GCSE history revision resources

Mock Paper

Planning sheets for three 8 mark exam questions for GCSE History B specification for the unit War in Vietnam. I have produced these for students to plan their answers and think about the key words required in their answers.

These practice questions on the Germany 1919-1991 exam paper for Eduqas came about after my pupils wanted past papers to help them revise! I have put together a selection of practice questions in the style of all seven questions on the exam paper.
Question 1 Describe (28 questions)
Question 2 How far did...? (13 questions)
Question 3 Arrange these reasons in order of their significance in terms... Explain your choices. (10 questions)
Question 4 Explain why...? (19 questions)
Question 5 How important was (13 questions)
This will give pupils a chance to get a real feel for the new paper and practice their exam skills.

A mock paper with question guidance for the second half of Paper 2 for Edexcel - covering Wolsey and Early Cromwell

A practice mock exam paper that can be used for the new 9-1 exam. Also includes a powerpoint that can be used for a Walk-Through Mock with tips and hints on how to approach each question.
Any feedback welcome!

Information and an example of an 8 mark narrative style question for Edexcel's new GCSE American West spec. Intended as a short class activity or homework.

An exam paper and model answers on the Superpower Relations and Cold War Edexcel 9-1 unit for history GCSE to help prepare students to access the higher GCSE grades.

A guide for student (and staff) on how to answer the questions in Paper 2, for the Edexcel specification. This guide focuses on the following units: Superpowers and the Cold War, and early Elizabethan England, although it can be adapted for the other papers.

The model answers have been Edexcel approved, either from approved textbooks or Pearson courses specifically focusing on these questions.

*NEW AQA GCSE - Thematic Study - Power and the People*
Learning Outcomes
To compare and contrast the revolution with past events
To complete a comparison examination question in timed conditions
To peer assess an exam question using the mark scheme

This Medicine in Britain GCSE exam paper/sample assessment material is suitable for use by both students and teachers. This is exam paper ONE (1) in the series.

If you are a student you can use this exam paper to prepare effectively for tests and exams. It will help you become familiar with the layout of the paper and the style of questions you will be asked to complete. It will enable you to practise tricky things like getting your timing right for each type of question – managing your time effectively in the exam is crucial to your overall success. Furthermore you will be able to complete practise papers and hand them to your teacher for feedback about how to improve.

If you are a teacher this assessment material can be broken down into end of topic practise questions, set as end of unit tests, or as a mock exam at the end of Year 10 or in Year 11 when your school holds its official mock period.

The question stems and layout are in the style of the Pearson Edexcel exam board.

This assessment material will support your delivery of the Edexcel GCSE History specification. I find this exam board the best to work with at GCSE and have been using them for the last 13 years. Having said this, if you are a teacher or student, please do your due diligence in terms of reading the sample assessment material provided by Pearson Edexcel. I feel sure you will find these sample exam papers in line with their published material and guidance.

If you are happy with this resource please consider saving yourself some money by purchasing bundles – they really do offer a huge discount on buying items individually.

For lots of free material and GCSE history support, go to

I wish you the best of luck with your GCSE history exams x

GCSE British Medicine Through Time
New 2016 Specification
Grades 9-1
Can be used for AQA, Edexcel, OCR or iGCSE exam boards.

Revision/summary sheet covering the progress in surgery during the Industrial Revolution (Antiseptics, Anaesthetic and Aseptic Surgery) including the key individuals James Simpson and Joseph Lister

Part of Medieval 1750-1900 Medicine topic.

Please see my other lessons & resources
Feedback welcome!

Revision guide for the new AQA GCSE History specification 1D America, 1920–1973: Opportunity and inequality. The revision guide specifically focuses on part two: Bust – Americans’ experiences of the Depression and New Deal. The topics considered are:

• American society during the Depression: unemployment; farmers; businessmen; Hoover’s responses and unpopularity; Roosevelt’s election as president.
• The effectiveness of the New Deal on different groups in society: successes and limitations including opposition towards the New Deal from Supreme Court, Republicans and Radical politicians; Roosevelt’s contribution as president; popular culture.
• The impact of the Second World War: America’s economic recovery; Lend Lease; exports; social developments, including experiences of African-Americans and women.

*Owing to marking the 2018 AQA GCSE History summer examination series, all of my original resources have been amended and updated for students studying the AQA GCSE History syllabus. In addition, I have utilised feedback from students, fellow professionals, experienced colleagues and my own professional judgement to ensure that each resource will help you to teach quality history lessons.

