Time: 60 minutes
INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES
- Read the instructions for each part of the paper carefully.
- Answer ALL the questions.
- You must complete the answer sheet within the time limit.
- At the end of the test, hand in both this question paper and your answer sheet.
INFORMATION FOR CANDIDATES
- There are 40 questions in this test.
- Each question carries one mark.
- The test consists of three sections.
SECTION 1: Questions 1–13
Read the passage below and answer Questions 1–13.
The Evolution of Cartography
A Maps are among humanity's oldest intellectual tools, enabling people to represent spatial relationships, navigate unfamiliar territories, and conceptualise their place in the world. From prehistoric cave paintings depicting hunting grounds to satellite imagery revealing Earth's surface in unprecedented detail, the history of cartography reflects changing technologies, expanding geographical knowledge, and evolving purposes for spatial representation. Understanding how maps developed illuminates not only technological progress but also how different cultures have perceived and organised their physical and conceptual worlds.
B The earliest surviving maps date to ancient Mesopotamia, where clay tablets from approximately 2300 BCE depict local features such as rivers, settlements, and agricultural plots. These maps served primarily practical purposes—recording property boundaries, planning irrigation systems, and documenting land ownership for taxation. Ancient Egyptian surveyors developed sophisticated techniques for remapping agricultural lands after annual Nile floods erased previous boundary markers. Greek scholars made fundamental contributions to cartographic theory, with Anaximander reportedly creating the first world map around 600 BCE and Eratosthenes calculating Earth's circumference with remarkable accuracy in the third century BCE. Ptolemy's Geography, compiled around 150 CE, established principles of mathematical cartography that influenced mapmaking for over a millennium.
C Medieval European cartography largely abandoned the mathematical precision of Greek predecessors in favour of symbolic and religious representations. The characteristic T-O maps of this period depicted the known world as a circular disc divided by a T-shaped arrangement of waterways, with Jerusalem positioned at the centre reflecting its spiritual significance rather than geographical accuracy. These maps served devotional and educational purposes rather than navigation, illustrating biblical narratives and theological concepts through spatial arrangement. Islamic cartographers during this same period preserved and extended Greek geographical knowledge, producing more accurate regional maps and contributing astronomical observations that would later benefit European navigation.
D The Age of Exploration transformed European cartography dramatically. Portuguese and Spanish voyages along African coasts and across Atlantic and Pacific oceans generated vast quantities of new geographical data that existing frameworks could not accommodate. Portolan charts, featuring networks of compass lines radiating from multiple points, enabled increasingly accurate navigation across open seas. The Mercator projection, developed by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569, solved the critical problem of representing the curved Earth on flat surfaces while preserving directional accuracy essential for navigation—though at the cost of distorting the relative sizes of land masses, particularly near the poles. Colonial expansion drove demand for increasingly detailed and accurate maps as European powers sought to claim, exploit, and administer distant territories.
E The systematic national mapping programmes that emerged in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries represented a new scale of cartographic ambition. France's Cassini family undertook the first comprehensive topographic survey of an entire nation, a project spanning four generations and producing maps of unprecedented detail and accuracy. Britain's Ordnance Survey, originally established for military purposes in 1791, eventually mapped the entire United Kingdom at multiple scales. These national surveys required standardised measurement techniques, triangulation networks spanning vast distances, and institutional resources only governments could mobilise. The resulting maps served military planning, infrastructure development, land administration, and eventually public recreation as maps became commercially available to ordinary citizens.
F Twentieth-century technologies revolutionised both the creation and use of maps. Aerial photography, developed initially for military reconnaissance during World War One, enabled rapid mapping of large areas with detail impossible to achieve through ground surveys alone. Remote sensing satellites, beginning with the launch of Landsat 1 in 1972, provided continuous global coverage revealing features invisible to ground observers, from vegetation patterns to geological structures to urban development trajectories. Geographic Information Systems (GIS), which emerged in the 1960s and proliferated with computing advances, transformed maps from static representations into dynamic analytical tools capable of integrating multiple data layers and modelling spatial relationships.
