come up and prepare for it.
Revision Recall — retrieval practice questions, so that you revise actively rather than re-reading.
Climate Change asks for four country case studies in two pairs: one AC and one EDC for their contribution to greenhouse gas emissions over time, and two contrasting countries at different stages of economic development for the challenges of mitigation and adaptation.
They are covered here, each one labelled, so that you revise the ones your school teaches. The UK and China cover the emissions pair. Bangladesh is the LIDC for mitigation and adaptation, and both Australia and the UK are covered as the AC — the second and third editions of the OCR textbook use different examples, so whichever your school teaches is here.
What if my school teaches a different case study? Email jono@geographystudio.co.uk and say which one. I will reply, and it tells me which case study to write next.
Most students learn case studies as a set of facts, then find that the exam does not ask for facts. It asks for an argument. Every case study closes with a Big Picture: the story that case study tells, and the different arguments it can be used to build.
Paper 3 is the Geographical Debates paper. There are five topics; you study two, and you answer on both.
Your two topics each come up three times. Section A is based on the Resource Booklet. Section B is synoptic, so it asks you to bring in the rest of the course. Section C is an extended essay. One unit, examined three ways — which is why knowing a debate properly is worth more here than anywhere else on the course.
If you have not tested these notes yet, the complete Earth's Life Support Systems unit is free.