How to Pass AICE Environmental Management Paper 2: Student Guide & Exam Tips

• ⏳ Suggested time allocation for Paper 2 Exam:
• ✅ Structured questions (80 marks): ~ 1 minute per mark
• ✅ Five minutes to review answers.

Exam Structure

• This exam includes a variety of question types, such as:
• ✅ Structured, short-answer questions requiring precise responses – questions from any unit
• ✅ Graphing data (line, bar, pie)
• ✅ Calculations, including mean, median, mode, range of values, using Lincoln’s index and Simpson’s index of diversity (D)
• ✅ Percentage and percentage change calculations related to environmental data.
• ✅ Describe different methods of field data collection.
• ✅ Plan and evaluate controlled experiments/investigations.
• ✅ Identify limitations and suggest practical improvements
• ✅ Apply your knowledge in both familiar and unfamiliar situations

Unit 1: Introduction to Environmental Management

✅ Continents and oceans – Identify and name on a map
✅ Country classification – Low, middle, and high-income countries
✅ Sustainability – Definition, importance, and resource management
✅ Water cycle – Stages, diagrams, and human impacts
✅ Structure and composition of the atmosphere
✅ Ecosystems – Biotic/abiotic factors, trophic levels, food chains, energy transfer
✅ Biotic interactions – Competition, grazing, predation, parasitism, mutualism
✅ Carbon cycle – Biotic/abiotic stages, human impacts

Unit 2: Environmental Research and Data Collection

✅ Data analysis, graphing data (line, bar, pie) and graph analysis, label diagrams
✅ Math questions including percent, percent change, average/mean, median, mode, using Lincoln’s index and Simpson’s index of diversity (D) ✅ Plan and evaluate controlled experiments/investigations. ✅ Describe different methods of field data collection. ✅ Identify limitations and suggest practical improvements

Unit 3: Managing Human Population

✅ Population density and dependency ratio calculations
✅ Population dynamics – Factors affecting density, distribution, and age structure
✅ Population change impacts – Aging vs. youthful populations
✅ Strategies for managing population change

Unit 4: Managing Ecosystems and Biodiversity

Unit 5: Managing Resources

✅ Food security – Definition, causes, impacts, and solutions for food insecurity
✅ Energy resources – Renewable vs. non-renewable, managing energy insecurity
✅ Waste management – Disposal methods, impacts, and management strategies

Unit 6: Managing Water Supplies

✅ Global water distribution and security
✅ Causes, impacts, and strategies for managing water insecurity

Unit 7: Managing Air Pollution

Unit 8: Managing Climate Change

✅ Climate change – Greenhouse gases, global warming, monitoring challenges
✅ Impacts on environment and human populations
✅ Strategies – Reducing emissions, geo-engineering solutions

Conclusion

To succeed, students should:

✅ Understand Command Words -Many students lose marks because they misinterpret command words. 

✔ Describe – State the key characteristics or details.
✔ Explain – Give reasons why something happens.
✔ Compare – Highlight similarities and differences.
✔ Calculate – Show step-by-step calculations with the correct units.
✔ Evaluate – Discuss strengths, weaknesses, and draw a conclusion.

✅ Practice Drawing and Interpreting Graphs
Bar, line, pie– know how to describe what you see and what it means. ✅ Practice data analysis – Regular practice with different data sets improves speed and accuracy. ✅ Practice data collection in a controlled environment (lab-based experiment). ✅ Practice methods of field data collection – mark-release-recapture, pitfall traps, light trap, kick sampling, random sampling using a quadrat, systematic sampling using transects, and more.
✅ Identify limitations of each method and suggest improvements. ✅ Practice Math