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History GCSE

I’ve got my mocks at the start of November and I’m no where near ready. I’m currently at grade 3’s for history no matter what I try nothing ever seems to work. For my sixth from subjects which I would like to do I need to get a 6 in history. Has anyone got any tips on how I can at least get a 4/5 in history to start off with? And then maybe try to push to a 6 but for now I’m just more concerned about passing it. I find history so hard to revise and nothing I do for history revision sticks in my head. I’m more of a visual learner but even videos and pictures don’t help so I really don’t know what to do. (I’m doing AQA History and study: Migration + Empire + The People, Germany + WW2 , and The Cold War).
Hi there! Year 12 here, I'll try my best to help! So I'm unsure with what elements your particularly struggling with (whether it's dates or names or events etc...) but I can tell you what I did. I'd like to say that history did come quote naturally to me so my advice may not be the best. So what I did was I'd make a flashcard for each sub topic or time period (I studied different topics to you but by this I mean that it have like ONE flashcard for Norman towns and villages, one for Norman battles etc...) then using just this one flashcard, I'd write the KEY KEY dates down (so for medicine this would he Germ Theory in 1861) and next to them literally just write the event. then before going into my mocks, I had these flashcards for the topics on the test (so maybe like 10 flashcards total??) then I'd just flick through them drilling the dates into my head. obviously this "technique" only works if you actually know the events/what they led to. Im currently on a bus so sorry this is such a bad explanation haha, I can answer any further questions you have when I get home or I'll at least attempt a better explanation haha :smile:
Original post by TheHistoryNerd_
Hi there! Year 12 here, I'll try my best to help! So I'm unsure with what elements your particularly struggling with (whether it's dates or names or events etc...) but I can tell you what I did. I'd like to say that history did come quote naturally to me so my advice may not be the best. So what I did was I'd make a flashcard for each sub topic or time period (I studied different topics to you but by this I mean that it have like ONE flashcard for Norman towns and villages, one for Norman battles etc...) then using just this one flashcard, I'd write the KEY KEY dates down (so for medicine this would he Germ Theory in 1861) and next to them literally just write the event. then before going into my mocks, I had these flashcards for the topics on the test (so maybe like 10 flashcards total??) then I'd just flick through them drilling the dates into my head. obviously this "technique" only works if you actually know the events/what they led to. Im currently on a bus so sorry this is such a bad explanation haha, I can answer any further questions you have when I get home or I'll at least attempt a better explanation haha :smile:


Wow thanks so much for reply! I’ll definitely give that a go thank you! For me it’s honestly the whole load! I tend to forget the dates especially and I don’t know much about the topic to be able to go into an exam question and get any marks. I know one fact but I can’t ever expand on it with my own knowledge, I only know the one point I state and I just don’t seem to understand why things are significant. For example (I know you don’t do the same topics but) there was question of “Why was Alfed the Great considered ‘great’?” And my teacher gave us the point of the long term significance was that he stabilised the monarch that we have today. But that’s all I can say I would say something like.. “Alfred the Great provided England with the long term Significance of the Monarch being the same monarch we have today. This is significant because it shows his power and how clever he was of being able to sub stain power for many years beyond his own.” And that’s all I can say. And I would find it very hard to link it to another point it’s just so hard! My exam technique is horrible! I will ramble on about one point for about a page and only get one mark because although writing a lot I just said one point and just said a lot about it but the only relevant part is the at one point, if you get what I mean? I’m just absolutely terrible at history overall, I forget all the content and key things as well as not knowing the structure of exam answers. When it comes to history I am absolutely useless:frown:
Original post by caramelcotton
Wow thanks so much for reply! I’ll definitely give that a go thank you! For me it’s honestly the whole load! I tend to forget the dates especially and I don’t know much about the topic to be able to go into an exam question and get any marks. I know one fact but I can’t ever expand on it with my own knowledge, I only know the one point I state and I just don’t seem to understand why things are significant. For example (I know you don’t do the same topics but) there was question of “Why was Alfed the Great considered ‘great’?” And my teacher gave us the point of the long term significance was that he stabilised the monarch that we have today. But that’s all I can say I would say something like.. “Alfred the Great provided England with the long term Significance of the Monarch being the same monarch we have today. This is significant because it shows his power and how clever he was of being able to sub stain power for many years beyond his own.” And that’s all I can say. And I would find it very hard to link it to another point it’s just so hard! My exam technique is horrible! I will ramble on about one point for about a page and only get one mark because although writing a lot I just said one point and just said a lot about it but the only relevant part is the at one point, if you get what I mean? I’m just absolutely terrible at history overall, I forget all the content and key things as well as not knowing the structure of exam answers. When it comes to history I am absolutely useless:frown:

