Original, AI-authored English practice with worked guidance. Selected topics only; independent teacher review is pending. This is not a complete syllabus, official past-paper collection or predicted exam score. Check your own exam-board specification: these concepts are not certified against a particular board or exam year.
74 original questions across 11 selected topic areas. No account or payment required to practise.
20 questions in this topic. Exact English revisions checked in an AI-assisted academic review; independent teacher approval is still pending.
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Selected original English practice for identified 2027 concepts; not complete teaching, assessment or option coverage.
Selected subtopics: Compulsory water management · Global environments · Climate and disease geography
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Question 1Fictional annual mean planetary budget in W/m2: incoming solar340, reflected solar100, outgoing longwave235. Calculate absorbed solar and the net energy imbalance. Explain why the imbalance is not itself a temperature increase in degrees.4 indicative marks
Explain with evidence and reasoning4 indicative marksCalculator allowed
Fictional annual mean planetary budget in W/m2: incoming solar340, reflected solar100, outgoing longwave235. Calculate absorbed solar and the net energy imbalance. Explain why the imbalance is not itself a temperature increase in degrees.
Cambridge 2027: Direct conceptual match
Syllabus2.1.2 p20 global energy budget; dimensional check W/m2 and independent subtraction240,+5. Fictional values explicitly distinguished from official observations. Bounded original practice; no teacher approval or full topic coverage inferred.
Remove reflected shortwave before comparing with outgoing longwave:340-100=240. The residual240-235=5 W/m2 is a positive flux per surface area. Accumulated energy over time can warm ocean, land and atmosphere or support phase changes; its conversion into a temperature change needs more information. These are invented illustrative numbers, not observed current global measurements.
Self-marking points
Absorbed solar is340-100=240 W/m2.
Net input is240-235=+5 W/m2.
Positive imbalance means energy accumulation somewhere in the Earth system.
Temperature response also depends on heat capacity, distribution, time and feedbacks; W/m2 is not degrees.
Examiner tip
Indicative points for this original short task, not an official essay band. Support each inference; other well-evidenced answers may be valid.
Question 2Explain why moist air forced up a mountain can form cloud and precipitation even if its water-vapour mass initially stays unchanged. Explain one reason the descending lee side may be drier.4 indicative marks
Explain with evidence and reasoning4 indicative marksNo calculator
Explain why moist air forced up a mountain can form cloud and precipitation even if its water-vapour mass initially stays unchanged. Explain one reason the descending lee side may be drier.
Cambridge 2027: Direct conceptual match
2.2.1-2.2.2 p20; saturation is distinguished from extra water supply and cloud from rainfall. No unverified named mountain case asserted. Bounded original practice; no teacher approval or full topic coverage inferred.
The controlling variable is not only vapour mass: cooling lowers the saturation vapour pressure. Once saturated, lifting promotes condensation, though small cloud droplets need collision/coalescence or ice processes to become precipitation. Descending air is compressed and warmed; with water already lost on the windward side, relative humidity can fall. Actual rainfall also depends on flow direction and moisture supply, so a mountain does not guarantee a dry lee in every event.
Self-marking points
Falling pressure allows rising air to expand and cool.
Cooling can bring air to saturation without requiring extra vapour.
Condensation produces droplets or ice; precipitation requires their further growth, not merely visible cloud.
After moisture loss and descent, compression warms air and lowers relative humidity, favouring a rain shadow.
Examiner tip
Indicative points for this original short task, not an official essay band. Support each inference; other well-evidenced answers may be valid.
Question 3Explain how subduction of an oceanic plate beneath another plate can produce both a deep trench and a volcanic arc. Avoid the claim that friction alone melts the entire descending plate.4 indicative marks
Explain with evidence and reasoning4 indicative marksNo calculator
Explain how subduction of an oceanic plate beneath another plate can produce both a deep trench and a volcanic arc. Avoid the claim that friction alone melts the entire descending plate.
