At a glance
PaperPaper ISubjectGeographyImportanceHigh
Book DigestGeographyNCERTWorld GeographyClimatic RegionsPhysical Features
CAPF tests world geography largely as static facts (continents, oceans, ranges, rivers, deserts, straits) and climatic regions (the natural regions defined by latitude and rainfall). This digest consolidates the recall set; for the regional treatment see gc leong world geography digest.
- Seven continents by size: Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, Australia. Asia is the largest and most populous.
- Five oceans by size: Pacific (largest and deepest), Atlantic (S-shaped), Indian (the only ocean named after a country), Southern (Antarctic), Arctic (smallest).
- The equator, the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, and the Arctic and Antarctic circles are the key latitudes; the Prime Meridian (Greenwich) and the International Date Line (roughly along the 180-degree meridian) frame longitude and time.
- Mountains: the Himalayas (highest, Asia; Mount Everest the highest peak on Earth), the Andes (longest continental range, South America; Aconcagua the highest peak outside Asia), the Rockies (North America), the Alps (Europe), the Atlas (Africa), the Great Dividing Range (Australia), and the Ural (the conventional Europe-Asia divide).
- Rivers: the Nile (long the cited longest, Africa) and the Amazon (the largest by discharge, South America) are the two giants; others are the Mississippi-Missouri, the Yangtze and Yellow (China), the Congo, the Danube and the Volga (Europe's longest).
- Deserts: the Sahara (largest hot desert, Africa), the Arabian, the Gobi (Asia), the Kalahari and Namib (Africa), the Atacama (driest, Chile) and the Australian deserts; Antarctica is the largest cold desert.
- Plateaus and plains: the Tibetan Plateau ("roof of the world"), the East African plateau, and the great grasslands (Prairies of North America, Pampas of South America, Steppes of Eurasia, Velds of South Africa, Downs of Australia).
These belts recur every year in CAPF; fix the latitude, the rainfall regime and the typical vegetation.
| Region |
Location (latitude) |
Climate and vegetation |
| Equatorial (rainforest) |
0 to 10° |
Hot, wet all year; dense tropical rainforest (Amazon, Congo, Indonesia). |
| Savanna (Sudan type) |
5 to 20° |
Wet and dry seasons; tall tropical grassland with scattered trees (East Africa). |
| Hot desert |
15 to 30°, west coasts |
Very hot, very dry; xerophytes (Sahara, Arabian). |
| Mediterranean |
30 to 45°, west coasts |
Hot dry summer, mild wet winter (westerlies); orchards, vines, citrus (Mediterranean basin, California, central Chile, Cape Town, SW Australia). |
| China type (humid subtropical) |
25 to 40°, east coasts |
Warm wet summer, cooler winter; monsoon and frontal rain (SE China, SE USA, SE Brazil). |
| Cool temperate western margin (British type) |
45 to 60°, west coasts |
Mild, wet all year (westerlies); deciduous forest (NW Europe). |
| Steppe (temperate grassland) |
continental interiors, 40 to 55° |
Hot summer, cold winter, moderate rain; short grass (Prairies, Pampas, Steppes). |
| Taiga (coniferous, boreal) |
50 to 70° |
Long cold winter; coniferous forest (Canada, Siberia). |
| Tundra |
beyond the Arctic Circle |
Very cold; mosses, lichens, permafrost. |
The key generalisation: in the temperate belt, west coasts are wet (onshore westerlies) and continental interiors are dry, while monsoon and east-coast climates get summer rain.
- Straits and chokepoints: the Strait of Hormuz (Persian Gulf oil), the Strait of Malacca (Indian Ocean to the Pacific, vital for trade), Bab-el-Mandeb (Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden), the Suez and Panama canals, and the Bosporus/Dardanelles. These connect directly to maritime security and energy routes.
- The Indian Ocean Region (IOR): India's strategic neighbourhood, with the Andaman and Nicobar command guarding the eastern approaches and the choke point at Malacca; see straits chokepoints and strategic waterways.
- Time and date: the International Date Line and the spread of time zones (India is UTC+5:30, a single zone) are recurring objective points.
- Largest/longest features (Pacific, Sahara, Nile/Amazon, Andes). Continent-to-range and continent-to-grassland matches.
- Climatic region to location (Mediterranean on west coasts in the 30 to 45 belt; equatorial at the equator).
- Strait to the seas it connects (Hormuz, Malacca, Bab-el-Mandeb) and the canals (Suez, Panama).
- The Mediterranean type of climate is typically found on the: (a) east coasts in the tropics (b) west coasts in the 30 to 45 degree belt (c) continental interiors (d) polar regions. Answer: (b) west coasts in the 30 to 45 degree belt. Authored practice, not a verbatim PYQ.
- The Strait of Malacca connects which two water bodies? (Answer: the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, via the Andaman Sea and the South China Sea.) Authored practice, not a verbatim PYQ.