Edexcel A-Level History guide FAQ (9HI0)
Guide overview All 40 options Sample questions Papers and weighting Look inside Questions and answers
Edexcel A-Level History: questions and answers
Specification 9HI0. Two sets, because students and parents ask different things.
For students
Forty options. Which ones do I do?
Three. One breadth study on Paper 1, one depth study on Paper 2 paired with it under Pearson’s route rules, and one Paper 3 option.
Your options are named on your exam entry and on the front of your textbooks. Find those topics in the guide and ignore the other thirty-seven.
Why are all forty in one guide?
Because schools choose differently and the permitted combinations run into the hundreds. Each option is a separate topic with its own pages, so nothing is mixed together.
Is the coursework covered?
No. The 9HI0/04 assignment is your own 3,000 to 4,000 word study analysing historians’ differing interpretations of a question you choose. It is 20 per cent and it is your own work.
Where it overlaps an option in the guide, that option is there.
Does it help with the sources and interpretations?
Indirectly, and that is the point. Paper 1 Section C sets two extracts offering different interpretations, Paper 2 Section A a compulsory source question, Paper 3 Section A another. All are marked on the historical knowledge you bring to them.
How long does one session take?
About twenty minutes for one subtopic, all three steps. An option of 17 subtopics is about six hours for a full first pass.
Can I do it in my head instead of writing?
Write. History rewards the specific date, the named figure and the exact figure, and step 2 is where a vague version gets replaced. The method page sets out the evidence.
When should I start?
9HI0 is linear, so all three papers are sat at the end of Year 13. Most schools teach one paper per year, so start on whichever option has been taught.
Do I still need past papers?
Yes. Past papers train the extract evaluation and the essay under a clock. Pearson publishes them free.
For parents
What is this, in plain terms?
A PDF of 6,832 exam-style questions covering all forty options of Edexcel A-Level History, with the answers printed after each option.
Forty options sounds like far too much.
A student works three of them, roughly 500 questions, which is a normal A-Level load. All forty are in one file because schools pick different permitted combinations and there are too many to sell separately.
How do I find out which options my child does?
They are named on the exam entry and usually on the textbooks. Each is a topic in the guide under the same name.
My child writes good essays but loses marks on detail.
That is the gap this closes. Examiners reward precise, specific evidence, and an argument supported by vague recollection is marked down however well it is written.
How do I know if it is being used properly?
There should be handwritten answers on paper and three passes over the same questions, and two scores per session to compare.
How much is it compared with a textbook?
£9.00 for all forty options. A single Edexcel A-Level History option textbook is usually £25 to £35, and a student needs three.
What else does my child need?
Past papers, free from Pearson, and their own reading for the coursework.
Edexcel A-Level History Active Recall Guide
6,832 questions with their answers, 688 subtopics, one file.