Hey! No worries I really am rooting for you in your history GCSE over here!! I completely understand what you mean about struggling to explain the significance, so I´ll give you a tip my teacher used to tell my class. So in your answer you MUST be using quotes like "this meant that" and "this led to". I've just had a look around and I've managed to find one of my old GCSE history essays! It is on Norman England (specifically the Battle of Hastings) and I'm not sure how much you know about that but I think the answer will still demonstrate to you the key bits needed in answering a question. So for context, this is the last question on a GCSE history AQA paper (the one you get on a case study - so for this topic for me it was the Battle of Hastings - I think you may have a similar question?) It is out of 20 marks overall (16 content + 4 SPaG) and my teacher actually marked this answer as getting the full 20/20. I have highlighted in yellow all my bits of own knowledge (or O.K) which you will need a significant amount of and remember O.K includes names, places, dates, figures etc... so it isn't just dates! In red is any commentary I've added to help you and let you know where I've picked up marks (well to my knowledge any way, I'm not an examiner haha!). I've probably missed out some stuff I should have highlighted so apologies if I did!

So, just quickly, the structure for this question is 4 paragraphs total. In the first para you state your opinion then answer the factor in the question. For the 2nd para, if you disagree with the statement you write about what you believe and if you agree with the statement you write about an opposing view. For paragraph 3 you write about another factor and for 4 you conclude.

I've attached the question to this answer so I'm not too sure where you'll find it but it is linked on here somewhere!
If you have any more questions or questions about my answer just ask me and I'll get back to you as soon as possible! If not, I wish you the best of luck with your GCSE exams next year!! :smile:
(edited 3 years ago)
Original post by TheHistoryNerd_
Hey! No worries I really am rooting for you in your history GCSE over here!! I completely understand what you mean about struggling to explain the significance, so I´ll give you a tip my teacher used to tell my class. So in your answer you MUST be using quotes like "this meant that" and "this led to". I've just had a look around and I've managed to find one of my old GCSE history essays! It is on Norman England (specifically the Battle of Hastings) and I'm not sure how much you know about that but I think the answer will still demonstrate to you the key bits needed in answering a question. So for context, this is the last question on a GCSE history AQA paper (the one you get on a case study - so for this topic for me it was the Battle of Hastings - I think you may have a similar question?) It is out of 20 marks overall (16 content + 4 SPaG) and my teacher actually marked this answer as getting the full 20/20. I have highlighted in yellow all my bits of own knowledge (or O.K) which you will need a significant amount of and remember O.K includes names, places, dates, figures etc... so it isn't just dates! In red is any commentary I've added to help you and let you know where I've picked up marks (well to my knowledge any way, I'm not an examiner haha!). I've probably missed out some stuff I should have highlighted so apologies if I did!

So, just quickly, the structure for this question is 4 paragraphs total. In the first para you state your opinion then answer the factor in the question. For the 2nd para, if you disagree with the statement you write about what you believe and if you agree with the statement you write about an opposing view. For paragraph 3 you write about another factor and for 4 you conclude.