G Contemporary cartography faces both unprecedented capabilities and novel challenges. Digital mapping platforms have democratised map creation and access, enabling anyone with a smartphone to contribute geographical data or navigate unfamiliar environments. However, this apparent objectivity masks continuing choices about what to represent and how—decisions that shape perceptions and carry political implications. Border depictions remain contested in disputed territories, with different mapping services displaying different boundaries depending on user location. The algorithmic personalisation of digital maps raises concerns about filter bubbles extending into geographical knowledge. Despite their apparent precision, maps remain selective representations reflecting particular perspectives and purposes, not neutral windows onto objective spatial reality.
Questions 1–4
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 1–4 on your answer sheet.
1 According to the passage, the earliest known maps were created in {{ANSWER:1}}
A ancient Egypt for recording flood patterns.
B ancient Mesopotamia for practical purposes.
C ancient Greece for navigation.
D medieval Europe for religious instruction.
2 The passage states that medieval T-O maps {{ANSWER:2}}
A were more mathematically accurate than Greek maps.
B placed Jerusalem at the centre for religious reasons.
C were primarily designed for sea navigation.
D were developed by Islamic scholars.
3 The Mercator projection was significant because it {{ANSWER:3}}
A accurately showed the relative sizes of all land masses.
B was the first map ever created in Europe.
C preserved directional accuracy for navigation purposes.
D eliminated all distortion in map representations.
4 Britain's Ordnance Survey was originally established for {{ANSWER:4}}
A recreational hiking purposes.
B commercial map sales.
C military purposes.
D agricultural planning.
Questions 5–9
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage?
In boxes 5–9 on your answer sheet, write
| TRUE | if the statement agrees with the information |
| FALSE | if the statement contradicts the information |
| NOT GIVEN | if there is no information on this |
5 Eratosthenes calculated the circumference of Earth with considerable accuracy. {{ANSWER:5}}
6 Islamic cartographers rejected all Greek geographical knowledge during the medieval period. {{ANSWER:6}}
7 The Cassini family's survey of France was completed within a single generation. {{ANSWER:7}}
8 The first remote sensing satellite was launched in 1972. {{ANSWER:8}}
9 All digital mapping platforms show identical border depictions in disputed territories. {{ANSWER:9}}
Questions 10–13
The passage has seven paragraphs, A–G.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A–G, in boxes 10–13 on your answer sheet.
10 how aerial photography changed the speed of mapping large regions {{ANSWER:10}}
11 the development of maps that enabled sailors to navigate across oceans {{ANSWER:11}}
12 the influence of Ptolemy's work on later cartography {{ANSWER:12}}
13 concerns about how personalised digital maps might limit geographical knowledge {{ANSWER:13}}
SECTION 2: Questions 14–26
Read the passage below and answer Questions 14–26.
Ocean Acidification: The Other Carbon Dioxide Problem
A While climate change dominates discussions of carbon dioxide's environmental impacts, a parallel threat has received comparatively little public attention. Ocean acidification—the gradual decrease in seawater pH resulting from absorption of atmospheric carbon dioxide—poses fundamental challenges to marine ecosystems and the human communities that depend upon them. Since the industrial revolution, ocean surface waters have become approximately thirty percent more acidic, a rate of change unprecedented in at least the past 300 million years. Understanding this phenomenon and its consequences has become an urgent priority for marine scientists, policymakers, and coastal communities worldwide.
B The chemistry underlying ocean acidification is well established and essentially irreversible on human timescales. When carbon dioxide dissolves in seawater, it reacts to form carbonic acid, which then dissociates into hydrogen ions and bicarbonate. The increased concentration of hydrogen ions defines the decrease in pH that constitutes acidification. Crucially, this process also reduces the availability of carbonate ions, which many marine organisms require to build shells and skeletons from calcium carbonate. The oceans have absorbed roughly one-third of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions since industrialisation began, providing an enormous buffer against atmospheric accumulation but at the cost of progressive chemical transformation of marine environments.
