WASSCE SHS
A map is a scaled drawing of the land. Scale, direction and contours are the three tools that turn the drawing back into distances, bearings and slopes.
A representative fraction such as 1:50,000 means one unit on the map stands for 50,000 of the same units on the ground. 1 cm on that map is 50,000 cm on the ground, which is 500 m, or 0.5 km. Measure the map distance with a ruler or a thread if the road bends, then multiply by the scale. A straight line distance and a road distance are different. The question will say which one. Direction uses north. A bearing is an angle measured clockwise from north, from 0 to 360 degrees.
Contour lines join places of equal height. When they are close together the slope is steep. When they are far apart the slope is gentle. A V shape in the contours, with the V pointing upstream, marks a valley. A spot height is a surveyed point. Do not invent a height between contours more precisely than the interval allows. If the interval is 50 m, a point between the 100 m and 150 m lines is between those heights, not a number you guessed.
Show the conversion of units. 50,000 cm to 0.5 km needs the steps, or the mark for method goes. Say whether you measured a straight line or the road. For contours, "close means steep" is the standard point, and it needs the idea of the same vertical interval over a shorter horizontal distance. A bearing without the word clockwise, or measured from somewhere other than north, is incomplete.
These are practice questions in the style of the paper, with a model answer and a mark scheme. They are not a promise of what your paper will ask.
3 marks
On a map of scale 1:50,000, two places are 4 cm apart in a straight line. Find the ground distance in kilometres. (3 marks)
1 cm represents 0.5 km. 4 cm represents 4 × 0.5 = 2 km.
2 marks
What do closely spaced contour lines tell you about a slope? Explain why. (2 marks)
The slope is steep. The height changes by the contour interval over a short horizontal distance.
2 marks
How is a compass bearing measured? (2 marks)
It is measured clockwise from north, as an angle from 0 degrees up to 360 degrees.
More questions on this topic are inside GLearn, marked as you answer, with the reason written out. The first ones need no account.
Practise Geography freeOne unit on the map equals 50,000 of the same units on the ground. One centimetre on the map is 0.5 kilometres on the ground. A 4 cm straight line is therefore 2 km.
The lines are close together. Each line is the next height in the interval, so a short horizontal distance contains a large rise. Widely spaced lines are a gentle slope. All WASSCE Geography past questions