← A given environment: geographic concepts and skills

Reading patterns, and combining resources into a factor diagram

Beyond the map, papers regularly ask you to read a pattern from a graph or table, or to combine SEVERAL resources into one factor diagram.

The two skills, worked apart

• PATTERN DESCRIPTION: state the overall trend across the whole graph/table, quote the highest and lowest figures WITH their labels (a place name, a year, a category), then name anything that breaks the pattern.
• FACTOR DIAGRAMS: some questions give a partly-completed diagram (e.g. "Temperature / Precipitation / Sunshine → High evaporation → Concentration of salt") and ask you to fill in ONE specific fact for each box, drawn from the resource — not a general explanation of how each factor works.
• Both skills demand the SAME thing: a specific figure or fact FROM THE NAMED RESOURCE, not a restated general-knowledge fact about climate or geography.

Exam-style Completing a factor diagram for the Dead Sea's high salt concentration A diagram has three boxes — Temperature, Precipitation, Sunshine — each feeding into "high evaporation" and then "concentration of salt". Using Figure 6, complete each box with ONE feature. TEMPERATURE: state the specific figure from Figure 6 (e.g. summer temperatures reaching a stated high, in °C) — not just "it is hot". PRECIPITATION: state the specific rainfall figure from Figure 6 (e.g. an annual total in mm) — a low figure supports evaporation exceeding inflow. SUNSHINE: state the specific sunshine-hours figure from Figure 6 — more hours of direct sun drive more evaporation from the surface. Each box needs its OWN figure from the resource; three vague restatements of "hot and dry" would not meet the "using specific information" instruction. ✓ The completed diagram shows three DIFFERENT, resource-sourced facts feeding into the same outcome — this is what "using specific information" means in practice. ✕

Filling a factor diagram with general knowledge instead of resource figures

A factor-diagram box asks for a feature FROM THE NAMED RESOURCE, not a textbook explanation of why heat causes evaporation. Every box needs to be traceable back to a specific figure, label or caption in the resource booklet — a scientifically correct but unsourced answer still loses the mark.

Instruction wording	What it is actually asking for
"Describe the pattern"	Overall trend + highest/lowest figures with labels + any anomaly — no reasons needed
"Explain the pattern" / "give reasons for"	The CAUSES behind the pattern already described — go beyond restating it
"Complete the factor diagram"	One specific, resource-sourced fact per box, not a general explanation
"State the total percentage"	Read the exact figure from the named resource and copy it precisely

Practice for this standard covers the whole topic — flashcards and quiz.