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Ultimate AP Human Geography Review Guide

May 6, 2025

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AP Human Geography Review

Welcome to an ultimate review session for AP Human Geography, summarizing all seven units to refresh key concepts before your AP or final exam.

Introduction

  • Purpose: To review key highlights, not to teach everything.
  • Resources: For deeper understanding, refer to topic review videos and the Ultimate Review Packet.
  • Community Support: Join the Mr. Sin Discord server for community-based review sessions.

Unit 1: Maps and Spatial Concepts

Key Topics

  • Types of Maps: Thematic, reference, and map projections.
    • Understanding distortions in shape, area, distance, direction.
    • Mercator Map: Accurate direction, distorted size and shape.
  • GIS (Geographic Information Systems): Tools for layering data, analyzing spatial relationships.
  • Research Types:
    • Quantitative: Numerical data, e.g., census.
    • Qualitative: Attitudes, beliefs, feelings.
  • Spatial Concepts:
    • Impact of technology and communication on distance decay.
    • Environmental sustainability: Determinism vs. Possibilism.
  • Scale and Regions:
    • Scale of Analysis: National vs. local.
    • Types of Regions: Functional (nodal), perceptual (vernacular), formal (uniform).

Unit 2: Population and Migration

Population

  • Population Distribution: Influenced by economic, social, political, environmental factors.
  • Population Density: Arithmetic, physiological, agricultural.
  • Demographic Measures: CBR, CDR, NIR, sex ratios, dependency ratios.
  • Population Pyramids: Stages of demographic transition.
  • Demographic Transition Model: 5 stages from high birth/death rates to declining population.
  • Epidemiologic Transition Model: Causes of death and its relation to demographic stages.

Migration

  • Push-Pull Factors: Political, economic, social, environmental reasons for migration.
  • Types of Migration: Forced vs. voluntary.
  • Migration Effects: Diffusion, acculturation, assimilation.

Unit 3: Cultural Patterns and Processes

Key Themes

  • Cultural Relativism vs. Ethnocentrism: Understanding other cultures without bias.
  • Cultural Landscape: Land use patterns, architectural styles, gender roles, food.
  • Diffusion of Culture:
    • Relocation: Movement of ideas with people.
    • Expansion: Hierarchical, contagious, stimulus.
  • Religion and Language: Diffusion, landscape impact, universalizing vs. ethnic religions.
  • Cultural Resistance and Adaptation: Acculturation, assimilation, syncretism, multiculturalism.

Unit 4: Political Patterns and Processes

Political Geography

  • Nations vs. States: Definitions and examples.
  • Types of States: Nation-state, multinational state, multi-state nation, stateless nation.
  • Colonialism, Imperialism, Neocolonialism: Influence and control.
  • Political Boundaries: Relic, antecedent, consequent, superimposed, geometric.
  • Gerrymandering and Voting Districts: Impact on political power.
  • Unitary vs. Federal States: Centralized power vs. shared power.

Sovereignty and Global Cooperation

  • State Sovereignty: The right to self-governance.
  • Supranational Organizations: EU, NATO, UN, impact on sovereignty.

Unit 5: Agriculture and Rural Land Use

Agricultural Practices

  • Intensive vs. Extensive Agriculture: Labor and capital investment.
  • Settlement Patterns: Clustered, dispersed, linear.
  • Agricultural Revolutions: First, Second, and Green Revolutions.
  • Modern Agricultural Practices: GMOs, organic farming, sustainability debates.

Unit 6: Cities and Urban Land Use

Urban Models

  • Burgess Concentric Zone Model: Rings around CBD.
  • Hoyt Sector Model: Development in wedges.
  • Multiple Nuclei Model: Multiple centers of growth.
  • Galactic Model: Expansion of urban areas.
  • Latin American, African, and Asian City Models: Distinct features and challenges.

Urban Challenges

  • Gentrification: Economic revitalization vs. displacement.
  • Urban Policy: Infrastructure, public transportation, sustainable cities.

Unit 7: Industrial and Economic Development

Economic Sectors

  • Primary, Secondary, Tertiary Sectors: Job types and globalization impact.
  • Global Trade: Effects of neoliberal policies, trade agreements, comparative advantage.
  • Economic Theories: Rostow's stages, Wallerstein's World Systems Theory.

Closing Thoughts

  • Preparation Tools: Use the Ultimate Review Packet, Discord community, and topic-specific videos for more detailed study.
  • Best Wishes: Good luck on your exams and future studies in geography!

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