A level History revision advice

Hey all, I'm doing A level AQA history (Tudors and Revolution and Dictatorship to be specific) and want to ask some advice for revision tips in general.

Since extract questions and 25 markers require you to memorise a lot of evidence since it's impossible to predict what will come up, how did you approach this? And especially extract questions because they require you to analyse arguments in the sources which would not be possible to do unless you memorised a large number of evidence points so you can analyse it.

Did you simply memorise as many pieces of evidence as possible, and did you revise any analysis at all during revision, or did you do an entirely different method? I appreciate any help.

(edited 9 months ago)

Reply 1

raingao

OP

2

I'd appreciate any help!

Reply 2

raingao

OP

2

Bumping because I really want advice

Reply 3

username6164978

12

Original post by raingao

Hey all, I'm doing A level AQA history (Tudors and Revolution and Dictatorship to be specific) and want to ask some advice for revision tips in general.

Since extract questions and 25 markers require you to memorise a lot of evidence since it's impossible to predict what will come up, how did you approach this? And especially extract questions because they require you to analyse arguments in the sources which would not be possible to do unless you memorised a large number of evidence points so you can analyse it.

Did you simply memorise as many pieces of evidence as possible, and did you revise any analysis at all during revision, or did you do an entirely different method? I appreciate any help.

History a level is incredibly difficult to revise, but I’ve just finished year 13 and predicted an a*, so here are some tips…

Btw, I studied Edexcel British Experience of Warfare, Germany and West Germany (1918-89) and Liberal and Fascist Italy, but these methods can apply to anything…

1) Make flash cards on quizlet. I made flashcards on quizlet for pretty much everything in history. This was particularly useful for dates and stats BECAUSE YOU DO need to know them, despite how trivial and useless some stats may seem.

2) another major factor in my success was my brilliant teacher who pretty much drummed the most ridiculous stats into our heads using timed starter activities at the beginning of lessons. For instance, we would have 20 questions on German economy stats to answer in 10 minutes, and over time, I began to remember them. Our lessons were also very interactive and she would create memorable games for us to play to memorise information. Clearly, not everyone has a teacher like this, but even if you don’t, make yourself some quick questions that you time yourself doing before every revision session, the repetition will help.

3) blank page retrieval. This takes a long time, but blurting everything onto one page without looking and then filling in the gaps with stuff you missed helps. Maybe learn off the flashcards and write down all you can remember afterwards and then fill in the gaps.

4) reading around, and watching films/videos. If you’re taking history, there’s a high chance you are genuinely interested in it, if so, don’t just learn from the textbook. The best thing about a level, is that you can include anything relevant in the exam from your own knowledge. If you revise in the same way constantly, your memories of the evidence will blur into one, so use different revision materials to expand your knowledge. (As I mentioned earlier about how useful games in lessons were with my teacher).

5) people say do essay plans, and although this is useful for technique, and even memorising stats and evidence, you won’t get the questions you are practising in the exam, so it’s best to either create your own questions, or ask your teacher to create some for you. My teacher (the same brilliant one) used to create her own questions, write out a sample essay for us, and then set it for us to do as homework (one that she had created). Also don’t waste your time writing out essays, just plan them. If you do write them, do it in timed conditions.

Finally, although it may seem like history is too unpredictable to do well in (which is definitely what I thought) when you are forced to answer the exam questions in exam conditions, you will and YOU WILL remember stuff, however different methods of revising, and using a combination of the techniques I’ve mentioned will make everything more memorable. Also you don’t need to know everything, so just pick out the most important stats.

In my actual a level exam, the bits of evidence i remembered were not all from the textbook, but also from documentaries etc, and this is especially important when you are very stressed. Hope this helps 👍

Reply 4

username6164978

12

Also in terms of analysis, and especially the source question, I did analyse some sources to practise, and this was once again facilitated by my teacher who helped us with this in lessons. In terms of sources, go through them with a highlighter and look at the argument of each one. Idk what your source question is with AQA, but with edexcel it changed depending on the paper (most useful-warfare how far could they be used together, Italy, how convincing, Germany).

One tip my Italy teacher gave was before even looking at the sources, write down all the evidence you can about the question, and then move on to reading the source.

A level History revision advice

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