Remembering History Dates GCSE

Hey,

I'm doing GCSE history and I'm doing International Relations, Nazi's, Hitlers Rise to Power, Liberal Reforms and all that stuff.

I was wondering if anybody had any good ways in which they could remember dates? Because thats pretty much the one thing I'm rubbish at!

Thanks,

:smile:

Reply 1

Louise_x

12

I don't know about your course specifically, but I didn't remember any specific dates. Just new when abouts things happen - century wise I mean. And I go an A*. Don't stress too much over it, just generalise. And the best way to remember them is to keep revising - eventually they'll stick ^_^.

Reply 2

Gibberish

OP

2

Thanks

I'm predicted an A* and got an A* in my mock however it was split into two parts and one paper is very knowledge based (I got a B) and the other is just sources and very little knowledge (Only lost two marks in total) so my knowledge bought me down :s-smilie:

Reply 3

Kalliope

17

My History teacher suggested writing all the relevant dates on slips of paper and then pulling them out of a hat and trying to match them to the event, repeating them till you can do it faultlessly and then doing it the other way round and repeating etc.

I try and just read it through then write them out or do flow charts or flash cards or whatever works. Mainly it just the main ones you really need to know, or more importantly how they all fit together. For me, this is especially important as I'm doing two exams (IR and In depth study of Germany) for which a large part is the same time frame, so I need to see how they fit together.

Or try and remember funny patterns (like the whole March/September Hitler thing) or fit them in with other dates you know... like most of the main dates in my course are linked to somebody or others b-day, and then I can find a link from that person to the event etc. I know someone who got a friend to change her locker combo code every 2 days to a different historical date (they told her what the event was) - and she couldn't open her locker till she remembered!! Weird, but helpful maybe? Hope that randomness helps a little!

Reply 4

Kalliope

17

Oh, and are you year 11? Cos I'm on the new spec (like without sources for example) so things might be different!

Reply 5

Gibberish

OP

2

^^ Thanks those are some really good ideas :biggrin:

!

Reply 6

Prince Rhyus

15

As a historian by heart, I've always found the best way to "remember" dates is to remember the key component of the word "History" - it's a story. Everyone remembers a good story (irrespective of the amount of truth in it).

The way round remembering exact dates is being approximate.
"In the early 1930s the Nazis rose to power in Germany"
or
"In the early 1920s there was a hyperinflation crisis in Germany."

As an aside, historical dates without any context are meaningless. But I don't think that would go down well with examiners...

Reply 7

Rimipie

11

oooh when i did history gcse our teacher would give us a paper with random chocolate bars on it, and we write an important date next to the chocolate bar for example

kitkat - kennedys assasination 1963

so that in the exam, we remember the chocolate bar and the date associated with it :smile:

but you use different stuff for different topics e.g

chocolates for america
body parts for vietnam
animals for russia etc etc

Reply 8

Xenopus

9

I used to write stuff like that on my arm, and then roll my sleeves up gradually during the exam. Don't get caught though!

Reply 9

z_2j96

Yeah just think of History as a story and you'll be fine. Just make sure you remember key points to the stories, then all the dates, facts and figures will be easy to remember!! :smile:

Reply 10

Gibberish

OP

2

Thanks everybody :smile:

Reply 11

tehillaj

1

stick post it notes around your house by doors and cupboards in your room and every time you open the door/cupboard/draw you have to read the post it note of the date and significant time in history e.g.1949-China becomes communist.This really helped me become familiar with the dates without studying them hope it helps you!

Reply 12

mai-san

12

Original post by Gibberish

Hey,

I'm doing GCSE history and I'm doing International Relations, Nazi's, Hitlers Rise to Power, Liberal Reforms and all that stuff.

I was wondering if anybody had any good ways in which they could remember dates? Because thats pretty much the one thing I'm rubbish at!

Thanks,

:smile:

I'm a History GCSE student,
When I'm learning things such as dates or vocab in a different language I always use Quizlet

Remembering History Dates GCSE

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