AS 91246 annotated exemplars

This annotated exemplar is intended for teacher use only. Annotated exemplars are extracts of student evidence, with commentary, that explain key parts of a standard. These help teachers make assessment judgements at the grade boundaries.

Download all exemplars and commentary [PDF, 652 KB]

TKI Geography assessment resources (external link)

For Excellence, the student needs to explain, comprehensively, aspects of a geographic topic at a global scale.

This involves:

• fully describing the global pattern of the geographic topic, using geographic terminology
• fully explaining the factors and/or processes that contribute to the pattern
• fully explaining, showing insight, the significance of the topic for people.

The student has fully described the global spatial pattern of malaria, using geographic terminology.

The quality of the description is shown through the extension of the global linear pattern (1). Detail is provided through descriptions of concentrations within the linear pattern and evidence that the line is broken (2). Reference to topics with similar spatial patterns adds fullness to the description (3). The examples used show the global scale of the topic and continue the focus on the global pattern.

The student fully explains the two most significant factors contributing to the spatial pattern (climate and poverty). Discussion of climate and lack of sanitation interacting to contribute to the pattern (4) provides evidence of depth of understanding. Several poverty indicators contributing to the spatial pattern have been explained. The strength of this explanation is how pattern continues to form an integral part of the response (5). Global statistical evidence (6) supports the explanation.

Access to international/regional aid to implement eradication programmes is used to explain breaks in the linear pattern (7). Altitude and periods of drought were also discussed as a cause for breaks in the linear pattern.

For a more secure Excellence, the student could make more effective use of the evidence on the maps and the poverty cycle, and include additional supporting statistical evidence (5).

For Merit, the student needs to explain, in depth, aspects of a geographic topic at a global scale.

This involves:

• describing, in detail, the global pattern of the geographic topic using geographic terminology
• explaining, in detail, the factors and/or processes that contribute to the pattern
• explaining, in detail, the significance of the topic for people.

This student has described the global spatial pattern of rain forests using geographic terminology. The examples used show the global scale of the topic and continue the focus on the global pattern. The annotations added to a resource map provide an overview of the pattern at a global scale (1). In-depth understanding is shown through descriptions of specific characteristics of the wider pattern (2).

The detailed explanation of the significance of rainforests covers tribes, commercial interests and society at large (3). The in-depth explanation relating to indigenous people (4) is supported with detailed reference to specific groups. The evidence shows the use of case studies to exemplify ideas and maintain the global scale of the topic.

To reach Excellence, the student could more fully describe the spatial pattern by describing the gaps in the linear pattern that have resulted in the concentrations, for example the gaps along Western South America and Eastern Africa.

A full explanation of the significance of the topic could include further development of other ideas to reflect the quality provided for the section on indigenous people. For example, the student could provide detailed evidence of the significance of commercial logging as a contributor to economic growth (5) for specific rainforest countries, and rates of deforestation in named rainforests (6).

For Merit, the student needs to explain, in depth, aspects of a geographic topic at a global scale.

This involves:

• describing, in detail, the global pattern of the geographic topic using geographic terminology
• explaining, in detail, the factors and/or processes that contribute to the pattern
• explaining, in detail, the significance of the topic for people.

This student evidence is a response to version 3 of the standard and therefore does not completely exemplify the changes to the global pattern from version 4, published in December 2024. Student evidence for this exemplar will be updated when it becomes available.

The student has described localized patterns of deforestation in detail, through reference to characteristics of the linear pattern such as peripheral, corridor and pockets (1). Evidence for version 4, for the global pattern of deforestation in detail, would have a focus on the wider global linear pattern.

Causes are explained in detail as contributing to the corridor pattern in the Amazon and larger concentrations in Africa and Southeast Asia. The explanation provides a range of evidence, including recent causes such as logging along with more traditional causes like shifting cultivation (3). 

91246 version 4 places more emphasis on the global pattern. Consequently, the evidence for contributing factors and/or processes needed to maintain the focus on the linear global pattern rather than more localized patterns in the Amazon, Africa and Southeast Asia. The explanation could focus on how accessibility created peripheral and corridor type patterns in the rainforests, making up the linear pattern.

For a more secure Merit, the student could ensure that they develop the explanation of the causes with a focus on the global pattern, rather than explaining the general causes for deforestation (4). This section also needs to show the use of more specific details such as statistical evidence for rates of deforestation, return times of shifting cultivators, or size of areas that have been converted to plantation etc.

For Achieved, the student needs to explain aspects of a geographic topic at a global scale.

This involves:

• describing a global pattern of the geographic topic, using geographic terminology
• explaining the factors and/or processes that contribute to the pattern
• explaining the significance of the topic for people.

This student has provided a plan (1), including a map which demonstrates understanding of a global spatial pattern of coffee production, and introduced causes for this pattern. Extending the description for the overall pattern “The line is nucleated in…”, and the use of appropriate global evidence, shows the quality expected (2). 

The explanation of climate includes explicit links to the pattern, demonstrating understanding of the causal relationship between tropical climatic conditions and the global linear pattern (3).

The plan shows the range of groups the student will include in the explanation of the significance of the topic. The explanation begins with the pickers/labour, and proceeds through to wider economic benefits for people. Specific global evidence is used to support the explanation (5).

To reach Merit, the student could further describe the global spatial pattern. The description could include variations in the width of the linear pattern or the position of coffee producing countries making up the line. A detailed explanation could consider how the equatorial and subtropical conditions create variation in the linear pattern. While temperature and rainfall statistics are provided for Brazil (4), these need to be extended to continue the focus on the coffee belt rather than an emphasis on one country.