The Cambridge AS & A Level Geography (9696) May/June 2026 papers and mark schemes are out, and they’re free. All four papers, 9696/12 to 9696/42, with their inserts, can be downloaded and printed on the Tutopiya Learning Portal. Below is a breakdown of what each paper asked, which options were on offer, and how the mark scheme levelled answers, taken from the papers themselves.

Key points from the 2026 9696 papers

• Climate change ran through the human papers as well as the physical ones. Global warming in Africa (Paper 1), climate change and food security, climate change as a cause of migration (Paper 2) and climate and renewable energy in Japan (Paper 4).
• Every resource question rewarded numbers. Several part (a) data questions capped answers at 3 marks without accurate data, and others reserved a mark for it.
• Case studies had to be real places. The river flood essay, the coastline essay, the one-country agriculture essay, the degraded environment essay and the tourist resort essay all limited generic answers.
• Essays are levelled, not point-counted. Section B part (b) and (c) on Papers 1 and 2, and every part (b) and essay on Papers 3 and 4, were marked with level grids.
• No examples, low ceiling. Any essay without examples was capped at the middle of Level 2: 6 out of 15 on Papers 1 and 2, 8 out of 20 on Papers 3 and 4.

All May/June 2026 9696 papers

Paper	Code	Duration	Marks	What it tests
Paper 1 Core Physical Geography	9696/12	1 hour 30 minutes	60	Hydrology, atmosphere, rocks and weathering (AS)
Paper 2 Core Human Geography	9696/22	1 hour 30 minutes	60	Population, migration, settlement dynamics (AS)
Paper 3 Advanced Physical Geography Options	9696/32	1 hour 30 minutes	60	Two of four physical options (A Level)
Paper 4 Advanced Human Geography Options	9696/42	1 hour 30 minutes	60	Two of four human options (A Level)

Timings and marks are taken from the front cover of each 2026 paper. Every paper comes with an insert holding its figures and tables, plus the official Cambridge mark scheme. For the full syllabus content, see the Cambridge International AS & A Level Geography 9696 syllabus.

Which variant is this? Cambridge sets different versions of each paper (variants) for different time zones. The papers here are variant 2: 9696/12, /22, /32 and /42. All variants cover the same syllabus at the same difficulty, so variant 2 is just as good for practice as the one your school sat.

Download the 9696 May/June 2026 papers →

What came up in 9696 Paper 1 (Core Physical Geography), May/June 2026?

You answer four questions: all three in Section A (10 marks each) and one from Section B (30 marks). That makes 60 marks.

Question	Topic	Marks
1	Drainage basin system diagram: naming a flow and an output, two below-ground flows, why overland flow changes over time	10
2	Map of global warming impacts in Africa: describe the pattern, suggest reasons, two types of evidence for global warming	10
3	Velocity of mass movements chart: reading values, contrasting creep and solifluction, the role of water in mass movement (5 marks)	10
4 (choice)	Hydraulic action and helicoidal flow, drainage density and hydrograph shape, hard engineering against flooding (8), people versus environment in a recent river flood case study (15)	30
5 (choice)	Sensible heat transfer and albedo, urban heat island, types of precipitation (8), whether land/sea distribution is the greatest influence on seasonal temperature (15)	30
6 (choice)	Afforestation and mass movement, small-scale sediment movements, processes and landforms at divergent plate boundaries (8), rock type versus climate in weathering (15)	30

Watch for: Question 2(a) gave no credit for going region by region. You had to describe the overall pattern, such as clustering between the tropics.

What came up in 9696 Paper 2 (Core Human Geography)?

Same structure as Paper 1: three 10-mark questions in Section A, then one 30-mark question from Section B.

Question	Topic	Marks
1	Calorie consumption per capita in Oceania, Asia and Africa, 1961 to 2020: compare changes, problems of rising consumption, climate change and food security	10
2	Migrants to the USA from Central and South America: which country sends most relative to population, Mexico versus Brazil, why young adult males migrate	10
3	Photo of a declining rural settlement in Europe: evidence of decline, reasons, ways to reverse rural decline (5 marks)	10
4 (choice)	Youthful versus ageing populations (7), why death rates are falling in LICs and MICs (8), how useful the DTM is for predicting future population (15)	30
5 (choice)	Chain migration and its benefits, impacts of intra-urban migration (8), whether climate change explains rising international migration (15)	30
6 (choice)	Retailing leaving the CBD (7), causes of residential segregation (8), whether shanty town growth is caused by ineffective management (15)	30

What made it hard: Question 2(a) needed you to work out migrants as a share of population. The answer was Honduras, at about 3.3%, even though Mexico had by far the most migrants.