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A 4 page revision booklet full of quick revision questions to ensure students cover all key events. Can easily be adapted to suit the new GCSE specifications (if any adaptions needed!).

9-1 Edexcel History Learning/Topic Placemats for Superpower Relations and The Cold War - Topic 1 -Origins of the Cold War 1945-58

These interactive learning placemats were designed to meet the challenges of the new 9-1 GCSE. They build upon the successful Medicine Through Time Placemats that I previously designed (and which received 5* reviews by all who have purchased them up to the time of launching these new materials – see: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/9-1-edexcel-gcse-history-of-medicine-place-mat-question-structure-11627611 ). The new placemats have been identified as best practice during a ‘Challenge Partners’ review as well as being identified as best practice by other History teachers on the Olevi ‘Outstanding Teacher Programme’.

The new design learning placemats support both teachers and students in addressing the:
a) dramatic increase in the curriculum content needed for the different units
b) support the need for increased literacy demands
c) help students become familiar and more confident in recognising the correct response needed for the unprecedented number of different question styles

The placemats are designed to be double sided. One side focuses on the CONTENT: providing an overview of key knowledge and understanding needed (this will change for each topic area within this GCSE unit).

Every placemat across the GCSE range is designed to encourage greater understanding of:
1. Historical Context - through timelines, picture prompts and key words

2. Awareness of the ‘big picture’ so students can see how individual lessons fit into the unit and make clearer links between prior and future learning – through ‘Big Picture’ questions.

3. Better Literacy – through selected ‘language for learning’ vocab box.

4. Memory prompts to support revision – through the use of carefully selected images.

5. Increased awareness of metacognition – through PME (Progress, Monitor and Evaluation Time) questions to encourage students to deconstruct their learning and identify key factors (eg. Social, economic, political) or key individuals and make links between features. A pictorial metacognition man with 5 question prompts will support student reflection.

6. A confidence thermometer is also included as a prompt to identify student confidence in the topic.

The reverse side contains guidance on EXAM TECHNIQUE through:
1. Identifying the nature of the question styles for each GCSE Unit and the allocated marks available
2. Examiners levelled mark schemes
3. Support writing frames with generic sentence starter

• In a bid to get my Year 11’s revising and focusing on knowledge, I devised these 78 flashcards to use in a recent revision session. They proved a great success and also gave them something to take home and revise.

• They need cutting down the middle and folding; the students then tested themselves and each other, removing the ones they recognised and retaining those they didn’t.

• I have included a PDF and Powerpoint version if you wish to adapt them.

An information booklet containing activities after each topic.
Perfect to use as a worksheet, revision booklets or to copy and paste into lesson slides.

Topics Covered;
The Social System
The Power of the English Monarchy
Government
Earldoms
Local Government
Life in Anglo-Saxon England
Influence of the Church

Also Included;
Keyword definitions page
Keyword Words Search

These cards include information about the (approx) 100 individuals (!) that students learn about during the 'old' Medicine through Time course. However, it can easily be adapted for the new Health and the People course by removing all of the Ancient World ones (apart from Hippocrates and Galen).

The cards should be printed out and cut up, and I have used them for a whole class revision activity. I give a little stack to each student and then have to pair up the names and the descriptions and lay them all out in approximate time order. Afterwards, students could stand next to the individual they think was the most significant and make a case for them.

The green ones are the bonus/'extra information' ones - individuals who are not quite as vital for them to know about.

Student revision guide for the Korean War

The booklet contains 21 pages of exercises to help students revise the content from the AQA America: Expansion & Consolidation (1840-1895) unit. The whole course is covered and the booklet is designed to help students revise small chunks often over a longer period of time. I set two pages per week for KS4. If you find this resource useful you may wish to download the Conflict and Tension: 1918-1939 booklet that’s been made in the same style.
Topics covered:
What is Manifest Destiny?
Why is the Mexican American War important?
Who were the early settlers?
Why was the Gold Rush important?
Who were the Mormons?
Why did the Mormons travel west?
How successful were the Mormons in Salt Lake City?
What was the Mountain Meadow Massacre?
Who were the Native Americans?
How did settlement affect the Native Americas?
Why was there conflict on the Plains?
Where did slavery exist in the USA?
What were the causes of the American Civil War?
What were the effects of the American Civil War?
How was American reconstructed after the war?
Who were the homesteaders?
How did the Homesteaders survive?
How was the ‘Indian problem’ solved?
The Battle of Little Big Horn
How did the Native Americans finally lose?
How was the West finally won?

