Top 7 Tips for Using Atlas in the National Geography Exam

The legend is located on the first page of the Atlas, and on each page of the Atlas, there is also a legend of its own. Read the legend carefully to know which geographical objects are represented on the chart, how they are represented, whether by color, geometric symbols, figurines, or in writing. Compare, match the symbols, and colors in the legend with each symbol, and color on each map in the Atlas. From there, draw conclusions about the current situation and distribution of geographical objects on the map.

Use multiple pages of the Atlas to answer a question in the exam. For example, to explain why the Mekong River Delta has become the number one rice basket in the country, candidates need to use the Atlas page about the Mekong River Delta (page 29) combined with maps of topography, land, rivers, climate, and flora and fauna to have the most thorough and complete answer.

This content emphasizes the importance of analyzing the charts in the Atlas to gather information, especially in the current situation and figures. For sections not covered in the Atlas, such as roles, characteristics, socio-economic development solutions... students must learn and memorize from the textbook. Grasp the symbols: Students need to be familiar with general symbols related to minerals, agriculture, industry, and forestry...

Based on the question's content, whether it addresses one or multiple issues, students can determine the necessary Atlas map pages using the index at the end of the Atlas (page 31). Multiple-choice geography questions only require using one Atlas map to answer, for example: “Describe the mineral resources in our country?” For this question, using the map 'Geology-Mineral Resources' on page 8 is sufficient. Question: “Comment on the population distribution in our country?” - only one “Population” map on page 15 is needed.

The charts not only serve as references for candidates when drawing required types of charts in the exam but also provide data. Candidates only need to calculate, process, and analyze the data to immediately understand the knowledge about the current situation and trends in socio-economic development. Therefore, this section requires not memorizing textbooks but mastering the skill of using the Atlas proficiently.

Example: Pages 4, 5: Administrative map of Vietnam: Check the territory of our country, including which parts? What is the shape and scale of the territory, and how does it affect economic development? Examine the geographical latitude limit combined with the East Sea to deduce climate characteristics and the influence of climate on the economy.

For the geography multiple-choice exam that uses Atlas of Vietnamese Geography, candidates need to master the skill of reading the ATLAS. As each question allows only 1 minute and 15 seconds, if candidates are not accustomed to reading the Atlas, they may waste a lot of time and still read it incorrectly. First of all, candidates need to memorize page 3 of the Atlas (general symbols) to avoid wasting time looking it up again. It's not difficult to learn this page. Remember that the names of provinces and cities are different. The names of provinces and the 5 centrally-run cities are written in RED (or PINK) in CAPITAL LETTERS. The names of cities in provinces are written in black and in a smaller font. The names of provinces and cities are clearly distinguished on pages 4 and 5 of the Atlas.

In addition, candidates also need to remember the names of the 7 economic regions, 7 agricultural regions on pages 17 and 18 of the Atlas. Page 17 shows the regions and the names of provinces and cities (in red) in each region. The economic regions are also enlarged on pages 26, 27, 28, and 29. Each page has 2 economic regions [except for page 27 which has only 1 region, the North Central region. The index at the end of page 31 tells us the map page to look for. Candidates should pay attention to this instead of opening each page to see where it is. Open the index to find it quickly. Read the notes in the Atlas carefully.

Example: Page 3 about the Industrial Center has 4 levels of industrial production values (in pages 21, 26, 27, 28, 29, there are red circular drawings with industrial sectors) whereas on page 3, they only draw 4 concentric semicircles corresponding to 4 values: the outermost circle has an industrial production value of over 120 trillion VND, and the second largest circle is from 40 to 120 trillion VND. 75% of candidates miss the word 'trillion' and write from 40 to 120 billion VND (incorrect unit). Candidates should pay attention to the charts, cross-sections accompanying the map on the same page to grasp the data. For example: Atlas page 13. It tells us the height of Phu Luong peak. If you observe the cross-section below the left side of the map, you will see that Phu Luong mountain is 2,985m high (looking for the height on the map takes both time and is hard to see the height value).

Geography Atlas is structured into 4 parts corresponding to the 4 chapters in the Geography textbook for grade 12: Natural Geography, Population Geography, Economic Sector Geography, and Regional Economic Geography. The content of the Atlas pages is as follows:

• Page 3: Systematize the map symbols used in the Atlas

• Pages 4-5: Illustrate the territorial scope, administrative units, population, area, and centrally governed cities.

• Pages 6-14: Cover the knowledge of the Natural Geography section

• Pages 15-16: Knowledge from the Population Geography chapter

• Pages 17-25: Summarize knowledge about economic sectors. Specifically: General economy on page 17; agricultural economy on pages 18-20; industrial economy on pages 21-22; service sectors on pages 23-25

• The remaining pages cover knowledge about key economic regions.

With a clear understanding of the Atlas' structure, students can quickly and accurately find the necessary knowledge to solve simple questions and save time for more complex ones. As the average time for answering each Geography multiple-choice question is only 1.25 minutes. For example: The coastline of our country is an S-shaped curve running from the province... to...

• A. Móng Cái - Hà Tiên.
• B. Móng Cái - Cà Mau.
• C. Quảng Ninh - Cà Mau.
• D. Quảng Ninh - Kiên Giang.

Many students see the Atlas clearly from Móng Cái to Hà Tiên, so they choose option A. This is WRONG because Móng Cái, Hà Tiên are not province names. We see the red text near Móng Cái is Quảng Ninh and the red text near Hà Tiên is Kiên Giang. Therefore, the correct answer is D. Quảng Ninh - Kiên Giang.

Typically, each economic sector map contains 1 to 2 charts (bar, line, circle, etc.) alongside illustrating the increase, decrease in the total output value, or area (for agricultural-forestry sectors) of the economic sectors. Students need to know how to exploit charts in related questions to avoid memorizing many figures in the theoretical part. Questions in the Atlas are often straightforward and can be point-recovering questions, so it's advisable to tackle Atlas-based questions first and simultaneously to avoid opening and closing the Atlas multiple times, saving time.

To exploit the Atlas while answering questions, we can follow these 5 steps:

• Step 1: Read the question carefully, determine the requirements of the question.
• Step 2: Identify the page and some relevant pages needed to address the question.
• Step 3: Determine the type of map skills to be used (skills of recognition, reading the names of geographical objects, skills of determining location, or skills of determining spatial relationships, spatial non-relationships, etc.).
• Step 4: Identify and exploit the information symbols from the Atlas. Note to maximize the exploitation of related content shown on that page, including the main content and additional content such as charts, tables, surrounding images.
• Step 5: Synthesize the information extracted from the map, combine the learned knowledge to present scientifically and accurately in the exam.

The specific relationships refer to the connections between natural factors, each interrelation, cause-and-effect relationship among natural factors - economic factors, population - economy, economy - economy, nature - population, etc. Candidates should also pay attention and equip themselves with skills in calculation, measurement, comparison, and geographical location determination to solve exercises at the application and high application levels.

In many cases, candidates have to overlap multiple pages of Atlas maps to present information about a specific geographical territory. For example, a question relies on the geographical Atlas to write a short report evaluating the natural conditions for the economic development of a region or province. To answer this question, students need to use pages from administrative, physical, geological and mineral, climate, soil, plants and animals, natural geographical regions...