Open your geography notes and the case studies stare back like a phone book: storms, earthquakes, floods, cities, each a slab of names and numbers. You don't need to swallow all of it. Examiners want a real place, a few specific facts, and the ability to use them.
Why case studies feel impossible (and why they're not)
They feel huge because you store them as paragraphs: a terrible format for recall under pressure. Strip each one to a shape you can hold, then practise pulling it back. Figures vary by board, so confirm which named examples your spec expects first.
The method: place, four facts, one hook
For each case study: the place (+ higher/lower-income context), four facts examiners reward (a date, a scale figure, one named effect, one named response), and a single hook. Four facts, not fourteen.
Case study one: a tropical storm
Typhoon Haiyan, Philippines, November 2013. Anchor it to the storm surge ("high tide on a wall of water"), and the winds, the coastal city and the response come back with it.
Case study two: an earthquake
Earthquakes reward comparison: wealth shapes impact and response. Split primary vs secondary effects, immediate vs long-term response. Hook: "primary shakes, secondary spreads."
Case study three: a UK example
Most specs want a UK case study. A river flood works: named area, year, causes, effects, management. Hook: "too much water, nowhere to go."
Your GCSE geography case studies revision plan for the weekend
Sat: confirm your board's named case studies, build the place+4facts+hook card for three. Sat evening: cover and rebuild from blank. Sun: rebuild from scratch, out loud, in random order. That's active recall. GCSE Boss maps questions to your exact spec, so you drill the right three rather than hedging across six. You've got a weekend. That's plenty.