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Junior Cycle · Junior Cycle Geography

Junior Cycle Geography: OS map skills

How often OS map skills comes up on the Geography papers, every year it was asked, and questions to try.

CL Asked on 5 of the last 5 Common Level papers, most recently in 2026. banker

OS map skills, Common Level(7 marks)

Quick ones on OS map skills.

(a)Correct order for a six-figure grid reference on an Irish OS map?
  1. Letter, northing, easting
  2. Letter, easting, northing
  3. Easting, northing, letter
(b)A church is 4 tenths east of easting 23 and 7 tenths north of northing 51, in sub-zone R. Grid reference?
  1. R 517 234
  2. R 237 514
  3. R 234 517
(c)A four-figure grid reference such as M 32 47 identifies?
  1. One whole grid square
  2. A block of 10 squares
  3. One single building
Show the answers

(a) Letter, easting, northing

(b) R 234 517

(c) One whole grid square

Your turn: Common Level questions on OS map skills.

Common Level

Asked on 5 of the last 5 Common Level papers, most recently in 2026. banker

Every paper, year by year

YearWhere it came up
2026Q1B, Q2C, Q4A, Q7A, Q7B, Q7C
2025Q2B, Q2D, Q8A, Q9B
2024Q4A, Q4B, Q6A, Q7A, Q8B
2023Q1B, Q2C, Q8B, Q10A
2022Q3B, Q6B

Links open the State Examinations Commission’s paper for that year.

More OS map skills questions

OS map skills, 2 marks

Contour lines very close together on a map show?

  1. A gentle slope
  2. Flat land
  3. A steep slope
Show the answer

A steep slope

Close contours mean height changes a lot over a short distance, so the slope is steep. Widely spaced contours show a gentle slope; no contours means flat land.

OS map skills, 2 marks

A small dot with a height in metres beside it (e.g. 245) on an OS map is a?

  1. Contour line
  2. Spot height
  3. Triangulation pillar
Show the answer

Spot height

A spot height gives the exact height at that point. A triangulation pillar is shown by a triangle symbol, usually on a hilltop, also with its height.

OS map skills, 3 marks

A river rises at 180 m in the north-west of a map and passes 40 m in the south-east. It flows?

  1. North-west to south-east
  2. South-east to north-west
  3. South-west to north-east
Show the answer

North-west to south-east

Rivers always flow downhill. The land is higher in the north-west (180 m) and lower in the south-east (40 m), so the river flows from north-west to south-east.

Other Geography topics

All of Junior Cycle Geography