How to Study for Geography

Geography is more than just memorizing state capitals, and you can study plenty of related subjects, like cartography, geology, and topography. As far as actually committing details to memory, not everyone learns the same way; some students are more visual, while others are more auditory. Whether you learn better via sight or sound, a good geography student can get both, plus the tactile experience. Geography can be divided into broad sub-categories like political, human, and physical.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Interest in Planet Earth
• willingness to look at different maps, charts, and/or a globe

1. Befriend an atlas - The great thing about studying geography is that you get to look at all sorts of maps, drawings, and charts of real places, instead of trying to memorize from the relatively limited resources of class notes and/or recorded lectures. You can find atlases and other map-related items at your local library if you don’t have one. Even looking at one page of your county road map is worth some time. While a map’s colors and shapes may keep your interest up for a bit, the real treasure is getting a sense of spatial distance. Have you ever planned a road trip? You were using a rudimentary form of geography.

2. Touch the earth - Physical geography is one of the most hands-on subjects in the world, because it literally IS the world! Historical figures, algebraic equations, and multi-syllabic words are important, but you can’t go out and touch them, measure them, or hold them in your hands. The best way to learn about mountains, forests, cliffs, and peninsulas is to physically see them.

3. Study a globe - Whether or not you think you’ll ever need them, you should know the basics of latitude and longitude. Studying a globe and learning the coordinates of certain locations can come in handy, especially if you get lost with no landmarks or other help. Most boaters, hikers, and other explorers know this.

4. Get political - Political geography is not very hands-on, since those country, state, and city borders really don’t exist. However, it is one of the most widely studied forms of geography, so you should still familiarize yourself with the names, capitals, and general locations of the areas you are focusing on. Knowing the location of borders (no, not the bookstore!) is also advisable, since actual wars have begun by two countries fighting over a piece of land.

5. Learn about people - Human geography tends to show lots of statistics, and focuses on the relationship between humans and the earth. Subjects covered for a particular area might be total population, travel or migration patterns, environmental impact, or resource management. We humans usually go about our daily lives with no thought on the effect we have on our planet, but any good atlas will show these patterns and much more.