OCR GCSE History A Active Recall Guide (J410)
OCR · GCSE
OCR GCSE History A Active Recall Guide
Every topic of specification J410 written as exam-style questions with the answers printed after them. 1,449 questions across 14 topics and 119 subtopics, including every depth and thematic study option so the guide fits whichever five you sit.
- OCR
- GCSE
- Specification J410
- 1,449 questions
Guide overview All 14 topics Sample questions Papers and weighting Look inside Questions and answers
What the exam asks of you
OCR GCSE History A, Explaining the Modern World, is assessed by three written papers. Paper 1, worth 50 per cent, pairs the compulsory period study of international relations 1918 to 1975 with one of five non-British depth studies. Paper 2, worth 25 per cent, is one of three British thematic studies. Paper 3, worth 25 per cent, is the British depth study and historic environment linked to that thematic study.
A student sits five of the fourteen topics here. Which five depends entirely on what the school chose, which is why all fourteen are carried.
| Paper | Covers | Length | Marks | Weighting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Paper 1 Period study with non-British depth study |
International Relations: The Changing International Order 1918–1975 China 1950–1981: The People and the State Germany 1925–1955: The People and the State South Africa 1960–1994: The People and the State The USA 1919–1948: The People and the State The USA 1945–1974: The People and the State |
1 hour 45 minutes | 105 marks | 50% |
|
Paper 2 British thematic study |
Migration to Britain C.1000 to C.2010 Power: Monarchy and Democracy in Britain C.1000 to 2014 War and British Society C.790 to C.2010 |
1 hour | 50 marks | 25% |
|
Paper 3 British depth study with a study of the historic environment |
The Impact of Empire on Britain 1688–c.1730 The English Reformation C.1520–c.1550 Personal Rule to Restoration 1629–1660 Urban Environments: Patterns of Migration Castles: Form and Function C.1000–1750 |
1 hour 15 minutes | 55 marks | 25% |
What is in the guide
All 14 topics
Every topic has its own page with its subtopics, what it covers and sample questions.
Sample questions
Taken from the guide. Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.
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The location of Kenilworth Castle
Which great stretch of woodland lay around the castle, and what did its lords take from it?
Show the answer
The Forest of Arden, which supplied timber for building, fuel for the fires and deer for hunting in the castle's parks and chase. -
Early purges, the Hundred Flowers and social policy in the 1950s
What slogan gave the Hundred Flowers campaign of 1956 its name?
Show the answer
‘Let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools of thought contend’. -
The Weimar Republic 1925–1928 and the impact of the Depression
Why did the voting system make stable government so difficult in the later 1920s?
Show the answer
Proportional representation gave seats to many small parties, so no party held a majority and every cabinet was a fragile coalition. -
The Versailles settlement, the League and the agreements of the 1920s
Why did the absence of the USA weaken the League so badly?
Show the answer
The richest trading nation in the world was missing, so economic sanctions could always be broken and no great force stood behind them. -
Diversity before 1066, and the impact of the Norman Conquest
How did Edward the Confessor bring Normans into England before the Conquest?
Show the answer
He had been brought up in Normandy and rewarded Norman friends with English lands and church offices, making Robert of Jumièges Archbishop of Canterbury. -
Relationship between Parliament and Charles I 1629–1642
What was done to William Prynne, Henry Burton and John Bastwick in 1637?
Show the answer
They were fined, set in the pillory, had their ears cut off and were imprisoned for writing against the bishops. -
Anglo-Saxon kingship, 1066 and the Norman monarchy
What tax did kings levy to buy off or fight Viking raiders?
Show the answer
The geld, a tax on land assessed across the shires and collected by royal officials. -
Consolidating apartheid in the 1960s: the Bantustans, state control and Sharpeville
Which groups gave the apartheid system its strongest backing?
Show the answer
Afrikaner nationalist voters of the National Party, organised through the secret Broederbond, encouraged by the Dutch Reformed Church, and held together by fear of communism and of being outnumbered.
How the guide is worked
Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.
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Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
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Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
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Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.
Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.
Look inside
Questions for a subtopic print together and the answers for that section print after them.
- Castles: Form and Function C.1000-175070
- China 1950-1981: the People and the State82
- Germany 1925-1955: the People and the State102
- International Relations: the Changing International Order 1918-1975105
- Migration to Britain C.1000 to C.2010156
- Personal Rule to Restoration 1629-166080
- Power: Monarchy and Democracy in Britain C.1000 to 2014123
- South Africa 1960-1994: the People and the State93
- The English Reformation C.1520-c.155082
- The Impact of Empire on Britain 1688-C.173080
- The USA 1919-1948: the People and the State113
- The USA 1945-1974: the People and the State103
- and 2 more
- What did the Three-anti campaign launched in 1951 set out to root out?
- Which five ‘evils’ did the Five-anti campaign of 1952 accuse urban businessmen of?
- What happened to a person put in front of a struggle meeting?
- Which groups were hunted down in the Campaign to Suppress Counter-revolutionaries of 1950–51?
- What slogan gave the Hundred Flowers campaign of 1956 its name?
- What did Mao Zedong say he wanted intellectuals to offer when he invited them to speak out?
- How did Mao Zedong react when the criticism of 1957 began attacking Communist rule itself?
- What did the Marriage Law of 1950 forbid?
- Which Confucian duty did Communist social policy attack most directly?
- Corruption, waste and bureaucracy among Communist Party officials, factory managers and state employees.
- Bribery, tax evasion, theft of state property, cheating on government contracts and stealing state economic information.
- A crowd denounced them in public until they confessed, after which they were commonly beaten, imprisoned, sent to a labour camp or shot.
- Former Guomindang officials and soldiers, bandits, secret society members and landlords, above all in the newly conquered south and west.
- ‘Let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools of thought contend’.
- Constructive criticism that would correct the mistakes of officials and make the Party govern better.
- He closed the campaign down and launched the Anti-Rightist Movement, in which hundreds of thousands of critics were sacked, sent to labour camps or exiled to the countryside.
- Arranged marriages, child betrothal, concubinage and the payment of a bride price.
- Filial piety, the obligation to obey the head of the family and to honour elders and ancestors.
questions
Scroll sideways to turn through the pages.
Questions students ask first
I only do five of these. Is the rest wasted?
No. Everyone sits International Relations 1918 to 1975. Then one non-British depth study of five, one British thematic study of three, and the British depth study and historic environment linked to it.
All fourteen topics are in the guide because schools choose differently. Work your five and skip the other nine.
Which parts are compulsory?
International Relations: The Changing International Order 1918 to 1975, on Paper 1. Everything else is chosen by your school.
How do I know which ones I do?
Your exam timetable and your teacher will have them. The topic list here is grouped by paper, so you can match your five against it.
What is the historic environment?
Part of Paper 3, studied alongside the British depth study. On this specification it is either Castles: Form and Function, or Urban Environments: Patterns of Migration, depending on which thematic study your school chose. Both are in the guide.
OCR GCSE History A Active Recall Guide
Every question paired with its answer, grouped by topic and subtopic, ready to work in three passes.