Cambridge International A Level Geography (9696): Topic 13 – Global interdependence – Practice Questions

These are original questions written for Marlbridge, for revision and practice on this content. They are not reproduced past-paper questions, and they do not replicate the exam’s exact structure, question count or mark tariffs – examination boards hold copyright in their own papers. Use these alongside the official past papers from your board or school.

These questions cover Topic 13, Global interdependence (sections 13.1 to 13.4), of the Cambridge International AS & A Level Geography (9696) syllabus for examination in 2025 and 2026. The topic is one of four Advanced Human Geography options on Paper 4, where each option has a 10-mark structured question and a choice of two 20-mark essays. All countries, places, businesses and data below are fictional.

Revise first with the study guide for this unit and the revision notes for this unit. The 9696 geography hub and the 9696 checklist show where the topic fits. For core human practice, try the core human geography practice questions.

Questions

1. Give the meaning of the term invisible imports and give one example. [2]

2. Outline what is meant by debt relief and name one debt relief programme. [3]

3. The table shows export earnings for Kavira, a fictional country, in US$ million.

Export	2015	2024
Copper ore	2,400	2,100
Coffee	300	350
Cut flowers	150	450
Manufactured goods	250	600
Tourism (invisible)	400	900
Total	3,500	4,400

(a) Calculate the percentage of Kavira’s total export earnings that came from copper ore in 2015 and in 2024. [2] (b) Using the table, suggest two reasons why the change between 2015 and 2024 may reduce Kavira’s economic risk. [4]

4. Explain how resource endowment and colonial ties can each influence a country’s pattern of trade. [4]

5. The Lomaro Coffee Cooperative is a fictional group of farmers. It sells 30% of its coffee under a certification scheme with a guaranteed minimum price of 2.00 per kg; buyers pay the minimum or the market price, whichever is higher. The rest is sold at the market price. All figures are fictional.

Year	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
Market price per kg	1.70	2.30	2.60	1.90	1.60

(a) Identify the years in which the minimum price raised the price paid, and state by how much per kg in 2024. [2] (b) Using the data, explain why the cooperative’s average income per kg still fell between 2023 and 2024. [4]

6. Explain the causes of the international debt crisis of the 1980s. [5]

7. After a cyclone, Merovia, a fictional country, receives three aid packages:

Package A: Food, tents and water-purification tablets from the government of Northland, delivered within a week. Package B: A low-interest loan from a development bank funded by many member governments, to rebuild a coastal road over five years. Package C: A grant from the government of Westaria for new port cranes, on condition that the cranes are bought from Westarian companies.

(a) Classify each package using the terms relief, development, tied, bilateral and multilateral. [3] (b) Explain two disadvantages of Package C for Merovia. [4]

8. Tourists spend US$50 million a year in Palmera Bay, a fictional resort. An estimated 45% of this spending leaks out of the local economy.

(a) Calculate the amount retained in the local economy. Show your working. [2] (b) Explain how the retained spending creates a multiplier effect, and why leakage weakens it. [4]

9. The table shows international arrivals (thousands) at Corral Island, a fictional destination.

Year	1978	1983	1988	1993	1998	2003	2008	2013	2018
Arrivals	4	9	35	120	310	520	600	610	590

(a) Describe the trend in arrivals, using figures. [3] (b) With reference to Butler’s tourism area life cycle model, suggest which stage Corral Island had reached by 2018, and what further information would help you decide. [4]

10. Explain the difference between ecological and perceptual carrying capacity, and suggest how a small ecotourism lodge might stay within both. [5]

11. “Free trade benefits importing countries more than exporting countries.” How far do you agree? [16]

12. With reference to one tourist area or resort you have studied, evaluate how far its growth has been sustainable. [16]

Answers

1. Services bought from other countries, paid for without physical goods crossing the border [1]; for example, a family from the country holidaying abroad, or a firm paying a foreign insurer [1]. [2] Examiner insight: the example must be a service bought from abroad; an imported product such as oil is visible and scores nothing.

2. Debt relief is cancelling all or part of a country’s debt [1], or rescheduling it with lower interest or a longer repayment period [1]. Example: the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative, or the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative [1]. [3] Examiner insight: name the programme in full; “the IMF helped” is too vague for the example mark.

