This was a very popular question among the candidates. However, performance was just fair as some of the candidates could not outline the favourable conditions for the development of settlements.  The expected points included:

-               adequate water supply;
-               fertile soil;
-               land for building;
-               good communication network;
-               defence;
-               favourable climate;
-               presence of minerals;
-               government policy;
-               economic activities;
-               absence of disaster.

Some candidates were not able to highlight the differences between urban and rural settlements.

The expected answers included:

-               population is scanty in rural settlements while it is dense in urban settlements;
-               people in rural settlements are engaged in primary economic activities while those in urban settlements are engaged mostly in secondary and tertiary economic activities;
-               people in rural settlements are mainly homogeneous while people in urban settlement are heterogeneous;
-               there are few social amenities in rural settlements while there are many social amenities in urban settlement;
-               houses in rural settlements are dispersed while those in urban settlements are nucleated.