GCSE History
Revsion List
2013
Year 11 GCSE Revision List
Below is a comprehensive list of all the topics you will have to revise for GCSE. It is a
huge task and you must begin this process now. It is advisable that you conduct your
revision in the following three stages, and I have set out the list in a table so you can
tick off each stage of each topic as you go along.
Try to tackle topics in the lists in groups of two or three
1. First of all you must read about each topic in your notes in your exercise
books, or from the revision guide given to you by the school (only chapters
4,5,6,7 and 13 are useful to you!). Begin with the topics that you perhaps feel
most comfortable with to begin, and progress through the list with the less
familiar topics.
2. Then make NEW notes on those topics – do this on a piece of A3 or (even
bigger) using colours to draw up a mind map. Alternatively write down things
on cards or even post it notes.
3. Then the next stage is to try an exam question with, then without your notes
from the past papers available from your teachers, you have also been given
a list of past questions for paper 1.
Repeat this process with a new group of topics until you have covered all of the
topics in the list. Perhaps at some point in revising and reviewing topics you will have
covered enough to tackle a whole exam paper. I would advise that you try to do a
mock exam again at home before the real one. This will help you with your timing
also.
Exam Dates (Provisional! please check official timetable given to you by the School!)
Paper 1
Monday 3rd June 2013 the paper is 2 hours long
The Cold War 1945-1975
And
Germany: 1919-45
Paper 2 (Source based)
Monday 10th June 2012 the paper is 1hour and 30 minutes long.
British History – 1939-1975
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Revision list for Paper 1
Type of questions and skills needed.
Paper 1 tests students factual knowledge, and the ability to compose and explain
arguments. Students must analyse evidence, particularly cartoons. They will answer
two 3 part questions in this exam as well as some source questions
Part a (4 Marks)...tests comprehension and recall skills. Two detailed points, or four
‘thin’ points
Part b (6 marks)...tests students ability to explain events and connections. 2 explained
reasons are needed to get full marks.
Part c… requires students to create a balanced argument with a reasoned
conclusion/judgement. Both sides of an argument or an issue need to be explained
and identified. A conclusion weighing up these arguments will get you full marks.
Revision Topic
Reread?
Taken
notes?
Past
exam
question?
Paper 1 content-The Cold War 1945-1975
Key Question 1: Who was to blame for the Cold
War?
1. Why did the USA-USSR alliance begin to
break down in 1945? The Yalta and Potsdam
Conferences including the roles played by Stalin,
Truman, Roosevelt and Churchill.
2. How had the USSR gained control of
Eastern Europe by 1948? Soviet takeover of
Eastern Europe and the Iron Curtain. The Berlin
Blockade and airlift.
3. How did the USA react to Soviet
expansionism? The Truman Doctrine and the
Marshall Plan.
4. Who was more to blame for the start of the
Cold War, the USA or the USSR?
Key Question 2: Who won the Cuban Missile
Crisis?
1. How did the USA react to the Cuban
Revolution? The Cuban Revolution and The
Bay of Pigs Incident
2. Why did Khrushchev put missiles into Cuba?
3. Why did Kennedy react as he did? The events
of the Crisis including the actions of
Khrushchev and Kennedy (PTO)
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4. Who won the Cuban Missile Crisis? How was
the crisis resolved and what were the
consequences.
Key question 3: Why did the USA fail in Vietnam?
1. Why did the USA get increasingly involved
in Vietnam? The Domino theory, The
Different policies of Kennedy, Johnson
and Nixon.
2. What were the different ways that the USA
and the Communists fought the war?
Guerrilla Tactics of the Vietcong, Search
and Destroy, Operation Rolling thunder
3. Whose tactics were the most effective –
the USA’s or the Communists’?
4. Why did the USA withdraw from Vietnam?
Make sure you understand how public
opionion effected the war effort as well as
the failures of the US Army on the
battlefield.
Don’t forget the first question on
paper one is always based on a
cartoon like this and is on one of
the three aspects of the Cold War.
This one shows Kennedy and
Khrushchev having a showdown!
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Revision list for Paper 1 (Continued)
Revision Topic
Reread?
Taken
notes?
Past
exam
question?
Paper 1 Content- Germany 1919-45
Key Question 1: Was the Weimar Republic
doomed from the start?
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Effects of the First World War on Germany
The Treaty of Versailles
The Weimar constitution
Spartacist revolt 1919
Kapp Putsch 1920
The Invasion of the Ruhr 1923
Hyperinflation 1923
The Munich Putsch
The beginnings of the Nazi Party (How Hitler
changed the Nazis after Prison)
German Recovery under Stresemann (the
golden years)
Economic recovery (The Dawes Plan)
The Locarno treaties 1925
Culture in Weimar Germany
The Wall Street Crash 1929
The Depression
Key Question 2: Why was Hitler able to dominate
Germany by 1933?