3. (a) 2015: 2,400 / 3,500 x 100 = 68.6% [1]; 2024: 2,100 / 4,400 x 100 = 47.7% [1]. [2] (b) Copper’s share fell from 68.6% to 47.7%, so a fall in the copper price would now hit a smaller share of earnings [1]; this matters because primary commodity prices are volatile [1]. Tourism (an invisible export) more than doubled from 400 to 900, adding a service-based source of earnings [1]; manufactured goods rose from 250 to 600, and manufactured exports usually have more stable prices and add more value [1]. [4] Examiner insight: each reason needs a figure from the table plus an explanation of risk; quoting numbers alone gains only half the marks.

4. Resource endowment: a country exports what it has in abundance [1], e.g. a country with large copper reserves exports mainly copper ore, as Chile does [1]. Colonial ties: former colonies kept trade links and shared languages, currencies or institutions with the former colonial power [1], e.g. the Lomé Convention (1975) gave African, Caribbean and Pacific countries preferential access to European markets [1]. [4] Examiner insight: “explain” needs the mechanism (why the factor creates trade), not just a named example.

5. (a) 2020, 2023 and 2024 [1]; in 2024 the minimum raised the price by 0.40 per kg (2.00 - 1.60) [1]. [2] (b) Only 30% of output is sold at the guaranteed price [1]. The other 70% is sold at market price, which fell from 1.90 to 1.60 [1]. The average price falls from about 1.93 (0.3 x 2.00 + 0.7 x 1.90) to about 1.72 per kg (0.3 x 2.00 + 0.7 x 1.60) [1]. Any premium paid must be spent on community or business projects, so it does not raise farmers’ own price per kg [1]. [4] Examiner insight: the data reward a calculation; a general point that “Fairtrade does not cover everything” without figures is capped.

6. After the 1973 oil price rise, oil exporters deposited large sums in Western banks [1], which lent them to developing countries at low, variable interest rates [1]. From 1979, interest rates in the US and Europe rose sharply, so debt service costs soared [1]. Falling commodity prices and recession cut borrowers’ export earnings, so they could not repay [1]. In August 1982 Mexico announced it could not service its debts, and lenders withdrew from other borrowers, spreading the crisis [1]. [5] Examiner insight: link each cause to repayment difficulty; a list of dates without the mechanism of rising debt service will not reach full marks.

7. (a) A: relief aid, bilateral [1]. B: development aid, multilateral [1]. C: tied aid, bilateral (and development) [1]. [3] (b) Merovia cannot shop around, so the cranes may cost more than equivalent cranes from elsewhere [1], which reduces the real value of the grant [1]. Spare parts, servicing and training may also have to come from Westaria [1], creating long-term dependence on one supplier and money flowing back to the donor’s firms [1]. [4] Examiner insight: the second mark for each disadvantage comes from developing the consequence for Merovia, not from naming another problem.

8. (a) Retained share = 100% - 45% = 55% [1]; 0.55 x 50 = US$27.5 million [1]. [2] (b) Retained money is paid as wages and to local suppliers (direct income) [1]. Suppliers then buy more inputs and employ more people (indirect effects) [1], and workers spend their wages in local shops and services (induced effects), so total income exceeds the first spending [1]. Leakage, such as imported food or profits sent to foreign hotel owners, removes money from each round, so the multiplier is smaller [1]. [4] Examiner insight: name the rounds of spending in order; “money goes round the economy” is too vague to score.

9. (a) Slow growth at first, from 4,000 in 1978 to 35,000 in 1988 [1]. Rapid growth to 1998 and 2003, with the largest five-year rise of 210,000 between 1998 and 2003 [1]. Growth then slowed, peaking at 610,000 in 2013 and falling slightly to 590,000 in 2018 [1]. [3] (b) Stagnation, because arrivals have levelled off and dipped after a long period of growth [1]; consolidation is also possible if the dip is short-term [1]. Further information: changes in hotel occupancy or in the condition of facilities, to show whether the resort is ageing [1]; data after 2018, or on new investment, to show whether decline or rejuvenation follows [1]. [4] Examiner insight: support the stage with the figures, and show that the model cannot fix the stage from arrivals alone.

