NZ Scholarship Geography cheat sheet

The curriculum concepts are environments, perspectives, processes, patterns, interaction, change and sustainability. At Scholarship level each must be named and then applied to specific evidence; naming alone earns nothing.

Pattern is the observable spatial arrangement of a phenomenon (clustered, dispersed, linear, gradient, core–periphery). Process is the mechanism that generates it (migration, erosion, agglomeration, diffusion). Always pair the two.

Choropleth shading must use a standardised value (rate per 1 000 or 100 000, percentage, index) rather than raw counts, because a raw-count map simply reproduces the population distribution.

Scale rule: a representative fraction of 1:50 000 means 1 cm on the map equals 500 m on the ground, and 2 cm equals 1 km. A smaller fraction denotes a larger-scale map showing a smaller area in greater detail.

Correlation coefficient r runs from −1 to +1 and describes only linear association; r² gives the proportion of variation in the dependent variable explained by the independent variable. Correlation does not establish causation.

Gravity model of interaction: I = (P1 × P2) / d². Doubling one centre's population doubles predicted interaction; halving the distance quadruples it. Distance decay and intervening opportunity modify the result.

Standard deviation measures dispersion around the mean. Comparing two places by means alone conceals inequality: identical means can hide very different spreads and different distributions of the same total.

Contours form a V pointing upstream where a valley crosses them; close spacing indicates a steep slope and wide spacing a gentle one. Cross-sections convert this spacing into a visible slope profile.

Sampling design: random, systematic or stratified. Larger samples improve precision, but increasing sample size cannot correct a biased sampling frame or an unrepresentative site selection.

The plate boundary changes character along New Zealand. Through the South Island the Alpine Fault is a right-lateral (dextral) strike-slip transform fault; through the North Island the Hikurangi margin is a subduction zone where the Pacific Plate dips westward beneath the Australian Plate.

Arc volcanism in the Taupō Volcanic Zone and the andesitic cones of Tongariro sit above the subducting slab, where slab fluids lower mantle melting point. The Auckland Volcanic Field is intraplate basalt and unrelated to the arc.

Prevailing westerlies plus orographic lift give very high rainfall west of the Southern Alps main divide and a foehn effect (the nor'wester) that delivers warm, dry conditions to Canterbury and Otago.

Braiding requires three conditions together: high sediment supply (glacial outwash, greywacke), highly variable discharge (spring snowmelt and nor'wester storms), and erodible, poorly vegetated banks. Remove one and the channel becomes meandering or incised.

New Zealand glaciers are maritime, with high accumulation and high ablation, so their mass balance responds quickly to temperature. A rising equilibrium line altitude produces rapid terminus retreat; moraines record former extent.

Coastal sediment transport: longshore drift direction is set by the dominant swell approach, wave refraction concentrates energy on headlands and disperses it across bays, and spits or hapua form where drift is interrupted by a headland or river mouth.

ENSO: La Niña tends to bring more northeasterly flow and warmer, wetter conditions to northern and eastern New Zealand, while El Niño typically strengthens southwesterlies. The Southern Annular Mode shifts the westerly belt's latitude and strength.

Soil parent material and rainfall control soil type: andisols from volcanic ash are fertile and phosphate-retentive, podzols form under high rainfall forest, recent soils occupy floodplains, and steep cleared slopes raise mass-movement risk.

Tropical cyclones need sea surface temperature above about 26.5 °C, low vertical wind shear and sufficient Coriolis force, so they rarely form within about 5° of the equator. Ex-tropical cyclones reaching New Zealand deliver rain rather than sustained wind.

Feedback example to quote: vegetation removal raises erosion and sediment yield, which promotes braiding and aggradation, which raises flood risk on adjacent floodplains.

New Zealand's population is about 5.2 million, with roughly one third resident in the Auckland region; the South Island holds around 1.2 million. Internal migration continues to favour the northern North Island.

Demographic transition: New Zealand sits in late stage four, with total fertility around 1.6 (below the 2.1 replacement level), life expectancy near 82 and a median age close to 38, so natural increase is small and net migration dominates growth.

Migration accounting: net migration = arrivals − departures. New Zealand typically records net losses of citizens to Australia and net gains of non-New Zealand citizens, with return migration of Kiwis adding volatility.

About five per cent of New Zealand's land area is Māori freehold land, administered under Te Ture Whenua Māori Act 1993, which prioritises retention of land in Māori ownership through trusts and incorporations.

Treaty of Waitangi settlements include Ngāi Tahu (1998), which returned Aoraki and pounamu rights, and co-governance arrangements such as Te Awa Tupua (Whanganui River) Act 2017, which gave the river legal personhood.

Urban models: Burgess concentric zone assumes uniform land and radial growth; Hoyt sectoral emphasises growth along transport routes; Harris and Ullman multiple nuclei explains polynucleated cities such as Auckland.

Central place theory: a service is viable only if the threshold population is met and lies within the range consumers will travel. Low-order services are numerous and close; high-order services cluster in regional centres such as Christchurch and Hamilton.

Tourism Satellite Account figures measure the direct contribution of tourism to GDP and exclude indirect and induced effects, so they understate the sector's total economic role. Seasonality and carrying capacity drive conflict in places such as Queenstown.

Gentrification sequence: disinvestment and low rents, in-migration of higher-income households and amenity consumers, rising rents and property values, then displacement of original residents and loss of affordable housing.