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How the Depression helped Hitler and the Nazis
The three elections in 1932
Hitler becomes Chancellor January 1933
(Including the roles of Hindenburg, Von Papen
and Schleicher)
The Reichstag fire
The Enabling Act
The Night of the Long Knives
Hitler becomes Fuhrer August 1934
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Revision list for Paper 1 (Continued)
Key Question 3(a): The Nazi regime: how
effectively did the Nazis control Germany, 1933–
1945?
AND
Key Question 3(b): The Nazi regime: what was it
like to live in Nazi Germany?
Sub Questions
•How much opposition was there to the Nazi regime?
•How effectively did the Nazis deal with their political
opponents?
•How did the Nazis use culture, propaganda and the
mass media to control the people?
•Why did the Nazis persecute many groups in German
society?
• What was the purpose of the Hitler Youth?
• How successful were Nazi policies towards women
and the family?
• Were most people better off under Nazi rule?
• How did the coming of war change life in Germany?
Simplified List of Topics
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Propaganda
SS and the Gestapo (Secret Police)
Education
The Church
The Role of Women
Work
Leisure
Nazi Treatment of the Jews – Persecution,
Kristallnacht and the ‘Final Solution’
Opposition to the Nazis
The Economy
The Impact of the Second World War on
Germany
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Revision list for paper 2 – British Depth Study 1939-1975
Paper two is the sources paper and you should become familiar again with the types
of questions asked by looking at the past papers. Paper two will ask you questions on
ONE of the following three topics:
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o
o
TOPIC 1: Immigration
TOPIC 2: Women
TOPIC 3: Youth
Revision Topic
Reread
Taken
notes?
Past
exam
question?
BRITISH DEPTH STUDY
Key Question: How was British society
changed, 1939-75?
Topic 1: Immigration
• What immigrants were living in Britain in 1945?
• Why did different groups migrate to Britain between
1948 and 1972?
• What were the experiences of immigrants in Britain?
• What contribution had immigrants made to British
society by the early 1970s?
Topic 2: Women
• What was life like for most women in the 1950s?
• How were women discriminated against in the 1960s
and early 1970s?
• What factors led to changes in the roles of women?
• How much change had taken place for women by
1975?
Topic 3: Youth
• What was it like growing up in the 1950s?
• Why were there changes in the lives of teenagers in
the 1960s?
• How did teenagers and students behave in the 1960s
and early 1970s?
• How far did the lives of all teenagers change in the
1960s and early 1970s?
And these questions apply to all three topics
• What impact did the Second World War have on the
British people?
What was the impact of the National Health Service on
people’s lives?
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Good luck to all of you. You all have the ability to reach and succeed your target
grade. IF you begin this process NOW then you can identify gaps in your knowledge
(and notes).
Happy revising!
garethhughes@varndean.co.uk
danielobrien@varndean.co.uk
sandraknights@varndean.co.uk
nicolawright@varndean.co.uk
Useful Websites
Varndean History Department You Tube channel (continuously updated)
I can’t emphasise how important it is that you use this website! A lot of our lessons we
use audio/visual material to help you learn, and it doesn’t make sense that you don’t
use that for revision.
www.youtube.com/mrae22
Also Ms Knights has a youtube site as well.
www.youtube.com/sandraknights66
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History pod casts
Some podcasts on Germany and the Cold War, ignore the others as they are not
relevant to our course.
http://www.mrallsophistory.com/revision.html
General Websites
These two links, part of the Bitesize website could help you. Again be careful! Only
look at the topics on the revision list. There are someo n this website that we don’t
study.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/audio/history/index.shtml
Exam board website(Past papers, mark schemes)
http://www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/type/gcse/hss/history_b/documents/index.html
Past exam questions
Past exam questions will be issued separately. Alternatively they are available on the
exam board website (link given above) but it is a very difficult site to navigate. I
suggest either.
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Looking on the central resource library (follow the path \central resource
library\History\GCSE\Past Papers (I am trying to put instructions on how to do
this on You tube) other wise I will show you in lessons.
Get a paper copy of a past exam paper from Me, Ms Knights or Ms Wright. I
have 100s of them in my filing cabinet.
More on revision technique
When I used to teach A level History I had to teach Italy 1870-1925, which I had never
studied before or even knew much about! So I had to learn it and in quite a lot of
depth. The first year teaching was difficult of course, but after teaching it for 4 years
there was nothing I didn’t know about that period at that time. If you were to ask me
about it now some of my knowledge would have inevitably disappeared. The point
of this story is thus….
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There is nothing better for learning something than having to TEACH IT! Get
together with other GCSE students at Varndean (there are about 100 of you)
and revise by teaching each other.
USE IT OR LOSE IT! Keep revising topics over and over or you will forget, little
and often should be your motto. It’s no good cramming and going over
something once you need to go over things two or three times.
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