Paper 3: Geographical applications

Pre-release resource (written for this paper; a fictional place): The Kelmer Solar Farm proposal. Kelmer is a market town of 18,000 people in lowland southern England. An energy company has applied to build a 120-hectare solar farm on grade 3 farmland 2 km east of the town. It would generate enough electricity for 30,000 homes. The company offers £60,000 a year to a community fund and 4 permanent jobs (150 during the 9-month construction). Sheep could graze between the panels. Local farmer Ruth Okafor says: 'We need to grow food, not panels.' A youth climate group says: 'The UK must reach net zero by 2050 — this is our chance to help.' Residents near the site worry about views and construction traffic on narrow lanes. Alternative options: (1) build the farm as proposed; (2) put solar panels on rooftops of homes, schools and the new business park instead (about 25% of the output); (3) a smaller 60-hectare farm with a wildlife corridor and hedgerow planting. Which one of the following is a renewable source of energy used in the proposal?

Using the resource, give two reasons why the solar farm is being proposed near Kelmer.

Calculate how many homes option (2) could supply, using the figures in the resource.

Explain why people in Kelmer have different views about the proposal.

Explain how the proposal links to the UK's changing energy mix.

Assess the possible environmental impacts of the solar farm.

Suggest how the energy company could reduce opposition from local residents.

Which option do you think is the best for Kelmer? Use evidence from the resource and your own knowledge to justify your decision. [9 marks + 3 SPaG]

Students counted pedestrians at 10 points every 100 m along a high street. Which sampling method is this?

Pedestrian counts (people per 5 minutes) at 10 sites (data are illustrative, written for this paper): 82, 74, 65, 60, 48, 41, 33, 25, 18, 14. Calculate the mean.

Suggest a suitable way to present the pedestrian counts against distance from the town centre. Justify your choice.

Explain one limitation of the students' data collection method.

Explain two risks students might face when collecting data in a town centre, and how they could be reduced.

Assess how useful the pedestrian data would be for an enquiry into whether the town centre is declining.

State the title of your physical geography fieldwork enquiry. Justify the choice of location for this enquiry.

For your human geography enquiry, evaluate the effectiveness of your data collection methods.

For one of your enquiries, to what extent were your conclusions reliable? [9 marks + 3 SPaG]