These eight original questions follow the four lessons in primary, secondary and tertiary activities. All names and numbers are invented.
Write your answer first, then open the explanation. The timed practice session builder can turn these into a timed round.
Questions
Question 1
Classify each activity: (a) harvesting oil palm fruit, (b) refining palm oil, (c) a lorry carrying the oil to a port.
Answer
(a) Primary: takes a product from nature. (b) Secondary: changes raw material into a refined product. (c) Tertiary: a transport service.
Question 2
A company has a mine, a smelter and a head office. A student labels all three “primary”. Correct the answer.
Answer
The mine is primary. The smelter is secondary because it turns ore into metal. The head office provides management services, so it is tertiary. Sector follows the activity, not the company.
Question 3
A chain: a farm sells milk for RM200. A dairy buys it and sells cheese at RM700. A shop buys the cheese and sells it at RM1 000. Find value added at each stage.
Answer
Farm: RM200. Dairy: 700 − 200 = RM500. Shop: 1 000 − 700 = RM300. Sum: 200 + 500 + 300 = RM1 000, which equals the final price.
Question 4
In Question 3, which stage adds the most value, and what share of the final price is it?
Answer
The dairy adds the most, RM500. Its share is 500 ÷ 1 000 = 50% of the final price.
Question 5
A student says the shop in Question 3 adds RM1 000. What is the error?
Answer
RM1 000 is the shop’s selling price. Value added subtracts the RM700 paid for inputs, so the shop adds RM300.
Question 6
A bottling plant has a spring 3 km away, a rail depot 5 km away and a village 4 km away. Write two linked location factors.
Answer
Raw material: the spring is 3 km away, so water is piped a short distance and supply cost is low. Transport: the rail depot is 5 km away, so bottled goods can be moved to distant markets in bulk.
Question 7
A country has 2 000 thousand jobs in total, with 500 thousand in the secondary sector. Its output is RM400 billion, with RM180 billion from secondary. Compare the two shares.
Answer
Jobs: 500 ÷ 2 000 = 25%. Output: 180 ÷ 400 = 45%. Secondary gives 45% of output from 25% of jobs, so output per worker is higher than the average.
Question 8
A table gives jobs for 2020 and output for 2023. Can you compare the sectors’ shares safely?
Answer
No. The years differ, so the comparison may mislead. State that matching years are needed, and avoid a firm conclusion.
If you got these wrong
Sorting errors point to classifying activities by what they do. Errors in questions 3 to 5 point to tracing value added. Question 6 points to location from several factors, and questions 7 and 8 to comparing two sectors.
Log each miss in the mistake log and paper-error review. For a teacher to go through them, see online one-to-one Geography tuition.