Secondary 6 Geography Practice Paper: Plate Tectonics And Earthquakes, Weathering And Slopes, Coastal Processes And Landforms, Urban Climate And Air Quality, Industrial Restructuring And Globalisation, Sustainable Development And Resources

Secondary 6 Geography Practice Paper: Plate Tectonics and Earthquakes, Weathering and Slopes, Coastal Processes and Landforms, Urban Climate and Air Quality, Industrial Restructuring and Globalisation, Sustainable Development and Resources

2026-11-14

Geography – Secondary 6 – Practice Paper

S6 Geography paper, 24 parts on seismic travel time, earthquake energy, plate motion, weathering rates, slope stability, karst solution, soil loss, wave energy, drift。

Paper details　Secondary 6 Geography practice paper with 24 parts and worked answers on seismic P and S travel time, epicentre distance, earthquake magnitude energy, plate motion rate, magnitude frequency, weathering depth, factor of safety on a slope, karst solution, soil loss, wave energy, longshore drift, beach gradient, sea level rise, urban heat island, albedo, sky view factor, particulate concentration, labour cost share, location quotient, employment multiplier, value chain shares, ecological footprint, renewable share, per capita emissions and electricity demand.

Section A: Plate Tectonics and Earthquakes

Show the working and give the rounding asked.

#	Question	Answer and marking notes
1	A station records a 20 s gap between the arrival of the P wave and the S wave. The P wave travels at 6.0 km per second and the S wave at 3.5 km per second. Find the epicentral distance in km to 1 decimal place.	Answer: d / 3.5 – d / 6.0 = 20, so d x 0.1190 = 20 and d = 168.0 km.
2	Each unit increase in magnitude releases about 31.6 times more energy. An area moves from M5.0 to M7.0. Find how many times greater the energy release is, to 1 decimal place.	Answer: the magnitude rises by 2, so the energy ratio is 31.6 to the power 2 = 998.6 times.
3	A plate moves 5.0 cm per year on average. Find how many years it takes to travel 1200 km and express the answer in million years to 1 decimal place.	Answer: 1200 km is 120000000 cm, so 120000000 / 5.0 = 24000000 years, that is 24.0 million years.
4	In a region log N = 6.0 – 1.0M, where N is the number of events per year at or above magnitude M. Find N for M4 and M6 and the ratio between them.	Answer: at M4 log N = 2.0 so N = 100 events, and at M6 log N = 0.0 so N = 1 event; the ratio is 100 times, meaning each magnitude step cuts the count by about ten.

Section B: Weathering and Slopes

Show the working and give ratios to the decimals asked.

#	Question	Answer and marking notes
5	A weathered layer 2.5 m deep took 50000 years to form. Find the mean weathering rate in mm per year to 2 decimal places.	Answer: 2.5 m is 2500 mm, so 2500 / 50000 = 0.05 mm per year.
6	A slope block weighs 120.0 kN per metre width. The slope angle is 32 degrees, the angle of internal friction 36 degrees and cohesion supplies 20 kN of resistance. Find the driving force, total resistance and factor of safety (resistance over driving force, 2 decimal places), then say whether the slope is stable.	Answer: driving force 63.6 kN, resistance 93.9 kN, so the factor of safety is 1.48; it is above 1, so the slope is stable.
7	A limestone surface lowers by 0.08 mm per year. Find the time needed to dissolve 1.5 m of rock.	Answer: 1.5 m is 1500 mm, so 1500 / 0.08 = 18750 years.
8	A field has a rainfall erosivity index of 1200, soil erodibility 0.35, slope length and steepness factor 1.8 and cover factor 0.25. Find the annual soil loss in tonnes per hectare to 1 decimal place and state the loss if the cover factor is halved, as a share of the original.	Answer: 1200 x 0.35 x 1.8 x 0.25 = 189.0 tonnes per hectare; halving the cover factor halves the loss to 94.5 tonnes per hectare, that is fifty per cent of the original.

Section C: Coastal Processes and Landforms

Show the working and state the units clearly.

#	Question	Answer and marking notes
9	Wave energy is proportional to the square of wave height. On a coast the mean wave height rises from 1.0 m to 1.5 m. Find the new energy as a multiple of the old one and the percentage increase.	Answer: the energy ratio is (1.5 / 1.0) squared = 2.25 times, an increase of 125 per cent.
10	Longshore drift moves 25,000 cubic metres of sand a year into a bay. Find the total moved in 10 years and describe how far the spit extends each decade.	Answer: 25,000 x 10 = 250,000 cubic metres; the drift scales with time, so each decade adds 250,000 cubic metres and the spit keeps growing across the bay.
11	A beach face has a gradient of 1 in 12 and a width of 60 m. Find the height difference in metres and state how the uprush distance changes if the beach becomes steeper at the same wave height.	Answer: the height difference is 60 / 12 = 5.0 m; a steeper beach shortens the uprush distance at the same wave height, so wave energy is concentrated on a narrower face.
12	A tide gauge shows sea level rising 3.2 mm a year. Find the cumulative rise after 50 years in mm and in metres and state its effect on a low-lying coast.	Answer: 3.2 x 50 = 160.0 mm, that is 0.16 m; a low-lying coast floods more often, with salt water intrusion and shoreline retreat.

