AS Experiences!

Experiences, tips and advice on AS HISTORY! I didn't do it at GCSE btw...

GREATLY APPRECIATED!

Don't know if this is much help but I did ancient history to A-level and I didn't do either history at GCSE, but it's actually been my favourite course out of all of them.
As far as I am aware they are structured in the same way so on the papers I think you get like trivia then a 10 marker, a 20 marker and a 30 marker in essay style. It sounds horrific but there are usually only certain topics that can come up for the bigger questions - and the course can usually be broken down into sections for easier revision.

Having said that, it is very much about being a clear and cogent writer - it's all very well knowing all the points for your answer but you can't just bullet it and hope for the best! You need to be able to have support to every point you make and where possible use evidence or quotes from your texts. Of which there will probably be many. There is usually lots of reading in any history course.

It all depends on the exam board though as it might be a different syllabus or paper style - especially with the Gove exam regime who knows!

Hah thank you! Our exam board is Edexcel btw

Are you doing modern history? I took Edexcel modern history at AS and did Russia in Revolution and Stalin's Russia for the first unit. The second unit was Mass Media, Popular Culture and Social Change in Britain since 1945.

Even if you do different units I think the structure of the exams is basically the same.

Yeah, the first unit is the same as the one you did and the second one is about Henry VII- Authority, nation and religion.

For the first unit exam you will have 2 questions to choose from from each topic (so 2 for Russia in Revolution and 2 for Stalin's Russia). You have to answer one 30 mark question from each topic and you have 1 hour 20 minutes to do so. One thing that you may find difficult is learning how to write essays in that time period, however not taking it at GCSE won't really disadvantage you as this exam technique will be much different than at GCSE.

The second paper will be a source based paper. You have two sections to complete; section A is a 20 mark question that requires you to only use the sources to answer the question (that means no knowledge of the specific topic is actually needed though the question will still relate to the module). There is only one question in section A, however in section B you have two 40 mark questions to choose from. With this section you not only need to use the sources but also your own knowledge to back up your judgements. It may be harder to grasp exam technique for this paper as it can be hard to analyse the sources effectively while remembering to add your own information to it all within around 45-50 minutes. The second paper also has an overall time of 1 hour 2 minutes.

I felt like I found the second paper's exam technique harder to grasp, although I actually got an A in that paper while in the other I got a C (it was just a bad paper).

If you have any more questions feel free to ask.

Is there anything you'd suggest I do before starting AS History to make my transition in September easier?

Also, how did you cope with the amount of workload? Thanks so much!

I can give you the first few topics if you'd like to do a bit of reading before the term starts.

You learn briefly about how Alexander III secured power however the main focus is on Tsar Nicholas II, who did not support political reform and believed he had a divine right to rule. This led to a lot of opposition and the result was the 1905 revolution, which was an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the tsarist government.

Those are the first few things I learnt about along with Sergei Witte's economic policy, Stolypin's agricultural reforms and the Russo-Japanese War. I can give more information on these if you'd like but you might want to research them briefly just so you get a bit of a head start.

I'd get into the right mindset and be prepared to consolidate often. It's tempting to slack off when you realise that your timetable is much emptier than you're used to but you need to use that free time effectively. Also be prepared to make mistakes or get bad grades at first- apparently an A* at GCSE is worth about an E at A-level so even those who excelled at GCSE aren't going to be fantastic at the beginning.

The workload is manageable as long as you keep on top of it. If you decide that you can't be bothered to write extra notes during the times when you're actually learning the topics it will make revision extremely difficult for you. You might get essays to complete which can be hard but try and complete them within a couple of days of getting them otherwise you'll be stressing to get them complete and they won't be as good as you want them to be.

Hi claros!
I am doing History (Edexcel) for AS level starting in September.
I just want some opnions on how ineresting the following topics are and is there anything i should watch out for in terms of the techniques of answering the questions etc.

I saw your thread yesterday and I made a reply to it, if you'd like to take a look there.

I can give you the first few topics if you'd like to do a bit of reading before the term starts.

You learn briefly about how Alexander III secured power however the main focus is on Tsar Nicholas II, who did not support political reform and believed he had a divine right to rule. This led to a lot of opposition and the result was the 1905 revolution, which was an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the tsarist government.

Those are the first few things I learnt about along with Sergei Witte's economic policy, Stolypin's agricultural reforms and the Russo-Japanese War. I can give more information on these if you'd like but you might want to research them briefly just so you get a bit of a head start.

I'd get into the right mindset and be prepared to consolidate often. It's tempting to slack off when you realise that your timetable is much emptier than you're used to but you need to use that free time effectively. Also be prepared to make mistakes or get bad grades at first- apparently an A* at GCSE is worth about an E at A-level so even those who excelled at GCSE aren't going to be fantastic at the beginning.

The workload is manageable as long as you keep on top of it. If you decide that you can't be bothered to write extra notes during the times when you're actually learning the topics it will make revision extremely difficult for you. You might get essays to complete which can be hard but try and complete them within a couple of days of getting them otherwise you'll be stressing to get them complete and they won't be as good as you want them to be.