A 40 page revision booklet with detailed information, practice exam questions and model answers designed to help Edexcel 9-1 GCSE students achieve the highest grades on Paper 3 Weimar and Nazi Germany 1919-1939.

Here you will find a revision booklet for Edexcel's Early Elizabethan England (1-9) Key Question 1. I have summarised the first key question into smaller sections and created an activities booklet which can be used alongside to prompt pupils to test their knowledge of the topic.

1 hour-long lesson, cross referenced with 3 revision guides.

This Tarsia puzzle covers the theme of the Medicine Through Time. Great for 9-1 GCSE revision and intervention sessions.

A Tarsia puzzle requires students to match up sides of triangles to form a hexagonal shape. They are brilliant for revision and get students to think hard. I use these at the starts of ends of lessons and they can take 10-20 minutes depending on your class's confidence in the material. All materials are provided here including student instructions, student puzzle pieces and teacher answers. All images have been acquired through a search engine filtered to labelled for re-use. Enjoy!

A mix of revision tasks with powerpoint, worksheets, info and starter drill-test pack. Covers a range of 20th century topics.

King Charles II is dying, and only the expert knowledge of the best doctors in the UK can save his life.

This lesson was created to be used in the Medicine Through Time SoW, but can be used with other year groups or as a revision activity.

This lessons is a decision making exercise that builds on the pupils knowledge of Medieval medical treatments. Students need to use what they have learned to complete several rounds of a decision making activity to try to save the life of the King. Each round they are scored on how effective their treatment would have been.

This is an excellent lesson as it is fun, memorable and challenging.

Various 5 questions per sheet to use as a starter for lessons to aid revision and recall. Idea is to use one of these per lesson. Idea seen on twitter but adapted for History AQA.

Questions relate to AQA History GCSE Modern World:
Topic 1: The Origins of the First World War c1890–1914
Topic 2: Peacemaking 1918–1919 and the League of Nations
Topic 3: Hitler’s Foreign Policy and the Origins of the Second World War

Thanks to johndclare.net for many of the sources!

This presentation is based on Unit 1 Edexcel GCSE History The Weimar Republic. The main aim of this resource is to make the content of the course more visual, by adding pictures, photos, diagrams, maps, and video links, hence more accessible to all ability pupils. This resource can be used as a teaching resource, revision for students, or in Flipped Classroom style a pre teaching resource for students.
In this lesson we talk about the reasons behind the unpopularity of the Weimar Republic: the signing of the Armistce in 1918, then the unfortunate conditions of the Treaty of Versailles or the Diktat, War Guilt, and The-Stab-in-the-back myth, as well as the idea of November Criminals.

Elizabethan society in the Age of Exploration, 1558 - 88.
Lessons included cover:
Education and leisure
The problem of the poor
Exploration and voyages of discovery

Cheat sheets are an effective means of preparing students for their Edexcel 9-1 history exams. These easy to use sheets can provide students with a framework for planning answers to potential exam questions as part of their revision.

Teachers can issue these templates to students alongside a list of potential questions for both sections of Paper 2. This is an effective means of revision, and can be used by teachers to specifically direct students in their revision - something which is not always easy to do.

For those of you teaching American West, I have already produced such supplementary sheets which are also available on TES.

Power point in quiz format for help with revision for GCSE History Developmental Study 'Medicine through Time'

This product includes two complete lessons for the period 1500-1700, both lessons examine a 12 mark exam style question. The lessons allow students to work through a range of activities to develop their knowledge of the topic and form an opinion before completing the exam questions. The pack also includes a study guide for the unit c1000-c1500 (complete with exam skills) a quick fire test and answers and a self assessment matrix. Perfect for revision and exam preparation and developing the skill elements of the course. These lessons come from our Crime and Punishment Unit 2 Bundle, which can be found via the TES Planmylesson shop.

A range of resources for a lesson/ lessons on the Treaty of Versailles, based on the AQA Conflict specification.

Included is a presentation that includes the objectives of the lesson, a brief recap about how World War One began before focussing on the terms. There are regular questions throughout to check understanding/ gain their viewpoints whilst there are also some essay style questions to attempt to answer.

Also included are a number of simple activities, including labelling a map, ranking terms of the treaty and writing how different sides would have felt about particular terms.

If you like it/ feel there are areas to improve please leave me feedback as this is my first attempt at a 9-1 resource.

Aimed for GCSE, this lesson is based around the concept of a revision clock, and is differentiated into 3 different ones, based on lower, mid and higher ability.
Instructions are all in the presentation.