Advanced Higher Geography

• October 2019 subject update (171 KB)
• October 2018 subject update (303 KB)

• National Course modification summary: Geography
• Guidance on course assessment: Advanced Higher Geography

Information on National course changes for session 2020/21

Note: All modifications also apply to the Geography Gaelic-medium subject, Cruinn-eòlas.

The following modification decisions are valid regardless of the agreed approach to assessment in session 2021-22

National 3

There will be no modifications for session 2021-22.

National 4

Modifications for session 2021-22 will remain the same as session 2020-21.

There will be no requirement to complete the added value unit assessment.

National 5

Question paper: no modifications will be made to the Physical Environments or Human Environments sections of the 2022 question paper. This differs from the 2021 modifications in that both landscape types must be covered. In the Global Issues section, the number of optional questions that candidates need to answer will be reduced from two to one, which is the same as the modifications for 2021. This will reduce the number of marks for this section from 20 to 10 marks. This does not affect the structure of this section as all optional questions will be available.

The total marks for the 2022 question paper will be reduced from 80 to 70 marks and the duration will be reduced from 2 hours and 20 minutes to 2 hours and 5 minutes.

Assignment: this will be removed for session 2021-22.

The modifications to the question paper and the removal of the assignment will result in a total of 70 marks for the course assessment for session 2021-22.

Higher

Question paper 1: 100 marks (scaled to 50 marks) with a duration of 1 hour and 50 minutes. No modifications will be made to this question paper. This differs from the 2021 modifications in that the physical features in river, glaciated and coastal landscapes must be covered.

Question paper 2: 40 marks (scaled to 20 marks) with a duration of 50 minutes.

In the Global Issues section, the number of optional questions that candidates need to answer will be reduced from two to one, which is the same as the modifications for 2021. This will reduce the number of marks for this section from 40 to 20 (20 to 10 after scaling). This does not affect the structure of this section as all optional questions will be available.

Assignment: this will be removed for session 2021-22.

The modifications to the question paper and the removal of the assignment will result in a total of 140 marks (scaled to 70 marks) for the course assessment for session 2021-22.

Advanced Higher

There will be no modifications to the course assessment for 2021-22. Candidates should be given the opportunity to develop all the geographical techniques stated in the course specification.