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) *Please note that we are considering altering the topic for this part of the paper. Final decision to be made February 2026. 

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 64 History lessons in Year 10. 

Curriculum Period 1:

Curriculum period 1 has 20 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

6. End of unit review

Part 2: Life in Elizabethan times

7. The growing prosperity and the rise of the Gentry

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

9. The Elizabethan Theatre

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

12. End of Unit 2 Review

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. End of Unit 3 Review 

Lessons 18 to 20 will focus on the Historical Environment which for the current Year 10 is the Spanish Armada

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 20 lessons

21. A Golden Age? Assessment 1 Feedback

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 

22 & 23. 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.

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

25 & 26. 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

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

28. 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

29. End of Unit review

Part 2: The Impact of the Depression

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

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

32 - 34. The establishment of Hitler's dictatorship; Reichstag Fire, Enabling Act, elimination of opposition, Rohm and the Night of the Long Knives

35. End of Unit 2 Review

Part 3. The experience of Germans under the Nazis

36. Nazi control of Germany - the Police State

37. The importance of the young in Nazi Germany

38. Women in Nazi Germany

39. Economic policies - Miracle?

40. Who benefitted? Assessment prep

Assessment

For the the second assessment pupils will sit a full Germany GCSE paper - we will go through this in lessons to prepare for this.

Curriculum Period 3:

Curriculum Period 3 has 20 lessons