One Week to Go!

Dear Upper Sixth


You are no doubt as relieved as the staff that there is now only one week to go before the Belfast exam, one week is not long, and today's post is a reminder that that this week really needs a final push, you need to keep your interest up and stay on top of the key tips for doing well, so as a written reminder, here is a summary of what you need to be doing:


1) Keep reading the AIB - I know it has been three months, some of you have almost learnt it by heart, but you need to get to the point at which you know it well enough not to have to search for information during the exam to refer to it too much

2) Get on top on the stats tests - you have all done the basics, there are more worked examples coming your way soon, using actual data rather than some made up numbers, you must make sure you question me endlessly until you understand these!

3) Prepare for the questions we know might be coming - the fieldwork (EQA), the most effective part of the regeneration scheme to date, what will have the most significant lasting impact, what are the suggestions for the future (Thank you to the student blog for some "outside the box" thinking on this one!)

4) What are your thoughts - prepare some, they could be almost anything - we have discussed lessening the divide through art, sports, possibly music, media (remember the film) come up with something original and practical that takes into account the history/culture of the region.

5) Remember your words - Geographerise - there are some terms we have used in the sessions on the AIB and the mock that need to form part of your language if you are looking for a top grade - see the brief glossary below - it is by no means exhaustive.

6) Remember that although this is one of the last exams, and I know you are all probably reaching the limit of your motivation to revise and your ability to keep researching, but this is the exam you don't want to retake (it will be an entirely new topic) and with suitable preparation you can do very well in this paper.

Soon we will be back to tectonics, and kicking back of with some comparative volcanic case studies from the last year, Iceland and Merapi, and for earthquakes Haiti and Chile.

So, Statistics....

The ones you need to be able to do
1) Spearmans Rank
2) Mann Whitney U
3) Chi Squared
4) Standard Deviation
5) Inter Quartile Range
6) Averages (Mean, Median and Mode)

You can look at the data and work out what kind of test the data you have lends itself to. You have the websites to get more data, if you have a hypothesis, test it, we will be working on a few in class.

Lastly - the words you need to work into your vocabulary for the next week:

Index of Multiple Deprivation
Sectarian
Inter-Generational Deprivation
Enclave
Peace Walls
Murals
Urban Regeration
De-Industrialization
The Multiplier Effect
The De-Multiplier Effect

My final word for tonight, is an article I stumbled across on segregated cities, truly excellent and a really good read for a summary on the issues in Belfast. I will attempt to condense it tomorrow, but in the meantime do some research!

Hope this helps, and get your stats heads on for the next few days!

Millie