Cambridge O Level History Tutors Online

Cambridge O Level History is syllabus 2147. This page works from the syllabus for exams in 2027 and 2028. Exams are available in the June and November series, and the syllabus notes that it is not available in all administrative zones.

All candidates take two components, and all candidates are eligible for grades A* to E. The grade range stops at E, and anything below it is ungraded. There is no Core and Extended tier.

Paper 1 is Structured Questions. It lasts 2 hours, carries 60 marks and is worth 55% of the qualification. Candidates answer two questions from Section A on the Core content and one question from Section B on the Depth studies, and all questions are in the form of structured essays split into three parts, labelled (a), (b) and (c).

Paper 2 is Document Questions. It lasts 1 hour 45 minutes, carries 40 marks and is worth 45%. Candidates answer one question, on either the prescribed topic from the Core content in Option A or the prescribed topic from the Core content in Option B.

The weightings are worth noting because they differ from what many families expect: 55% for the essay paper and 45% for the document paper. The document paper is not a smaller add-on, it is nearly half the qualification.

Paper 2 has a precise shape that is worth learning, because it never varies. Each question has five parts, and each question includes a range of source material relating to the prescribed topic, with a maximum of seven sources per question. The five question parts are based on the source material provided, and the question tests AO1 and AO3.

The single most useful thing on this page is the prescribed topic list, because the syllabus publishes it by exam series. For examination in 2027, Option A candidates face a question on why, and with what effects, nations gained and expanded their overseas empires in the nineteenth century in the June exam, and on whether the revolutions of 1848 were important in the November exam. Option B candidates face the USSR's control over Eastern Europe from 1948 to about 1989 in June, and whether the Treaty of Versailles was fair in November.

For examination in 2028, Option A candidates face how Italy was unified in June and what caused the First World War in November. Option B candidates face how far Hitler's foreign policy was to blame for the outbreak of war in Europe in 1939 in June, and who was to blame for the Cold War in November.

That list matters practically. A candidate who prepares only the general Option B content and ignores the prescribed topic for their own series can arrive at Paper 2 facing a document question they have not studied in depth. It is worth checking the list for the year and the series before revision is planned.

The content has two layers. Every candidate studies Core content in either Option A, The nineteenth century: the development of modern nation states from 1848 to 1914, or Option B, The twentieth century: international relations since 1919. On top of that, every candidate must also study at least one of five Depth studies.

Option A is built around six key questions: were the revolutions of 1848 important, how was Italy unified, how was Germany unified, why was there a civil war in the United States and what were its results, why and with what effects did nations gain and expand their overseas empires in the nineteenth century, and what caused the First World War.

Option B is also built around six key questions: was the Treaty of Versailles fair, to what extent was the League of Nations a success, how far was Hitler's foreign policy to blame for the outbreak of war in Europe in 1939, who was to blame for the Cold War, how effectively did the United States contain the spread of communism, and how secure was the USSR's control over Eastern Europe from 1948 to about 1989.

So a student studies one of two quite different courses. Option A runs from the European revolutions of 1848 to the outbreak of the First World War, and Option B runs from the Versailles settlement to the end of the Cold War. Neither is a survey of everything in between.

The five Depth studies, of which at least one must be studied, are A The First World War, 1914 to 1918; B Germany, 1918 to 1945; C Russia, 1905 to 1941; D The United States, 1919 to 1941; and E The Second World War in Europe and the Asia Pacific, 1939 to about 1945. The Core content and the Depth studies are both structured around a series of key questions, focus points and specified content, so the syllabus tells a student exactly what to learn rather than leaving it to a textbook.

The assessment objectives are three. AO1 is an ability to recall, select, organise and deploy knowledge of the syllabus content. AO2 is an ability to construct historical explanations using an understanding of cause and consequence, change and continuity, similarity and difference, and the motives, emotions, intentions and beliefs of people in the past. AO3 is an ability to understand, interpret, evaluate and use a range of sources as evidence, in their historical context.

The overall weightings are AO1 at 28 per cent, AO2 at 36 per cent and AO3 at 36 per cent of the qualification. Explanation and source work are worth the same as each other, and together they are worth far more than recall.

The per paper weightings show how cleanly the two papers divide. Paper 1 is 33 per cent AO1, 67 per cent AO2 and nothing at all on AO3. Paper 2 is 20 per cent AO1, nothing on AO2 and 80 per cent AO3.

So Paper 1 never asks a candidate to analyse a source, and Paper 2 is almost entirely source analysis. A student who writes strong essays can carry Paper 1 and still lose most of Paper 2, and a student who is good with documents but weak at argument has the opposite problem. Both skills have to be built separately, because no paper tests both.

The syllabus also notes that this O Level syllabus shares content with other History syllabuses, which is useful if a student is moving between qualifications or if a school already holds resources for another course.

The qualification is graded A*, A, B, C, D or E, with A* the highest and E the lowest. A candidate whose performance does not meet the standard required for grade E is ungraded, which is reported on the statement of results but not on the certificate.