Unit 7 Markscheme - Water and Food Supply
I've kept them here because there might be something useful for someone and the general marking principles aren't all that different. But be aware that it's old and out of date (the stuff on the Google Earth page in particular may not work at all)
Use this markscheme to check your own answers. If you're unsure then ask a teacher to give you a hand. With practice you should be able to mark your own work.
You might find it useful to look at the Standard GCSE Markscheme.
This explains a little more about level marked questions and gives an example. As examiners we're always interested to see useful case studies used in longer answers - this will often gain marks because it helps to explain the points you're making.
Sudan
For 1 mark something which identifies that Egypt is highest and Ethiopia lowest. For 2 marks this needs to go further and suggest that Egypt is a lot higher - around 4 times as high as Ethiopia and Kenya.
Compare is a key command word - it means talk about the differences and similarities. A level 1 answer will only look at similarities or differences - Level 2 will do both.
For example, a similarity is that access is higher in urban areas in all 4 countries. A difference is that the figure for rural Egypt is very close to the urban figure whilst in Ethiopia there is a huge difference.
A good use of figures would be required to get all 4 marks.
3 problems required, such as: disease will spread; lack of ability to irrigate crops; lack of water for industry; problems with transport on water; lack of drinking water etc...
Level 1: simple points, lacking development - e.g. unreliable rainfall, water being taken out of rivers, areas far from the sea lacking rainfall etc...
Level 2: some development tied to at least one example: e.g. "Niger is far from the sea. This means that it will not get reliable rainfall every year as it will depend how much moisture gets as far inland as Niger. This causes unreliable rainfall which means the country has an unreliable supply of water."
Note how the answer comes back to the question at the end. This makes it difficult for examiners not to give the marks. This answer may well get all 4 marks by itself.
You can talk about either food or water supplies - so points such as dam building, well digging, use of bunds (lines of stones) or fertlizers would all be reasonable.
Level 1: simple points, not developed.
Level 2: some development - e.g. "dam building will allow water to be stored for drier periods of the year."
Level 3: solid development linked to clear case studies - e.g "the Aswan High Dam in Egypt dams the River Nile. This stores water ..."