Cambridge 2027: Direct conceptual match
3.2.1-3.2.2 p22: convergence/subduction and volcanic landforms. Mechanism distinguishes slab dehydration and mantle partial melt from frictional whole-slab melting. Bounded original practice; no teacher approval or full topic coverage inferred.
Separate deformation from melt generation. The trench marks downward bending at convergence. As the slab descends, released water facilitates partial melting in the mantle wedge; it is not necessary for the whole slab to liquefy through friction. Melt rises through the overriding plate and can feed arc volcanoes. Arc distance and activity vary, so this mechanism is not a map of a particular unprovided margin.
Self-marking points
Dense oceanic lithosphere bends and descends at a convergent margin, creating a trench.
Water released from the subducting material enters the overlying mantle wedge.
Water lowers the melting temperature and permits partial mantle melting.
Buoyant magma can rise through the overriding plate to form an arc inland of the trench.
Examiner tip
Indicative points for this original short task, not an official essay band. Support each inference; other well-evidenced answers may be valid.
Question 4A fictional steep cut slope becomes saturated after prolonged rain. Explain two mechanisms by which rainfall can reduce stability and evaluate drainage as a response. No real case-study outcome is supplied.4 indicative marks
Explain with evidence and reasoning4 indicative marksNo calculator
A fictional steep cut slope becomes saturated after prolonged rain. Explain two mechanisms by which rainfall can reduce stability and evaluate drainage as a response. No real case-study outcome is supplied.
Cambridge 2027: Partial conceptual match
3.3.2-3.3.3 p23; separates loading from pore-pressure loss of resistance. Fictional slope not credited as required real management example. Bounded original practice; no teacher approval or full topic coverage inferred.
Rainfall changes both sides of the stability balance: additional weight can increase driving stress while pore pressure reduces effective stress between grains. Draining water may help restore resistance, but effectiveness depends on permeability, outlet capacity and maintenance. A high, weak or over-steepened cut may also require reprofiling or support. This is a conditional mechanism task, not evidence of a successful named landslide scheme.
Self-marking points
Water can add mass and increase downslope driving force.
Increased pore-water pressure can reduce effective normal stress and frictional resistance.
Drainage can reduce saturation and pore pressure if suitably designed and maintained.
Drainage alone may be insufficient where geometry, weak material or blocked outlets remain; monitor and consider stabilisation.
Examiner tip
Indicative points for this original short task, not an official essay band. Support each inference; other well-evidenced answers may be valid.
Question 5Fictional population: ages0-14=18000;15-64=30000;65+=12000. Using (young+old)/working-age x100, calculate the total age-dependency ratio. Explain why it is not the actual number of non-workers supported by each employed person.4 indicative marks
Explain with evidence and reasoning4 indicative marksCalculator allowed
Fictional population: ages0-14=18000;15-64=30000;65+=12000. Using (young+old)/working-age x100, calculate the total age-dependency ratio. Explain why it is not the actual number of non-workers supported by each employed person.
Cambridge 2027: Direct conceptual match
4.2.1 p24 explicitly dependency; independently checked sum30000 and ratio100. Age proxy not conflated with actual economic dependency. Bounded original practice; no teacher approval or full topic coverage inferred.
Add18000+12000=30000 and divide by the defined working-age30000: the ratio is100 per100, equivalently1:1 by age group. Do not call the denominator employed workers. The ratio indicates a demographic structure, while fiscal/service implications require employment and institutional information.
Some15-64-year-olds are not employed and some people outside that band work.
Employment, productivity, pensions and household support are not measured by the age-only ratio.
Examiner tip
Indicative points for this original short task, not an official essay band. Support each inference; other well-evidenced answers may be valid.
