SACE Stage 2 Geography cheat sheet

Four spheres of the Earth system: atmosphere (air), hydrosphere (water), lithosphere (rock and soil), biosphere (living organisms); change in one sphere propagates to the others.

Feedback loops: positive feedback amplifies change (permafrost thaw releasing methane); negative feedback dampens change (increased cloud albedo cooling the surface).

Plate boundaries: divergent (constructive, mid-ocean ridges), convergent (destructive, subduction zones and fold mountains), transform (conservative, lateral slip).

Population transition model stages: high stationary, early expanding, late expanding, low stationary, declining; birth and death rates drive the shift.

Push factors drive migration away from a place (conflict, unemployment); pull factors attract migrants (jobs, safety, services).

Urban land-use models: Burgess concentric zone, Hoyt sector, Harris-Ullman multiple nuclei; each assumes different transport and growth conditions.

Development indicators: GDP per capita (economic), HDI (income, life expectancy, education), Gini coefficient (income inequality, 0 = perfect equality).

Climate controls: latitude, altitude, distance from sea, ocean currents, prevailing winds, and relief; these explain regional temperature and rainfall patterns.

Sustainability is meeting present needs without compromising future generations' ability to meet theirs; assessed across environmental, social, and economic dimensions.

Map scale: large-scale maps (e.g. 1:25 000) show small areas in high detail; small-scale maps (e.g. 1:1 000 000) show large areas with less detail.

Contour rules: closely spaced contours indicate steep slopes; contours crossing a valley form a V pointing upstream; contours never cross each other.

Six-figure grid reference: eastings (vertical lines) read first, then northings (horizontal lines); always read right then up.

Fieldwork sampling: random (unbiased, may miss patterns), systematic (regular intervals along a transect), stratified (proportional to sub-groups).

Data types: quantitative (numerical) versus qualitative (descriptive); primary (collected first-hand) versus secondary (from existing sources).

Central tendency and spread: mean (sensitive to outliers), median (middle value), mode (most frequent); range and standard deviation describe dispersion.

Graph selection: bar charts for categorical data, line graphs for continuous trends, scatter graphs for correlation between two variables, choropleth maps for rates by area.

Correlation is not causation; a statistical relationship between two variables may be explained by a third confounding factor.

Geographic inquiry sequence: question or hypothesis, data collection, data processing and presentation, analysis, conclusion, and evaluation of limitations.