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GCSE History Tutoring

Online GCSE History tutoring for AQA, Pearson Edexcel, OCR (History A and History B) and WJEC Eduqas, matched to your exact topics: source and interpretation questions, essays with a clear judgement, and the historic environment study.

Every GCSE History course combines a thematic study across centuries, a period study, depth studies and a study of a historic site, but each board and school picks different topics. A GCSE History tutor works on your options, helps you organise a lot of content so you can recall it under time pressure, and trains the skills the marks depend on: evaluating sources and interpretations, explaining causes and consequences, and reaching a supported judgement.

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What You Get with GCSE History Tutoring

Structured support designed to improve understanding, exam technique, and confidence.

Essays with a Judgement

  • Planning answers that argue towards a judgement instead of retelling events
  • Causation, consequence, change and continuity, significance, and similarity and difference
  • Using precise, relevant detail as evidence for each point, including on long thematic questions

Sources and Interpretations

  • How useful a source is, judged from its content, provenance and your own knowledge
  • Explaining why historians' interpretations differ and how far you agree
  • Questions on the historic environment, linking a site to its wider historical context

Knowledge You Can Recall

  • Timelines and summaries for each of your units so dates and key people stay in order
  • Retrieval practice spread across all your topics, not just the most recent one
  • Selecting the most relevant evidence quickly in timed conditions
Real student results

Students Improving Their History Grades

5 to 8
"My tutor helped me stop describing events and start actually answering the question with judgement."
I

Ivy

Year 11 student, Edexcel

4 to 7
"Source questions became much easier once I knew exactly how to use provenance and context together."
S

Sam

Year 10 student, AQA

6 to 9
"The revision structure made a huge difference because I could finally keep different topics and evidence separate in my head."
L

Lily

Year 11 student, OCR

How It Works

Simple steps to get started with GCSE History tutoring

1

Buy a Bundle

Choose the number of hours you need based on your current level and exam timeline.

2

Complete Onboarding

Share your exam board, your tier if the subject has one, weak topics, and goals so matching is precise.

3

Start Lessons

Get matched within 24 hours and begin sessions focused on measurable improvement.

First Session Guarantee

Not satisfied? Contact us within 24 hours. We will address concerns, offer a rematch, or provide a full refund.

Meet our GCSE History tutors

Experienced tutors who teach this subject. Open a profile to read more.

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GCSE History Syllabus Coverage

GCSE History in England always includes a thematic study, a period study, a British depth study, a wider world depth study and a historic environment study, and at least 40% of the assessed content is British history. Your school chooses the topics within your board's options, so tutoring is built around your units.

1
Thematic Studies (Change over Centuries)

  • Medicine or health, for example AQA Health and the people or Edexcel Medicine in Britain, c1250 to present
  • Crime and punishment, power and democracy, or warfare and British society
  • Migration, for example AQA Migration, empires and the people or OCR Migrants to Britain
  • Factors driving change and continuity across long periods

2
Period Studies

  • Germany or America over at least 50 years, for example AQA Germany, 1890-1945
  • International relations, such as Edexcel Superpower relations and the Cold War, 1941-91
  • The American West, the development of the USA or the USSR
  • Narrative accounts and explaining key developments

3
Depth Studies

  • British depth studies such as Norman England or Elizabethan England
  • Wider world depth studies such as Weimar and Nazi Germany or conflict and tension between the wars
  • Key events, individuals and their significance
  • Using sources and interpretations within a depth study

4
Historic Environment

  • The site set by your board, for example Edexcel's British sector of the Western Front
  • AQA's historic environment within the British depth study
  • OCR History B's History Around Us paper and Eduqas's historic site within the thematic study
  • Linking a site's features to its historical context

5
Sources and Interpretations

  • Usefulness and reliability from content and provenance
  • Inference from sources
  • How and why interpretations differ
  • Applying your own knowledge to test a source or view

6
Exam Technique and Revision

  • Matching the answer to each question type and mark tariff
  • Writing a supported judgement in long answers
  • Spelling, punctuation and grammar marks on key questions
  • Timing across sections and papers
Assessment breakdown

GCSE History Assessment Structure

GCSE History is assessed entirely by written exams, with no tiers and no coursework; the historic environment is examined in the papers. Each board splits the course into two or three papers, so check your board below.

Exam boards covered:AQAPearson EdexcelOCR History AOCR History BWJEC Eduqas

AQA History (8145)

Written exam

Paper 1, Understanding the modern world: a period study (for example Germany, 1890-1945) and a wider world depth study on conflict and tension. Paper 2, Shaping the nation: a thematic study (health, power or migration) and a British depth study including the historic environment. Each paper is 84 marks, including 4 for spelling, punctuation and grammar, and 50% of the GCSE.

