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OCR A-level History Unit 2: Y201-Y224 or Y233-Y254 - 20 May or 12 June 2019

Hello and welcome to the OCR History AS and A Level Exam Threads

:party:

See here for unit 1, and here for unit 3.

Dates
AS: Monday 20th May (Afternoon)
A Level: Wednesday 12th June (Afternoon)

Specification Link:
https://www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/as-and-a-level/history-a-h105-h505-from-2015/

TSR History Study Resources:
How to write a Killer History Essay
TSR History Study Discussion Thread
TSR Revision Hub
Over 35 000 History Study Resources

Topics

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The Rise of Islam 550–750

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Charlemagne 768–814

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The Crusades and the Crusader States 1095–1192

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Genghis Khan and the Explosion from the Steppes 1167–1405

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Exploration, Encounters and Empire 1445–1570

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Spain 1469–1556

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The German Reformation and the rule of Charles V 1500–1559

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Philip II 1556–1598

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African Kingdoms 1400–1800

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Russia 1645–1741

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The Rise and Decline of the Mughal Empire in India 1526–1739

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The American Revolution 1740–1796

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The French Revolution and the rule of Napoleon 1774–1815

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France 1814–1870

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Italy and Unification 1789–1896

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The USA in the 19th Century: Westward expansion and Civil War 1803–1890

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Japan 1853–1937

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International Relations 1890–1941

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Russia 1894–1941

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Italy 1896–1943

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Democracy and Dictatorships in Germany 1919–1963

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The Cold War in Asia 1945–1993

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The Cold War in Europe 1941–1995

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Apartheid and Reconciliation: South African Politics 1948–1999

This thread can be used for both AS and A Level exams. The biggest difference is in the exam layout and amount of questions.

I did Cold War in Asia for A Level two years ago, feel free to ask me anything.

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 1

04MR17

Volunteer Section Leader

Revision Tips

thehistoryboreExams are coming up, and I don't know about you but that gives me heart palpitations; but if you're not bricking it, you're not prepared enough! I've seen a handful of exam seasons in my time and I've tried and tested a few methods of revising for History exams. So let me share what's worked for me.

METHOD A; REVISIONCEPTION

Think of the film Inception; it's a dream within a dream within a dream etc. Think of this method as notes within notes within notes etc. Here's how you do it;

- Use textbooks to compile a complete revision guide. You shouldn't simply copy out texts; engage your brain and treat it as a comprehension task and make clear notes, you'll get more out of it that way! Divide the book into chapters based on the topic that they focus on. The notes should be fairly detailed.
- Then, write a more condensed version of these notes based along the same technique; effectively, cut out words to leave the bare information.
- Repeat until you have two or three pages worth of notes for your whole course/module. You can read them the morning of the exam and it should all come flowing back to you. It did for me!

METHOD B; THE READER

You definitely have to be a 'visual learner' for this, so it may not work for all of you. Nevertheless, you should all aim to read at least one book outside your textbook, particularly for A-Level. It'll help develop your understanding of topics enormously.

Effectively; find a book that covers most of your course (there's literally millions of history books out there covering all sorts of things, so there's no excuses saying that there's no book for your course). Then close read it - no skimming. Simple and effective.

If you're doing a degree, you obviously need to read more than one book!

METHOD C; MIND MAPPING

Not something I do extensively, but it helps an awful lot of people and thus is more than worthy of mention.

Make beautiful and colourful mind maps (the more simple they are the better; don't make a wall of text. Each end of a brand should have no more than five or six words on them) on each topic and pin them up directly above your bed; make them the first thing you see in the morning, and the last thing you see in the evening. Revision owns you now. Don't forget it.

METHOD D; INTERACTIVE REVISION

Ever heard of Prezi? No? Well you should do. It's like a more exciting version of PowerPoint, and the more exciting something is the better you will remember it.

Make yourself presentations on topics and then flick through them! It's a quick and simple way to make them.

A friend of mine was a bit of a wizard when it came to video production; he used to make these excellent revision videos (which he gave to my school, rather than making them open source on YouTube, so unfortunately I cannot share them). So if that's your thing, get creative!

undercxver
Condensing Content/Speeding up revision:

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Summarise the content of each module on one sheet of paper and memorise this

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Condense events into 3 bullet points (linking with the point above)

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Make a list of significant events and their dates and highlight each one you manage to remember

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Do every single past paper question

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Plan your essays with bullet points within a minute

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Time yourself when doing essays

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Practice writing really fast

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If you're struggling with content then go through a revision book.

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If teachers tell you some sort of prediction I suggest you don't go by it and revise everything!

Source Questions:

You need to consider the following things:

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Purpose: What's the purpose of the source? (e.g. to inform, to describe etc.)

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Author: Who's the author of the source? Does this make them biased in any way?

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Nature: What type of source is it? (e.g. book, report, article etc.)

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Date: When was it published? Does the date have any significance? Is it outdated?

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Audience: Who was the audience? How did it impact them? [this one isn't neccessary]

General questions to ask yourself:

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How useful is the source?

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Did the author/writer omit anything?

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Is there any bias? -Why is there bias? How is it neutral?

Reply 2

04MR17

Volunteer Section Leader

Click here to tell us what topic you're doing, and see the list here for who else is doing your topic.

Reply 3

declanmanlowis1

hello Christopher, i am happy to say that i have found your children

Reply 4

04MR17

Volunteer Section Leader

Original post by declanmanlowis1

hello Christopher, i am happy to say that i have found your children

Oh thank goodness, I was beginning to get worried. Where did you find them? I last saw them in Aberystwyth.

Reply 5

anonoymous1234

anyone doing the American revolution?

Reply 6

candygal12

I did it :]

Original post by anonoymous1234

anyone doing the American revolution?

Reply 7

Creasykiwi

How did you find it

Original post by candygal12

I did it :]

Reply 8

anonoymous1234

How did you find it?!
I thought it was a decent paper - I did the first question - (the 10 marker on the second question was nice but there was no way I was doing the 20 marker on the second question lol)

Original post by candygal12

I did it :]

Original post by Creasykiwi

How did you find it

Reply 9

Creasykiwi

I went blank for the the first question so i did the second, it was alright I’d assumed something about the 1796 election would come up so I’d done a bit more revision on it. Split the 20 marker into party divisions, Hamilton being unable to run and being Washington’s preferred successor, then it being the first election of its kind so it was alright the 10 marker was good

Original post by anonoymous1234