Section D: Urban Climate and Air Quality

Show the working and give percentages to 1 decimal place.

#	Question	Answer and marking notes
13	On a night the rural temperature is 22.4 degrees and the urban temperature 25.6 degrees. Find the heat island intensity in degrees and state how it changes when wind speed rises.	Answer: 25.6 – 22.4 = 3.2 degrees; stronger wind mixes urban and rural air, so the heat island weakens.
14	Incoming solar radiation is 800 W per square metre. The urban albedo is 0.15 and the rural albedo 0.45. Find the radiation absorbed in each case and the difference.	Answer: urban 800 x (1 – 0.15) = 680 and rural 800 x (1 – 0.45) = 440, a difference of 240 W per square metre, so the city absorbs more and warms faster by day.
15	A city site has a sky view factor of 0.45 and a rural site 0.85. Find the share of sky available for heat loss at each site and the difference, then explain the night cooling difference.	Answer: the city keeps 0.45 of sky open and loses 0.55 to obstructions, while the rural site keeps 0.85 and loses 0.15, a difference of 0.40; tall buildings block the sky, so less long wave radiation escapes and the city cools more slowly at night.
16	The annual mean particulate concentration of a district falls from 38.0 to 22.8 micrograms per cubic metre. Find the percentage reduction to 1 decimal place and explain why a roadside station usually reads higher.	Answer: (38.0 – 22.8) / 38.0 x 100 per cent = 40.0 per cent; a roadside station sits close to traffic, so exhaust and road dust raise its reading.

Section E: Industrial Restructuring and Globalisation

Show the working and give percentages and ratios to 2 decimal places.

#	Question	Answer and marking notes
17	Before moving inland, labour took 45 per cent of a factory total cost; afterwards it is 18 per cent. Find the fall in percentage points and the relative reduction.	Answer: the share falls by 27 percentage points, from 45 to 18 per cent, and the relative cut is 60.0 per cent.
18	Manufacturing is 32 per cent of local employment and 18 per cent of national employment. Find the location quotient to 2 decimal places and say whether manufacturing is concentrated there.	Answer: 32 / 18 = 1.78; a quotient above 1 means manufacturing is concentrated in the district and its output is exported.
19	An industrial park adds 800 direct jobs and the employment multiplier is 2.4. Find the total number of jobs created and explain why the multiplier exceeds 1.	Answer: 800 x 2.4 = 1,920 jobs; workers spend their wages, creating indirect and induced service jobs, so the total exceeds the direct figure.
20	A product retails at 1000 dollars, of which manufacturing takes 12 per cent, brand 28 per cent and logistics 25 per cent, the rest being design. Find the value of each stage and the upstream share of design plus brand, then explain the smiling curve.	Answer: design is 35 per cent; manufacturing 120 dollars, brand 280, design 350 and logistics 250; the upstream stages total 630 dollars or 63 per cent. The smiling curve puts high value at both ends and low value in assembly.

Section F: Sustainable Development and Resources

Show the working and give the rounding asked.

#	Question	Answer and marking notes
21	A place has an ecological footprint of 4.8 global hectares per person and a biocapacity of 2.6. Find the ecological deficit and the ratio of demand to capacity to 2 decimal places, then state how the deficit may be covered.	Answer: the deficit is 4.8 minus 2.6, that is 2.2 global hectares, and demand is 1.85 times capacity; the gap is met by imports, efficiency gains and ecosystem protection.
22	The renewable share of generation in a place rises from 8 per cent to 22 per cent. Find the rise in percentage points and the ratio to 2 decimal places, then state its effect on carbon emissions.	Answer: the share gains 14 percentage points and is 2.75 times the earlier level, so less generation comes from fossil fuel and emissions per unit of electricity fall.
23	A place emits 5.4 tonnes of carbon dioxide per person with a population of 7.4 million. Find the annual total in million tonnes to 2 decimal places and the total after a 30 per cent cut.	Answer: 5.4 x 7.4 = 39.96 million tonnes; a thirty per cent cut leaves 27.97 million tonnes, a fall of 11.99 million tonnes.
24	A place has 7,400,000 people using 5.2 kilowatt hours each per day. Find the daily total in million kilowatt hours to 2 decimal places and the annual total in billion kilowatt hours to 2 decimal places.	Answer: the daily total is 38.48 million kilowatt hours and the annual total 14045.2 million, that is 14.05 billion kilowatt hours.

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