2 papers, 2 hours each
Compulsory questions in each section, from source and interpretation questions to extended essays
Options are chosen by your school when entering you

Pearson Edexcel History (1HI0)

Written exam

Paper 1: a thematic study with its historic environment, such as Medicine in Britain with the British sector of the Western Front; 52 marks, 30%. Paper 2: a period study and a British depth study, such as Superpower relations and the Cold War with Early Elizabethan England; 64 marks, 40%. Paper 3: a modern depth study, such as Weimar and Nazi Germany; 52 marks, 30%.

Paper 1: 1 hour 20 minutes. Paper 2: 1 hour 50 minutes. Paper 3: 1 hour 30 minutes
168 marks in total, including 8 for spelling, punctuation and grammar
Minor content amendments to several options apply from the summer 2026 exams

OCR History A, Explaining the Modern World (J410)

Written exam

Paper 1: International relations, 1918-c.1975, with a non-British depth study; 50%. Paper 2: a British thematic study, such as Migration to Britain c.1000 to c.2010; 25%. Paper 3: a linked British depth study with a study of the historic environment; 25%.

1 hour 45 minutes, 1 hour, and 1 hour 15 minutes
200 marks plus 10 for spelling, punctuation and grammar
Each thematic study is paired with a set British depth study

OCR History B, Schools History Project (J411)

Written exam

Paper 1, British history: a thematic study (People's Health, Crime and Punishment or Migrants to Britain) and a British depth study; 40%. Paper 2, History Around Us: a study of a local historic site; 20%. Paper 3, World history: a period study and a world depth study, such as Living under Nazi Rule; 40%.

1 hour 45 minutes, 1 hour, and 1 hour 45 minutes
200 marks plus 10 for spelling, punctuation and grammar
British and world depth studies must come from different eras

WJEC Eduqas History

Written exam

Component 1, Studies in Depth: one British depth study, such as The Elizabethan Age, and one non-British, such as Germany in Transition, 1919-1939, from different eras; 50%. Component 2, Studies in Breadth: a period study and a thematic study, such as Changes in Health and Medicine, which includes the historic site; 50%.

Component 1: 2 x 1 hour. Component 2: 45 minutes and 1 hour 15 minutes
Compulsory questions on sources, interpretations and second-order concepts
Eduqas sets its nominated historic sites two years at a time: the 2026-2027 list applies to exams in June 2027, and a new 2028-2029 list (consulted on in spring 2026) applies from June 2028, so check the sites for your exam year

Key Assessment Notes

  • GCSE History is not tiered and has no coursework. The historic environment or site study is assessed in a written exam.
  • Each board offers a choice of options, and your school chooses which ones you study, so two students on the same board can have different topics.
  • Spelling, punctuation and grammar carry marks on specific questions on every board shown here.
  • Paper details are taken from the current AQA, Pearson Edexcel, OCR and WJEC Eduqas specifications for exams in 2027 and 2028.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about GCSE History tutoring

Yes. All sessions are online and one to one. When you sign up you tell us your exam board, your topics and your weak areas, and you are usually matched with a verified tutor within 24 hours. Essays and source answers can be planned and reviewed together on screen.

Yes. Topics vary by board and by school, from Elizabethan England and Weimar and Nazi Germany to Medicine in Britain or the Cold War. Your tutor works on your actual options, using your board's specification and past questions, rather than a generic history course.

AQA (8145), Pearson Edexcel (1HI0), OCR History A Explaining the Modern World (J410), OCR History B Schools History Project (J411) and WJEC Eduqas. They differ in the number and length of papers and in question styles, so your tutor prepares you for your board's format.

Yes. Your tutor shows you how to judge a source's usefulness from its content and provenance together with your own knowledge, and how to explain why historians' interpretations differ. These questions reward a clear method, so you practise one for each question type on your board.

Strong essays argue rather than describe. Your tutor helps you plan a line of argument before you write, use specific evidence for each point, and finish with a judgement that weighs the factors against each other. You then practise on past questions under time pressure and compare your answers with the mark scheme.

No coursework counts towards the grade. Instead, every course includes a historic environment study, a specific site in its historical context, which is examined in a written paper. Examples include Edexcel's British sector of the Western Front, AQA's site within the British depth study and OCR History B's History Around Us paper.

Yes. With three or four units to remember, revision needs structure. Your tutor helps you build timelines and summaries for each unit, uses regular retrieval practice across all topics, and sets exam questions so you practise using that knowledge, not just rereading notes.

You can start at any point, including a few weeks before the exams. Late on, sessions focus on timed questions, essay plans for likely question types and the units you feel least secure on. Starting in Year 10 or early Year 11 leaves time to strengthen both knowledge and writing.

IB Doctor tutors are verified and scored 40 or more points in the IB Diploma. When you sign up you share your board, topics, target and weak areas, so you are matched with a tutor for your GCSE History course, usually within 24 hours. All lessons take place online.

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