2025 Pearson Edexcel GCSE Geography B Paper 1 and Mark Scheme Combined (1GB0/01: Global Geographical Issues)

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2025 Pearson Edexcel GCSE Geography B Paper 1 and Mark Scheme Combined (1GB0/01: Global Geographical Issues)

🌍 Paper 1: Global Geographical Issues — Overview & What It Tests

Paper code: 1GB0/01
Title: Global Geographical Issues
Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes (90 minutes)
Total marks: 94 marks (including up to 4 marks for spelling, punctuation, grammar and use of specialist geographical terminology)
Weighting: This paper counts for 37.5% of the overall Geography B GCSE qualification.

Paper 1 covers three major topics, each correspond to a section in the exam.

Section	Topic	Key Focus / What Students Should Know
Section A — Hazardous Earth	Natural hazards, global climate system, climate change, tectonic and weather hazards, impacts of hazards globally.	How global atmospheric circulation works; causes and evidence of climate change; human activity vs natural climate change; hazards like tropical cyclones or tectonic events; interpreting climate graphs, emission data, hazard maps.
Section B — Development Dynamics	Global patterns of development, inequality between countries/regions, measures of development, factors influencing development, case studies of emerging or developing countries.	Understanding indicators of development (social, economic), causes of unequal development, strategies to improve development, globalisation, trade, and development case studies.
Section C — Challenges of an Urbanising World	Rapid urbanisation globally, growth of megacities, issues from urban growth (housing, infrastructure, environment, social inequality), urban planning & sustainable urban growth.	How and why urbanisation happens; pressures on resources and services in fast-growing cities; quality-of-life issues; sustainable urban management; case studies contrasting different world cities.

The exam has three sections, one per topic: Section A, Section B, Section C. All questions in all sections are compulsory. Question types include a mix of:
- Multiple-choice / multiple-response
- Short open‑response (short answer)
- Data‑response / interpretation (e.g. graphs, climate charts, maps, statistics)
- Calculations (where required)
- Extended writing (often 8‑mark questions) especially for evaluating, explaining or discussing in depth — sometimes with SPaG (spelling, punctuation, grammar, terminology) marks included.
For example: in a recent paper, Section A used a graph showing global greenhouse gas emissions and asked students to plot data, compare emissions by country, and explain how human activity (e.g. farming) increases greenhouse gases.

Students are assessed on:

Knowledge and understanding of global physical and human geography: climate systems, natural hazards, development patterns, urbanisation, global inequalities.
Data interpretation skills — ability to read and analyse graphs, charts, maps, tables; draw conclusions; make comparisons.
Application and analysis — explain causes/consequences, apply knowledge to case studies, understand interconnections (e.g. how development level affects vulnerability to hazards, how urban growth affects environment and society).
Evaluation & judgement — especially in extended writing: weigh pros/cons, discuss sustainability, justify decisions or recommendations (e.g. for development strategies or hazard management).
Communication and technical accuracy — structured answers, use of geographical terminology, correct spelling/punctuation/grammar, clear presentation (including where calculations or diagrams are needed).

If you’re preparing for 2025/2026 Geography B Paper 1, you should:

Make sure you have good grasp of all three topics: Hazardous Earth, Development Dynamics, Urbanisation & Global Cities.
Learn core definitions, processes, and key case studies — for hazards (climate change, tectonics, cyclones), development (inequality, growth, global vs regional differences), and urban issues (megacities, slums, urban sprawl, infrastructure challenges).
Practice data‑handling: interpreting climate graphs, emissions charts, development statistics, urban population growth graphs — and doing basic calculations if needed.
Practice structured essay responses: for 8‑mark (or longer) questions — making sure you include causes/consequences, case‑study evidence, balanced discussion, and a conclusion or judgement where needed.
Work on time management: 94 marks over 90 minutes — plan around roughly 1 minute per mark, allocate enough time for data questions and writing answers, always leave a few minutes to check spelling/grammar.
Build a good geographical vocabulary and be ready to use specialist terms correctly (these contribute to SPaG/terminology marks).

Specifications

Author	zeus999 team
Published	09 Dec 2025
Included files	PDF
2025 Pearson Edexcel GCSE Geography B Paper 1 and Mark Scheme Pearson Edexcel GCSE Geography B 1GB0/01 Global Geographical Issues 2025 exam Paper 1