C The biological impacts of acidification vary substantially across species and ecosystems, though certain patterns have emerged from laboratory and field research. Calcifying organisms—those that build shells or skeletons from calcium carbonate—face the most direct threats, as reduced carbonate availability makes shell formation more energetically costly and can cause existing structures to dissolve in sufficiently acidified water. Coral reefs, which support approximately one-quarter of all marine species despite covering less than one percent of the ocean floor, show particular vulnerability. Studies have documented reduced calcification rates, structural weakening, and increased susceptibility to bleaching events in corals exposed to acidified conditions. Shellfish including oysters, mussels, and pteropods—tiny swimming snails that form a crucial base of polar food webs—also demonstrate significant sensitivity.
D The effects of acidification extend beyond calcifying organisms through complex ecological interactions. Altered sensory capabilities have been documented in fish exposed to acidified water, with some species displaying impaired ability to detect predators or locate suitable habitats through olfactory cues. Behavioural changes may disrupt predator-prey relationships, reproductive success, and migration patterns in ways difficult to predict from single-species laboratory studies. Food web disruptions could cascade through ecosystems as foundational species decline, potentially affecting commercially important fish stocks even if those species themselves tolerate acidification. The interaction between acidification and other stressors—warming temperatures, deoxygenation, pollution—may produce combined effects exceeding the sum of individual impacts.
E Economic consequences of ocean acidification threaten coastal communities and industries worldwide. Global fisheries and aquaculture contribute approximately $150 billion annually to the world economy while providing primary protein sources for over three billion people. Shellfish industries have already experienced acidification impacts, with oyster hatcheries along the Pacific coast of North America reporting massive die-offs of larvae during water conditions that would have been unusual decades ago. Coral reef tourism generates tens of billions of dollars annually and supports millions of jobs in tropical regions; reef degradation from acidification and warming threatens these economic foundations. The subsistence fisheries upon which many coastal communities in developing nations depend may prove particularly vulnerable, as these populations often lack resources to adapt to changing conditions.
F Addressing ocean acidification requires tackling its root cause: carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel combustion, deforestation, and industrial processes. No technological solution currently exists for reversing acidification across ocean scales; even if emissions ceased immediately, accumulated carbon dioxide would continue affecting ocean chemistry for centuries. Mitigation strategies therefore focus primarily on reducing emissions through energy transitions, efficiency improvements, and carbon capture technologies. Some researchers have proposed local interventions—adding alkaline materials to coastal waters to buffer pH, cultivating seaweed that absorbs carbon dioxide, protecting seagrass meadows that sequester carbon in sediments—though scaling such approaches presents significant challenges. Adaptation strategies for vulnerable industries include selective breeding for acidification-tolerant strains, relocating aquaculture operations to less affected waters, and diversifying into alternative species.
G The ocean acidification challenge illustrates broader difficulties in addressing global environmental changes. Effects develop gradually across vast scales, making them difficult to perceive directly and easy to discount against immediate concerns. Scientific uncertainty about specific impacts and thresholds complicates policy responses, even as the underlying chemistry remains unambiguous. The global commons nature of ocean chemistry means that emissions anywhere affect conditions everywhere, requiring international cooperation that has proven difficult to achieve. Perhaps most fundamentally, meaningful response requires confronting the same fossil fuel dependencies that drive climate change, suggesting that ocean acidification cannot be addressed in isolation but only as part of comprehensive decarbonisation strategies.
Questions 14–20
The passage has seven paragraphs, A–G.
Choose the correct heading for paragraphs A–G from the list of headings below.
Write the correct number, i–xi, in boxes 14–20 on your answer sheet.
List of Headings
| i | Wider ecosystem effects beyond shell-building species |
| ii | The fundamental chemistry of ocean acidification |
| iii | Historical patterns of ocean pH levels |
| iv | An underrecognised threat to marine environments |
| v | Threats to calcifying species and coral reefs |
| vi | Solutions and the challenge of reducing emissions |
| vii | Why addressing acidification is particularly difficult |
| viii | Financial impacts on fishing and tourism industries |
| ix | How acidification affects ocean temperatures |
| x | The benefits of carbon dioxide for marine plant life |
| xi | International agreements on ocean protection |
14 Paragraph A {{ANSWER:14}}
15 Paragraph B {{ANSWER:15}}
16 Paragraph C {{ANSWER:16}}
17 Paragraph D {{ANSWER:17}}
18 Paragraph E {{ANSWER:18}}
19 Paragraph F {{ANSWER:19}}
20 Paragraph G {{ANSWER:20}}
Questions 21–24
Complete the sentences below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 21–24 on your answer sheet.
