Plan your time in Paper 1, choose essay titles well, answer the structured stimulus question mark by mark, and write 10-mark essays that reach the top markband, with three full model answers from different options.
Paper 1 examines the options, the geographic themes studied in depth: Freshwater, Oceans and coastal margins, Extreme environments, Geophysical hazards, Leisure, tourism and sport, Food and health, and Urban environments. SL students answer on the two options they have studied and HL students on three. The paper is the same at both levels, so the advice applies equally to everyone.
Each option is worth 20 marks and is answered in two parts: a structured question of 10 marks built on a stimulus, and an extended response of 10 marks chosen from two essay titles. The two parts reward different skills. The structured question rewards precise reading and short, developed points; the essay rewards argument, evidence and evaluation.
The paper has one section for each option, and you answer only the sections for the options you have studied. Within each one, the structured question is compulsory and comes first; the essay is a choice of two, usually printed as alternatives (“Either… or…”). The stimuli, often a topographic map extract, a graph, a table or a photograph, are printed in a separate resource booklet.
Because every option has the same shape, the same plan works for each. Treat each option as a self-contained 45 minutes and keep to it, so that a difficult structured question in the first option does not take time from the essay in the last.


Each option offers two essay titles, often one on physical processes or landforms and one on management or human impacts. A well-chosen title gains more marks than extra speed, because an answer that drifts from the question is capped however long it is. Spend two or three minutes on the choice and decide by the evidence you have, not by the topic you like.
Ask yourself | Choose the title if… | Avoid it if… |
|---|---|---|
Do I understand every word, especially the command term and key terms? | You can define each key term in a sentence | You are unsure what a term means (“sustainable”, “resilience”, “the relative importance of…”) |
Can I cover every element of the question? | You have evidence for both parts of “physical and human”, “costs and benefits”, “oil and plastic” | You know one half well and the other hardly at all |
Do I have two or three located examples with figures? | You can name places, dates and numbers for each point | Your evidence is general (“in some countries…”) |
Can I argue more than one side? | You can see where the claim is true, where it is not, and why | You could only write a one-sided account |
Can I reach a judgment? | You already have a view you could defend | You would have to sit on the fence |
The structured question usually has four parts that rise in demand. Its pattern is consistent enough to prepare for, although the exact split can vary from paper to paper.
Part | Marks | Typical command terms | What it asks for |
|---|---|---|---|
(a)(i) | [1] | State, identify, estimate | One reading from the stimulus: a value, a direction, a place, a category |
(a)(ii) | [1] | State, identify, estimate | A second reading, often needing a small calculation: a difference, a range, a height gain |
(b) | [2] | Outline | One reason, way or problem [1] with its development [1], from the stimulus or general knowledge |
(c) | [3+3] | Explain | Two reasons or ways, each [1] for the point and [2] for development, explanation or a located example |
Parts (a)(i) and (a)(ii) test skill (AO4) and accuracy. Part (b) tests understanding of one process or impact. Part (c) is where most of the 10 marks are won or lost, because it needs two separate, developed explanations in about eleven minutes.
The table is the stimulus for a structured question from Option E, Leisure, tourism and sport. It shows visitors to a rural national park by month (hypothetical data).
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Visitors (thousands) | 42 | 48 | 70 | 118 | 150 | 185 | 260 | 275 | 160 | 120 | 60 | 52 |
The model answer to (c) links back to the stimulus (“about six and a half times the January figure”) and uses terms from the option (honeypot sites and carrying capacity) without spending time defining them. Both habits show understanding in very few words.
The essay is marked with a markband of five bands, two marks wide. Each band has a headline description and a strand for each assessment objective: the knowledge and examples used (AO1), the argument and terminology (AO2), the evaluation and conclusion (AO3), and the structure and any diagrams (AO4). The examiner reads the whole answer and places it in the band that fits it best.


