The geographic concepts, and how to apply them
Why the definitions are printed in the booklet
- The seven concepts are supplied on page 2 of the resource booklet. You are not marked on remembering them.
- You are marked on applying them — attaching a concept to something specific in this environment, with evidence from the resources.
- That inverts the usual revision advice. Learning the definitions harder does not raise your grade. Practising the sentence in this environment, [concept] is shown by [specific thing], because [reason] does.
The seven concepts, and what each one asks you to look for
- Environments — natural and/or cultural, with characteristics and features produced by natural and/or cultural processes. Ask: what is here, and what made it?
- Perspectives — bodies of thought, theories or worldviews, built up over time, that shape people's values and explain why they decide differently. Ask: what does this group believe that makes their decision reasonable to them?
- Processes — a sequence of natural and/or cultural actions that shapes and changes environments: erosion, migration, urbanisation, tourism. Ask: what is the sequence, and what does it change?
- Patterns — a definite arrangement, either spatial (how features are arranged over an area) or temporal (how something varies over time). Ask: is this arrangement describable in a sentence?
- Interaction — elements of an environment affecting each other: movement, flows, links, one-way or two-way. Landscapes are the visible outcome of interactions. Ask: what affects what, and in which direction?
- Change — any alteration to an environment, spatial and/or temporal, happening at different rates in different places. Ask: what is different now, over what period, and how fast?
- Sustainability — meeting present needs without preventing future generations from meeting theirs. Ask: can this continue, and what would break first?
Level 2 papers usually add an eighth: location — where something is, which can be an advantage or a constraint, and which may be absolute (a grid reference, coordinates) or relative (two hours from the nearest port).
Applying a concept is not defining it
- A definition describes the concept. An application describes this environment. Only the second earns marks above Achieved.
- Use a three-part sentence and you cannot accidentally write a definition: name the concept, name the specific thing in this environment that shows it — a named feature, a figure, a group of people — then say what follows from it.
- Example of the shape: Interaction is shown in the valley because the dairy conversion upstream raised nitrate levels in the river, which then closed the swimming hole downstream — a one-way effect from land use to water quality.
- The failure to avoid is the sentence that would be true of any environment anywhere. If it would survive being copied into someone else's exam, it says nothing about this one.
Choosing the right concept for a question
- Read the verb in the question, because it usually names the concept for you: describe the arrangement of… asks for pattern, explain how X has affected Y asks for interaction, how this has altered since 1990 asks for change, why these two groups disagree asks for perspectives, and whether this can continue asks for sustainability.
- If the question does not name one, choose the concept your evidence best supports, not the one you like most.
- One concept applied properly beats three named in passing. A list of concept words is a common Achieved-level answer.
Concepts are not separate from each other
- They overlap by design, and saying how they connect is where insight lives.
- Processes cause patterns; interaction produces change; perspectives explain responses; and sustainability is a judgement about a process continuing, so it cannot be assessed until the process is described.
The Glossary of Māori concepts
- The Level 2 assessment specification refers candidates to a Glossary of Māori concepts. Concepts such as kaitiakitanga (guardianship and care for the environment) and mana whenua (authority over land) may appear in the resources.
- Treat them as concepts, not decoration. If a resource records that a group exercises kaitiakitanga over a river, that is evidence about perspectives — it tells you what that group believes their relationship to the river is, and therefore why their preferred course of action differs from another group's.
- Use the term only when the resource supports it. Naming a Māori concept the booklet does not mention adds nothing.
Where each grade sits on the concept strand
- Achieved — the concept is understood and linked to the environment in a general way.
- Merit — detailed. The application carries specifics: a named feature, a figure, a date, a direction of effect.
- Excellence — thorough, with terminology, showing insight. Insight is defined in the standards themselves as drawing a conclusion about how things link. Not more concepts. A link between two.
Worked Example
Worked Example
A resource booklet describes an invented settlement, Kohu, at the mouth of the Waipuna River. It supplies these facts:
- Kohu has 1,400 residents. The population was 2,100 in 1996.
- The last freezing works closed in 2001; 240 jobs went with it.
- A new cycle trail opened in 2019. Six cafés and two lodges have opened since.
- Summer visitor numbers rose from about 9,000 in 2018 to about 31,000 in 2025.
- A residents' group opposes a proposed 60-bed lodge. A business group supports it.
Apply ONE geographic concept to Kohu, at Achieved, Merit and Excellence.
Answer:
Step 1 — choose the concept the evidence best supports.
The strongest evidence here is a before and after: a population fall, a closure, then a new activity and rising visitor numbers. That is change, and it is supported by dates and figures, so change is the right choice.
Step 2 — write the Achieved version.
Kohu has experienced change. The town used to depend on the freezing works, and now it depends on tourism instead.
True, general, and it would fit hundreds of towns. It applies the concept but carries nothing specific.
Step 3 — write the Merit version by adding the specifics.
Kohu has experienced both temporal and spatial change. The population fell from 2,100 in 1996 to 1,400 today, a fall of about 33 per cent, following the closure of the freezing works in 2001 and the loss of 240 jobs. Since the cycle trail opened in 2019, summer visitor numbers have risen from around 9,000 to around 31,000, and six cafés and two lodges have opened, concentrated near the trail head.
Same concept, now detailed: figures, dates, a rate, and a location for the new development.
Step 4 — write the Excellence version by drawing a link.
The change at Kohu is better described as a change in what the town's location is worth than as a change of industry. The same river mouth with road access was an advantage for processing stock, a disadvantage once the works closed, and an advantage again when it turned out to sit on a cycle route. Nothing about the site altered; what altered was the process operating on it. That explains the disagreement over the 60-bed lodge: the residents' group is protecting a settlement already emptied once by a single dominant employer, and the business group is protecting the recovery. Both perspectives fit the same evidence, which is why the argument cannot be settled by adding more figures.
That is insight, because it links change, location and perspectives and draws a conclusion from the link — not because it is longer.
The concept applied, in one line: