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How to Revise GCSE history?

I'm going into y11 September 5th, and in my y10 mocks, I flopped history so bad (i got a grade 4, but my predicted was a 7).

The topics I do are
Germany 1918-1945
Conflict and tension 1918-1939
Britain: power and the people
Elizabethan England 1568-1603

Is there any ideal way to revise and memorise the history content? or like any sites and stuff you recommend.
(edited 2 months ago)
Hi I didn’t do these topics but I have some tips for things I did in GCSE History:

•

Buy the textbook and use it to make flashcards (preferably spaced repetition on a site like anki or StudySmarter) because its got all the info you need to know

•

Watch videos on the time period, they might not be totally course specific but they will give you a broader knowledge which can be good for making points in an exam

•

Make sure you know how to answer the different question types. Analyse the mark scheme and make a plan of how you will answer each question and how long you will spend on it

•

When revising, blurting and making mindmaps with different colours of revision notes is what I found the most useful and make sure to add what you forgot afterwards

•

Make sure to do lots of practice questions but dont waste your time writing out answers in full, bullet point plan them!


Best of luck with year 11!
(edited 2 months ago)
For GCSE History I found flashcards useful for memorising the content. I found some pre-made flashcards from Anki and I went through these every few days. If you want to make your own flashcards you could use BBC Bitesize to add more information to your notes. If flashcards aren't your thing, just make sure your doing some kind of active recall as this will make sure your memorising the content. Also, exam practise is key. If you don't have time to answer questions fully (although, I highly recommend setting some time aside for exam practise) then essay plans can be useful to help you understand the structure of answering questions.

If you have any questions I'd be happy to answer (for context I did AQA History)
Reply 3
Original post by DerDracologe
Hi I didn’t do these topics but I have some tips for things I did in GCSE History:

•

Buy the textbook and use it to make flashcards (preferably spaced repetition on a site like anki or StudySmarter) because its got all the info you need to know

•

Watch videos on the time period, they might not be totally course specific but they will give you a broader knowledge which can be good for making points in an exam

•

Make sure you know how to answer the different question types. Analyse the mark scheme and make a plan of how you will answer each question and how long you will spend on it

•

When revising, blurting and making mindmaps with different colours of revision notes is what I found the most useful and make sure to add what you forgot afterwards

•

Make sure to do lots of practice questions but dont waste your time writing out answers in full, bullet point plan them!


Best of luck with year 11!


Thank you so much
Reply 4
Original post by always-anxious
For GCSE History I found flashcards useful for memorising the content. I found some pre-made flashcards from Anki and I went through these every few days. If you want to make your own flashcards you could use BBC Bitesize to add more information to your notes. If flashcards aren't your thing, just make sure your doing some kind of active recall as this will make sure your memorising the content. Also, exam practise is key. If you don't have time to answer questions fully (although, I highly recommend setting some time aside for exam practise) then essay plans can be useful to help you understand the structure of answering questions.
If you have any questions I'd be happy to answer (for context I did AQA History)


Thank you for helping
a follow-up question is how did you manage your timing in the exam? did essay plans and stuff help with that, or does it just come down to the person? (I do AQA as well )
Original post by Dudeeoh
Thank you for helping
a follow-up question is how did you manage your timing in the exam? did essay plans and stuff help with that, or does it just come down to the person? (I do AQA as well )

No worries! At first, I struggled with timings. Ideally, you should be practising doing full exam questions in timed conditions or else in the real exams you might find yourself running out of time. Essay plans mainly helped me with understanding the structure of questions, not so much with timings.

In the actual exam, I did the longer answer questions first (like the 16 markers) to make sure I didn't run out of time for them. Also I made sure to keep my eye on the time to make sure I was on track to actually finish all the questions
(edited 2 months ago)
Reply 6
Original post by Dudeeoh
I'm going into y11 September 5th, and in my y10 mocks, I flopped history so bad (i got a grade 4, but my predicted was a 7).
The topics I do are
Germany 1918-1945
Conflict and tension 1918-1939
Britain: power and the people
Elizabethan England 1568-1603
Is there any ideal way to revise and memorise the history content? or like any sites and stuff you recommend.


Hey I’m also going to yr11 this September on the 5th 😂😂 I also do history question do you do aqa ? Cause I do aqa and was wondering if you wanted to revise together

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