Question 6Fictional districts A and B each have annual renewable water of1200 cubic metres/person. A has reliable treated pipes; B has intermittent contaminated supply and residents cannot afford connection charges. Explain why the equal per-person resource figure does not establish equal water security.4 indicative marks
Explain with evidence and reasoning4 indicative marksNo calculator
Fictional districts A and B each have annual renewable water of1200 cubic metres/person. A has reliable treated pipes; B has intermittent contaminated supply and residents cannot afford connection charges. Explain why the equal per-person resource figure does not establish equal water security.
Cambridge 2027: Direct conceptual match
New compulsory5.1.3/5.2.3 p26; fictional1200 is a given, not presented as an official threshold or real district statistic. Bounded original practice; no teacher approval or full topic coverage inferred.
The equal annual number controls one broad physical measure, not what reaches households when needed. Treatment and reliable delivery turn raw resources into usable supply in A. Contamination, intermittency and connection costs can leave B insecure despite the same theoretical resource per person. Seasonal demand, rights and management could widen or narrow the gap. Do not label either district empirically water-secure from the limited facts alone.
Self-marking points
Annual averages conceal seasonal reliability and local distribution.
Raw resource availability does not establish safe usable water quality.
Infrastructure and affordable access constrain effective supply in B.
Water security includes dependable acceptable access and governance, not only physical volume.
Examiner tip
Indicative points for this original short task, not an official essay band. Support each inference; other well-evidenced answers may be valid.
Question 7A fictional city abstracts100000 m3/day and loses25% before customer delivery. Repairs cut loss to10% of the same abstraction. Calculate the extra delivered water and compare repairs with increasing abstraction when the source river is stressed.4 indicative marks
Explain with evidence and reasoning4 indicative marksCalculator allowed
A fictional city abstracts100000 m3/day and loses25% before customer delivery. Repairs cut loss to10% of the same abstraction. Calculate the extra delivered water and compare repairs with increasing abstraction when the source river is stressed.
Cambridge 2027: Direct conceptual match
5.3.1-5.3.2 p27; losses share the same abstraction denominator, so gain15000 not20% of abstraction. Invented data, not a country case. Bounded original practice; no teacher approval or full topic coverage inferred.
Keep the denominator fixed: both percentages refer to100000 abstracted, not customer demand. Delivery rises from100000 x0.75=75000 to100000 x0.90=90000, a gain15000 m3/day. That relieves the need to abstract more for the same delivered volume. Yet the task supplies no repair costs, duration or environmental flow measurements, so it cannot prove every repair is preferable to every supply scheme.
Self-marking points
Initial delivery is75000 m3/day.
Repaired delivery is90000 m3/day, an extra15000 m3/day.
Reducing losses can increase useful supply without extra river abstraction.
Costs, recoverable leakage, equity and seasonal demand must be compared before ranking repairs against new supply.
Examiner tip
Indicative points for this original short task, not an official essay band. Support each inference; other well-evidenced answers may be valid.
Question 8PUB identifies Singapore's Four National Taps: local catchment water, imported water, NEWater and desalinated water. PUB also reports reverse-osmosis desalination using about3.5 kWh/m3. Explain how diversification can improve resilience and why it does not remove all vulnerability. For a purely illustrative1000 m3 batch at that energy intensity, calculate electricity use.4 indicative marks
Explain with evidence and reasoning4 indicative marksCalculator allowed
PUB identifies Singapore's Four National Taps: local catchment water, imported water, NEWater and desalinated water. PUB also reports reverse-osmosis desalination using about3.5 kWh/m3. Explain how diversification can improve resilience and why it does not remove all vulnerability. For a purely illustrative1000 m3 batch at that energy intensity, calculate electricity use.
Cambridge 2027: Partial conceptual match
g-pub and g-desalination checked: four named sources and approximately3.5kWh/m3. Independent1000x3.5=3500; fictional volume labelled. Partial5.3.3: not a complete country/transboundary case. Bounded original practice; no teacher approval or full topic coverage inferred.
