In KS3 we are beginning to cover the topics and skills we require students to gain for GCSE History. A great way to prepare yourself ready for GCSE is to focus on a number of skills:

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• Chronological understanding – can you place key historical events in a wider historical context? Are there similarities between time periods?

• Change and continuity – can you see what has changed during a time period? Have things stayed the same? Is it a combination of both?

• Cause and consequence – what is it that sparks off a historical event? How have historical events affected people and places afterwards?

• Interpretations – what do historians think about key events? Why do you think they have this opinion?

• Evidence – what source material can help you understand the past easier? Are contemporary sources the most useful for a historian?

• Using historical vocabulary – what key words are commonly used within your topic you are studying? Can you use these key words in your answers?

• Structuring your knowledge – are you able to show in your written work how events can flow together to form the time period? Can you see what leads on to what?

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There are a number of key websites that are useful to learn more about the past:

• http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/history

• http://www.timelines.tv

• http://spartacus-educational.com

When using these websites, try to relate these to your topics that we are studying in lessons.

 

KS4

We are now using the Edexcel exam board for History, 9-1 grades. There are three exams in total which students will sit at the end of Year 11:

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• Paper 1 – worth 30%; one exam lasts 1 hour 15 minutes and it covers Crime and Punishment from 1000-present.

• Paper 2 – worth 40%; one exam lasts 1 hour 45 minutes and it covers one section on Superpower Relations and the Cold War from 1941-91 AND one section on Henry VIII and his ministers, 1509-40.

• Paper 3 – worth 30%; one exam lasts 1 hour 20 minutes and it covers Weimar and Nazi Germany, 1918-39.

• There will be resources available to purchase to aid your revision, however some have not been published yet. Keep an eye on this website below for information on textbooks and revision materials.