QCAA Marine Science EA study guide
QCAA Marine Science EA · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The QCAA Marine Science External Assessment is the external examination component of Senior Marine Science within Queensland's QCE system. It is sat by Year 12 students who have studied the subject at school, and it contributes to their final subject result alongside school-based assessment. The QCAA Marine Science EA study guide has 4 sections and about 1,350 words.
01Marine Systems and the Ocean Environment
You must be able to explain how seawater properties drive ocean structure and movement. Key ideas: salinity, temperature and density (and how they combine into the TS-diagram and water masses); thermohaline circulation driven by density gradients; wind-driven surface circulation (gyres, Ekman transport, upwelling and downwelling); waves and tides (tidal range patterns, spring/neap cycles); and coastal and deep-ocean processes such as longshore drift, sediment transport, submarine canyons and turbidity currents.
364 words, about 2 min02Marine Ecology and Biodiversity
Understand how populations, communities and ecosystems are structured. Key ideas: population dynamics (births, deaths, immigration, emigration, carrying capacity, density-dependent and density-independent factors); species interactions (predation, competition, mutualism, parasitism); trophic structure and food webs (producers, consumers, decomposers, trophic levels, energy transfer and the ~10% rule); biodiversity (species richness, evenness, genetic and ecosystem diversity); and ecosystem function (productivity, nutrient cycling, habitat provision, resilience).
331 words, about 2 min03Human Use and Management of Marine Resources
Understand how humans use marine resources and how management responds. Key ideas: fisheries (stock assessment, maximum sustainable yield, catch limits, quotas, gear restrictions, bycatch); aquaculture ; tourism and recreation (carrying capacity, reef damage, anchoring); shipping and pollution (oil spills, plastic, nutrient runoff, eutrophication); and management strategies (marine protected areas, zoning, no-take zones, ecosystem-based management, co-management, Indigenous sea country management, international agreements).
325 words, about 2 min04Marine Science Inquiry Skills
You must design investigations, analyse data and evaluate evidence. Key ideas: experimental design (hypotheses, independent/dependent/controlled variables, replication, randomisation, control groups); sampling (quadrats, transects, catch surveys, stratified sampling, sample size); data analysis (means, variability, error bars, correlation vs causation, graphing conventions); evaluation (reliability, validity, accuracy, precision, sources of error, limitations); and communication (clear tables, labelled axes with units, justified conclusions).
330 words, about 2 min