Use the four actual PUB categories, not four invented reservoirs. Recycling and desalination make additional supplies possible without assuming unlimited land for catchment. For the assumed batch, multiplying volume by energy/volume yields3500 kWh. That calculation is not PUB's total annual plant demand. Desalination's energy requirement shows why more rainfall-independent water can still depend on electricity and robust infrastructure. This limited official evidence opens a Singapore case but lacks the full temporal, cost, access and governance evaluation required for a detailed case study.
Self-marking points
Different sources reduce reliance on a single supply route or rainfall-dependent source.
NEWater recycling and seawater desalination expand options where catchment land is limited.
1000 x3.5=3500 kWh for the illustrative batch.
Energy, treatment infrastructure, import arrangements and correlated disruptions can retain vulnerability; diversity is not zero risk.
Examiner tip
Indicative points for this original short task, not an official essay band. Support each inference; other well-evidenced answers may be valid.
Question 9Fictional urban populations: largest city4.8million, second1.2million, third0.8million. Calculate the largest-to-second ratio. Explain why these figures alone cannot show that the largest is a global city or determine the whole national settlement hierarchy.4 indicative marks
Explain with evidence and reasoning4 indicative marksCalculator allowed
Fictional urban populations: largest city4.8million, second1.2million, third0.8million. Calculate the largest-to-second ratio. Explain why these figures alone cannot show that the largest is a global city or determine the whole national settlement hierarchy.
Cambridge 2027: Direct conceptual match
6.1.3 p28 distinguishes hierarchy, primate and world-city concepts. Independent ratio4; no population-only world-city claim. Bounded original practice; no teacher approval or full topic coverage inferred.
9696: 6.1.3: Settlement hierarchy and global cities
A4:1 comparison describes size concentration, not financial or political command. It supports investigation of a primate pattern without imposing a universal cut-off. A global city must be assessed through functions and connections. Include other cities and settlement functions before claiming the national system has a particular hierarchy. The figures are invented, so no real country is classified.
Self-marking points
Ratio4.8/1.2=4:1.
Strong size dominance is evidence relevant to primacy.
Global-city status concerns wider command/connectivity functions, not population alone.
Three cities omit smaller settlements, functions and linkages needed to characterise the whole hierarchy.
Examiner tip
Indicative points for this original short task, not an official essay band. Support each inference; other well-evidenced answers may be valid.
Question 10A simplified fictional humid tropical forest model has large biomass nutrients, a small litter store and rapid decomposition and uptake. Explain why a small litter store does not mean little nutrient cycling, and why clearing can weaken the cycle even if ash initially adds nutrients to soil.4 indicative marks
Explain with evidence and reasoning4 indicative marksNo calculator
A simplified fictional humid tropical forest model has large biomass nutrients, a small litter store and rapid decomposition and uptake. Explain why a small litter store does not mean little nutrient cycling, and why clearing can weaken the cycle even if ash initially adds nutrients to soil.
Cambridge 2027: Direct conceptual match
7.3.3 p31 nutrient stores/transfers; no equation of low litter stock with low throughput or guarantee that every tropical soil is fertile. Bounded original practice; no teacher approval or full topic coverage inferred.
Think of litter as a rapidly processed intermediate store, not a measurement of all nutrient availability. Rapid entry and exit can coexist with a small amount present at one time. Clearing changes both storage and transfers: removed biomass no longer supplies the same litter, and lost cover may expose soluble nutrients to loss. Ash is therefore not proof of a durable fertile system. This schematic model is not an authentic named ecosystem case.
Self-marking points
Store size is distinct from the transfer rate through it.
Rapid decomposition and uptake can maintain a small litter store despite large annual fluxes.
Clearing removes biomass and interrupts litter inputs and uptake pathways.
Initial ash enrichment may be short-lived where leaching, runoff and reduced organic inputs follow.
Examiner tip
Indicative points for this original short task, not an official essay band. Support each inference; other well-evidenced answers may be valid.