10. Ecological carrying capacity is the level of use an ecosystem can absorb before it is damaged, e.g. trampling or disturbance of wildlife [1]. Perceptual carrying capacity is the number of visitors that residents and tourists find acceptable before their experience suffers [1]. The difference is that one is about environmental damage and the other is about people’s tolerance [1]. The lodge could limit guest numbers and keep to marked trails [1], and employ local people and consult the community so residents accept visitors [1]. [5] Examiner insight: both management points must fit a small ecotourism lodge; generic city-scale measures such as access fees miss the context.

11. The real exam marks essays with levels of response, not point by point; these are indicative creditworthy points. [16]

• Introduction: free trade means trade without tariffs, quotas or subsidies [1]; the answer depends on what is traded and on each country’s level of development [1].
• Importers gain cheaper goods and wider choice [1], and cheaper inputs for their own industries [1].
• But cheap imports can undercut local producers, e.g. subsidised EU farm exports have been criticised for undercutting farmers in Africa and Asia [1].
• Exporters gain foreign currency, jobs and economies of scale [1]; East Asian manufacturers grew through export-led growth as tariffs fell [1].
• Primary commodity exporters face volatile prices and weak terms of trade [1]; Zambia’s reliance on copper left it exposed, and it defaulted on its debt in 2020 [1].
• The WTO promotes free trade through most-favoured nation and national treatment rules [1], but the Doha Round stalled over rich countries’ agricultural subsidies [1], so trade is not fully free and benefits are uneven [1].
• Fairtrade shows exporters may need protection from market prices, though it covers only part of producers’ output [1].
• Most countries are both importers and exporters, so the statement is a simplification [1].
• Judgement: free trade benefits importers fairly reliably through lower prices, but for exporters it depends on the type of export [1]; manufacturing exporters may gain more than importers, while commodity exporters often gain less [1]. Examiner insight: top-level answers judge the statement against named countries and the type of export; describing trade benefits in general stays in the lower levels.

12. The real exam marks essays with levels of response, not point by point; these are indicative creditworthy points for a Venice answer. [16]

• Introduction: sustainable growth meets present needs without damaging the environment, society or economy for the future [1]; Venice is a historic city and lagoon, a UNESCO site since 1987 [1].
• Growth: a Grand Tour stop in the 18th century [1], then mass tourism and cruises, with estimates of 22 to 30 million visitors a year [1].
• Economy: tourism supports many jobs and businesses [1], but the city depends heavily on one sector and much day-tripper spending is small [1].
• Society: the historic-centre population fell from about 95,000 in 1980 to about 50,000 in 2021 [1], as rents rose and homes became short-term lets [1]; this is the clearest sign of unsustainable growth [1].
• Environment: cruise ships caused pollution and wave damage [1]; flooding and subsidence threaten buildings [1].
• Management: ships over 25,000 tonnes banned from the Giudecca Canal in 2021 [1]; a day-tripper access fee from 2024 and a 25-person limit on tour groups [1].
• Evaluation of management: phone data suggested more people visited on fee days in 2024, so the fee raised money without cutting numbers [1].
• Butler’s model: Venice fits stagnation, with demand high but the resident community under pressure [1].
• Judgement: growth has been economically sustainable but socially unsustainable, and recent measures have only partly reduced pressures [1]. Examiner insight: “evaluate how far” needs a judgement for each of environment, society and economy, backed by dated facts from your case study.

Where marks are usually lost

• Giving goods such as oil or cars as examples of invisible trade.
• Reading figures off a table without explaining what they show.
• Not showing working in calculations, so a slip loses every mark.
• Giving one classification for aid when the question asks for several (e.g. relief and bilateral).
• Writing that Fairtrade guarantees farmers a high income; it sets a minimum and covers only part of output.
• Describing the debt crisis without explaining why rising interest rates mattered.
• Naming Butler’s stages but not testing the model against data.
• Using a whole country for the tourist-area case study, or giving no dates or figures.
• Writing essays with no judgement; evaluation carries 40% of Paper 4.

Next steps

• Re-read the study guide for this unit for any question you found hard.
• Try a full timed essay: 20 marks in about 30 minutes, as the Paper 4 format requires one essay per option.
• Find your weak areas with our diagnostics.
• Want help with essays and case studies? Book a free trial class.

Official syllabus

These questions follow the Cambridge International AS & A Level Geography (9696) syllabus for examination in 2025 and 2026, Topic 13 Global interdependence (13.1-13.4). Your teacher will confirm which Paper 4 options you are entered for.