GSCE Graphical Skills
here are a variety of skills you need to be able to master. This page contains information on the various graphical skills you will need. This will mainly include analysing different types of graph.
Analysing line graphs
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1.Identify a trend – is the data increasing rapidly or slowly?
2.Include some data – in 1995 the average wage was £17,000
3.Manipulation of data (do a sum) – minus the smallest number from the biggest number
Analysing Climate Graphs
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•Temperatures are shown as a line and should be read of the right-hand side axis
•Rainfall is shown as a set of bars and should be read off the left-hand side axis
•When describing the seasons make reference to the temperature and rainfall
•Include data in young answers
Distribution
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•Say where they are concentrated
•Say where there are very few
•Make reference to the continents which have a lot and very few
Make reference to the lines of latitude (equator, tropic of cancer and Capricorn)
•Is the distribution clustered or linear or random?
Scattergraphs
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Scattergraphs are used to show the relationship between two variables. For example how the gradient of a river changes in relationship to the distance from its source or between migrants and where they live in towns and cities.
You may be asked to draw a line of best fit or asked to comment on a relationship between two variables.
Mega-city distribution
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•Say where they are concentrated
•Say where there are very few
•Make reference to the continents which have a lot and very few
Make reference to the lines of latitude (equator, tropic of cancer and Capricorn)
•Is the distribution clustered or linear or random?
The map below shows the distribution of mega-cities across the world. A mega-city has a population of over 10 million people. This is shown are proportional circles. The bigger the circles the more people living there.
Global population density
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•Say where they are concentrated
•Say where there are very few
•Make reference to the continents which have a lot and very few
Make reference to the lines of latitude (equator, tropic of cancer and Capricorn)
•Is the distribution clustered or linear or random?
The population density is shown by dots. The most dense population is shown by the purple dots and the least dense population is shown by pale pink or no/white dots.
Population density is the amount of people who live in a square kilometre.
Isoline graphs
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Isolines join up pieces of data that fall within a similar range. The map to the left shows the average January temperature in degrees Fahrenheit in Australia. Areas of similar temperature have been grouped together. This has been use in exams to show air pollution in London.
Choropleth maps
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Choropleth maps are made up of polygons. These polygons usually represent an area. The example to the left shows the states of the USA. The polygons are then coloured as part of a key. The map to the left sows the % of people living in urban areas in the USA. The darker the colour the higher the % of people living in urban areas.
Hydrographs
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The storm hydrograph (shown to the left) shows variations in a river’s discharge over a short period of time, usually during a rainstorm. The starting and finishing level show the base flow of the river. As storm water enters the drainage basin the discharge rises, shown by the rising limb, to reach the peak discharge, which indicates the highest flow in the channel. The receding limb shows the fall in the discharge back to the base level. The time delay between maximum rainfall amount and peak discharge is the lag time.