Why History at GCSE?

History is a great subject to study regardless of what you want to do at A Level and beyond.  It gives you lots of key skills that are useful in all areas but also helps you to make sense of why we live the way we do. All History GCSE courses required students to:

1. Demonstrate detailed knowledge and understanding of the past

2. Provide well-explained arguments on issues such as causation, change/continuity and significance

3. Make effective use of contemporary source evidence to reach conclusions and develop explanations

4. Analyse, evaluate and make substantiated judgements about interpretations of History

5. Write in standard English and make use of appropriate specialist vocabulary.

What do we study?

From September 2024, students starting GCSE History follow OCR Specification B (Schools History Project). This contains 5 units, each worth 20%.

• Living under Nazi rule, 1933-45
• The making of America, 1789-1900
• History Around Us (Lincoln Castle)
• The Elizabethans, 1580-1603
• The Peoples’ Health, c.1250-present

More information, including the full specification and past papers, can be found here: GCSE - History B (Schools History Project) (9-1) - J411 - OCR

Current Year 11 students are studying Edexcel GCSE History. They study:

Paper 1 (30% of final mark): Medicine in Britain, c.1250-present- including a case study on medicine in the trenches of WW1

Paper 2 (40% of final mark): Cold War & Elizabeth

Paper 3 (30% of final mark): Weimar & Nazi Germany

 

Further information can be found here: Edexcel GCSE History (2016) | Pearson qualifications