Specification/Exam Board

AQA GCSE History (8145)

Paper 1 Examination (2 hours) 50%

Paper 2 Examination (2 hours) 50%

For Paper 1 (Understanding the Modern World) we study the following two options:

• Section A (Period Study): Germany 1890-1945 (Studied in Year 10) 
• Section B (Wider World Depth Study) Conflict and tension between East and West, 1945–1972 (Begin studying in Year 10 and completed in Year 11)

For Paper 2 (Shaping the Nation) we study the following two options: 

• Section A (Thematic Study): Britain: Health and the People c1000 to the present day (Studied in Year 11)
• Section B (British Depth Study): Elizabethan England 1568-1603 (Studied in Year 10)

The exams will measure how students have achieved the following assessment objectives: 

AO1: demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the key features and characteristics of the period studied. 

AO2: explain and analyse historical events and periods studied using second-order historical concepts. 

AO3: analyse, evaluate and use sources (contemporary to the period) to make substantiated judgements, in the context of historical events studied. 

AO4: analyse, evaluate and make substantiated judgements about interpretations (including how and why interpretations may differ) in the context of historical events studied.

Curriculum Allocation

History is taught for 3 100 minute lessons per fortnight.

There are 51 History lessons in Year 10. 

Curriculum Period 1:

Curriculum period 1 has 24 lessons

Curriculum content

We will begin the GCSE course with the Elizabethan England 1568-1603 topic. This topic has 4 parts and will be delivered in the following way:

Part 1: Elizabeth's court and Parliament

1. The background and character of Elizabeth I 

2. Elizabethan court life, including patronage and her key ministers (Cecil, Dudley and Walsingham), the difficulties of a being a female ruler and her relations with Parliament 

3. The problem of marriage and the succession 

4. The Elizabethan Religious Settlement

5. The strength of Elizabeth’s authority at the end of her reign, including Essex’s rebellion in 1601

Part 2: Life in Elizabethan times

6. The growing prosperity and the rise of the Gentry

7 and 8. (GCSE 2025 only*) HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT STUDY on Hardwick Hall

*This will change for GCSE 2026 - Site of study TBC

9. The poor: reasons for the increase in poverty; attitudes and responses to poverty; the reasons for government action and the seriousness of the problem.

10. The Elizabethan Theatre

11 & 12. English sailors: Hawkins and Drake; circumnavigation 1577–1580, voyages and trade; the role of Raleigh.

Part 3: Troubles at home and abroad 

13. The Northern Rebellion and effect on the Religious Settlement

14. The Catholic threat

15. The Trial and execution of Mary, Queen of Scots

16. Puritanism

17 & 18 Conflict with Spain and the Armada

19. A Golden Age? Topic Summary

We will then begin our second topic; Germany 1890-1945. This topic has 3 parts to it and will be delivered in the following way:

Part 1: Germany and the growth of democracy 

20 & 21. Kaiser Wilhelm and the difficulties of ruling Germany: the growth of parliamentary government; the influence of Prussian militarism; industrialisation; social reform and the growth of socialism; the domestic importance of the Navy Laws.

22.  The impact of the First World War: war weariness, economic problems; defeat; the end of the monarchy 

23 & 24. The formation of the Weimar Republic including;  post-war problems including reparations, the occupation of the Ruhr and hyperinflation, Weimar democracy: political change and unrest, 1919–1923, including the Spartacists, Kapp Putsch

Assessment

The first assessment will assess the content of Elizabeth topic and the first part of the Germany topic. 

Curriculum Period 2:

Curriculum period 2 has 21 lessons

Curriculum content

1. The Beginnings of the Nazi Party and the Munich Putsch

2. The extent of recovery during the Stresemann era (1924–1929): economic developments including the new currency, Dawes Plan and the Young Plan; the impact of international agreements on recovery; Weimar culture

Part 2: The Impact of the Depression

3. The impact of the Depression on Germany and Hitler's appeal

4. The failure of Weimar Democracy and Hitler made Chancellor - the role of von Papen and Hindenburg

5. Analysis of Hitler becoming chancellor (exam skills)

6 & 7. The establishment of Hitler's dictatorship; Reichstag Fire, Enabling Act, elimination of opposition, Rohm and the Night of the Long Knives

Part 3. The experience of Germans under the Nazis

8. Nazi control of Germany - the Police State

9. The importance of the young in Nazi Germany

10. Opposition to the Nazis (Edelweiss Pirates, Swing Kids, White Rose Group, church groups and the July, 1944 Bomb Plot)

11. Women in Nazi Germany

12. Nazi economic policies

13 & 14. The persecution of minorities

15. The impact of World War II and the end! 

16. Topic summary

Pupils will then begin studying the Conflict and tension between East and West, 1945-1972.  This topic follows on chronologically from the Germany topic. This topic has 3 parts to it and will be delivered in the following way:

Part 1: The origins of the Cold War

17. The contrasting ideologies of the USA and the USSR

18. The Yalta Conference

19. The Potsdam Conference and the effect of the dropping of the Atom Bombs on post war relations

20. Soviet Expansion into Eastern Europe and the Iron Curtain

21. The Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan and Stalin's reaction

Assessment

Curriculum Period 3:

Curriculum Period 3 has 6 lessons

1. The Berlin Blockade and Airlift

Part 2: Development of the Cold War 

2. The Nuclear Arms Race

3. The Space Race

4. The Spread of the Cold War into Asia (China, Korean War, Vietnam)

5. The Hungarian Uprising, 1956

6. The U2 Crisis

Revision resources

We provide booklets of knowledge organisers for all the units covered through Year 10. Pupils should use these to revise for recall tests throughout the year and for the three formal assessments.

Pupils will also be directed to specific firefly pages with revision resources and past papers at appropriate times during the course. 

Subject advice and guidance

If you need any further guidance then please contact your child’s teacher via email:

james.townend@endon.set.org

rachel.eastwood@endon.set.org

john.barlow@endon.set.org