I've attached the question to this answer so I'm not too sure where you'll find it but it is linked on here somewhere!
If you have any more questions or questions about my answer just ask me and I'll get back to you as soon as possible! If not, I wish you the best of luck with your GCSE exams next year!! :smile:


You’re amazing! Thank you so much the help you’ve been giving me has actually made me believe in myself and made me realise that maybe I really can do it! It’s so kind of you to find your work and annotate it all for my benefit, you’re awesome! Your answer has made me understand the exam technique so much better! You see if I received that question I will have ONLY spoken about the Battle of Hastings in 1066 (which I have studied:smile: ) I didn’t know that I could go into other battles! You see that’s where I capped myself, I would only know about one point on the battle of Hastings, write one paragraph and fun out of ideas because I thought that all I’m allowed to write! But reading through your answer has made me realise and understand what needs to and what doesn’t need to be said to conjure a successful answer, so thank you so much again! I also took note of your conversational tone with the examiner I feel that’s where I’ve capped myself too, I’m never sure if I can say things like I believe or I don’t believe” because I thought it’s not supposed to be personal but you just formally stating with facts and knowledge of why the statement is true or not. Your answer has helped me in numerous ways I can’t thank you enough! If I do end up passing this GCSE it’s all thanks to you!

Would you happen to have a study Instagram account? If you do I would love to give you a follow!:smile: Sorry if it’s rude of me to ask! I just loving filling my feed with study accounts because they motivate and me just whether I’m on Instagram I’m able to swipe across some quick revision notes, tips and tricks and “all that jazz”. If not it’s okay obviously haha! But I think if you were interested in making one that would be awesome because I just know that the help you’ve given me would definitely be able to help so many more people who are in the same position as me and are just completely clueless when it comes to history aha.
But thank you so so so much again!
Original post by caramelcotton
You’re amazing! Thank you so much the help you’ve been giving me has actually made me believe in myself and made me realise that maybe I really can do it! It’s so kind of you to find your work and annotate it all for my benefit, you’re awesome! Your answer has made me understand the exam technique so much better! You see if I received that question I will have ONLY spoken about the Battle of Hastings in 1066 (which I have studied:smile: ) I didn’t know that I could go into other battles! You see that’s where I capped myself, I would only know about one point on the battle of Hastings, write one paragraph and fun out of ideas because I thought that all I’m allowed to write! But reading through your answer has made me realise and understand what needs to and what doesn’t need to be said to conjure a successful answer, so thank you so much again! I also took note of your conversational tone with the examiner I feel that’s where I’ve capped myself too, I’m never sure if I can say things like I believe or I don’t believe” because I thought it’s not supposed to be personal but you just formally stating with facts and knowledge of why the statement is true or not. Your answer has helped me in numerous ways I can’t thank you enough! If I do end up passing this GCSE it’s all thanks to you!

Would you happen to have a study Instagram account? If you do I would love to give you a follow!:smile: Sorry if it’s rude of me to ask! I just loving filling my feed with study accounts because they motivate and me just whether I’m on Instagram I’m able to swipe across some quick revision notes, tips and tricks and “all that jazz”. If not it’s okay obviously haha! But I think if you were interested in making one that would be awesome because I just know that the help you’ve given me would definitely be able to help so many more people who are in the same position as me and are just completely clueless when it comes to history aha.
But thank you so so so much again!

I absolutely do have a study account! I used to use it for GCSE but obviously when they were cancelled I didn't use it anymore so there's actually no post on there right now, hopefully, I'll get a bit more active on there (that's if I have time with A-levels and DofE!!!) My username is the same as it is on here except it has an _ just before it starts (_thehistorynerd_) hopefully it can be of help to you!