21 Ocean surface waters have become about {{ANSWER:21}} more acidic since industrialisation began.
22 Coral reefs contain approximately one-quarter of all marine species while occupying less than {{ANSWER:22}} of ocean area.
23 Some fish in acidified water show reduced ability to detect predators through {{ANSWER:23}}.
24 Global fisheries and aquaculture provide the main source of protein for more than {{ANSWER:24}} people.
Questions 25–26
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 25–26 on your answer sheet.
25 According to the passage, oyster hatcheries on the Pacific coast have {{ANSWER:25}}
A completely solved acidification problems through new technology.
B experienced significant larval deaths due to water conditions.
C moved all operations to inland freshwater facilities.
D seen no changes in production over recent decades.
26 The writer suggests that ocean acidification {{ANSWER:26}}
A can be easily reversed with current technology.
B only affects organisms that build shells.
C must be addressed alongside climate change efforts.
D is not connected to fossil fuel use.
SECTION 3: Questions 27–40
Read the passage below and answer Questions 27–40.
The Psychology of Crowd Behaviour
Crowds have long fascinated and troubled observers of human society. The seemingly spontaneous transformation of ordinary individuals into unified masses displaying collective emotions, shared purpose, or destructive violence has generated extensive theorising from philosophers, sociologists, and psychologists. From ancient Roman mobs to contemporary protest movements, crowd phenomena raise fundamental questions about individual identity, social influence, and the conditions under which people act in ways they would never consider alone. Modern psychological research has substantially revised earlier theories while revealing the complexity of collective behaviour in ways that challenge simplistic characterisations.
Classical crowd psychology, developed primarily by French scholar Gustave Le Bon in the late nineteenth century, portrayed crowds as inherently irrational and dangerous. Le Bon argued that individuals submerged in crowds underwent psychological transformation, losing conscious personality and rational judgment to a primitive "group mind" governed by emotion and suggestion. This process of deindividuation supposedly enabled behaviours—particularly violence and destruction—that individuals would inhibit when acting independently. Le Bon's framework reflected and reinforced elite anxieties about mass democracy and working-class mobilisation, providing scientific-seeming justification for viewing popular gatherings as threats requiring authoritarian control. His ideas profoundly influenced twentieth-century approaches to crowd management, propaganda, and political manipulation.
Subsequent research has largely discredited the group mind concept while retaining insights about how social contexts influence behaviour. Individuals in crowds do not lose rationality or personal identity; rather, they shift identification from personal to social categories, thinking and acting in terms of group membership rather than individual characteristics. This social identity approach, developed by psychologists Henri Tajfel and John Turner, explains how crowd members can coordinate behaviour without central direction and why crowds display coherent rather than random actions. People in crowds behave according to norms they perceive as appropriate for their group identity in that context—norms that may differ substantially from those governing everyday individual behaviour but that nonetheless reflect meaningful values and purposes.
The physical and social conditions characterising crowd situations do alter psychological processes in significant ways. Anonymity within large groups can reduce individuals' sense of accountability for their actions, lowering inhibitions against behaviours they might avoid when identifiable. However, this disinhibition is selective rather than general—people become more likely to act on values and impulses aligned with perceived group norms, not to behave randomly or purely destructively. Emotional contagion spreads feelings rapidly through crowds, as people automatically mimic facial expressions, vocalisations, and body postures of those around them, generating shared emotional states that intensify through reciprocal feedback. The physical density typical of crowds increases physiological arousal, heightening emotional responses and potentially facilitating rapid behavioural shifts.