Band | Knowledge and examples (AO1) | Argument and terms (AO2) | Evaluation and conclusion (AO3) | Structure and diagrams (AO4) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
9–10 | Correct, relevant examples, statistics and details integrated throughout | Balanced; complexity, exceptions and comparisons explained; complex terms used correctly throughout | Detailed evaluation of evidence and perspectives; conclusion balanced, relevant and aligned with the evidence | Logically structured and easy to follow; diagrams annotated and their relevance explained |
7–8 | Relevant evidence correctly described, covering all main points of the question | Clear and relevant, but one-sided or unbalanced | Other perspectives and strengths and weaknesses of evidence described; conclusion relevant but unbalanced | Related information grouped consistently; diagrams support the argument |
5–6 | Relevant evidence described with some links to the question | Partly addresses the question, or repeats one point | Perspectives listed; conclusion general or not aligned with the evidence | Grouping into paragraphs inconsistent |
3–4 | General; relevant and irrelevant facts mixed | Argument not relevant; basic terms with errors | No critical evaluation; conclusion irrelevant | Mostly not grouped logically |
1–2 | Very brief; unconnected or irrelevant; examples missing or only listed | No analysis; terminology missing or wrong | None | Not grouped; diagrams missing or unclear |
Markschemes for Paper 1 essays apply the bands with question-specific notes that follow a consistent logic. A weakly evidenced outline of the main process or factor reaches 5–6. A structured answer reaches 7–8 if it does either of two things: it examines the question’s main themes with good, located evidence (both sides, where the question has two), or it reaches a critical conclusion, or evaluates as it goes, using geographical concepts and perspectives. An answer that does both reaches 9–10.
Move | What to add |
|---|---|
3–4 → 5–6 | Stay on the question; replace general knowledge with relevant, located evidence |
5–6 → 7–8 | Cover the whole question, every element it names; use detailed examples (place, date, figure); define terms; one idea per paragraph; evaluate as you go |
7–8 → 9–10 | Add balance (other perspectives, exceptions, strengths and weaknesses of the evidence), explain complexity (interactions, variation by place, scale and time) and end with a balanced, justified conclusion |
A plan is the cheapest way to build in evaluation and perspectives, and to reach the higher bands, because most of what lifts an essay (covering every element, balance, a conclusion that follows from the argument) is decided before the first sentence. Four minutes is enough for a plan that lists the paragraphs, the evidence for each, the counter-argument and the judgment.
Decode the title. Underline the command term, circle the key terms and any limits (“two contrasting”, “in one country”).
Decide the answer. Write the one-sentence judgment you will defend. It can change as you write, but starting with one keeps the essay argued.
List three or four points, each with one or two located examples and a figure.
Add the other side: a counter-argument, an exception, another perspective or scale.
Note one concept (power, place, scale, equity, sustainability) that will frame the conclusion.
A clear structure is part of the mark (AO4), and it also makes evaluation easier to see. The simplest effective structure has an introduction that sets up the argument, three or four paragraphs each built round one point, a paragraph of counter-argument or complexity, and a short conclusion.


An introduction should take three or four sentences. It defines the key terms in the title, sets the scale or context, names the examples that will be used, and states the line of argument. It does not tell a story or repeat the question.
Each paragraph makes one point. A reliable order is the point (a topic sentence that answers the question), the evidence (a named, located example with a figure and date), the analysis (why the evidence supports the point) and a short judgment (how far it does). The order can vary, but every paragraph needs both the evidence and the judgment.
The conclusion, a justified conclusion, answers the command term directly, at the extent asked, and gives the reason for that answer. It weighs the points already made rather than summarising them, and it adds no new evidence. A conclusion that contradicts the body, or that says only that “there are many factors”, is a common reason for an otherwise good essay to stay at 7–8.
The three essays come from Options A, B and G and use three different command terms. Each is shown with a plan, a full model answer and a note on the markband it would reach and why. The examples are drawn from each option’s own case studies and detailed examples, so their facts can be learned with the rest of the option.
The essay develops every impact it names. Two impacts, each with a process, a place and figures, examined for their causes and variations, earn more than six impacts named in a sentence each.
Feature | Option A (examine) | Option B (evaluate) | Option G (to what extent) |
|---|---|---|---|
Line of argument stated early | Severity depends on climate, scale and power | Effective locally, weak for the wider coast | Success limited, judged against health |
Located evidence with figures | Toledo 2014; Gulf dead zone 11,400 km²; Aral Sea 10% | Mappleton £2 million, about 1.7 m a year; Happisburgh 50 m | Beijing −42%; ULEZ entries; Delhi 99.6 µg m⁻³ |
Other side or complexity | Recovery of the North Aral Sea | Where hard engineering is the only option | Failure in Delhi and Mexico City |
Concept in the conclusion | Power and scale | Scale, power, equity, sustainability | Scale, power, equity |
Read both essay titles first (about 3 minutes), then answer the structured question in about 17 minutes.
In (a)(i) and (a)(ii), give exact readings from the stimulus with units.
In (b), write one point and one development; in (c), two separate reasons, each with two developments.
Choose the essay for which you have located evidence covering every element of the title.
Plan for about four minutes: judgment, three or four points with examples, the other side, a concept.
Write an introduction that defines terms and states your line of argument.
Make one point per paragraph with a named place, a date and a figure, and end each with a judgment.
Include a counter-argument, an exception or another perspective, used to sharpen the argument.
Finish with a conclusion that answers the command term at the extent asked, framed by a concept, then move to the next option on time.
With a free account, Augment remembers where you stopped in the notes and which questions you have marked.