A. Factors affecting population (New Geography 5 pg.11)
1. How to describe population graph?
Never describe the population graph base on years, i.e. the population in 1970 was …, the population in 1971 was …. as no pattern is shown. Students MUST identify the trend (increasing /decreasing) at different period of time. A more detail description can focus on the trend (rapid decrease / slow increase).
Don't use the term "stable" to describe the pattern, as it doesn't show whether stable high pattern or stable low pattern is found.
Mention the time period clearly, e.g. "Population increases rapidly", but "how rapid?
2. Elaboration is needed
e.g. "Birth rates decrease because traditional attitudes have changed." But HOW?
0.5 mark for points without elaboration, e.g. "higher education, improved education, more job opportunities" lead to low birth rates. But the role of each one is not mentioned.
3. Qci: "State the main factor for this phenomenon. Factors affecting population are birth rates, death rates and migration. Therefore students should select the answers out of these three only. Answers like "more immigrants from China" is not 100% correct. As this question just accounts for 1 mark. Just one sentence for the answer is OK.
4. Qcii: "socio-economic impacts". Identify what do we mean by socio-economic factors first and remember "impacts" can be both positive & negative.
Some answers may have changed according to time. E.g. "immigrants from China brought skills to HK & help the industrial development in HK". This was only the situation in HK mainly before 1980. At present, immigrants are mainly from lower unskilled class which cannot help the IT development of HK in the 21st century.
5. How to have "effective communication?"
Examples should be given, e.g. term like "Government & Planning Association" of HK encouraged birth control in HK and had the slogan "Two is enough" in the 1980s.
6. Don't copy everything from the text, some may not applicable.
e.g. "birth rate was high in HK in 1950s because we need children to work in farm." This situation was more suitable in less developed countries like India & China than HK.
7. Areas to improve
MUST write in complete sentences and NEVER in point form.
8. Mistakes
Illegal immigrants from China or Filipinos are not counted in the total population.
9. Weighting of the question
Qai(10 marks) & Qci(1 mark) should not be of equal length.
B. Population Structure
Pg.28 Q2
1. Give relevant examples
e.g. aii) Changes in marine population between 1981-1991
Student should not mention a serious a fire in 1986 which affect the marine as this was only one incident. The change within 10 years must be a general trend.
2. How to avoid marks being deducted when the answers are not correct? (*)
Students should not mention the exact answers if you are not very sure. For example, bi) unless you are sure that Shatin is correct, then you use the Shatin in your answer, otherwise use "the region."
3. Wrong concepts
People decentralize to Shatin (new town) is NOT because of jobs opportunities. More jobs are provided in CBD & urban areas, people need to go out daily to work. Therefore, job opportunities is not a pull factor for Shatin (new town)
For Qai. percentage change = calculate the percentage, not the difference in %.
For Qbii, "New Territories" is a region, not a district, therefore cannot be the answer
NEVER use indefinite wordings like “if”, “may” and “would”.
e.g. If the land value in Shatin is cheaper, then people will move there (Wrong!) The land
value is definitely lower than urban areas, you don't need to have assumpption
4. Avoid repetition under shortage of time
For bii, it asks you to focus to describe the change in "that district" only, therefore focus insShatin. Don't mention the push factors in urban areas unless you have plenty of time.
Pg.29 Q3
1. Use geographical terms to gain marks
For Qaii), use population terms to gain marks: dependency ratio, activity rate, economic active group.....
2. Writing Techniques (*)
Use one sentence to illustrate the change only, e.g. Qai): age group >65 has "decreased"
Identify patterns before arguments: e.g. Qbii), mention the changes in the three age groups and then arguments as overlapping in arguments will take place when there are separate explanation for the three changes in age groups
Must have the subject clearly written in the answer. For example Qbii), some students just mention the advantages of new towns and the problems living in old rural areas BUT they haven't mentioned that Shatin is that new town and Sai Kung is that old rural area, then you are not answering the question and will have no marks
Never write in point forms, marks will be deducted next time
3. Misintepretation of question
For bi), it just asks for the general population pyramid, don't need to link to the case of Shatin
4. Wrong concepts (*)
For Qbiii)
More children & adults in Tuen Mun (new town) is because of suburbanization (movement from urban -> rural)
Less aged in Sai Kung is NOT because of suburbanization BUT rural-urban migration. Local people (especially the young) move out to work, only the aged stay behind because of low mobility. Therefore ageing is only one of the impact (Qbiii), the main problems are
- lack of population (underpopulation) = less workers/farmers -> abandoned fields
- less demand for services -> less support by the government -> less population (vicious cycle)
C. Others
How to answer comparison question?
e.g. compare the characteristics of the population pyramid in LDC & MDC
Students must compare each component of population pyramid (e.g. sex structure, age structure, base & apex of population pyramid…) of MDC & LDC separately. NEVER describe the population pyramid of MDC first & than LDC. Then, it is description, not comparison.