What is A level History like?

Could someone please give me a brief/insight of what A level history is like? i.e. Course content, difficulty, how it compares to other subjects like the sciences and English

Reply 1

klin_h

Goes quite nicely hand in hand with English with regards to the essays and the critical reading. Do you know which exam board you might be doing?

I did Edexcel and studied The Tudors, The Lutheran Reformation and Civil Rights. Very heavy on content however the hardest part to master was the essay structure. Particularly the source analysis questions. And since it's a fairly new course, we didn't have much to go by in regards to exemplars etc. particularly for the Coursework.

I feel like it's one of those subjects that mean you really really have to love it. If you don't... you will hate it (obviously) and everything will be just that bit more difficult.

Thank you!

Awful, don’t do it

Original post by Lilyhodkinsnsom

Awful, don’t do it

Thanks for the heads up 😂

Reply 5

CoolCavy

Volunteer Team

Its really interesting and enjoyable if you like history, but be prepared to work hard to perfect your essay writing technique and arguments

Reply 6

Sal-01

It’s interesting as it covers a wide range of topic but it does require a lot of work to be put in. You need to start making notes from day one.

Reply 7

luketprg

Original post by tamin981

Could someone please give me a brief/insight of what A level history is like? i.e. Course content, difficulty, how it compares to other subjects like the sciences and English

I did A-level history for a year having loved it at GCSE. It was my third choice with bio and chem for medicine but Personally did not enjoy it at A-level. This can depend massively on the syllabus your teacher chooses though so don't worry. I did not struggle with it, but the only problem was the huge amount of content, so although it is not more difficult than the sciences, there is A LOT to cover. I changed to economics because I fell out of love with the subject, however, if you really have a passion for it, I definitely suggest doing it. Hope this helps.

Reply 8

Sinnoh

Your enjoyment could strongly depend on the topics you study. I take Civil Rights in the USA, the Tudors 1547-1603 and Russia 1894-1941 and I can definitely say that the Tudors are just a bit dry and detached for me. Civil rights though, juicy topic.
My enjoyment of the subject has also been heavily due to the fact that there are only 7 of us in my class and the teachers are all so chilled out.

I take it alongside further maths and physics - I rarely do much history work outside the lessons (maths is like a black hole of productivity). However do not underestimate it, there is a lot to learn. Not because learning facts is an actual part of the course, but because to have a convincing argument in an essay (and it's just essays now) you need evidence and stats to back it up.
Also, coursework. Very very different to GCSE coursework, in my experience. It's not like a long exam-style question, it's more like "explain why there is a debate here"

Reply 9

Daniel7665

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