Cambridge IGCSE Geography: every topic, by paper

What is the birth rate?

The number of live births per 1,000 people per year.

What is the death rate?

The number of deaths per 1,000 people per year.

What is natural increase?

Birth rate − death rate; the population grows when births exceed deaths.

What is urbanisation?

The growth in the proportion of a country's population living in towns and cities.

What is a megacity?

A city with more than 10 million people.

Why is urbanisation fastest in lower-income countries today?

Rural–urban migration and high natural increase in cities, as people move for jobs, services and a better life.

Name the four layers of the Earth from the outside in.

Crust, mantle, outer core and inner core.

What are tectonic plates?

Large sections of the Earth's crust that move slowly on the mantle.

What causes tectonic plates to move?

Convection currents in the mantle, together with slab pull and ridge push.

What is a drainage basin?

The area of land drained by a river and its tributaries.

What is a watershed?

The boundary of a drainage basin, usually high ground.

Name four river erosion processes.

Hydraulic action, abrasion, attrition and solution (corrosion).

What is fetch?

The distance of open water over which the wind blows to form waves.

What is the difference between constructive and destructive waves?

Constructive waves are low with a strong swash that builds beaches; destructive waves are high and steep with a strong backwash that erodes beaches.

Name four coastal erosion processes.

Hydraulic action, abrasion, attrition and solution.

What is the difference between weather and climate?

Weather is the day-to-day state of the atmosphere; climate is the average weather over a long period (usually 30 years).

What is a Stevenson screen?

A white, slatted wooden box on legs that shelters thermometers so they measure air temperature in the shade.

Why is a Stevenson screen painted white and slatted?

White reflects the Sun's heat and the slats let air flow freely, so readings are accurate.

What is an ecosystem?

A community of living things (plants and animals) interacting with each other and with the non-living environment (soil, water, climate).

What is a food web?

A diagram showing how energy passes through an ecosystem, with many linked food chains.

Describe the climate of a tropical rainforest.

Hot all year (about 27°C) and very wet (over 2,000 mm of rain a year), with little seasonal change.

What is development?

Improvement in people's standard of living and quality of life, including wealth, health and education.

What is gross national income (GNI) per capita?

The total income of a country (including income from abroad) divided by its population, often in US dollars.

What does the Human Development Index (HDI) combine?

Life expectancy, education (years of schooling) and GNI per capita, giving a score between 0 and 1.

What are the primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary sectors?

Primary extracts raw materials; secondary manufactures goods; tertiary provides services; quaternary is research, information and technology.

How does employment structure change as a country develops?

Primary employment falls, secondary rises then falls, and tertiary (and later quaternary) grows.

What is deindustrialisation?

The decline of manufacturing industry in a country or region.

What is the difference between renewable and non-renewable energy?

Renewable energy is naturally replaced and will not run out (solar, wind, HEP); non-renewable energy is finite (coal, oil, gas, uranium).

Name three fossil fuels.

Coal, oil and natural gas.

Give two advantages and two disadvantages of fossil fuels.

Advantages: reliable and produce a lot of energy. Disadvantages: release greenhouse gases and will run out.

What does a four-figure grid reference identify?

A 1 km grid square on a topographic map with a 1 km grid, such as a UK Ordnance Survey (OS) map.

How do you give a four-figure grid reference?

Read the eastings (along the bottom) first, then the northings (up the side), using the bottom-left corner of the square: 'along the corridor, then up the stairs'.

What does a six-figure grid reference identify?

A point within a grid square, to the nearest 100 m.