Question 11Explain why increased coastal sediment can damage a shallow photosymbiotic coral reef even without physically breaking coral. Evaluate why reducing runoff alone may not secure the reef if severe marine heat stress continues.4 indicative marks
Explain with evidence and reasoning4 indicative marksNo calculator
Explain why increased coastal sediment can damage a shallow photosymbiotic coral reef even without physically breaking coral. Evaluate why reducing runoff alone may not secure the reef if severe marine heat stress continues.
Cambridge 2027: Direct conceptual match
8.3.1-8.3.2 p33; explicitly shallow photosymbiotic reef avoids treating all coral as photosynthetic; no invented case success. Bounded original practice; no teacher approval or full topic coverage inferred.
Start with the light pathway: turbid water can reduce photosynthesis before any skeleton breaks. Deposits may also cover tissue and require costly clearance. Catchment controls can therefore help local conditions, but thermal stress acts through another mechanism and can disrupt the symbiosis. A conditional multi-stressor judgement is stronger than either runoff is irrelevant or runoff control will save every reef. No named reef or recovery statistic is invented.
Reduced photosynthesis can limit energy supplied to the coral partnership.
Deposited sediment can smother surfaces or impose clearance costs.
Runoff control addresses one stressor but cannot by itself eliminate temperature-related bleaching or guarantee recovery.
Examiner tip
Indicative points for this original short task, not an official essay band. Support each inference; other well-evidenced answers may be valid.
Question 12Explain why warm ocean water alone does not guarantee a tropical cyclone. Then assess why an evacuation warning can reduce mortality without reducing the storm's wind speed.4 indicative marks
Explain with evidence and reasoning4 indicative marksNo calculator
Explain why warm ocean water alone does not guarantee a tropical cyclone. Then assess why an evacuation warning can reduce mortality without reducing the storm's wind speed.
Cambridge 2027: Partial conceptual match
9.2.1-9.2.3 p35; separates genesis conditions, hazard magnitude and exposure reduction. No numerical sea-surface threshold overstated. Bounded original practice; no teacher approval or full topic coverage inferred.
9696: 9.2.1: Tropical cyclone formation and distribution
Formation requires several conditions rather than a single warm-water threshold. Strong shear can disrupt vertical organisation and very weak rotational influence near the equator hinders cyclone development. Once a storm exists, warnings mainly change exposure and behaviour, not its wind field. Their value depends on whether people can act safely, including transport and shelter. This mechanism task supplies no observed evacuation performance in a real cyclone.
Self-marking points
Warm moist ocean conditions provide energy, but formation also needs favourable organisation such as low vertical shear and sufficient rotation.
Evacuation can reduce exposed population in surge/flood zones without weakening the physical hazard.
Accessible shelter, timely communication and feasible movement determine warning effectiveness.
Examiner tip
Indicative points for this original short task, not an official essay band. Support each inference; other well-evidenced answers may be valid.
Question 13A fictional dry region has accumulated fine fuels, low humidity, strong winds and new housing near vegetation. Explain how ignition, spread and human risk differ, and evaluate fuel reduction as one response.4 indicative marks
Explain with evidence and reasoning4 indicative marksNo calculator
A fictional dry region has accumulated fine fuels, low humidity, strong winds and new housing near vegetation. Explain how ignition, spread and human risk differ, and evaluate fuel reduction as one response.
Cambridge 2027: Partial conceptual match
9.3.1-9.3.3 p36; mechanism separates ignition from weather, spread from exposure; fictional case cannot satisfy9.4.1 real multi-hazard requirement. Bounded original practice; no teacher approval or full topic coverage inferred.
Do not infer arson from hot dry weather. Ignition needs an initiating source; humidity and fuels help determine whether it sustains. Wind then affects propagation, while homes near fuel alter consequences even for the same fire. Fuel reduction may create defensible space or reduce intensity, but treatment pattern, maintenance, smoke, habitats and extreme conditions matter. No actual fire or treatment outcome is being claimed.
