Geography · Unit 5

Mountains and Landforms

How the land is shaped

Land looks permanent on a human timescale and is not. Mountains are being pushed up and worn down at the same time, and their height is the current balance between the two.

The unit covers the ways ranges form - collision, volcanic activity, faulting - the processes that wear them back down, the valleys and plains that result, and the specific ranges worth knowing by name.

This unit breaks down into 20 short steps and 120 questions, starting at difficulty 1 and building to 3. Below you can see exactly what it covers, how the path is structured, and worked examples with explanations.

Steps: 20
Questions: 120
Difficulty: 1-3

What this unit covers

Mountains
Shaping the Land
How Mountains Form
Valleys and Plains
Famous Ranges and Peaks

Where this fits

Best after Volcanoes and Earthquakes, which explains the tectonic engine behind most mountain building.

Where people slip

Fold, block and volcanic mountains form by entirely different mechanisms. Identifying which one produced a range is usually the real question behind a mountain formation problem.

How the unit is structured

Mountains and Landforms runs as 20 short steps that unlock in order. 15 are practice rounds and 5 are challenge rounds that pull together everything before them. Questions start at difficulty 1 and climb to 3 as you progress.

Step 1 · easierStep 20 · harder

Challenge rounds

Example questions

30 real questions from this unit, with the answer and the reason behind it, grouped by what they practise. There are 120 in the unit altogether.

Famous Ranges and Peaks

Multiple choiceLevel 1
1. Mount Everest is part of which mountain range?
- The Himalayascorrect
- The Andes
- The Alps
- The Rockies
Mount Everest rises in the Himalayas, the range along the northern edge of the Indian subcontinent.
Fill the blankLevel 2
2. Climbers speak of the 'Seven Summits' - a challenge to climb the highest mountain on each ____.
- continentcorrect
- country
- island
- ocean
The Seven Summits are the highest peaks of the seven continents, from Everest in Asia to Vinson in Antarctica.
Guess the numberLevel 2
3. About how many metres high is Mount Everest, the world's highest mountain?
Answer: 8849 metres
Mount Everest reaches about 8,849 metres above sea level, making it the highest mountain on Earth.
Match the pairsLevel 2
4. Match each peak to the continent where it is the highest mountain.
Answer: Mount Everest = Asia; Kilimanjaro = Africa; Denali = North America; Aconcagua = South America
Everest is the highest in Asia, Kilimanjaro in Africa, Denali in North America and Aconcagua in South America.
Odd one outLevel 2
5. Three of these are mountain ranges. Which is the odd one out?
- Mount Fujicorrect
- The Andes
- The Rocky Mountains
- The Pyrenees
Mount Fuji is a single volcanic peak in Japan, not a range; the Andes, Rockies and Pyrenees are all ranges.
Picture questionLevel 2
6. 🏔️ This pyramid-shaped peak near Zermatt rises on the border between Switzerland and Italy. Which mountain is it?
- The Matterhorncorrect
- Ben Nevis
- Mount Etna
- Table Mountain
The Matterhorn (4,478 m) is a striking pyramidal peak on the Swiss-Italian border.

How Mountains Form

Fact or fibLevel 1
7. Mountains form quickly, in just a few years.
Answer: False
Mountains form extremely slowly, usually rising over millions of years as the Earth's plates move.
Build the sentenceLevel 2
8. Build the sentence explaining how block mountains form.
Answer: Block mountains form along cracks called faults
Block, or fault-block, mountains form when huge blocks of land are pushed up or dropped down along cracks in the crust called faults.
Choose all that applyLevel 2
9. Which of these are the three main types of mountain?
- Foldcorrect
- Volcaniccorrect
- Blockcorrect
- Coastal
The three main types of mountain are fold, volcanic and block (fault-block) mountains.
Fill the blankLevel 3
10. The Andes rose as the oceanic Nazca plate ____ beneath the South American plate.
- subductedcorrect
- expanded
- melted away
- drifted apart
At a subduction zone the denser oceanic Nazca plate is forced down beneath South America, uplifting and adding volcanoes to the Andes.
Guess the numberLevel 3
11. About how many million years ago did the Himalayas begin to form, when India collided with Asia?
Answer: 50 million years
The Indian plate crashed into Eurasia around 50 million years ago, and the collision is still building the Himalayas today.
Match the pairsLevel 3
12. Match each type of mountain to a well-known example.
Answer: Fold mountains = The Alps; Fault-block mountains = The Sierra Nevada; Volcanic mountain = Mount Fuji; Dome mountains = The Black Hills
The Alps are folded, the Sierra Nevada is faulted and tilted, Mount Fuji is built by eruptions, and the Black Hills are an uplifted dome.

