Industry as a system: inputs to outputs
Industry adds value to a resource and is studied as a system. Inputs: raw materials, labour, capital, power/energy, land, machinery. Processes: manufacturing, assembling or processing the inputs into something new (e.g. steel into car parts). Outputs: the finished or part-finished product, plus waste and profit. Feedback: profit from selling the output can be reinvested as a new capital input, so the system can expand.
Four employment sectors; balance shifts
Employment splits into four sectors. Primary extracts raw materials (farming, mining). Secondary manufactures them into a product (car assembly). Tertiary provides an established service (retail, banking, teaching). Quaternary is high-tech, knowledge-creating work (R&D, IT design), distinct from tertiary. As a country develops, the primary share falls, secondary rises then falls, tertiary rises steadily, and quaternary grows, significant only at the most advanced stage.
Case study: Shenzhen SEZ, China
Shenzhen (Guangdong, China) shows industrial location and zone growth. In 1980 the government made it China's first Special Economic Zone (SEZ), with tax incentives drawing foreign investment. It borders Hong Kong, for its port, capital and trade links, plus cheap land and labour. The government invested in transport (deep-water port, airport, rail, metro). Shenzhen grew from a fishing town of ~30,000 in 1980 into a high-tech city of many millions (Huawei, Tencent).
Drawn from real examiner reports.
Name a specific zone, not a whole country
Many know the general locational factors but can't tie them to a precise place, having learned a whole country, not a zone. A country is too varied for factors to apply evenly: "China has cheap labour" is generic, but "Shenzhen was made an SEZ in 1980, next to Hong Kong's port" is markable. Learn the actual zone, estate or factory site, not just the country.
Flagged s23 P11 Q6c: candidates name a whole country (China) not a specific zone (Shenzhen), so factors can't be linked to place.
Describe the TNC itself, not its impact
Asked to describe a named transnational corporation (TNC, operating in several countries), candidates often drift onto the costs/benefits it brings its host country (jobs, pollution). That answers a DIFFERENT question. To describe the TNC itself, give: where its HQ is, which countries it makes and researches in, and how it sources components and sells worldwide.
Flagged w23 P12 Q5c: TNC answers drift onto host-country advantages/disadvantages instead of the TNC's own global structure.
Classify named jobs into the right sector
Classifying a named job into its sector is a recurring weak spot that later judgement questions build on. The usual trap is the QUATERNARY sector: any office or IT job gets lumped as tertiary. Research/innovation/high-tech work (an IT consultant designing software) is quaternary; an established service (shop assistant, teacher, nurse) is tertiary.
Flagged w22 P42 Q1f(i): under half classify named jobs correctly (e.g. IT consultant = quaternary), undermining later judgement questions.
Name the land use, not the activity
Asked to describe an industrial land use such as a port, candidates lack the vocabulary and describe the ACTIVITY ("exporting goods") instead of the land use itself. Use precise terms for what is physically there: wharf, dock, berth, quay, warehouse, container terminal. Describe the land use you can see, not what is happening on it.
Flagged s23 P22 Q3a: port/industrial land use described as activities (exporting) not land use, missing terms like wharf, dock, berth.
Secondary sector rises THEN falls
A common error is assuming each sector's share only rises or only falls with development. The SECONDARY share rises during industrialisation but then FALLS later, as manufacturing is automated or moves to cheaper countries (de-industrialisation). Describe secondary as rise-then-fall, not a steady climb (primary falls throughout, tertiary rises throughout).
Keep industry inputs and outputs apart
In the industry-system model, sort each item into the right stage. Inputs go IN (raw materials, labour, capital, power, machinery). Processes are what is DONE (manufacturing, assembling, processing). Outputs come OUT (the product, waste, profit). Common slip: calling "assembling" an input or "profit" a process. Profit is an output, fed back as a new capital input.
Quaternary is not just "skilled tertiary"
A wrong belief: quaternary just means "educated tertiary", or any computer job is quaternary. The distinction is the NATURE of the work, not skill or pay. TERTIARY jobs provide an EXISTING service (bank clerk, teacher). QUATERNARY jobs create NEW knowledge or technology (developing a drug or new software). Test: existing service = tertiary; new knowledge = quaternary.
Compare structures with figures, not lists
On "compare the employment structures", use comparative words (higher/lower, whereas) and quote % figures -- e.g. "primary is 65% in X but 5% in Y; tertiary is far higher in Y, 60% vs 18%". Describing each country in turn stays in the bottom band.
Nail the 7-mark industrial-zone case study
Reach the top band on the 7-mark industrial-zone question by naming a precise zone (Shenzhen, not "China"), giving located detail (SEZ 1980; borders Hong Kong; a deep-water port), and LINKING each factor to growth, not just listing.
Match the command word
Answer the exact command word. "Describe" = WHAT the resource or graph shows (no reasons). "Explain" = WHY. "Suggest" = a plausible reason for an unfamiliar case. "Compare" = explicit higher/lower statements, not two separate descriptions.
Describe employment data across all sectors
For an employment-structure table, describe each sector's trend across all stages, with figures and % units -- e.g. "primary falls 65% to 5%; tertiary rises 18% to 60%". Reading one figure, or only the biggest sector, scores low.
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