JAMB Syllabus for Geography 2024/2025 | PDF Download

The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has published the Geography syllabus for the 2024/2025 academic session.

This strategic update is designed to assist students in their preparation for the imminent Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

Objectives of JAMB Syllabus for Geography

The JAMB syllabus for Geography aims to prepare the candidates for the Board’s examination and to test candidates’ understanding, knowledge, and acquisition of the following areas of the subject:

• Handle and interpret topographical maps, photographs, statistical data and diagrams, and basic field surveys.
• Demonstrate knowledge of man’s physical and human environment and how man lives and earns a living on earth’s surface with special reference to Nigeria and Africa.
• Exhibit an understanding of the relationship between man and his environment.
• Use geographical concepts, skills, and guidelines for problem-solving.
• Understand fieldwork techniques and study a local area in the field.

Topics Under JAMB Geography Syllabus

The topics in the JAMB syllabus for Geography are divided into four sections.

Section A: Practical Geography

Practical topics in Geography include the following:

• Maps
• Scales and Measurements
• Reading and Interpretation of Maps
• Interpretation of Statistical Data
• Elementary Survey
• Geographic Information System

Section B: Physical Geography

Topic 1: The Earth as a Planet

• The earth’s rotation and revolution in the solar system.
•  The earth’s size and shape.
•  Longitudes and time, as well as latitudes and distances.

Topic 2: Earth’s Crust

• The earth’s structure (internal and external); Relationships among the four spheres.
• Rocks: Types, characteristics, modes of formation, and uses.
• Earth’s movement: Tectonic forces.
• Major Landforms: Mountains, Plateau, Plains, Coastal landforms, karst topography and desert landform.

Topic 3: Volcanoes and Earthquakes

• Landforms connected to volcanic activities.
• Forms of Igneous Rocks.
• Types of volcanoes and their origin.
• Volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.

Topic 4: Denudation in the Tropic

• Weathering
• Erosion
• Mass movement
• Deposition

Topic 5: Water Bodies

• Oceans and seas
• Ocean currents
• Lakes
• Rivers

Topic 6: Climate and Weather

• Concept of Climate and Weather.
• Elements of Climate and Weather.
• Factors controlling Climate and Weather.
• Classification of climate.
• Koppen climate types, characteristics, and distribution.
• Measuring and recording weather and climate.
• Parameters and instruments used to measure climate and weather.
• Science of climate change.

Topic 7: Vegetation

• Plant growth-controlling factors.
• The idea of vegetation, e.g., plant communities and succession.
• Major vegetation types, their traits, and their distribution.
• The effects of human activity on vegetation.

Topic 8: Soils

• Definition and properties
•  Factors and Formation processes
•  Soil profiles
•  Major tropical types, their characteristics, distribution, and uses
•  The effects of human activity on soils

Topic 9: Environmental Resources

• Types of environmental resources (atmospheric, land, soil, vegetation, and minerals)
• The notion of renewable and non-renewable resources

Topic 10: Environmental Interaction

• Land ecosystem
• Human interaction and environmental balance

Topic 11: Environmental Hazards

• Natural environmental hazards
• Man-induced environmental hazards
• Hazard effects, mitigation, and control

Topic 12: Environmental Conservation

Section C: Human Geography

Topic 1: Population

• The world’s population, with a focus on the Amazon Basin, the Northeastern United States, India, Japan, and the West Coast of Southern Africa.
• Characteristics – birth and death rates, average age, and gender distribution.
• Factors affecting population distribution patterns;
• Factors affecting population growth issues.

Topic 2: Settlement with a focus on the USA, the Middle East, and West Africa

• Dispersed, nucleated, and linear rural and urban types and patterns.
• Rural settlement classification, growth factors, and functions.
• Urban settlement classification, growth factors, and functions.
• Urban center problems.
• The interaction of rural and urban settlements.

Topic 3: Economic Activities

• The different types of economic activity: are primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary.
•  Agriculture: types, systems, causes, and issues.
•  Manufacturing Industries, their varieties, geographic considerations, distribution, socioeconomic significance, and challenges of industrialization in tropical Africa.
•  Types of transportation and communication and their functions in tropical Africa’s economic development and communication.
•  World trade: factors and patterns, key commodities (origin, routes, and destinations).
•  Tourism: definition, significance, geographical location, issues, and remedies.

Section D: Regional Geography

Topic 1: Large Outline of Nigeria

• Location, position, size, political division(states), and people.
• Physical environments: geology, relief, geographical feature, climate and drainage, vegetation, and soils.
• Population: size, distribution, and migration (types, challenges, and outcomes)
• Natural resources: types (such as minerals, soils, water, and vegetation), dispersion, usage, and preservation.

Topic 2: Human and Economic Geography

• Agricultural Systems –the main crops produced, challenges with Nigerian agricultural development.
• Manufacturing industries – geographical factors, product types, marketing issues, and manufacturing-related issues.
•  Transportation and Communications – transport options and relations between communication and their relative advantages and disadvantages.
• Trade – International and Regional; advantages and drawbacks of trade.
• Tourism – kinds, and significance; challenges and solutions.

Topic 3: ECOWAS

• Objectives and significance
•  Member states
•  Benefits and advantages
•  Drawbacks, issues, and solutions

PDF Download of JAMB Syllabus For Geography 2024/2025

You can now download the JAMB Geography syllabus as you prepare for your exams.

Conclusion

The Geography syllabus issued by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) serves as an essential guide for candidates, delineating the key topics to concentrate on in preparation for the forthcoming JAMB examinations.

It is noteworthy that a significant portion of the examination questions, approximately 99%, will be drawn from the material covered in the syllabus.

Students are strongly encouraged to anchor their study efforts on the fundamental topics outlined within the JAMB Syllabus to ensure thorough preparation.