Research on collective violence has challenged assumptions that crowd aggression results from mindless contagion or inherent mob irrationality. Studies of riots, lynch mobs, and ethnic violence reveal that such events typically involve specific grievances, identifiable targets, and internal organisation rather than random destruction. Violence often follows patterns shaped by historical relationships, perceived injustices, and group boundaries rather than indiscriminate chaos. Police behaviour frequently influences whether protests escalate or remain peaceful, with aggressive tactics sometimes triggering the very violence they ostensibly prevent. Understanding crowd violence requires examining the interaction between crowd members, authorities, and broader social contexts rather than assuming pathology inherent to collective gatherings.
The digital age has introduced new dimensions to collective behaviour that extend and complicate traditional crowd psychology. Online platforms enable rapid mobilisation across geographic distances, coordinating physical gatherings through social media and creating virtual crowds that display dynamics resembling those of physical assemblies. The anonymity and disinhibition long associated with physical crowds appear amplified in online contexts, where deindividuation combines with reduced social cues and algorithmic amplification of emotionally engaging content. Viral phenomena spread through digital networks with speed and scale impossible in pre-digital collective behaviour, while filter bubbles and echo chambers may intensify group polarisation. Whether online collective behaviour represents a fundamentally new phenomenon or merely traditional crowd dynamics in novel contexts remains debated among researchers.
Contemporary applications of crowd psychology span domains from public safety to marketing to political mobilisation. Event planners and security professionals apply understanding of crowd dynamics to manage large gatherings safely, designing physical environments and communication strategies that prevent dangerous crushes and facilitate orderly movement. Marketers exploit social influence processes to generate viral phenomena and create impressions of popular momentum around products and ideas. Political movements leverage collective identity and emotional contagion to mobilise supporters, while opponents may attempt to discredit movements by associating them with crowd irrationality and violence. The contested nature of crowd characterisations—as democratic expressions of popular will or dangerous threats to social order—reflects underlying political tensions that scientific research alone cannot resolve.
Questions 27–32
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in the passage?
In boxes 27–32 on your answer sheet, write
| YES | if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer |
| NO | if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer |
| NOT GIVEN | if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this |
27 Gustave Le Bon believed that crowds transformed individuals into rational decision-makers. {{ANSWER:27}}
28 Le Bon's theories influenced how authorities approached crowd control in the twentieth century. {{ANSWER:28}}
29 Modern psychologists have completely accepted Le Bon's concept of the group mind. {{ANSWER:29}}
30 The social identity approach suggests that crowd members act according to perceived group norms. {{ANSWER:30}}
31 Research shows that crowd violence is always random and unpredictable. {{ANSWER:31}}
32 Police tactics can influence whether protests become violent. {{ANSWER:32}}
Questions 33–37
Complete the summary below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 33–37 on your answer sheet.
Understanding Crowd Dynamics
Modern research has revised early theories about how people behave in crowds. Rather than losing their identity, individuals in crowds shift from personal identity to {{ANSWER:33}}, which explains how crowds can act in coordinated ways. Several factors affect behaviour in crowds. When people feel anonymous, their sense of {{ANSWER:34}} decreases, making them more likely to act on group values. Additionally, {{ANSWER:35}} causes emotions to spread quickly as people unconsciously copy each other's expressions and movements. The close proximity typical in crowds increases {{ANSWER:36}}, which makes emotional responses stronger. In the digital age, online platforms have created new forms of collective behaviour, with {{ANSWER:37}} potentially making group divisions more extreme.
Questions 38–40
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 38–40 on your answer sheet.
38 What point does the writer make about Le Bon's theories and politics? {{ANSWER:38}}
A His theories were purely scientific with no political implications.
B His ideas reflected and supported concerns about popular democracy.
C He was a strong advocate for working-class political movements.
D His work was ignored by political leaders of his time.
39 According to the passage, what does research reveal about collective violence? {{ANSWER:39}}
A It is always completely random and without pattern.
B It typically involves identifiable targets and specific grievances.
C It cannot be influenced by police behaviour.
D It occurs equally in all types of crowd gatherings.
40 What is the writer's main argument in the final paragraph? {{ANSWER:40}}
A Crowd psychology has no practical applications in modern society.
B Scientific research has definitively resolved all debates about crowds.
C Understanding of crowd behaviour is applied in various fields but remains politically contested.
D Marketing is the only field that uses crowd psychology effectively.