The carbon cycle and energy security

This Question and Answer considers two parts of an A-level question for the 2016 Edexcel specification. The question tests Topic 6 The carbon cycle and energy security, Paper 1. This topic is covered by the other exam boards using similar style questions (see Box 1) and this piece could be used by students taking other specifications, bearing in mind differences in question and markscheme style. The exam comments are the responsibility of GEOGRAPHY REVIEW and have neither been provided nor approved by the examination board

Table 1 Question sequence

The two sub-questions discussed here are both relatively high demand. They are the last two questions in a sequence of five covering both the water and carbon cycles, arranged as shown in Table 1. In the Paper 1 exam, the sequence could be reversed with the 3–8 mark questions testing the carbon cycle and the 12 and 20 mark questions testing the water cycle.

There are several important points to remember when tackling a full question sequence such as this: