Geography
Geography: what this domain tests
Geography questions on this exam cover physical and human geography: maps and projections, scale, regions, climate, population distribution and migration, cultural geography, political boundaries, and economic development. The emphasis is on spatial reasoning-locating places, explaining patterns, and connecting human activity to environment.
Core rules and concepts
- Map projections distort: Mercator preserves shape and direction but exaggerates high-latitude area; equal-area projections preserve area but distort shape. Choose the projection that fits the question's purpose.
- Scale: large-scale maps show small areas in detail; small-scale maps show large areas with less detail. A fractional scale of 1:24,000 is larger than 1:1,000,000.
- Demographic transition: Stage 1 high birth and death rates; Stage 2 death rates fall and population grows fast; Stage 3 birth rates fall; Stage 4 low rates and stable population; Stage 5 in some models shows below-replacement fertility and aging.
- Push and pull factors: migration reflects economic opportunity, conflict, environmental stress, and family ties; intervening obstacles matter.
- Regions and boundaries: formal regions share a measurable trait; functional regions are organized around a node; perceptual regions are mental maps. Boundaries can be geometric, natural, or cultural.
Worked example
A country has a crude birth rate of 38 per 1,000, a death rate of 12, a young population pyramid, and most workers in subsistence agriculture. Which demographic-transition stage fits? High birth rate with declining death rate and rapid growth points to late Stage 2. Stage 1 would have a death rate near the birth rate; Stage 4 would show low birth and death rates and an older pyramid. The economic clue-subsistence agriculture-reinforces an early transition setting.
Traps that cost marks
- Confusing weather and climate: weather is short-term; climate is long-term average.
- Ignoring scale direction: a smaller representative fraction means a larger-scale map.
- Treating correlation as causation: population growth alone does not explain development.
- Misreading pyramids: wide bases indicate youthful populations, not necessarily high growth if mortality is high.