2025 Pearson Edexcel GCSE Geography A Paper 1 and Mark Scheme Combined (1GA0/01: The Physical Environment)

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2025 Pearson Edexcel GCSE Geography A Paper 1 and Mark Scheme Combined (1GA0/01: The Physical Environment)

🌍 Paper 1: The Physical Environment — Overview & What It Tests

Paper code: 1GA0/01.
Purpose: Assesses students’ knowledge of physical geography — landscapes, weather/climate, ecosystems — and their ability to interpret geographical data, apply concepts, perform calculations, and provide structured answers.
Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes.
Total marks: 94 raw marks (this includes up to 4 marks for spelling, punctuation, grammar and use of specialist terminology — SPaG / technical terms).
Qualification weighting: Paper 1 makes up 37.5% of the overall GCSE Geography A qualification.

Paper 1 draws on three major content areas (topics), organised into three exam sections.

Section / Topic	What’s Covered
Section A — Changing Landscapes of the UK	Students study and answer on two optional landscape types from three: • Coastal landscapes & processes • River landscapes & processes • Glaciated upland landscapes & processes In the exam, candidates must answer Question 1 (on general UK physical landscape / rocks etc.) and then choose two of the optional landscape questions (i.e. two from Coastal / River / Glaciated) depending on which ones they studied.
Section B — Weather Hazards and Climate Change	This covers weather hazards, climatic patterns, climate change, and associated physical processes / hazards. Questions assess understanding of causes, effects, mitigation or adaptation, and may include data interpretation.
Section C — Ecosystems, Biodiversity and Management	Focus on ecosystems (e.g. biomes), biodiversity, environmental management and sustainability, human–environment interactions, conservation or resource management within natural environments.

The paper uses a mix of question types: multiple‑choice / multiple‑response, short open‑response, data‑response (maps, graphs, tables), calculations, and extended writing (e.g. 8‑mark or longer answers).
Questions require a range of skills: factual recall, explanation/description, analysis, evaluation, synthesis (e.g. in manage/mitigate environment or hazard essays).
The SPaG component rewards correct use of specialist geographical terminology, as well as accurate spelling, punctuation and grammar.

You need to have studied two of the three optional UK landscape types (coast, river, glaciated upland) thoroughly — know processes (erosion, deposition, glaciation), landforms, cause/effect, and case studies/examples.
Be ready to interpret and analyse data / maps / diagrams especially in Sections B and C — e.g. climate graphs, hazard frequency charts, ecosystem distribution maps, biodiversity data.
Develop ability to explain, evaluate and argue: for hazards, climate change, management strategies, sustainability — not just recall.
Practice calculation skills (for any quantitative questions), and data‑response skills (reading graphs, tables, diagrams).
Use correct geographical terminology — this helps with clarity and earns extra SPaG / technical‑term marks.
Manage time: 94 marks over 1h30 means you’ll need good time allocation — short-answer questions fast, longer essay-style questions given enough time.

Specifications

Author	zeus999 team
Published	09 Dec 2025
Included files	PDF
2025 Pearson Edexcel GCSE Geography A Paper 1 and Mark Scheme Pearson Edexcel GCSE Geography A 1GA0/01 The Physical Environment 2025 exam Paper 1