Just to let you know there are different structures for different questions on the history papers (I'm pretty surprised that your teacher hasn't seemed to have taught you them?). Do you know of them by any chance? The question I linked for you is one of many structures and to be honest, if you learn how to structure each specific question you're pretty much guaranteed high marks (it definitely seems to be a bit more relaxed at A-level with the structure, I will say, whereas at GCSE the layout is quite strict).
I did history, I never got to do my GCSEs but I would like to confirm everything that @TheHistoryNerd_ said, with the added resource of timelines. I did timelines for Elizabeathen England, Germay, Cold War. I would get my sibling to test me on 5-10 dates every morning. For your thematic study, I used a massive table that contianed ALL of the factors and condensed summaries of how each factor helped medicine in what time. Not too sure how that would help, but there you go! Hope you all the best!
This is a list of tips

Make full use of flashcards. Practice answering history exam questions on the topics you have done already in class. Keep on top of any history coursework tasks etc as well as homework assignments as well. Act out scenes from historical dramas. Jot down notes whilst watching history shows. Check out period dramas online and on Netflix. Discuss your impression with others.
Read carefully beyond the lines in addition. Use the number of marks to formulate a high quality response to the exam questions. Watch some old history movies, documentaries, videos at home and also read up on the topics you have to study for the exam. Make sure to get some hours of proper restful sleep the night before the real exam. History is a fun subject to do at GCSE.
Take a planned trip to a history museum when lockdown is over. It is a good way to explore other topics that are currently not studied in a history class. When writing essays, pay close attention to the wording of the practice question. Research things online. Make history come alive for you. Of all the subjects, I think that history was my favourite one. History and drama go hand in hand really.
Original post by TheHistoryNerd_
I absolutely do have a study account! I used to use it for GCSE but obviously when they were cancelled I didn't use it anymore so there's actually no post on there right now, hopefully, I'll get a bit more active on there (that's if I have time with A-levels and DofE!!!) My username is the same as it is on here except it has an _ just before it starts (_thehistorynerd_) hopefully it can be of help to you!

Just to let you know there are different structures for different questions on the history papers (I'm pretty surprised that your teacher hasn't seemed to have taught you them?). Do you know of them by any chance? The question I linked for you is one of many structures and to be honest, if you learn how to structure each specific question you're pretty much guaranteed high marks (it definitely seems to be a bit more relaxed at A-level with the structure, I will say, whereas at GCSE the layout is quite strict).


Hello! So sorry for replying back so late! Thank you, I will definitely take up your advice on practicing structure! I have my mocks in just under two weeks and I’m so underprepared I don’t know where to start!😭
I’ll give your study account a follow!:smile:
Thanks so much again for all your help!
Original post by Bookworm_88
I did history, I never got to do my GCSEs but I would like to confirm everything that @TheHistoryNerd_ said, with the added resource of timelines. I did timelines for Elizabeathen England, Germay, Cold War. I would get my sibling to test me on 5-10 dates every morning. For your thematic study, I used a massive table that contianed ALL of the factors and condensed summaries of how each factor helped medicine in what time. Not too sure how that would help, but there you go! Hope you all the best!


Wow thanks so much! I think being tested regularly, especially on things like dates sounds like a great idea of how I can remember them in the long run, thanks a bunch!
Original post by shortgirl96
This is a list of tips

Make full use of flashcards. Practice answering history exam questions on the topics you have done already in class. Keep on top of any history coursework tasks etc as well as homework assignments as well. Act out scenes from historical dramas. Jot down notes whilst watching history shows. Check out period dramas online and on Netflix. Discuss your impression with others.
Read carefully beyond the lines in addition. Use the number of marks to formulate a high quality response to the exam questions. Watch some old history movies, documentaries, videos at home and also read up on the topics you have to study for the exam. Make sure to get some hours of proper restful sleep the night before the real exam. History is a fun subject to do at GCSE.
Take a planned trip to a history museum when lockdown is over. It is a good way to explore other topics that are currently not studied in a history class. When writing essays, pay close attention to the wording of the practice question. Research things online. Make history come alive for you. Of all the subjects, I think that history was my favourite one. History and drama go hand in hand really.


Wow I never actually thought of watching documentaries and things to expand my understanding of each topic, I tend to be a more visual learner so I think I’ll definitely give this a go and hope that it could make me visually remember the facts in my exam, thanks so much!

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