Specification points
SQA Higher Environmental Science C826 76
55 points in 6 topics, with SQA's codes and titles.
Grade boundaries·SQA command words
Codes and titles are read by a script from SQA's published specification and have not been checked by a person. What each point covers is in the specification itself: SQA’s specification.
1 Living environment
- 1.1 Investigating ecosystems and biodiversity
- 1.1.a Assessing biodiversity
- 1.1.b Sampling plants and animals
- 1.1.c Measuring abiotic factors
- 1.2 Interdependence
- 1.2.a Succession
- 1.2.b Energy conversion, transfer and loss in food chains and webs
- 1.2.c Population dynamics
- 1.3 Human influences on biodiversity
- 1.3.a Species reduction or increase through human activities and the influence on biodiversity
- 1.3.b Environmental assessment and monitoring
2 Earth’s resources
- 2.1 Geosphere
- 2.1.a Earth’s internal heat
- 2.1.b Mechanisms of plate boundaries
- 2.1.c Aluminium
- 2.1.d Geothermal energy
- 2.2 Hydrosphere
- 2.2.a Hydrological cycle
- 2.2.b Oceanic circulation
- 2.3 Biosphere
- 2.3.a Soils
- 2.3.b Processed biofuels — biodiesel, bio-crude oil, biomethanol, bioethanol
- 2.4 Atmosphere
- 2.4.a Composition of the atmosphere
- 2.4.b Atmospheric circulation
- 2.4.c Natural climate change
3 Sustainability
- 3.1 Global challenges
- 3.1.a Demand for global resources
- 3.1.b Security of access to food, water and energy
- 3.2 Food
- 3.3 Water
- 3.3.a Sustainable management of water resources
- 3.3.b Improving water quality
- 3.3.c Sewage treatment
- 3.4 Energy
- 3.4.a Shale gas
- 3.4.b Hydrogen power
- 3.4.c Nuclear energy
- 3.5 Waste management
- 3.5.a Life cycle analysis (LCA)
- 3.5.b Waste generation
- 3.5.c Waste hierarchy
- 3.5.d Impact of waste on the environment
- 3.6 Anthropogenic climate change
- 3.6.a Anthropogenic greenhouse gases — carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, water vapour
- 3.6.b Impacts of global warming and climate change
- 3.6.c Minimising the impacts of anthropogenic climate change