Self-marking points
A spark or other ignition source starts combustion; dry fuel conditions do not themselves identify who ignited it.
Wind and dry continuous fuels can favour rapid spread.
Housing location increases exposure; building design and access affect vulnerability.
Fuel treatment can alter local spread/intensity but has costs and ecological constraints and cannot guarantee protection under every event.
Examiner tip
Indicative points for this original short task, not an official essay band. Support each inference; other well-evidenced answers may be valid.
Question 14Explain how descending subtropical air can favour aridity. In a separate fictional irrigated dryland, the water table rises and evaporation is high. Explain how irrigation can then increase surface salinity and why adding more water without drainage can fail.4 indicative marks
Explain with evidence and reasoning4 indicative marksNo calculator
Explain how descending subtropical air can favour aridity. In a separate fictional irrigated dryland, the water table rises and evaporation is high. Explain how irrigation can then increase surface salinity and why adding more water without drainage can fail.
Cambridge 2027: Direct conceptual match
10.1.3 p37 and10.4.1 p38; correct direction of compression/relative humidity and salt accumulation. Fictional irrigated site clearly bounded. Bounded original practice; no teacher approval or full topic coverage inferred.
The atmospheric explanation concerns subsidence and saturation, not simply deserts being hot. The agricultural mechanism concerns water and salt movement: irrigation supplies water, poor drainage allows it to rise, and evaporation removes water but leaves salts. Effective leaching requires salts to leave the root zone through managed drainage; merely adding water is not equivalent to removing salts. This is not a documented named arid-management case.
Self-marking points
Descending air warms by compression, lowering relative humidity and inhibiting widespread condensation.
Irrigation can raise a shallow water table where drainage is poor.
Capillary movement and evaporation leave dissolved salts concentrated near the surface.
Extra irrigation may worsen waterlogging/salt supply unless drainage and suitable leaching remove salts from the root zone.
Examiner tip
Indicative points for this original short task, not an official essay band. Support each inference; other well-evidenced answers may be valid.
Question 15Fictional annual CO2 emissions are120units and removals30units. A plan cuts emissions to50 and raises removals to50. Calculate net CO2 in both cases. Explain why net-zero CO2 does not mean no emissions, instant removal of past warming, or zero net emissions of all greenhouse gases.4 indicative marks
Explain with evidence and reasoning4 indicative marksCalculator allowed
Fictional annual CO2 emissions are120units and removals30units. A plan cuts emissions to50 and raises removals to50. Calculate net CO2 in both cases. Explain why net-zero CO2 does not mean no emissions, instant removal of past warming, or zero net emissions of all greenhouse gases.
Cambridge 2027: Direct conceptual match
11.1.1 p39; independent90 and0, stock/flow and CO2/all-GHG distinction. No invented tipping-point threshold or instant cooling claim. Bounded original practice; no teacher approval or full topic coverage inferred.
Use emissions minus removals with the same gas and time boundary. The initial90 is a positive addition, while the plan balances50 against50. Zero annual net CO2 does not empty the atmospheric stock or reverse all consequences immediately. If methane or other gases remain unbalanced, this CO2-only calculation cannot establish net-zero greenhouse gases. The units are invented and not a country's commitment.
Self-marking points
Initial net CO2 is120-30=90units/year.
Planned net CO2 is50-50=0units/year despite50 gross emissions.
Net zero balances the specified flow; historical accumulated CO2 and Earth-system responses do not instantly disappear.
Other greenhouse gases require separate accounting; CO2 mass balance is not automatically all-gas climate neutrality.
Examiner tip
Indicative points for this original short task, not an official essay band. Support each inference; other well-evidenced answers may be valid.
