GCSE Geography: Geographical Skills and Fieldwork Guide

Map skills

Be confident using grid references, scale, and contour lines (which show height and slope steepness — closer lines mean steeper slopes) to interpret Ordnance Survey maps.

Graphical skills

Practise reading and drawing a range of graphs used in geography, including choropleth maps (shading to show data by area), flow line maps (arrows sized to show quantity) and scatter graphs (showing relationships between variables).

The fieldwork enquiry process

Fieldwork follows a clear process: forming a question or hypothesis, planning data collection methods, collecting data, presenting and analysing it, then reaching a conclusion and evaluating the enquiry's limitations.

Evaluating fieldwork

A good evaluation considers the reliability of the data collected, any risks of bias (such as sampling only at certain times), and how the enquiry could be improved if repeated.

Common mistakes

• Describing a graph without referring to specific data or figures.
• Forgetting fieldwork evaluation should be honest about limitations, not just describe what was done.
• Misreading contour lines and getting the direction of a slope the wrong way round.