Mountains

Fact or fibLevel 1
13. A hill is usually taller than a mountain.
Answer: False
It is the other way around: a mountain is higher and steeper, while a hill is lower and more gentle.
Fill the blankLevel 1
14. A line or group of mountains found together is called a mountain ____.
- rangecorrect
- river
- plain
- cave
A group of mountains joined together in a line or cluster is called a mountain range.
Guess the numberLevel 1
15. Land is usually called a mountain when it rises higher than about how many metres above the land around it?
Answer: 600 metres
A common rule is that a mountain is land rising more than about 600 metres above its surroundings; lower raised land is called a hill.
Multiple choiceLevel 1
16. What do we call the very top of a mountain?
- The summitcorrect
- The base
- The slope
- The valley
The highest point of a mountain is called the summit or peak.
Odd one outLevel 1
17. Which of these is NOT a part of a mountain?
- Harbourcorrect
- Summit
- Slope
- Ridge
A summit, slope and ridge are all parts of a mountain, but a harbour is a place on the coast where boats shelter.
Picture questionLevel 1
18. 🏔️ The pointed, snowy top of this mountain is called the...?
- Summitcorrect
- Plain
- Coast
- Delta
The highest, often pointed, part of a mountain is its summit or peak.

Shaping the Land

Fact or fibLevel 2
19. Over millions of years, tall mountains are slowly worn down and made lower.
Answer: True
Weathering and erosion slowly wear mountains down, so very old ranges are usually lower and more rounded than young ones.
Fill the blankLevel 2
20. In freeze-thaw weathering, water in a crack ____ and expands, slowly breaking the rock apart.
- freezescorrect
- boils
- vanishes
- floats
When water in a crack freezes it expands, prising the rock apart little by little in freeze-thaw weathering.
Multiple choiceLevel 2
21. What does 'weathering' mean?
- Rock being broken down where it is by weather and other forcescorrect
- Rock being carried far away by a river
- New mountains being pushed up
- The forecast for tomorrow's weather
Weathering is the breaking down of rock where it lies, caused by the weather and other forces, without the pieces being carried away.
Odd one outLevel 2
22. Which of these does NOT help wear a mountain down?
- Plate collisioncorrect
- Freeze-thaw weathering
- Glacial erosion
- River erosion
Freeze-thaw, glaciers and rivers all wear mountains down, but plate collision builds mountains up.
Choose all that applyLevel 3
23. Which of these processes help wear mountains down over time? Select all that apply.
- Freeze-thaw weatheringcorrect
- Glacial erosioncorrect
- Fast-flowing riverscorrect
- A volcanic eruption
Freeze-thaw weathering, glacial erosion and running water all break down and remove rock; a volcanic eruption instead adds new rock.
Put in orderLevel 3
24. Put the stages of a mountain being worn down in order.
Answer: The mountain is uplifted -> Weathering breaks the rock into pieces -> Erosion carries the material away -> The mountain becomes lower and more rounded
A mountain is uplifted, weathering breaks the rock apart, erosion carries the pieces away, and the mountain becomes lower and rounder.

Valleys and Plains

Multiple choiceLevel 1
25. A valley cut by a river is usually what shape?
- V-shapedcorrect
- U-shaped
- Square
- Round
Rivers cut narrow, steep-sided valleys shaped like the letter V.
Odd one outLevel 1
26. Three of these are flat, grassy lowlands. Which is the odd one out?
- Mountaincorrect
- Plain
- Meadow
- Prairie
A plain, meadow and prairie are all flat, low grassy lands, but a mountain is high, steep land.
Spell itLevel 1
27. Spell the word for a raised area of land that is lower and gentler than a mountain.
Answer: hill
A hill is a raised area of land that is smaller and less steep than a mountain.
Fill the blankLevel 2
28. A large area of high, flat land with steep sides is called a ____.
- plateaucorrect
- peak
- cave
- cliff
A plateau is a wide area of raised, fairly flat land that stands above the land around it.
Match the pairsLevel 2
29. Match each landform to its description.
Answer: V-shaped valley = Carved by a river; U-shaped valley = Carved by a glacier; Plateau = Flat, raised land; Plain = Flat, low land
V-shaped valleys are cut by rivers and U-shaped valleys by glaciers, while a plateau is flat raised land and a plain is flat low land.
Sort into groupsLevel 3
30. Sort each feature into upland or lowland landscapes.
Answer: Steep slopes = Upland; Thin, stony soils = Upland; High rainfall and snow = Upland; Wide floodplains = Lowland; Gentle, rolling relief = Lowland; Rich farmland = Lowland
Uplands have steep slopes, thin soils and high rainfall; lowlands have gentle relief, wide floodplains and better farmland.

Where these questions come from. Each unit starts as a plan of the concepts it should cover and the difficulty it should span. Questions are written against that plan with AI assistance, then checked by a validator that rejects anything without a single defensible answer, an explanation, or plausible wrong options. How we write questions sets out the whole process, and corrections are fixed in the bank and reach the site and the app the same day.

How you practise

This unit mixes 17 different question formats, so you are recalling and applying rather than recognising the same layout every time.

Build the sentence
Choose all that apply
Fact or fib
Fill the blank
Guess the number
Listen and choose
Match the pairs
Multiple choice
Odd one out
Picture question
Put in order
Sequence recall
Sort into groups
Spell it
Tap the pairs
True or false
Type the answer

Practise Mountains and Landforms

120 questions across 20 steps. Start with step one and crawl at your own pace.

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Read about Mountains and Landforms

Explainers from our blog on what this unit covers. Each one ends with real questions from the bank.

More units in Geography

See all 18 units in Geography →