What came up in 9696 Paper 3 (Advanced Physical Geography Options)?

There are four options. You answer two different options. In each one you answer the compulsory data question (10 marks: a 4-mark part (a) and a 6-mark part (b)) and then one of two 20-mark essays. Two options of 30 marks each make 60.

Option	Data question (10 marks)	Essay choice (20 marks, answer one)
Tropical environments	Q1: climate graphs for Medan, Indonesia and Tidele, Senegal; reasons for the rainfall differences	Q2: how far weathering shapes tropical limestone landforms. Q3: whether human activity mainly drives plant community development in tropical ecosystems
Coastal environments	Q4: wave direction and height at Marina di Pisa, Italy; how wave direction affects marine processes	Q5: relative importance of the conditions for coral growth. Q6: whether problems of sustainably managing a coastline can be solved (case study)
Hazardous environments	Q7: factor of safety on a slope over time; two hazards from slope instability	Q8: whether lava flows are the most significant volcanic hazard. Q9: primary versus secondary impacts of atmospheric disturbances
Hot arid and semi-arid environments	Q10: photo of semi-arid vegetation in Texas; reasons for its features	Q11: whether latitude largely decides where hot arid and semi-arid areas are. Q12: erosion versus deposition in desert landforms

Watch for: the essays expected range. Question 3 wanted both rainforest and savanna, Question 9 both large-scale storms and tornadoes, and Question 11 both hot arid and semi-arid areas. Covering only one capped the answer at the top of Level 3 (15 marks).

What came up in 9696 Paper 4 (Advanced Human Geography Options)?

Paper 4 works the same way as Paper 3: two different options, the 10-mark data question in each, plus one 20-mark essay from each.

Option	Data question (10 marks)	Essay choice (20 marks, answer one)
Production, location and change	Q1: sources of change in crop production by world region, 2013 to 2022; two practices that raise crop yield	Q2: for one country, how far physical factors caused the need for agricultural change. Q3: how far government policy influences where manufacturing and related services locate
Environmental management	Q4: monthly share and sources of renewable electricity in Japan, 2022; two ways climate affects monthly renewable output	Q5: whether rising energy demand leads to more pollution. Q6: for one degraded environment, how far management overcame the problems
Global interdependence	Q7: map of primary product export dependent countries, 2021; how free trade increases trade flows	Q8: whether local communities must be involved for aid projects to succeed. Q9: for one tourist area or resort, how sustainability issues changed as it developed
Economic transition	Q10: well-being indicators for UK regions and Greater London; cumulative causation and regional divergence	Q11: how far the nature and role of the primary sector change as economies develop. Q12: how far NIC growth has influenced the globalisation of economic activity

What made it hard: focus. The mark scheme for Question 3 says services must be those linked to manufacturing, not services in general. For Question 12 it says to write about the growth of NICs, not their impacts.

How the 9696 May/June 2026 mark scheme gives marks

Reading the four 2026 mark schemes together shows one marking system. Learn it and you can see exactly where your marks go.

1. Short answers are point-marked, often with marks for development. Section A on Papers 1 and 2 gives 1 mark for a simple point and 2 for a developed one. Paper 1 Question 1(c) went further: 1 mark for a simple explanation, 2 for developed and 3 for well developed. So one point on changing land use, explained fully, can earn as much as three bare points.

2. Data is a separate requirement. Paper 1 Question 3(b) reserved 1 of its 3 marks for using figures from the chart, and 3(a)(ii) needed units on the answer. Paper 3 Question 4(a) capped answers at 3 out of 4 without data, and at 3 if you covered wave direction but not wave height (or the reverse). Paper 4 Questions 1(a), 4(a) and 10(a) all carried the same “max. 3 without data” cap.

3. The 8-mark questions use three levels. On Papers 1 and 2: Level 3 (6 to 8 marks) clearly explains with detailed knowledge, Level 2 (3 to 5) explains on a largely secure base, Level 1 (1 to 2) only describes. Paper 1 Question 5(b), on types of precipitation, capped you at 3 if you explained only one type. On Paper 2, Questions 4(b), 5(b) and 6(b) all gave a maximum of 4 with no valid examples.

