Every examination paper allows you to use the studies you have made from the real world – or even insists on it if it is part of the specification you are studying.

Try not to just provide a named example though. You will get more marks if you really use your examples. It is possible to just say: ‘A drumlin is an egg-shaped mound elongated in the direction of ice movement. We saw one in North Wales when we were on field work.’ However this would only be a low level (Level 1) answer (see Levels of response in How Examiners mark above) – it doesn’t give an image of a drumlin to the examiner and your use of the example of a drumlin you have seen doesn’t help. But if you tell the examiner the size, shape, orientation and associated features of the actual drumlin you studied this would get you a good mid level (Level 2) for description.

An example is not just a name; it needs to be used to add to an answer. Where examples are used a lot of marks can be gained. Geography is about the real world – you can’t do better than to provide answers from the real world or, as examiners sometimes say, ‘write with a sense of place’.