GCSE Geography Week 2 Exam Preparation Tips

How to master your case studies

Hey guys!

I hope that last week’s blog on preparation and organisation was really put into play to set you up perfectly for the next few weeks of revision.

Today’s focus is going to be case studies. Now one thing that you must know by now from studying geography for the past two years, is that there are absolutely tonnes of case studies. Remembering them all is not an easy feat at all. One second you might think “yeh I know exactly what earthquake to use and the exact magnitude” and then the next day you turn into Dory from Finding Nemo:

However, there is a process to be able to store all these case study details in your mind and that is what I'm here to show you today!

Step One: List, list, list!

If you read my first blog then you will know I absolutely love a good list. It just helps to keep everything organised and makes finding things super quick and easy.

So, the first thing you are going to want to do is go through each topic and make a list of all the case studies you have to learn. For most of you this may be going through your books from school to see what you have been taught already. Or alternatively you could go through the specification and see what case studies they recommend you use or look through examiner’s reports and past papers to see what other students have used for different topics.

Beside each of your case studies you are going to put the subtopics it relates to. Now the key here is to be really specific so that when it comes to revising you can automatically associate the case with the topic area. Here is an example of a few rows of a table you may use to arrange Tectonics case studies:

Step Two: Mind-mapping

Mind mapping is a really effective way to clearly set out a lot of information. It helps to show links between details so that your brain can automatically associate certain pieces of information with each other. Take a case study from your list and make that the centre of your mind map. Around it, write titles for specific information you need to know about that topic.

Now before we fill in all the information around the mind map, we need to actually find that information. Which takes us to step three.

Step Three: Research

It's all well and good knowing the complex names of case studies but you actually need to throw in a few facts and figures too.

There are three main places that you can get your information from about the case studies that you are trying to learn:

1) Your classwork. If you have done the case study in class before than it more than likely that you will already have notes on it in your books or from your teacher.

2) Your textbook. You may have been given a textbook at the start of your GCSE's. Now you may have never even touched it and it's probably lost under your bed. But now is the time to dust it off and make it useful. Your textbook will give you examples of case studies and the information linked to what you need to know about it, so I really recommend looking through it to gather details for your mind map.

3) Lastly, the internet. Now we are lucky enough to live in the age where any answer to any question you have is available at the click of a button. It's only right that we utilise this to the fullest. As I said your textbook will provide you with information for your case study but it will likely give you basic, general information. If you really want to impress the examiners, throwing in some really good, detailed facts will always do the trick. So using the internet do a bit of extra research do find interesting information for your mind map.

Step Two: continued

So going back to Step Two: Mind-mapping. As you are researching and finding all this information, keep adding it to your mind map to build it up.

Remember to be succinct! Mind-maps are to help you remember the information easily. So writing long sentences isn't going to be super helpful. You want to write your information in note form so it's easier and quicker to digest.

It also helps if you make it pretty but that’s just my preference and ONLY IF IT DOESN’T TAKE LONG!!! This is not an excuse to spend hours revolutionising the art world via mind-maps. By the end of it you will have a full mind-map ready to memorise. Here’s an example of one. The topic here is Earthquakes and the case study is Haiti:

Step Four: You may have already guessed it… Memorise!

The final step in this process is memorising. Now this is the hardest part but creating the mind-map in first place should have brought you one step closer to remembering the information, as you research and write it down your brain will register all this information.

A few techniques to help memorise it might be to teach it to a friend or saying it out loud, use active recall methods, or maybe try re-writing out a mind-map from memory to compare to the original and take note of what you forgot to add. Whatever your process is for memorising, apply it here and you’ll be one step closer to mastering your exams!

Have any questions about how to prepare for your GCSE exams? Having problems with any hard to understand content or tricky past exam questions? Then ask Dharaa. Dharaa will be hosting a series of Q&A webinars in the 2 weeks before final exams. Post your questions here, and Dharaa will answer them in these sessions.