Choosing your exam topics
By Marjorie Henry, Contributor

Oberlin High School performing during TVJ's choir competition, 'All Together Sing', on October 19, 2006. - Norman Grindley/Deputy Chief Photographer

AS 2007 begins, I wish for you all that is good in all aspects of your endeavours. Since your external examinations are due to begin in another few months, I do trust that you took time out of the Christmas holiday break to do some studies, not only in geography, but in all the subjects you will be offering in the external examinations. By the way, have you completed your field study report for your geography School-Based Assessment (SBA)? Remember, this compulsory SBA for students setting the subject at the General Proficiency Level is due for submission by mid March so you should be well on your way with it if it is not yet completed. Make every effort to do it properly following the given guidelines. Aim at scoring maximum marks.

When I started this series of lessons for the academic year beginning in September 2006, I had indicated that there was a new syllabus for geography in place and that you would be the first set of students to be examined on it. Everybody should now be using the new syllabus. In fact, I had encouraged you to purchase a copy for yourself and I do trust that you have done so. Make sure that the one you have purchased has written on it - 'Effective for examinations from May/June 2007'. This is the current one.

In the previous lessons, my focus was on section two of the syllabus, that is, natural systems. I would now like to go on to section three, that of human systems. If you have your syllabus, you would have noticed that this section has two (2) sub-sections, namely, (a) population and settlement, and (b) Economic Activity. I will discuss aspects of each separately, beginning with Population and Settlement. In this section, you are expected to focus on such topics as

Factors affecting population distribution, population density and population growth;

• Reasons for urbanisation;
• Benefits and problems of urbanisation;
• Ways of controlling urbanisation, and
• International migration.

These topics are to be done primarily in reference to a specific Caribbean country and, to a lesser extent, to ONE developed country. When choosing the Caribbean country, I would suggest that you select your own country, Jamaica. This is where you live and you are able to observe and be aware of what is happening around you. See this as first-hand information or primary data, which you can utilise well in answering your questions in the examinations. If you had taken the time to go through your syllabus, you would have observed that a list of developed countries is given, namely, Canada, United States, Japan, United Kingdom, Netherlands and France. You are to choose only one of these countries.

In studying population and settlement, there are some demographic terms, that is, terms that relate to population, that you must be aware of. So, let me share these with you.

1. POPULATION: This refers to the total number of people living in a given place at a given time.

2. POPULATION DISTRIBUTION: This describes the way in which people are spread out across the earth's surface.

3. POPULATION DENSITY: This describes the number of people living in a given area. To find out the density of population for a particular country, divide the total population of that country by the total area of that country, that is -

4. POPULATION GROWTH: This is determined by three factors, namely,

(a) BIRTHS - the number of babies being born

(b) DEATHS - the number of people dying

(c) MIGRATION - the number of people leaving or entering a country permanently

May I encourage you to do some reading on the topic. I will continue this in the next lesson.

Marjorie Henry is a vice-principal at Glenmuir High School and is head of the Geography Department. She teaches the subject at the CSEC Level.