Edexcel GCSE Geography Tutors Online

Edexcel GCSE Geography is unusual because Pearson publishes two separate specifications for it, and a school chooses one. Geography A is code 1GA0, qualification number 601/8134/5. Geography B is code 1GB0, qualification number 601/8135/7, with the discount code RF4. Both were written for first teaching from September 2016 and first certification from 2018. This page works from Geography A Issue 5, ISBN 978 1 446 93206 3, and Geography B Issue 4, ISBN 978 1 446 93167 7. Geography A prints no discount code and points to the GOV.UK website instead.

The two specifications are built on the same marks and the same weightings. Each has three externally examined papers: two worth 37.5% and carrying 94 marks, and a third worth 25% and carrying 64 marks. Each paper of 94 marks awards up to 4 marks for spelling, punctuation, grammar and use of specialist terminology, and each paper of 64 marks does the same. All assessment is taken in May and June in a single year, and there is no November series.

Geography A covers The Physical Environment, The Human Environment, and Geographical Investigations: Fieldwork and UK Challenges. Geography B covers Global Geographical Issues, UK Geographical Issues, and People and Environment Issues with a decision-making paper. Both are examined against four assessment objectives rather than the usual three, and the fieldwork requirement carries a formal statement that the centre must return.

Where the two specifications part company is in the detail. In Geography A the long paper is Paper 1, The Physical Environment, at 1 hour and 45 minutes, and Paper 2, The Human Environment, is 1 hour and 30 minutes. In Geography B it is the other way round: Paper 1, Global Geographical Issues, is 1 hour and 30 minutes, and Paper 2, UK Geographical Issues, is 1 hour and 45 minutes. That Geography B paper was increased from 1 hour and 30 minutes, and the specification states the change takes effect for 2026 exams.

The choice built into each paper also differs. Geography A asks students to choose two from three landscapes in Paper 1, choosing between coastal, river and glaciated upland, and one from two resource management options in Paper 2, choosing between energy and water. Geography B teaches both coastal change and river processes in Topic 4 and then asks students to choose one of them, so the choice sits in the investigation rather than in what is taught.

The shape of the third paper differs too. Geography A's Paper 3 has three sections and offers a choice in Section A between rivers and coasts, and in Section B between a central or inner urban area and rural settlements. Geography B's Paper 3 has four sections, and Section D is a decision-making section offering a choice of one from three decisions assessed through a 12-mark extended writing question.

The assessment objectives are identical in wording and weight across both specifications. AO1 is 15% for knowledge of locations, places, processes and scales. AO2 is 25% for geographical understanding of concepts and inter-relationships. AO3 is 35% for applying knowledge to interpret, analyse and evaluate and make judgements, with 10% applied to fieldwork contexts. AO4 is 25% for selecting and using skills and techniques and communicating findings, with 5% used to respond to fieldwork data and contexts. So AO3 is the largest objective by a clear margin, and a quarter of the qualification is skills rather than content.

At paper level the two specifications behave differently. In Geography A, Papers 1 and 2 carry the same split, 6.7% AO1, 11.3% AO2, 11.3% AO3 and 8.3% AO4 each, and Paper 3 shifts almost entirely to analysis and skills at 1.6% AO1, 2.4% AO2, 12.4% AO3 and 8.4% AO4. In Geography B no two papers share a split: Paper 1 leans on understanding at 13.7% AO2, Paper 2 leans on analysis and skills at 14.2% AO3 and 10.8% AO4, and Paper 3 carries 12.1% AO3.