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Im scared for gcse history

im at the start of year 10 and im regretting choosing history. i cant change it. i wish i chose geography but my brother told me that history would give me great essay skills for uni and i believed. insane propaganda. But ive been seeing on the internet that more people fail history and find history harder and that it would take too long to revise for due to the large amounts of content. i chose triple science stats and french . i did enjoy history yes and i did do good in year 9 in it but i also did good in geography too. people have said geography is a easier subject and common sense. people say geography is a easy subject but boring and history is fun but hard. i genuinley dont know how im gonna revise or learn the content for it . im planning to do 1 hr and a half on it a week. and look at spec then look at youtube videos then practise question then look at cgp then look at flashcards then blurt the mini summary which follows same pattern as other subjects.I also have questions such as do people who did it get a source for it and how much content is packed within history cuz i also want time for other subjects too. so yeah just give me tips how to deal with this substanial amount of content.

Reply 1

I did history in GCSE and found the hardest thing to be time management during the actual test. It totally depends on what you're interested in, but (personally) the amount of content wasn't too bad, like I would say the sciences were worse (Also for reference, I got a 4 in my mock and 9 in the actual GCSE test so growth is 100% possible)

Reply 2

Original post
by pudding61
I did history in GCSE and found the hardest thing to be time management during the actual test. It totally depends on what you're interested in, but (personally) the amount of content wasn't too bad, like I would say the sciences were worse (Also for reference, I got a 4 in my mock and 9 in the actual GCSE test so growth is 100% possible)

Time management? do you have any tips on how to improve that ?

Reply 3

I would definitely say make flashcards for key facts and knowledge, because that's also a chunk of the marks. when you're in lessons, make sure your notes cover the causes, events and consequences of something. Usually in exam questions, they ask for an explanation of causes and why/how it led to the consequences that happened based on the context of the period. I felt that I definitely learnt and understood a lot of the content by making mindmaps/flashcards/any revision resources by myself, not with AI. Also, around your Y10 and Y11 exams, make sure you do exam questions. Start doing it untimed, and once you can gain a good amount of marks, then start doing it timed.
Also for time management, practice is what's really going to help. Hope this helps!!

Reply 4

Original post
by nsy.2410
im at the start of year 10 and im regretting choosing history. i cant change it. i wish i chose geography but my brother told me that history would give me great essay skills for uni and i believed. insane propaganda. But ive been seeing on the internet that more people fail history and find history harder and that it would take too long to revise for due to the large amounts of content. i chose triple science stats and french . i did enjoy history yes and i did do good in year 9 in it but i also did good in geography too. people have said geography is a easier subject and common sense. people say geography is a easy subject but boring and history is fun but hard. i genuinley dont know how im gonna revise or learn the content for it . im planning to do 1 hr and a half on it a week. and look at spec then look at youtube videos then practise question then look at cgp then look at flashcards then blurt the mini summary which follows same pattern as other subjects.I also have questions such as do people who did it get a source for it and how much content is packed within history cuz i also want time for other subjects too. so yeah just give me tips how to deal with this substanial amount of content.


Im at the start of yr 11 so I haven't done gcses yet so ill try be helpful ig. I get good grades in history so ill give advice. Step 1, make a quizlet set to remember dates, events, order of events, cause and impact, key figures, statistics and facts. Step 2, make a big timeline for each of the 4 topics to know the order of events, dates and a brief summary of what happened during each event. Normally I make this on word cos I prefer typing to writing but each to their own. This makes it clear and lessens the chance of u missing facts cos instead of flicking through notes and sheets u can just whip our ur grand timeline. Step 3 (optional), watch YouTube videos cos it makes it easy to absorb information in an accessible way rather than pages and pages of facts. Step 4, do exam questions or past papers! Then if possible ask ur teacher to mark em. If not maybe chatgpt but I can't tell if its reliable or not cos sometimes they give u extra marks than u shud. This will help with essay structure and time management. Remember to always link to question no matter how redundant it sounds. Remember that "write an account" really means explain, "describe" means explain, and "how convincing" means "how accurate" and that u only get marks for writing how convincing it is, not for pointing out its flaws.
And lastly let's bsfr. Is history truly easier than geo or the hardest subjects as many like to say? Maybe it's cos I like essay subjects but I find it as stressful as any other gcse. I find maths and science worse! And in my school, the geo students r more stressed and panicked than the history students. They walk out every lesson crashing out over something. My geo friends say geo is a mix of chem, physics, bio, maths, economics, sociology and politics! So it requires multiple hats. History is only a mix of a few of these ig cos u explore political, religious, economic and social impacts. My friend who takes both says history is less stressful. And in geo, u still have to memorise case studies and facts from ur trip. And u write a bit, for example in 9 markers u write 2 paragraphs.

