Edexcel GCSE History guide FAQ (1HI0)
Guide overview All 21 options Sample questions Papers and weighting Look inside Questions and answers
Edexcel GCSE History: questions and answers
Specification 1HI0. Two sets, because students and parents ask different things.
For students
Twenty-one options. Which ones do I do?
Four. One thematic study with its historic environment on Paper 1, one period study and one British depth study on Paper 2, and one modern depth study on Paper 3.
Your options are named on your exam entry and on the front of your textbooks. Find those topics in the guide and ignore the rest.
Why are all 21 in one guide?
Because schools choose differently and the combinations run into the hundreds. Each option is a separate topic with its own pages, so nothing is mixed together.
What is the historic environment?
The second half of Paper 1, tied to your thematic study: Whitechapel with Crime and Punishment, the British sector of the Western Front with Medicine, London in the Second World War with Warfare, Notting Hill with Migrants. It carries its own source questions, and each has its own topic here.
Does it help with the source questions?
Indirectly, and that is the point. Paper 1 and Paper 3 both set sources, and both are marked on the historical knowledge you bring to them. A source you cannot place in its context is a source you cannot evaluate.
How long does one session take?
About twenty minutes for one subtopic, all three steps. An option of 12 subtopics is about four 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?
Any point in Year 10 or Year 11. All three papers are sat at the end of Year 11.
Do I still need past papers?
Yes. Past papers train the source and interpretation questions and the clock. Pearson publishes them free.
For parents
What is this, in plain terms?
A PDF of 2,881 exam-style questions covering all 21 options of Edexcel GCSE History, with the answers printed after each option.
Twenty-one options sounds like far too much.
A student works four of them, roughly 550 questions, which is a normal GCSE load. All 21 are in one file because schools pick different combinations and the permutations are too numerous 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 answers 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?
£7.00 for all 21 options. A single Edexcel GCSE History option textbook is usually £10 to £15, and a student needs four.
What else does my child need?
Past papers, free from Pearson, and their own notes.
Edexcel GCSE History Active Recall Guide
2,881 questions with their answers, 233 subtopics, one file.