Geography · Unit 1

Our Planet

The Earth, continents and oceans

The starting point for the whole subject: what is where, and what the major features of the planet's surface actually are.

The unit runs through continents and oceans, then the big landform types - mountains, rivers, deserts - as an introduction rather than a full treatment. Each gets a unit of its own later, and this one exists so those units have somewhere to attach.

This unit breaks down into 21 short steps and 101 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: 21
Questions: 101
Difficulty: 1-3

What this unit covers

Continents
Oceans
Mountains
Rivers
Deserts

Where this fits

The first unit in Geography. Everything after it assumes you can picture where things are.

Where people slip

The number of continents depends on where you learned it - five, six or seven are all taught somewhere. It is a convention about how to group land, not a fact about the land.

How the unit is structured

Our Planet runs as 21 short steps that unlock in order. 15 are practice rounds and 6 are challenge rounds that pull together everything before them. Questions start at difficulty 1 and climb to 3 as you progress.

Step 1 · easierStep 21 · 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 101 in the unit altogether.

Continents

Fact or fibLevel 1
1. The spinning of the Earth on its axis is what gives us day and night.
Answer: True
As the Earth rotates once each day, the side facing the Sun has day while the other side has night.
Fill the blankLevel 1
2. The largest continent on Earth is ____.
- Asiacorrect
- Europe
- Australia
Asia is the biggest continent of all.
Guess the numberLevel 1
3. How many continents are there on Earth?
Answer: 7 continents
Earth has 7 continents, from giant Asia to icy Antarctica.
Multiple choiceLevel 1
4. How many continents are there on Earth?
- 5
- 6
- 7correct
- 8
Earth has 7 continents: Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia.
Choose all that applyLevel 2
5. Which two of these are continents?
- Africacorrect
- Europecorrect
- The Pacific
- The Nile
Africa and Europe are continents. The Pacific is an ocean and the Nile is a river.
Match the pairsLevel 3
6. Match each place to what makes it special.
Answer: Asia = Largest continent; Pacific = Largest ocean; Sahara = Largest hot desert; Everest = Tallest mountain on land
Asia is the largest continent, the Pacific is the largest ocean, the Sahara is the largest hot desert, and Everest is the tallest mountain on land.

Deserts

Fill the blankLevel 1
7. The largest hot desert in the world is the ____.
- Saharacorrect
- Gobi
- Mojave
The Sahara, in Africa, is the largest hot desert on Earth.
Multiple choiceLevel 1
8. What is the largest hot desert in the world?
- The Saharacorrect
- The Gobi
- The Mojave
- The Kalahari
The Sahara, in Africa, is the largest hot desert on Earth.
Picture questionLevel 1
9. 🏜️ What kind of place is this?
- Desertcorrect
- Forest
- Ocean
- City
This is a desert - a very dry, sandy place that gets very little rain.
Fact or fibLevel 2
10. The Atacama Desert in South America is one of the driest places on Earth.
Answer: True
Parts of the Atacama can go years without measurable rain, making it one of the driest places on the planet.
Odd one outLevel 2
11. Which of these is NOT a desert?
- Sahara
- Gobi
- Kalahari
- Amazoncorrect
The Sahara, Gobi, and Kalahari are all deserts, but the Amazon is a rainforest, not a desert.
Guess the numberLevel 3
12. The Sahara is the largest hot desert. Roughly how many million square kilometres does it cover?
Answer: 9 million square kilometres
The Sahara covers about 9 million square kilometres, close to the size of the whole United States.

