HISTORY

DEPARTMENT

SYLLABUS AND EXAM

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FOURTH YEAR GCSE
Unit 2: This unit is Option A - Russia/USSR 1914-1941


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Fourth year: Unit 2
(second half of Michaelmas term and first half of Lent term).

Which exam does this relate to?

This unit is part of:
Paper 2: Depth Studies.

A paper involving 2 questions to answer in 1 3/4 hours
(37.5% of total mark)

What does the exam consist of?

In Paper 2 you have to answer:
ONE question on Option A (Russia), and ONE question on Option B (Germany).

Just to really confuse you there are TWO Sections to the paper (they have different styles of questions). You have to choose ONE of the first style of question from Section A, and ONE of the second style of question from Section B.

If you choose to do Russia in Section A you have to do Germany in Section B.

If you choose Germany in Section A you have to do Russia in Section B.

KEEP CALM - IT'S NOT AS BAD AS IT SOUNDS!!!

The biggest challenge is to look through the paper QUICKLY to make your choice.

HINT: Look at the final two sub-sections of each question (10 / 15 marks) and make your choice of overall question based on the one you feel most confident with.

There are TWO questions you can choose from on Russia.

Section A style (on page 2-3 of the booklet) has 4 short written sources and 1 picture source, and has 5 sub-sections to answer with a pattern of marks of 5, 6, 9, 10, 15 = Total of 45 marks.

You are advised to spend ONE HOUR on your Section A question.

Section B style (on page 10 of the booklet) usually has a table and a short written source, and has 4 sub-sections to answer [(a), (b), (c), and a choice of (d) or (e)]. The pattern of marks for this question is 3, 7, 5, 15 = Total of 30 marks

You are advised to spend 45 MINUTES on your Section B question.

NB In the same way there are also TWO questions you can choose from on Germany.

SO ALL YOU REALLY HAVE TO REMEMBER IS TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU DO ONE QUESTION FROM SECTION A AND ONE FROM SECTION B AND MAKE SURE YOU DO RUSSIA IN ONE SECTION AND GERMANY IN THE OTHER SECTION.

DO BEAR IN MIND THAT THE SECTION A QUESTION IS WORTH MORE MARKS THAN THE SECTION B QUESTION, SO CHOOSE YOUR STRONGEST COUNTRY IN SECTION A IF YOU CAN.

Click here for details of the syllabus content for this unit

Click here (soon!) for a sample exam question..