4. The 15-mark essays use four levels. Take Paper 2 Question 5(c), on whether climate change explains rising international migration. Level 4 (12 to 15) “thoroughly assesses” with integrated examples. Level 3 (8 to 11) assesses but may be unbalanced. Level 2 (4 to 7) is mainly descriptive, and an answer with no examples stops at 6. The mark scheme expected you to weigh climate change against economic migration, conflict and better transport, and to notice that a lot of climate migration is internal, not international.

5. The 20-mark essays reward a sustained evaluation. On Papers 3 and 4 the levels are 16 to 20, 11 to 15, 6 to 10 and 1 to 5. What separates Level 4 from Level 3 is an “effective and sustained evaluation with a sound conclusion” rather than an answer that is only broadly evaluative with some narrative. For Paper 3 Question 8, on lava flows, that meant judging significance by frequency, scale, area affected and how well each hazard can be managed, and concluding that it depends on the type of volcano.

6. Case studies must have place detail. For Paper 4 Question 9 the mark scheme said a small, tourism-dependent country such as the Maldives can count as a tourist area, but for a larger country such as Jamaica you need one resort within it. Naming a place without attractions, groups of people or management details counts as generic, capped at 8. The same 8-mark cap applied to Paper 3 Question 6 and Paper 4 Questions 2 and 6.

7. Part (b) on Papers 3 and 4 is levelled out of 6. Level 3 is 5 to 6, Level 2 is 3 to 4 and Level 1 is 1 to 2. In Paper 3 Question 7(b), on hazards from slope instability, an answer that never mentioned risk to people or property was held to Level 2. In Paper 4 Question 1(b), clearly explaining only one farming practice could reach 4 at most.

8. Command words change what counts. In Paper 2 Question 4(a) (“compare”), answers with no comparison could not go above 4 out of 7. Where the command is “suggest”, as in Paper 3 Question 1(b), any potentially valid reason is credited, and you don’t need detailed knowledge of the two places. Read the command word before you plan.

Which papers should you sit?

• AS Level: Paper 1 and Paper 2.
• Full A Level: Papers 1, 2, 3 and 4.

On Papers 3 and 4 your school will usually have taught two options, so practise those. Read the other options’ essay titles anyway: they show how the 20-mark questions are worded.

How to use the 2026 papers as a mock

1. Keep them for last. Use older 9696 papers for topic practice and save May/June 2026 for a full timed mock close to your exam.
2. Time each part. With 1 hour 30 minutes for 60 marks, you have about a minute and a half per mark. On Paper 1 or 2, that leaves roughly 45 minutes for the Section B question.
3. Put a number in every data answer. Go back through your part (a) answers and check that each one quotes a value, with units, from the insert.
4. Level your own essays. Read the level descriptors in the mark scheme, then decide which level your answer reaches before you pick a mark. Ask: did I reach a clear conclusion?
5. Build a case-study bank. For each case-study title (river flood, coastline, one country, degraded environment, tourist resort), write five place-specific facts you could use.

More A Level Geography resources

• A Level past papers 2026: all subjects

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Frequently asked questions

Are the 9696 May/June 2026 past papers free? +

Yes. All four question papers (9696/12, 9696/22, 9696/32 and 9696/42), their inserts and the official mark schemes are free to download and print on the Tutopiya Learning Portal.

What topics came up in 9696 Paper 1 May/June 2026? +

Section A covered the drainage basin system, global warming impacts in Africa and the velocity of mass movements. In Section B you chose one 30-mark question: river flooding and a recent flood case study, atmosphere and precipitation with land and sea influence on temperature, or weathering, plate boundaries and slope processes.

What options were on 9696 Papers 3 and 4 in 2026? +

Paper 3 offered tropical, coastal, hazardous, and hot arid and semi-arid environments. Paper 4 offered production, location and change; environmental management; global interdependence; and economic transition. On each paper you answer two options: the 10-mark data question plus one 20-mark essay from each.

How are the 9696 essays marked? +

They are marked with level grids. The 20-mark essays on Papers 3 and 4 have four levels, and the top band (16 to 20) needs an effective, sustained evaluation with a sound conclusion. An essay with no examples cannot go above 8 marks.

Why can't I find 9696/11 or 9696/13 for 2026? +

Only variant 2 of the May/June 2026 papers is on the portal at the moment. Cambridge sets different variants for different time zones; variants 1 and 3 test the same syllabus in the same format, so variant 2 prepares you just as well.

When will the October/November 2026 9696 papers be available? +

Cambridge usually releases the October/November papers in the new year. We add them to the Learning Portal once they are published.

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