Question 16Distinguish mitigation and adaptation using forest protection, a flood-warning system and changes to building design. Explain why a policy can serve both aims and why having a national pledge does not prove implementation or success.4 indicative marks
Explain with evidence and reasoning4 indicative marksNo calculator
Distinguish mitigation and adaptation using forest protection, a flood-warning system and changes to building design. Explain why a policy can serve both aims and why having a national pledge does not prove implementation or success.
Cambridge 2027: Direct conceptual match
11.3.1-11.3.2 p41; labels based on distinct causal pathways, pledge not outcome. Partial national/governance detail is explicitly retained as a gap. Bounded original practice; no teacher approval or full topic coverage inferred.
Classify by mechanism, not by whether a policy is environmentally desirable. Keeping forest carbon stored can avoid emissions, while warnings help people cope with an impact. Shading or ventilation combined with lower-energy design may affect both emissions and heat risk, depending on context. Governance must then turn stated plans into funded, enforced and evaluated action. This conceptual task does not replace a comparison of two actual countries or the Paris Agreement's detailed mechanisms.
Self-marking points
Mitigation addresses greenhouse-gas sources/sinks, so forest carbon protection can contribute.
Warnings mainly reduce harm/exposure to flooding and are adaptation rather than a direct emissions cut.
Building design may reduce energy demand and heat vulnerability, potentially serving both aims.
Pledges need implementation, monitored outcomes and attribution; a promise alone cannot demonstrate reduced risk or emissions.
Examiner tip
Indicative points for this original short task, not an official essay band. Support each inference; other well-evidenced answers may be valid.
Question 17Two fictional100MW generators have annual capacity factors of25% and80%. Using8760hours/year, calculate each annual output in MWh. Explain why neither annual totals nor installed capacity alone establish secure hourly supply.4 indicative marks
Explain with evidence and reasoning4 indicative marksCalculator allowed
Two fictional100MW generators have annual capacity factors of25% and80%. Using8760hours/year, calculate each annual output in MWh. Explain why neither annual totals nor installed capacity alone establish secure hourly supply.
Cambridge 2027: Direct conceptual match
12.1.1-12.1.2 p42; unit and independent output checks219000/700800. Fictional factors not assigned to a real national mix or universal technology performance. Bounded original practice; no teacher approval or full topic coverage inferred.
Power multiplied by hours gives energy. The first generator averages25MW over the year and the second80MW; multiplying each by8760 yields219000 and700800MWh. A capacity factor does not reveal the exact hours generated or whether they coincide with peak demand. Neither hypothetical factor identifies a real technology or establishes its emissions, cost or dispatchability. Energy-transition comparisons must therefore include flexibility and system evidence.
Self-marking points
First output=100 x8760 x0.25=219000 MWh.
Second output=100 x8760 x0.80=700800 MWh.
Equal nameplate capacity need not produce equal annual energy.
Indicative points for this original short task, not an official essay band. Support each inference; other well-evidenced answers may be valid.
Question 18Fictional country P earns600million currency units from one commodity and400million from all other merchandise exports. The commodity price falls25% while quantities and other prices remain fixed. Calculate new merchandise export earnings. Explain why the result is not automatically a25% fall in GDP.4 indicative marks
Explain with evidence and reasoning4 indicative marksCalculator allowed
Fictional country P earns600million currency units from one commodity and400million from all other merchandise exports. The commodity price falls25% while quantities and other prices remain fixed. Calculate new merchandise export earnings. Explain why the result is not automatically a25% fall in GDP.
Cambridge 2027: Direct conceptual match
13.1.1-13.1.2 p44 trade flows; independent450,850,15%. Denominators and export/GDP distinction checked; no real contrasting-country case. Bounded original practice; no teacher approval or full topic coverage inferred.
Apply the price fall only to the exposed600, not the entire1000. The reduction150 leaves850, hence150/1000 x100=15%. That sensitivity demonstrates concentration risk under the stated fixed-quantity assumptions. It is not a GDP forecast because the economy contains more than these merchandise exports and responses are omitted. No real country's dependence is inferred from invented totals.
