OxfordAQA International A-level Geography (9635): 3.4.1 Changing places – 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 section 3.4.1, Changing places, of the OxfordAQA International AS and A-level Geography (9635) specification, Version 3.2, including 3.4.1.1 to 3.4.1.5. The specification assesses this content in Section A of Unit 4: Human geography 2, a 1 hour 30 minute written exam. Revise first with the study guide and the revision notes. See also the OxfordAQA A-level Geography hub, the OxfordAQA A-level Geography checklist and the globalisation practice set for linked content on flows.

Places named Marrowgate and Saltmere, and all data and quotations about them, are fictional.

Questions

1. Distinguish between space and place. [2]

2. Explain the difference between endogenous and exogenous factors that contribute to the character of a place. Use an example of each. [4]

3. Outline what is meant by insider and outsider perspectives on place. [3]

4. The table shows census data for Marrowgate, a fictional inner-city ward.

	2001	2021
Total population	8,400	11,550
Residents aged 65 and over	1,260 (15.0%)	1,040 (9.0%)
Residents born outside the country	630 (7.5%)	2,310 (20.0%)
Employed residents	3,900	5,600
Employed residents in professional occupations	780 (20.0%)	2,240 (40.0%)

(a) Calculate the percentage change in Marrowgate’s total population between 2001 and 2021. Show your working. [2] (b) Using the table, analyse how the demographic and economic character of Marrowgate has changed. [6]

5. Read the two sources about the Old Quay in Saltmere, a fictional port town.

Source A (council tourism leaflet): “Discover the Old Quay – Saltmere’s vibrant waterfront reborn. Browse independent boutiques, dine in converted fish warehouses and stay in stylish harbour apartments.”

Source B (interview with a resident, aged 71): “My father mended nets on that quay. When the fish market shut, half the street lost work. Now the warehouses are restaurants I can’t afford, and my grandson rents a room twenty minutes away because the flats here are holiday lets.”

(a) Compare the ways in which the two sources represent the Old Quay. [4] (b) Assess the usefulness of each source as evidence of the meaning of the Old Quay. [6]

6. Explain how the decisions of a multinational corporation can change the character of a place. [4]

7. With reference to a place you have studied, explain how an external agency has tried to create a specific place-meaning. [6]

8. Suggest how geospatial data could be used to investigate social inequality within a place. [4]

9. Discuss how past processes of development are implicit in the present meanings of a place you have studied. [8]

10. With reference to a contrasting place you have studied, assess the extent to which people’s lived experience of that place has changed over time. [9]

11. “Places are shaped more by their connections with other places than by their own internal characteristics.” To what extent do you agree with this view? Refer to places you have studied. [12]

Answers

The extended answers (questions 9 to 11) are shown as indicative creditworthy points. The real exam marks extended answers with levels of response, judging the overall quality of knowledge, application, analysis and evaluation, not point by point.

1. Space is a location or area without attached human meaning [1]. Place is space that people have given meaning to through experience, memory or attachment [1]. [2] Examiner insight: the mark for place depends on the word “meaning” or “experience”; “a specific location” alone is not enough.

2. Endogenous factors are internal characteristics of the place itself [1], for example topography or the built environment, such as a hill-top old town with narrow lanes [1]. Exogenous factors are relationships with other places [1], for example commuter links to a nearby city or migration flows from abroad [1]. [4] Examiner insight: each example must clearly belong to its category; “tourism” alone is ambiguous unless you say it is a flow of visitors from elsewhere.

3. An insider lives in or belongs to a place and knows it through routines, memories and relationships [1]. An outsider sees the place from beyond, as a visitor, investor, planner or media audience [1]. The two may attach very different meanings to the same place, and one person can be an insider in one place and an outsider in another [1]. [3] Examiner insight: the third mark comes from showing the perspectives produce different meanings, not from repeating the definitions.

4. (a) (11,550 − 8,400) ÷ 8,400 × 100 [1] = 37.5% increase [1]. [2] (b) The population grew strongly, by 37.5%, suggesting in-migration or new housing [1]. The share aged 65 and over fell from 15.0% to 9.0%, and the number fell by 220, so the ward became younger [1]. Residents born outside the country rose from 7.5% to 20.0%, more than tripling in number, so its cultural character is likely more diverse [1]. The share of employed residents in professional occupations doubled from 20.0% to 40.0% [1], which suggests gentrification, with higher-income newcomers [1]. Together these changes may mean older, lower-income residents have been displaced, but the table cannot show this directly without data on who left [1]. [6] Examiner insight: “analyse” needs figures quoted from the table and linked to a process; lists of numbers with no interpretation stay in the lower marks.

5. (a) Source A presents the quay positively as “vibrant” and “reborn”, a place of leisure and consumption [1]. Source B presents it as a place of loss: lost jobs, unaffordable restaurants and displaced family [1]. Source A is aimed at outsiders (visitors), while B is an insider’s view rooted in memory [1]. Both agree that the warehouses and flats have changed use, from fishing to restaurants and holiday lets [1]. [4] (b) Source A is useful as evidence of the official place-meaning the council wants to promote [1], but it is selective and persuasive, written to attract spending, so it omits negative effects [1]. Source B gives rich evidence of lived experience over three generations [1], but it is one person’s view and may not be typical of all residents [1]. Neither gives quantitative evidence, so census or house-price data would be needed to test their claims [1]. Used together, they are more useful than either alone because they show contested meanings [1]. [6] Examiner insight: in (a) use linking words such as “whereas” and “both”; in (b) give strengths and limitations of each source, because one-sided criticism caps the mark.

