I was browsing through everyone's blogs when Esther/Jessica's reflection on the exam paper caught my eye.
Here is the link to their post : http://www.geoggies-in-trainingestherandjessica.blogspot.com/2012/04/exam-paper.html .
As mentioned, the examination was indeed a test of how much we understood and how well we could apply the knowledge learnt so far, instead of how much one could regurgitate from her memory. There were some unexpected moments such as when the paper required of us to illustrate population pyramids and a settlement type.
Ms J provided great advice when she asked us to focus on population pyramids and to know it well, however, I felt that I overlooked the depth of how much we needed to know about population pyramids. I studied and understood population pyramids as a graph, in an analytic manner. However, I never expected to be asked to draw it. It is not something way out of our capabilities or a task too much to ask from us, thus I feel really regretful and complacent about not learning how to actually draw a population pyramid. Out of the 2 marks, I can only hope I earned 1 sympathy point for the columns and numbers I drew from my vaguest of memory.
Still, the biggest question that was boggling the entire Secondary 2 level in general was the last question. Esther/Jessica stated it was something along 'why farmers diversify their crops'. However, if I recalled correctly, the question asked for the ways in which and why farmers diversified agriculture/farming. To put it simply, we had to explain how farmers categorized agriculture/farming types, and why they did so.
My answer was that farmers did this to differentiate the various farming styles across the world so as to allow for proper planning before beginning on a certain type of crop cultivation, and they accomplished this by identifying each farming technique's purpose, input and output. I was rushing to complete my paper and thus I don't recall the full answer, but I continued explaining on how when farmers understood the different types of agriculture, they could select a specific farming style to follow based on their purpose and one that was within their budget/capabilities. The farmers would be able to gather needed resources and labour to begin his farming project as well.
This is a wide question that is sure to have many varying answers, thus I feel that it is open to one's own opinion. My answer might not be 100% correct, it is just my point of view on why farmers diversified agriculture.
Whatever it is, I hope that the test paper had sent many questions running through your minds and had ignited your curiosity to find out more about geography. It certainly taught me how there is really so much more to Geography than just a textbook/test paper, Geography has no limits and is all around us. Memorizing facts won't help, embracing the understanding Geography has brought to humanity and applying it to real-life situations is what lies in these type of questions (the question mentioned above) that sift out people who memorize texts from geoggies who understand the meaning behind those words. There is a difference.