Self-marking points
Commodity earnings fall to600 x0.75=450million.
Total merchandise export earnings become450+400=850million, a15% fall from1000million.
Concentration exposes export earnings to the commodity price shock.
GDP includes other production and expenditure/income relationships; exports are not identical to GDP and quantities or exchange rates may change in reality.
Examiner tip
Indicative points for this original short task, not an official essay band. Support each inference; other well-evidenced answers may be valid.
Question 19A fictional coastal resort caps daily visitors at2000. Local reports still describe reef damage, seasonal water shortages and benefits concentrated in a few firms. Evaluate the claim that the cap proves sustainable tourism.4 indicative marks
Explain with evidence and reasoning4 indicative marksNo calculator
A fictional coastal resort caps daily visitors at2000. Local reports still describe reef damage, seasonal water shortages and benefits concentrated in a few firms. Evaluate the claim that the cap proves sustainable tourism.
Cambridge 2027: Direct conceptual match
13.3.2 p45 carrying capacity/impacts;2000 is a hypothetical policy not a scientifically verified ecological threshold. Benefits and pressure distinguished. Bounded original practice; no teacher approval or full topic coverage inferred.
There is no supplied scientific basis showing2000 is a safe threshold. Fewer poorly managed visitors may still damage a sensitive reef, and a dry-season water system may be stressed below the limit. Meanwhile aggregate tourism revenue can coexist with local exclusion. Judge sustainability using measured habitat, water and distributional outcomes over time. This fictional resource prompt does not provide either of the required contrasting authentic tourism cases.
Self-marking points
A numerical visitor limit is a management input, not evidence of achieved sustainability.
Ecological pressure depends on behaviour, location and cumulative/seasonal effects as well as headcount.
Water availability and competing resident demand can make a fixed year-round daily cap unsuitable across seasons.
Distribution of jobs, income and costs matters; monitor ecological and social outcomes and adjust rather than infer success from2000.
Examiner tip
Indicative points for this original short task, not an official essay band. Support each inference; other well-evidenced answers may be valid.
Question 20WHO identifies cholera as a bacterial infection associated with contaminated food or water and highlights safe water, sanitation, hygiene and surveillance. In two fictional districts, A reports40cases among20000people and B reports60among60000 over the same month. Calculate reported incidence per10000people and explain why comparing counts alone, or treating reported incidence as complete true incidence, is unsafe.4 indicative marks
Explain with evidence and reasoning4 indicative marksCalculator allowed
WHO identifies cholera as a bacterial infection associated with contaminated food or water and highlights safe water, sanitation, hygiene and surveillance. In two fictional districts, A reports40cases among20000people and B reports60among60000 over the same month. Calculate reported incidence per10000people and explain why comparing counts alone, or treating reported incidence as complete true incidence, is unsafe.
Cambridge 2027: Partial conceptual match
g-cholera primary WHO fact sheet29Sep2026 read: bacterial contaminated food/water, WASH and surveillance verified.14.2.2 p47/14.3.1-.2 p48. Independent rates20/10; invented districts not pandemic case knowledge. Bounded original practice; no teacher approval or full topic coverage inferred.
Use the same population scaling and time interval: A20 and B10 per10000 in one month. Absolute60 exceeds40, but the population denominator reverses the rate comparison. Even the rate ranking is a ranking of reports; unequal detection can distort underlying incidence. WHO's transmission mechanism supports investigating water/sanitation and monitoring, not blaming a district without exposure evidence. No clinical treatment advice or actual outbreak claim is made.
B:60/60000 x10000=10reported cases per10000people; B has more cases but a lower reported rate.
Different testing, reporting and access can affect observed rates; missing cases prevent equating reports with all infections.
WASH reduces contamination pathways and surveillance informs targeted response; the fictional rates do not identify an observed cause in either district.
Examiner tip
Indicative points for this original short task, not an official essay band. Support each inference; other well-evidenced answers may be valid.