6. An MNC may open a factory, office or retail site, creating jobs and attracting in-migrants [1], which changes the population and the demand for housing and services [1]. Closure or relocation of a branch to a cheaper location can cause unemployment and decline [1], reducing incomes and leaving derelict buildings that alter how residents feel about the place [1]. [4] Examiner insight: the chain must reach the character of the place (people, economy, landscape or meaning), not stop at “creates jobs”.

7. In Stratford, east London, the London Legacy Development Corporation was set up in 2012 as a mayoral development corporation [1]. It took over the planning powers of the Olympic Delivery Authority for the park area [1]. The park and its new neighbourhoods were promoted as a modern place to live, study and visit [1], helped by new university campuses that opened in 2023 [1]. This aimed to replace an image of industrial decline with one of opportunity, encouraging investment and in-migration [1]. The meaning was contested: housing campaigners, such as the young mothers’ campaign formed in 2013, presented the area as one of unmet housing need [1]. [6] Examiner insight: name the agency, its action and the meaning it promoted; a generic “the government improved the area” earns little.

8. Map small-area deprivation or income data in GIS to show which neighbourhoods are most and least deprived [1]. Overlay layers such as house prices, access to green space or bus routes to see whether disadvantages cluster [1]. Compare data from two census dates to show whether gaps are widening or narrowing [1]. Note that averages for an area can hide inequality between households, so combine with interviews [1]. [4] Examiner insight: “suggest” rewards a realistic method; name the data layer and say what pattern it would reveal.

9. Indicative content (levels marking applies). Stratford’s Victorian industry grew on cheap marshland [1], and the railway works (from 1847, later the Great Eastern Railway’s) made it a working-class railway and factory district [1]. Later deindustrialisation left vacant land and a reputation for decline [1], which helped justify locating the 2012 Olympic Park there [1]. The present meaning of “regeneration” therefore depends on that past image of decline [1]. For long-standing residents, memories of industrial work and community remain part of the place’s meaning [1], so old and new meanings coexist and can conflict [1]. Judgement: past development is implicit in present meanings both in the landscape and in how different groups value the change [1]. [8] Examiner insight: the top band needs explicit links from a dated past process to a present meaning, not a history followed by a separate description of today.

10. Indicative content (levels marking applies). Introduce the Walled City of Lahore as a dense historic core of about 256 ha [1]. Partition in 1947 sharply changed who lived there, through migration in both directions: most Hindu and Sikh residents left for India and Muslim refugees from India settled [1], so the community and its cultural life changed fundamentally [1]. Growth of commerce changed daily life, with trade spreading into older buildings; before restoration the Shahi Hammam housed offices and had shops built into it [1]. Since 2012 the Walled City of Lahore Authority has promoted conservation and tourism [1], so some residents now share their streets with visitors and restoration projects [1]. Continuity: mosques, bazaars and family networks still structure daily routines [1]. Evidence limits: change in lived experience is best shown by interviews and old photographs, which need checking against census data [1]. Judgement: lived experience has changed greatly in who lives there and how space is used, but strong continuities in religious and trading life remain [1]. [9] Examiner insight: “lived experience” questions need people’s daily lives, not just a list of buildings and dates.

11. Indicative content (levels marking applies). Introduction: define place and the distinction between endogenous and exogenous factors [1]. For the view: Stratford’s change since 2000 came largely from outside, through the Olympic decision, central and mayoral investment and a large shopping centre [1]. Newham’s population reflects international migration flows, shaping its cultural character [1]. Massey’s idea of a global sense of place supports this view [1]. Against the view: Stratford’s large areas of former industrial land, an internal characteristic, made the Olympic site possible [1]. In the Walled City of Lahore, the dense Mughal-era built environment limits what change is possible and draws heritage funding [1]. Interaction: internal features attract or block flows, and flows change how internal features are used [1]. Use of a local place study, e.g. how a transport link changed a neighbourhood [1]. Scale: connections matter more at larger scales, while topography and buildings matter more at street level [1]. Different groups feel the balance differently, for example commuters versus long-term residents [1]. Evaluation of evidence: connections are easier to measure with data than internal meanings [1]. Judgement: connections drive most change, but internal characteristics decide its form, so agree only partly [1]. [12] Examiner insight: a supported final judgement that answers “to what extent” is needed for the top level; balanced lists without a verdict stay in the middle.

Where marks are usually lost

• Defining place without reference to meaning, experience or attachment.
• Quoting census figures without interpreting what they show about the place.
• Calculations with no working shown, or rounding that changes the answer.
• Treating a promotional source as neutral evidence.
• Naming “the government” or “a company” with no named body, date or action.
• Describing the past and the present separately, with no link between them.
• Forgetting continuity when a question asks about change.
• Using the same place for both local and contrasting examples when the question needs contrast.
• Ending an extended answer without a clear judgement.

Next steps

Revisit weak areas in the study guide. Test wider knowledge with our diagnostics, or Book a free trial class for help with your place studies. For timing and technique across all units, see the OxfordAQA A-level Geography exam preparation guide.

Official syllabus

OxfordAQA International AS and A-level Geography (9635) specification, Version 3.2, section 3.4.1 Changing places, assessed in Unit 4: Human geography 2.