Mountains

Fill the blankLevel 1
13. The tallest mountain above sea level is Mount ____.
- Everestcorrect
- Kilimanjaro
- Fuji
- Denali
Mount Everest, in the Himalayas, is the tallest mountain above sea level at about 8,849 meters.
Build the sentenceLevel 2
14. Build the sentence about the world's longest above-water mountain range.
Answer: The Andes are the longest mountain range
The Andes in South America stretch about 7,000 km, the longest mountain range on land.
Choose all that applyLevel 2
15. Pick the two true statements about mountains and rivers.
- Mount Everest is the tallest mountain on landcorrect
- The Himalayas are a mountain rangecorrect
- Rivers flow uphill toward the mountains
- All rivers are full of salt water
Mount Everest really is the tallest mountain on land, and the Himalayas are a famous mountain range.
Match the pairsLevel 2
16. Match each landform to what it means.
Answer: Mountain = Very tall land; River = Long flowing fresh water; Desert = Very dry land; Ocean = Huge body of salt water
A mountain is very tall land, a river is long flowing fresh water, a desert is very dry land, and an ocean is a huge body of salt water.
Fact or fibLevel 3
17. Measured from its base on the seafloor to its summit, Mauna Kea is taller than Mount Everest.
Answer: True
True. Most of Mauna Kea is underwater. From base to peak it is over 10,000 m, taller than Everest, which only wins when measured above sea level.
Guess the numberLevel 3
18. About how tall is Mount Everest above sea level, in metres?
Answer: 8849 metres
Everest rises about 8,849 metres above sea level, roughly the cruising height of a passenger jet.

Oceans

Guess the numberLevel 1
19. How many oceans does Earth have?
Answer: 5 oceans
There are 5 oceans: the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern, and Arctic.
Build the sentenceLevel 2
20. Build the sentence about the largest ocean.
Answer: The Pacific is the largest ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest ocean on Earth.
Fill the blankLevel 2
21. The Atlantic Ocean separates the Americas from Europe and ____.
- Africacorrect
- Asia
- Australia
- Antarctica
The Atlantic Ocean lies between the American continents on one side and Europe and Africa on the other.
Multiple choiceLevel 2
22. Which ocean is the largest and deepest?
- Atlantic Ocean
- Pacific Oceancorrect
- Indian Ocean
- Arctic Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of the five oceans.
Odd one outLevel 2
23. Three of these are among Earth's oceans. Which one is a sea, not an ocean?
- Mediterraneancorrect
- Pacific
- Atlantic
- Indian
The Mediterranean is a sea; the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian are three of the world's oceans.
Put in orderLevel 2
24. Put the oceans in order from largest to smallest.
Answer: Pacific -> Atlantic -> Indian -> Southern -> Arctic
From biggest to smallest, the oceans are Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern, and Arctic.

Rivers

Fact or fibLevel 1
25. Rivers carry fresh water, not salty water.
Answer: True
True. Rivers carry fresh water, while oceans are full of salty water.
Build the sentenceLevel 2
26. Build the sentence about where a river begins.
Answer: A river starts at its source
The place where a river starts is called its source, often high up in hills or mountains.
Choose all that applyLevel 2
27. Which statements about the Amazon River are true? Select all that apply.
- It carries more water than any other rivercorrect
- It flows through South Americacorrect
- It is located in Africa
- It empties into the Atlantic Oceancorrect
The Amazon carries the largest volume of water of any river, flows across South America, and drains into the Atlantic. Only the 'Africa' claim is false.
Fill the blankLevel 2
28. The longest river in Asia is the ____.
- Yangtzecorrect
- Ganges
- Mekong
The Yangtze is Asia's longest river at about 6,300 km, and the third longest in the world.
Match the pairsLevel 2
29. Match each river to the continent where most of it flows.
Answer: Nile = Africa; Amazon = South America; Mississippi = North America; Yangtze = Asia
The Nile flows through Africa, the Amazon through South America, the Mississippi through North America, and the Yangtze through Asia.
Guess the numberLevel 3
30. About how long is the Nile River, in kilometres?
Answer: 6650 km
The Nile runs about 6,650 km through northeast Africa. It and the Amazon are often argued over for the title of longest river.

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 18 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
Flashcard
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 Our Planet

101 questions across 21 steps. Start with step one and crawl at your own pace.

Play this unit

More units in Geography

See all 18 units in Geography →