IB Geography tutors for SL and HL

Consider this constructed freshwater practice example. Catchment A has 20% impermeable land cover and a peak river discharge of 12 m³/s; catchment B has 60% impermeable cover and a peak discharge of 24 m³/s. Discharge means the volume of water passing a point each second. Impermeable surfaces, such as paved roads, allow little water to soak through. These are invented figures for practising reasoning, not a real case study.

“B has more flooding because it is urban” jumps beyond the information. The figures describe peak discharge, not flood damage, and two observations do not establish a cause. First identify the comparison: B’s peak is twice A’s, a 100% increase. Its impermeable cover is 40 percentage points higher, not 40% higher.

A more careful response would be: “B has a higher peak discharge, 24 rather than 12 m³/s. Its larger impermeable area could contribute by reducing infiltration into the ground and increasing surface runoff into the river. However, rainfall, catchment size and drainage may also differ, so these figures alone do not show how much of the difference land cover caused.”

This is the distinction a lesson can practise: describe the evidence, explain a possible process, then state what the evidence cannot establish. For a follow-up, remove the numbers and ask the learner to draw and explain the route from rainfall to river flow, including where water might be stored.

For global interactions, identifying a connection is only the start. Consider a hypothetical overseas manufacturer opening an assembly factory in a town. It creates 200 jobs, but one foreign customer buys 80% of its output. These invented details give you an argument to examine; they are not a named case study or a model exam answer.

“Globalisation benefits everyone because the factory creates jobs” ignores both the distribution of benefits and the dependence on one buyer. The jobs support a claim about employment in this town. They do not tell us the wages, working conditions, proportion of inputs bought locally or where the profits go. The single buyer creates a possible exposure to changing demand; it does not prove that closure is imminent.

A more defensible conclusion is: “The factory increases employment in this scenario, but the wider development benefit depends on job quality and links to local businesses. Reliance on one overseas customer could make the town vulnerable to a fall in orders. Evidence about other employers and alternative customers would help judge its resilience.”

In HL practice, replace the fictional setting with a case study from your course and test each part of the argument against its evidence. Then change the scale: a benefit to national exports may be distributed unevenly between regions or groups. That gives the conclusion a reasoned basis instead of ending with a general statement that there are advantages and disadvantages.

Bring a small sample of unaided work: a data response, an essay paragraph or a case-study explanation. It gives you and the tutor something concrete to discuss. The examples below are possible lesson goals to agree, not a fixed programme or a promise of particular grades.

Agree a manageable amount of practice around school deadlines and the other Diploma subjects. A possible cycle is one focused task between lessons followed by a fresh attempt later. The amount and timing should change with the learner’s workload and what the work shows.

Latimer offers one-to-one tuition online, with a free matching request and a free introductory meeting. Use that meeting to discuss the learner’s goals, teaching approach and arrangements; it is not normally a full teaching lesson.