Reply 5

Original post
by nsy.2410
im at the start of year 10 and im regretting choosing history. i cant change it. i wish i chose geography but my brother told me that history would give me great essay skills for uni and i believed. insane propaganda. But ive been seeing on the internet that more people fail history and find history harder and that it would take too long to revise for due to the large amounts of content. i chose triple science stats and french . i did enjoy history yes and i did do good in year 9 in it but i also did good in geography too. people have said geography is a easier subject and common sense. people say geography is a easy subject but boring and history is fun but hard. i genuinley dont know how im gonna revise or learn the content for it . im planning to do 1 hr and a half on it a week. and look at spec then look at youtube videos then practise question then look at cgp then look at flashcards then blurt the mini summary which follows same pattern as other subjects.I also have questions such as do people who did it get a source for it and how much content is packed within history cuz i also want time for other subjects too. so yeah just give me tips how to deal with this substanial amount of content.

Don't be. History is an amazing subject and much more interesting than geography!!! I got a 9 (AQA) and all I did were online flashcards based off the textbooks, then a bunch of essay practice which my lovely teacher marked for me. It was so daunting at the beginning, just make sure you make flashcards off each lessons content and don't leave it all to Y11 like me ☹️ .

Reply 6

I did history and geography and got 9’s in both. History is so much more interesting (imo) and personally I found it easier to revise. Make flash cards as soon as you have covered the topic in class, blurt or teach it to someone, then just do lots practice papers or questions on those topics. The revision guides have everything in you need to know. You have plenty of time so no need to panic.

Reply 7

Original post
by nsy.2410
im at the start of year 10 and im regretting choosing history. i cant change it. i wish i chose geography but my brother told me that history would give me great essay skills for uni and i believed. insane propaganda. But ive been seeing on the internet that more people fail history and find history harder and that it would take too long to revise for due to the large amounts of content. i chose triple science stats and french . i did enjoy history yes and i did do good in year 9 in it but i also did good in geography too. people have said geography is a easier subject and common sense. people say geography is a easy subject but boring and history is fun but hard. i genuinley dont know how im gonna revise or learn the content for it . im planning to do 1 hr and a half on it a week. and look at spec then look at youtube videos then practise question then look at cgp then look at flashcards then blurt the mini summary which follows same pattern as other subjects.I also have questions such as do people who did it get a source for it and how much content is packed within history cuz i also want time for other subjects too. so yeah just give me tips how to deal with this substanial amount of content.

I'm now doing History A-level and recieved an overall 7 in History GCSE, and quite honestly, the hardest part about history GCSE is time management in the exam itself. History GCSE isn't something you should worry about when revising content as most questions (depending on the exam board) can apply to all of your knowledge of that topic. Of course you should revise the content, but what I did was instead of remembering dates, learn the events and what happened/ who was involved as the dates don't particularly matter inn the long run. (Often you will end up remembering the dates anyway this way) It is mainly exam technique that is the issue, along with time management, so I recommend looking up your exam board and find videos etc. on how to answer the questions within the time restraints. You WILL, unfortunately, be writing right up to the last second (and I am someone who often finished exams with days left over) so take the time restraints LITERALLY. This really helped me to focus in the exam, and once you get the hang of it, it will become like second nature. Also, if you are a "slower writer", start with the longest questions, for me that was at the back of the paper, which means that you get the most marks first. Even if you run out of time, you could only lose like 4 marks rather than 16 marks.
I know this does make it seem scary, but honestly, have fun with it and talk to people about history, during or after the lessons, because the more you have fun with it, the more you will remember. Typically if you are stressed, you tend to blank more often, so in short, exam technique over learning dates. Hope this helps! :smile:

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