Help from people doing History GCSE!!

Hi. So I do both History and Geography with Edexcel. I would say that it is definitely quite a lot of content. I have only studied Medicine Through Time and Weimar & Nazi Germany. However I still have King John & King Richard, Mao's China & the American West left! In my exam board, we also have to analyse and make inferences of sources related to a specific time period. History is definitely about memorising key dates and any key themes within an era. It is a lot of writing but it is an essay based subject after all!

On the other hand, GCSE Geography is also a lot of work but some things may link with another topic. For example the methods of transportation are found in both the rivers and coasts topic.

Overall, I enjoy both subjects and even though there's a lot to remember it is definitely manageable!

If you think you’ll like history as a broad term and you’re interested in learning about history, then you’ll be able to handle the workload, which is not too bad at GCSE

If you like history and think it appeals then it’s fine. I did it last year and it was fine. What topics are you doing?

I did “conflict at home and abroad in the US” is that what you mean about civil rights?

I did all of this but we didn’t focus it on the points

Thank you so much! Would you say there is a lot of map reading and compass stuff, six figure and four figure grid references etc. Also, what would you say about the case studies? And what do you find hardest in geography?

Thanks again!

Hey! I am so sorry for the late reply. I haven't been on this site for over 3 weeks!

(Just a reminder that I am doing GCSE Geography with Edexcel).

I can confirm that there is definitely a lot of work with co-ordinates and map reading however it does depend on the topic that you are studying. For example, topic 1 is Hazardous Earth but you won't have to do map-reading and looking at co-ordinates. Whereas, topic 4 - Uk's Physical Landscapes most definitely involves this as you are looking at geology, coasts and rivers!

Now onto case studies. I think that they are definitely hard to remember unless you revise them regularly! You just need to make sure that you know key dates and where a specific event happened. Also depending on the question, you need to know specific events that support the case study. For example you would need to know the responses to a specific natural hazard and any facts for this like the name of the organisation which provided the aid.

Hope this helps and wasn't too late

Thanks! I decided to stick with history, although I am not entirely confident with my decision.

Just that geography doesn’t interest me in the slightest.

Question, is it easier to get a higher grade in history or geography in your opinion?

Thanks again!

Oh okay!

Personally, I would say that it definitely does depend on how you find the subjects. From what I've gathered in this chat is that you find history easier to understand and that you grasp the context of it faster, so you should be able to get a good grade in it if that is the case.

Currently I am working at the same grade in History and Geography (which is an A btw).