how hard is a level history?

hi I’m going into year 12 and took history as an a level since I didn’t get into chem. Is it very hard to get an A or A*? And is it a good idea to start doing past papers and making notes in year 12 or should I leave the papers til year 13? Thanks!

Reply 1

fedora34

10

I mean, define "hard". Like any subject, it depends what kind of brain you've got. Some people will find maths easy straight out of the gate, some find it really slow to understand. Same with history. It's intellectually demanding and has various technical concepts to get your head around. You will need to be good at constructing well-evidenced and logical arguments, and develop a clear and precise writing style. But the A-Level course is designed to teach you all of these things.

There's no point doing past papers until your teacher recommends it. You need to get to grips with both the content of the course and the exam technique before you start practicing.

But making notes as you go along is a good idea and will help with revision near exam time.

(edited 8 months ago)

Reply 2

ivy345

OP

5

Original post by fedora34

I mean, define "hard". Like any subject, it depends what kind of brain you've got. Some people will find maths easy straight out of the gate, some find it really slow to understand. Same with history. It's intellectually demanding and has various technical concepts to get your head around. You will need to be good at constructing well-evidenced and logical arguments, and develop a clear and precise writing style. But the A-Level course is designed to teach you all of these things.

There's no point doing past papers until your teacher recommends it. You need to get to grips with both the content of the course and the exam technique before you start practicing.

But making notes as you go along is a good idea and will help with revision near exam time.

Ok thanks!!

Reply 3

Catherine_S

4

hi I think it's much easier if writing essays comes naturally to you and if you are interested in what you are learning because there is A LOT of content to memorise and learn. for this reason, I would recommend making notes as you go along as the amount of work really builds up otherwise. however I found that you can do okay if you have a good essay style but don't know many facts. I did history in year 12 but dropped out because it was too time consuming to do with 3 other a levels, but if you put the work in then I think you can get an A*

Reply 4

Pandasarecute65

15

Original post by ivy345

hi I’m going into year 12 and took history as an a level since I didn’t get into chem. Is it very hard to get an A or A*? And is it a good idea to start doing past papers and making notes in year 12 or should I leave the papers til year 13? Thanks!

Hi, Its just as hard as any other a level to get an A/A* in my opinion. Its definitely a good idea to make notes in yr 12 (trust me from experience) and the best way to do it is to add to your notes after every lesson or the end of the week. If you find writing difficult, you should focus on structure, but if you struggle with memorising information, focus on that.
The difficulty for me was remembering really specific facts and hardest part about history is that you learn a lot of content only to be tested on a few specific things, so you cant leave anything out.
In saying that, you have a few questions to pick from for some sections, so if you don't know one question, you can answer the other in some cases. History's also a really interesting subject, so don't let the amount of content put you off.
Also, instead of papers I recommend turning every topic into a question and planning as many questions out as possible, keeping the plans together to look over near exam time. Practice writing out whole essays too and get them marked by your teacher, but exam plans are the way to go, but remember to do whatever suits you.
I hope this helps :smile:

how hard is a level history?

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